As a science fiction nerd, I am a huge fan of stories that use fantastic scenarios to explore human behavior. As a result, I have always loved Black Mirror’s exploration of human relationships with technology. However, I have also had misgivings about technophobic elements of various episodes in the series. A frequent criticism of the show is it promotes a Luddite message.

I think “The Entire History of You,” while being an engrossing  piece of science fiction, is actually unreasonably technophobic in its themes.

At the very end of the episode, Liam removes his Grain to help him deal with separating from his wife, Ffion. The episode ends just when he removes it, so there is no definitive answer for what occurs afterward. However, Liam’s problem is not the technology itself, but the way that it brings out his worst tendencies. Even without the Grain, Liam is an insecure, paranoid, jealous, violent man. Removing the Grain has done nothing but remove a tool for improving his memory. He can still fixate on the past and be haunted by the ghost of his wife without its aid. People do this all the time today, without Grain technology. If anything, the removal will actually worsen his tendencies, since he now has a more unreliable memory that will exaggerate anything he fixates upon.

However, the characters and the editing of the episode itself imply that removing the Grain will truly improve Liam’s life.

The most prominent pro-Grain character in the episode an old friend of Ffion. She’s toad-faced, rude, and intolerant. Her behavior is reminiscent of that of a close-minded, conservative, and pushy family member at an annual reunion. This is clearly intended to be a negative portrayal of pro-Grain individuals.

In addition, the structure of the final scene implies that Liam is freeing himself by removing the Grain. As he is prying it from his head, images of Ffion flash across the screen, implying that he is literally removing them from his thoughts. The episode ends exactly when he completely extracts it. This suggests that his story is completely over now: removing the Grain has ended his trial. If there had been a lingering shot of him viewing himself in the mirror, or another image of Ffion, then I would believe that the episode’s themes were not technophobic. However, it ended then, so I’m inclined to believe that Charlie Brooker intended to convey that removing the Grain provided some sort of relief to Liam.