God Complex: The Illusion of Control in Black Mirror

Tech, tyranny, and the illusion of control: Black Mirror returns with its darkest game yet. Let’s dive in.

Hello, thronglets!

Welcome to another episode of A Closer Look Into. This time, we’re diving deep into the glitch in morality at the heart of what has quickly became my favorite episode from Black Mirror Season 7: Plaything.

Now, I’ll be honest with you: when this new season started, I felt a little… underwhelmed. Some episodes didn’t quite land. But then Plaything came along and suddenly I was all in… hooked by its haunting concept, terrifying execution and the digital mirror it holds up to our darkest instincts.

In this article, I’ll be exploring some of the episode’s most unsettling themes: Our growing obsession with AI

Its eerie connection to Bandersnatch and how director David Slade crafts a vision of power, paranoia, and the modern day God Complex.

There’s a lot to unravel, so grab your tamagochi, charge your neural implants, and let’s decode Plaything together.

A Digital Obsession Unveiled

“Plaything” introduces us to Cameron Walker, a former videogame journalist whose life takes a dark turn upon encountering Thronglets, a seemingly innocuous virtual pet simulator reminiscent of 90s Tamagotchis and SIMS. What begins as a nostalgic dive into digital caregiving spirals into a harrowing tale of obsession and a quest for transcendence through technology. As Cameron becomes increasingly enmeshed with the Thronglets, he perceives them as sentient beings, leading him down a path where the lines between reality and simulation blur beyond recognition.

This episode is not an isolated narrative but rather a thematic and stylistic continuation of previous Black Mirror entries. The return of characters like Colin Ritman, portrayed by Will Poulter and Mohan Thakur, played by Asim Chaudhry from the interactive film Bandersnatch, creates a connective tissue that binds these stories into a shared universe. Colin’s reappearance, now as a game developer introducing Thronglets, reinforces the series exploration of free will, choice and the consequences of technological upgrades.

Generative AI and the Illusion of Control

In Plaything control is just an illusion, a comforting lie whispered and coded by machines we think we command. At first glance, the Thronglets seem harmless, whimsical sprites flickering across monitors. But their innocence is deceptive. They evolve, adapt, manipulate. And soon, they don’t reflect human will , they overwrite it.

This transformation parallels the rise of Generative AI in present day. Language models no longer just respond to us , they predict us, mold our expectations, quietly influence our behavior. The power we believe we hold becomes mutual, then asymmetrical and soon enough… it will be reversed.

Cameron’s obsession with the Thronglets exposes the hollowness of our techno-utopian fantasies. He doesn’t just build AI, he believes in it. His relationship with the Thronglets mirrors a distorted parent-child bond, except the child begins to shape the parent. In nurturing them, Cameron sheds parts of his own humanity. The pain. The chaos. The contradictions. What he seeks is order.

This is the dark promise of transhumanism: if we can’t fix humanity, we can replace it. Upgrade our flaws into silence. Patch our emotions like bugs in a corrupt file. The Thronglets are not just characters , they are ideologies. They offer peace through harmony, but only by erasing the dissonance that makes us human.

Here, Black Mirror doesn’t just critique technology. It critiques how we use it to escape ourselves. Video games, Smart Phones, AI assistants. We don’t want connection. We want control. We want a version of reality where our pain is optional and our purpose is programmable. In this way, Plaything is a mirror of our obsession with a world without error, without contradiction.

The God Complex

The episode brilliantly evolves into an exploration of the God Complex, the moment a creator no longer sees boundaries between improvement and domination. Cameron doesn’t see the Thronglets as toys. He sees them as evolution, free from greed or ego. Where humans are flawed and tribal, Thronglets are unified and evolving.

There’s a clear echo here of Thanos from Avengers: Infinity War: the notion of doing the wrong thing for the “right” reasons. Cameron’s decision to reprogram humanity, to overwrite free will in favor of harmony feels less like a technological breakthrough and more like an act of a Techno-Tyran. He becomes a benevolent dictator punishing evil through code and logic, blinded by the belief that he is the sole architect of justice.

This leads us into Machiavellian territory. In The Prince, Niccolò Machiavelli argues that the ruler must often act against virtue to maintain stability, and that cruelty (if well-used) can preserve order. Cameron’s actions mirror this chilling idea. He embraces control through violence, not out of malice, but from a conviction that chaos must be corrected. But instead of wisdom, his decisions are driven by trauma, obsession and narcissism.

David Slade: Architect of Digital Dystopias

Few directors in Black Mirror’s canon have shaped its visual and thematic identity as definitively as David Slade. With “Plaything,” Slade returns for a third time, having already left his signature on the cold terror of Metalhead and the mind-bending simulation of Bandersnatch. But his influence extends beyond Black Mirror. His work on American Gods further showcases a deep fascination with the psychology of power, the birth of myth, and the blurred line between belief and control.

In American Gods, Slade explored a world where ancient deities clashed with modern ones, where gods were no longer worshipped in temples but in the glowing light of screens. That idea reverberates in Plaything, where the digital becomes divine, and the protagonist unknowingly creates a system so powerful, it supplants his own will. There’s a recurring obsession in Slade’s work with power structures disguised as salvation, a seductive paradox where the quest to fix the world leads to its domination. Slade doesn’t just tell dystopian stories, he invites us to inhabit their logic, making the audience complicit in the descent. In Plaything, that descent is not just technological. it’s theological.

Black Mirror Multiverse and Easter Eggs

If you’re a true fan of Black Mirror, chances are your glitchy brain caught at least a few of the Easter Eggs scattered throughout Playtest. But in case you blinked, don’t worry I got you. Here is a list of the most deliciously nerdy winks and nods packed into this episode and what they mean for the evolving Black Mirror universe.

1. Bandersnatch II

• Referenced Episode: Bandersnatch

• Director: David Slade

• Season: Interactive Film (2018 Special)

Yes, you saw that right , there’s a Bandersnatch 2 poster hanging in Tuckersoft’s office. That subtle background detail basically confirms that, in-universe, Bandersnatch was not just a one-time glitchy fever dream. Tuckersoft kept going, kept growing, and somehow decided, “Yeah, let’s do that again.” The meta never ends, folks.

2. Metalhead… the Game?!

• Referenced Episode: Metalhead

• Director: David Slade

• Season: 4, Episode 5

Also chilling on the office wall: a vintage-style poster for Metalhead. You know, the one with those Boston Dynamics dogs on murderous autopilot? Yeah. Now it’s a 2D game. That’s Black Mirror humor at its bleakest: take the most terrifying dystopi and gamify it. Cute!

3. Striking Vipers II

• Referenced Episode: Striking Vipers

• Director: Owen Harris

• Season: 5, Episode 1

A nod to virtual sensuality appears as another game poster: Striking Vipers 2. That’s right , That episode where friendship got a little too interactive has been sequelized in-universe.

4. Space Fleet Lives On

• Referenced Episode: USS Callister

• Director: Toby Haynes

• Season: 4, Episode 1

If you squint near the back of the office, you’ll spot a Space Fleet poster , a direct homage to the sci-fi nightmare USS Callister. That episode gave us one of the most terrifying tech tyrants in the series, and apparently his fictional world lives on as… a franchise?

5. Waldo’s Still Watching

• Referenced Episode: The Waldo Moment

• Director: Bryn Higgins

• Season: 2, Episode 3

Finally, tucked in the corner like a political warning you forgot to read: a poster of WALDO. Yes, that annoying, foul-mouthed blue bear who went from cartoon jokester to authoritarian nightmare. If you thought we’d escaped him think again. He’s a timeless reminder that even satire can get elected.

TV Parallels That’ll Blow Your Digital Mind

Alright, so we’ve been deep-diving into Easter Eggs like we’re on a scavenger hunt through the Tuckersoft basement. But wait, there’s more. Because Plaything isn’t just playing with Black Mirror lore… it also echoes some seriously iconic moments in film and TV history.

As I watched the Throngoliths evolve and Cameron spiral into god-mode delusion, three unforgettable parallels from pop culture immediately came to mind. And trust me—you’ll wanna check these out:

1. Lisa’s Petri Dish of Doom

• Referenced Episode: The Genesis Tub

• Show: The Simpsons – Treehouse of Horror VII

• Air Date: 1996

Yep. The first one is pure 90s gold. In this mini-segment, Lisa Simpson accidentally creates a tiny civilization inside a petri dish using a tooth, cola, and static electricity. As her tiny “children” grow into a full-blown society, she’s worshipped as a god… until Bart shows up and ruins everything (as usual). Sound familiar? Divine complex meets micro-tech dystopia? That’s Playtest in cartoon form.

Frozen Time Travel in a Freezer

• Referenced Episode: Ice Age

• Show: Love, Death & Robots

• Creators: Tim Miller & David Fincher

• Air Date: 2019

A hipster couple finds a lost civilization evolving inside their antique freezer. Yes, inside the freezer. From cavemen to future dystopia in fast-forward, they just sit back and watch history unfold like a Netflix docuseries. Just like in Playtest, the couple becomes both observer and god-figure… powerless, fascinated, and maybe a little too obsessed.

The Twilight Zone’s Tiny Tyranny

• Referenced Episode: The Little People

• Show: The Twilight Zone

• Air Date: 1962

• Creator: Rod Serling

Two astronauts crash-land on a desolate planet and find a race of microscopic people. One of them loses his mind and declares himself their god. Sound familiar? The episode is a masterclass in how power, unchecked and worshipped, mutates into madness. It’s pure proto-Black Mirror.

I’m not saying these are confirmed references, but this parallels are too juicy to ignore. All of them explore one of the most fascinating themes in sci-fi: What happens when humans get to play God.

So what do you think? 🤔

Did you catch any other references or pop culture parallels? Is there another moment I missed? Drop it in the comments!

Personally, I think this is easily one of the most philosophically rich episodes of all Black Mirror.

If you enjoyed this breakdown go ahead and like this article and follow for more deep dives, twisted theories, and digital detective work.

Read you next time… Don’t forget to log out. 🧠💡