'Black Mirror' Season 4 Plot News: 'Hang the DJ' Isn't 'San Junipero,' EP Says
Netflix finally released "Black Mirror" season 4. The episode titled "Hang the DJ" easily became a fan favorite for its similarities to season 3's widely-acclaimed episode "San Junipero."
"Black Mirror" producer Annabel Jones, however, explained that "Hang the DJ" isn't a copy of "San Junipero." Fans couldn't help but compare both anthology episodes since it explored finding true love in the digital world and featured happy endings.
"We didn't know that 'San Junipero' was going to touch a nerve. We didn't know it was going to have such a strong reaction and people were going to fall in love with it," Jones said. "So when we were writing 'Hang the DJ,' we were in a little bit of a bubble — so we didn't quite know," she explained further and added that she and co-creator Charlie Brooker wrote "Hang the DJ" while fan appreciation for "San Junipero" slowly grew.
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"Black Mirror" season 3 episode 4 "San Junipero," which aired in October 2016, followed two individuals who became lovers after meeting in San Junipero. It turned out that the town is a fictional place in the digital world. The individuals were old people who chose to upload their new realities in the simulation upon their death so they can live there forever.
The fourth episode of "Black Mirror" season 4 "Hang the DJ," on the other hand, centered on two individuals who are part of system that matches people against different partners. The ending revealed that the characters were actually simulations of a dating algorithm inside an app, where the actual users end up as a 99.8 percent match in the real world.
Meanwhile, Brooker is pleased with the way "Hang the DJ" closed. It's not yet quite a happy ending since the dating couple still have to deal with each other in reality.
"[But] I hope the takeaway is that it's playful and hopeful," Brooker told Entertainment Weekly. "So though there's an algorithm that brought them together, and now they're about to take the first step on that journey together."
Watch the latest and past episodes of "Black Mirror" on Netflix. Season 4 became available on the streaming platform as of Friday, Dec. 29, while seasons 1 to 3 are still accessible to subscribers.
