 In this Black Mirror Season 5 episode breakdown we're going to be talking about the episode Striking Vipers and there's actually quite a bit that we can learn from this episode so make sure that you stay tuned. What is up everybody? This is Chris from the Rewire Exile where we talk about the problem but focus on the solution. And if you're new to my channel what I like to do is take a look at movies, TV shows, the YouTube community, what's going on in pop culture, try to see what lessons we can learn from them. So if you're into that stuff make sure you subscribe and ring that notification bell and especially subscribe if you are a fan of Black Mirror like myself because I'm binging season 5 right now and I have a few videos planned to break down different episodes I just posted my last video breaking down the episode Rachel, Jack and Ashley too. So this one we're talking about Striking Vipers and then I will be talking about the other episode. So anyways let's do a quick little episode breakdown, go to the synopsis what happened to everything and then we'll talk about the ending of this episode alright. So the episode starts off where Danny and Carl, they are best friends and they are roommates and they were younger and Theo is living with them as well and they played a video game called Striking Vipers. Striking Vipers seems kind of like Street Fighter alright but anyways 11 years passed and it seems like Danny and Carl are not as close as they used to be. Carl shows up to Danny's birthday party and Danny is kind of like checking out other women so I'm like okay that's kind of interesting but anyways Carl ended up buying Danny the brand new Striking Vipers video game where it has like this VR hookup but in typical black mirror fashion it's like the thing that you put on the side of your head and your eyes turn all white and then boom you are inside or doing something that involves a computer okay. So what ends up happening is they go into the game and yeah they end up becoming very sexually attracted to each other and they hook up. So while Danny has been checking out other women you can see that Carl in his relationships he hasn't been as into you know anybody that he's dated so Danny and Carl they start going into this video game on a regular basis and hooking up. So Theo she starts realizing that Danny is kind of pulling away they're trying to conceive another baby but Danny is always tired alright. So we see it going on and finally on their anniversary Danny and Theo go out and Theo was hit on at the bar by a man and she goes and talks to Danny when they finally sit down for dinner and she's like yo dude like you forgot about our anniversary you haven't been physically attracted to me you seem like you're spacing out what's going on are you cheating on me and Danny's like no. And I found this kind of interesting because like not to give anybody advice on how to lie in this situation but I'm like Danny why don't you just tell her that you're always home that'll help the situation but anyways anyways he continues to lie to her about not cheating on her and it's kind of a weird situation like is it technically cheating that was kind of Carl's argument which we'll touch on in a second but anyways one of the key points that led to the ending of this episode was that Theo was talking about how she's made sacrifices for this relationship too she's made sacrifices for this family because they have a child together and she was just hit on by a guy at the bar that is the point where he's like yo Carl we gotta knock this off sorry dude whatever and they stop talking fast forward seven months Theo is now pregnant we see Carl kind of freaking out in his apartment he misses this thing right that him and Danny had inside of this video game so the following year on Danny's birthday Theo decides to surprise Danny by inviting Carl over and when they're at the table by themselves well Theo is over getting dessert for them Carl is like yo man like I miss it let's do this thing midnight let's log back in you know and Danny's conflicted about it but then he ends up doing it anyways so they do it and he's like what is this like he's not sure if he's gay or if it's just this video game because Carl is taking on the avatar of a woman in this video game so they end up meeting up and they want to kiss to see like is this a real thing are they actually attracted to each other or is it just part of this virtual reality video game so they end up kissing no sparks there then they get into a little fight which turns physical and they both get arrested so Theo she knew something was up at dinner but she goes to pick them up and the end of the episode kind of ends with like Theo being like yo Danny what's going on right why are you guys fighting what is happening and basically in the end credits we see what happens so it looks like it's the following year on Danny's birthday and Theo ends up giving Danny something is like I want this back right and they swap so what ends up happening it looks like they made some kind of compromise where Danny can go into the video game sleep with his best friend inside of this video game and Theo gets to go out and actually hook up with somebody else alright so that is the compromise they made so what does this have to do with real life alright this is something that I've touched on in previous videos talking about different youtubers talking about relationships talking about trying to cling on to relationships when it's just not working alright so what we see is Danny and Theo are trying to make this relationship work they've been together forever they've been together for what over ten over ten years at least and now they have a family together now they have two kids together by the end of this episode so they're trying to stay together now not only for their relationship but seems like for the kids as well so they're making a compromise where Danny can still sleep with Carl inside of a video game and Theo is out sleeping with somebody in real life but like is this the solution is it worth it to go out and have an open relationship of some sort in order to save a relationship now I'm gonna talk about this in two different scenarios there's one where you have kids and there's one where you don't have kids so when you don't have kids like I will say this and like just based on the statistics of what I've seen in my personal life and all of my friends and seeing things happen you know in the public spotlight like just let go of the relationship like if there's no kids involved like let go of the relationship quit trying to hold on to it because it gets messy it gets messy like especially especially if you're married right like you are making a commitment to that person like you are the only person for me that is it right and when those feelings start to disappear like that's the reason why they have divorces and all that but the thing is is that no matter what people say for most people who have been brought up you know being taught monogamy like I have nothing against open relationships polyamory or anything like that the issue that I find is people are wired especially in the Western culture for monogamy so when they try doing this open relationship or they try experiencing polyamory things go real bad real quick because emotions start to get developed like there are many successful open relationships and polyamorous relationships but the thing is when you're doing it from my experience when you're doing it to try to save a relationship that's typically when it all falls apart right so obviously we didn't see what happened later in this episode of striking vipers right but like would this continue to be something cool as years go by is it something that actually keeps their relationship or does it cause more fights or do they keep growing distant from each other because that spark is not there anymore now the question is what if you're in a relationship and there's children involved so those of you who don't know me I'm a father I also have my beautiful girlfriend Tristan so my son he is with my ex and we split custody of him all right so he's with her you know for a few days a week he's with me a few days a week and all that and we have an amazing relationship together and I'm a very fortunate person if any of you want to check it out I made a video on Mother's Day about how fortunate I am to have my son's mother as his mother and in my life but anyways something that I learned at a younger age after my son was born and we were trying to make this relationship work like we were trying to hold on to this relationship and make it work for him for him and I don't know about any of you but I come from a divorced household right but when my parents were together when I was a kid like there was non-stop fighting and that kind of stuff was more damaging to me as a child than when they actually split up so my son's mother and I we kind of realized that as well and we ended up splitting up now any of you who really know me you know I'm a recovering drug addict and alcoholic so don't get me wrong that also played a major role in this but what I'm getting at is when we split up and we put our son first and wanted to make sure you know we we provided the best life for him possible and not just like make sure as a roof over his head and toys or you know food or whatever that is we wanted to make sure that his parents had a good relationship like because we knew how it would affect him if her and I were still fighting back and forth and now my son like I don't know I wish I can compare my son to other kids who come from you know quote-unquote broken households because my son is thriving and doing excellent right he is emotionally stable he is doing great in school and all that so the point I'm getting at is there's this idea that you have to stay together for the kids but in reality if both parents are able to just I don't know be adults and not try to like use their child as a weapon going back and forth and things like that you can split up and co-parent in a healthy way all right because when I look at this situation from black mirror in striking vipers like how long is this gonna go on for right what happens when the kids get older are they gonna ask questions how's this gonna make sense to them and all of that stuff you know is this healthier for them to do this and sleep with other people even though Danny was sleeping with Carl virtually like is that healthier than them splitting up and just co-parenting in a healthy way personally I don't think so but I would love to know your thoughts on this topic down in the comments below and let me know what you thought about this episode and the other episodes all right if you like this video please give it a thumbs up if you're new make sure you subscribe and ring that notification bell because like I said I am breaking down each episode of black mirror and I might do a couple videos for some of these episodes so anyways make sure you subscribe with the notifications turned on and a huge huge thank you to everybody who is out there supporting the channel over on patreon you're all amazing and if you'd like to support what I'm doing here by becoming a patron get your name up in the credits get access to our monthly Q&A and some other perks and benefits like the books I wrote click or tap on that patreon icon right there all right thanks again so so much for watching I'll see you next time