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Psychology In Seattle Podcast

Black Mirror Analysis - Plaything

Psychology In Seattle Podcast

Kirk Honda

Mental Health, Health & Fitness

4.61.2K Ratings

🗓️ 23 June 2025

⏱️ 39 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Dr Kirk and Humberto review Black Mirror season 7 (Netflix, 2025)

This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/KIRK to get 10% off your first month.

00:00 Plot summary
05:30 Connections to other media
14:54 Episode critiques and rating
26:45 Why did this episode resonate so much with Humberto? 


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June 23, 2025

The Psychology In Seattle Podcast ®

Trigger Warning: This episode may include topics such as assault, trauma, and discrimination. If necessary, listeners are encouraged to refrain from listening and care for their safety and well-being.

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Black Mirror, season seven. Episode four, Plaything. Berto, you just told me you have a lot of notes on this

0:09.5

episode. Let's get into it. My name is Dr. Kirk Honda. I'm a therapist and I'm a professor.

0:14.6

My name is Umberto Cassaneda. I turn socks inside out. Episode four, Plaything, starring Peter

0:20.5

Capelli and Lewis Gribbon, written and directed, or written by Charlie Brooker. I don't know who directed it. So, a quick overview of this episode. In the future, Cameron, this older fellow, is arrested for shoplifting and suspected of murder.

0:41.0

He is taken to the police station interrogated.

0:44.1

He talks about how his dad was abusive as he was bullied at school.

0:48.1

And he recounts decades earlier in which he was working as a video game journalist in the 1990s when PC video games were first getting off the ground.

0:57.4

And he talks about meeting a genius programmer who made this game called thronglets.

1:04.1

And the programmer, Colin Rittman, says that he wanted to make a game that elevates humans and improves humans instead of just creating a game about conflict.

1:16.7

And it's not a game.

1:17.6

Right.

1:18.1

Yeah.

1:18.4

It doesn't have a goal.

1:19.4

And so it's this very experimental game that is about you interacting with these thronglets in this game, taking care of them and

1:31.7

communicating with them.

1:33.3

And he coded the game to learn and to expand on itself.

1:38.8

It would evolve.

1:39.7

And everyone would have a different experience with the game.

1:44.4

And the writer, Cameron, he steals the game.

1:48.7

And apparently it's the only version and the game is never released.

1:51.8

So Cameron is the only person who has a version of this game called thronglets.

1:56.9

And he takes it home and he starts to interact with the thronglets, you know, feeding, bathing them.

...

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