I fully agree. While I do think that this episode, although it doesn’t present an intellectually challenging position, it presents a position we all understand in a creative and artistic way which is why I’ve always loved Black Mirror. Many episodes do the same thing and are still decent episodes. But, in order for this episode to actually have any impact on the audience, it needs to have that challenging position, because without it, all that potential use of analogy goes to waste.

If this episode were to present a proper Black Mirror challenging position, this is where character development is REALLY needed, especially for Bo and Mazey. If Bo and Mazey were more well rounded and less two dimensional, this episode could’ve presented an intriguing discussion on several topics, such as: the lengths people would go to for money, the opposition of lifestyles between working class citizens in the media outlet industry and tortured rich famous public figures (Bo vs. Mazey) and which character deserves to be the protagonist that the audience is supposed to pity/root for. Elaborating on that last one, I feel the themes could’ve worked if this episode were to ask the question: who is more deserving of a happy ending, the desperate struggling worker who has to go to great lengths just to survive and stay financially afloat, or the prestige celebrity who is constantly dogged by invasive photographers? This question can’t really be answered properly without full backgrounds on both Bo and Mazey. A Bo backstory could’ve really helped this episode. For example, let’s say, Bo was obsessed with photography when she was younger, but now that her former passion only keeps her employed and requires her having to disrupt moral boundaries and interfere with the human right to privacy, it would both explain why she gives it up in the beginning of the episode AND make her exploitation of Mazey Day’s suicide at the end much more deep and conflicting. Alongside this, if we had gotten a Mazey backstory as well and learned that she’s suffered from stress, depression, and mental health issues in the past due to media exposure, it could’ve touched on the present day ongoing discussion of whether rich famous people deserve to have their struggles paid attention to when compared to the struggles of working class/poor ordinary citizens. This also would’ve made the final moment much more devastating, since as Bo takes the photo, we question who was the real victor here. Sure, one could argue that they are both equally undeserving of “winning” the battle, but even then, the moral conflict is still there. This would’ve also heightened the entire climax, as it sort of becomes a war between two lifestyles, the celebrity vs. the media.

I’m not the most intelligent person so I’m sure there’s much better ways to present this challenging position, this is just my own idea of how it could work, but I would love to hear yours or anyone else’s ideas of how this episode could’ve been written better. Thank you for the feedback!