S07.E05: Eulogy

[QQQQ]

The sentimental story, penned by series creator Charlie Brooker and screenwriter and playwright Ella Road (Doctor Who, Ten Percent), centers on Phillip (Paul Giamatti), who’s pretty closed-off and isolated. He receives a call from a representative on behalf of a woman named Kelly Royce (Patsy Ferran), informing him that Kelly’s mother, Carol, his ex-girlfriend, has died, and that her family would like his help with the memorial. 

[Amarsir]

I think this is my favorite episode of the season. Not an exploration of fictional tech, not a social commentary with tech as metaphor. Just a human story made possible.

Giamatti was of course superb. Big thumbs up to the writing, which foreshadowed just enough to be anxious for what's coming but not enough to be bored waiting for it.

[CarpeFelis]

Interesting character study of a man who so hates the one woman who’d once been the love of his life that he’s destroyed her face in all the pictures he has of her. I expected to find out it was really his own fault and was not disappointed.

He had a bad temper, a drinking problem, a victim mentality, and a double standard. He gets irate at her merely talking to another guy in the bar—who we’re shown she was leaning away from—while his coworker hangs all over him but he dismisses it as “she’s just a friend”. And when the friend deliberately sabotages his relationship by answering the phone in his hotel room, he still thinks she was just playing a joke on him. In his mind, everything his girlfriend does is shady and everything he does is perfectly innocent.

The one thing that didn’t ring true to me was this: he claims to have loved this woman so much, yet when he discovers that his temper tantrum in the hotel room caused him to overlook the note she left him and thus miss out on a possible lifetime together, he appears nowhere near as devastated as he should be. All in all, I’d say he richly deserved the outcome he got. And he probably would’ve made her miserable anyway.

[Amarsir]

He certainly lacked in awareness. But to be fair, he bought a ring, flew to London, arranged a special location, and proposed. And her response was to run away. Perhaps neither of them were all that mature.

Given what he thought was true, I don't blame him for being upset. But as you grow you learn to resolve through understanding  - not burning the face out of a photo. Thus he realized in the end all he'd missed out on.

[QQQQ]

Speaking as someone who is only a few years younger than Giamatti (which shocks me to no end), I burned and/or cut out the faces of a few ex boyfriends in photos back in the day.  As did most of my friends. It was both dramatic and cathartic.

[CarpeFelis]

  On 4/15/2025 at 12:50 AM, QQQQ said:

Speaking as someone who is only a few years younger than Giamatti (which shocks me to no end), I burned and/or cut out the faces of a few ex boyfriends in photos back in the day.  As did most of my friends. It was both dramatic and cathartic.

Expand  

I never did that, but I do have one ex I hate to this day. Unlike Giamatti’s character, it’s clear to me that we were both to blame. We brought out the absolute worst in each other. The reason I still hate him is because of how mean he could get.

[HC87]

This one hit personally. Had an ex-gf from college  who I didn't hate, and I was the one who sabotaged the relationship basically, but always felt she could have been the one. She also tragically died fairly young about 15 years ago, so this ep in many ways mirrored (no pun intended) that relationship this episode, 

[DrSpaceman73]

I like this one but it's really am old trope, lost and missed note after a break up.  Dressed up version of that. 

It was well done though with a little bit of a new spin.  Looking back years later seeing a new perspective on things. 

 

i also have an ex gf it makes me think of but I look at my relationship with her and how bad it was and how lucky I am I ended up with my current wife and not her. I was so wrong about everything at the time but for me it worked out for the best. 

[tennisgurl]

I really liked this one, it was very melancholy but bittersweet. It reminded me of The Entire History of You from way back in season one, except that one was about technology that allowed a man to ruin his own life by obsessing about his dysfunctional relationship, this one is about a technology that helps a man hung up on his long finished relationship and get some closure. Its really sad that Philip and Carol ended up broken up due to this misunderstanding, but you could also say that their relationship was never going to work out due to their many issues, and now at least Philip has closure and doesn't have that bitterness towards Carol anymore. 

Its great seeing Paul Giamatti here, he is always great to have around and I think this used his talents really well. His snark is just so sad, even when he's being a dick I still feel for him, he's still clearly so sad underneath his lack of awareness and his bitterness, which makes the ending work so well.