Holy crap. I’m not sure what the rules are with cursing so I’ll stick with that statement for now. I have yet to see a more gruesome depiction of the zombie story, so thanks for that. But despite the general goriness of the show, I genuinely thought it provided a realistic and logical depiction of how a zombie apocalypse would go down. The zombies didn’t ever break their own rules (fast, but dumb) and the characters reacted in a way that followed along with their characters (Pippa – screaming, Patrick – self-centered, etc). But there are some moments I’d like to break down.
First, the scene which gives this post its name. The horrifically uncomfortable, totally gruesome Grayson slicing scene. Here Patrick is tearing apart the now-deceased Grayson for “bait” for his so-thought brilliant plan, while berating the rest of the house for not having his sense of entrepreneurship and keen sense of leadership. He also adds in narration at times, commenting on the morsels of flesh he pulls from Grayson’s corpse. What caught me in this scene was how Patrick mocked the group for not having “real” jobs, or actual work ethic, and claimed they were a bunch of useless good-for-nothings. Patrick seems to have forgotten that those people were the reason why Patrick had a job in the first place. He has transformed the Big Brother contestants from actual human beings into money-making pieces of flesh. Hopefully (maybe) this is a less obvious moment that Brooker put into the show as a method to hint at his greater point.
Next, mainly because I think it was pretty humorous, the police scene. What we saw there was a moment where someone (the police) was trying to make sense out of a completely nonsensical situation. These police officers were the last holders of authority, and they’ll be damned if they lose it thanks to some smelly zombies. I particularly liked the “I’ll let you off with a warning […] You could at least say thank you” bit at the end. Yet I think Brooker put that scene in there for a reason other than a bit of much needed comic relief. Those officers were desperately trying to hold onto some sense of normalcy by going about their regular patrols. I can’t help but think how others might try to retake control of their lives in times like those.