Black Mirror
6×04: “Mazey Day”
Directed by Uta Briesewitz
Written by Charlie Brooker

* For a recap & review of 6×03, click here.
* For a recap & review of 6×05, click here.
Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are in the news due to the name of their baby, Suri. It’s 2006. A woman called Bo (Zazie Beetz) is taking photographs of a closeted gay celebrity, Justin Camley, at a motel with his secret gay lover. She’s a paparazzo. She sells a few of her photos from the day to a sleazy tabloid editor. After the photos are published, Camley’s found dead by suicide. Other members of the paparazzi don’t much care for Camley, believing he shouldn’t have signed up to be a celeb if he had such secrets to keep. But Bo definitely feels bad. She starts seeing the nastier side of her paparazzi friends, as a Paris Hilton-like figure walks into a club and one of photogs calls her “skank” and “whore” then threatens to sue her for pushing him. Bo quickly decides it’s time for her to find something better to do.

In the Czech Republic, an actress called Mazey Day (Clara Rugaard) is filming a historical TV series. At night, she practices her British accent, and decides to eat some mushrooms, which results in a one-woman party rather than any kind of individual rehearsal. She smashes a wine glass while dancing only to cut her finger a little. She makes this foolish decision to drive when she realises she’s out of cigarettes. She hops in her vehicle despite being buzzed on wine and shrooms. And when Mazey’s distracted by her bloody finger, she takes her eyes off the road long enough to mow somebody down. She stops and watches her rearview mirror a moment, noticing the person she hit lying in the middle of the road. She gradually gets out, but then we cut away. The following morning, Mazey’s cleaning up her mess from the night prior when she hears a vehicle honking outside. A rough time to have to head back to set. On the way, the car she’s in has to stop because the cops are in the road where she hit her victim; it was a man. Mazey has to try her best acting on and off the set, so nobody finds out her horrible secret. Diazepam helps.
Things with Bo and her roommate Nathan (David Rysdahl) are having troubles. She hasn’t been pulling her economic weight with the rent, nor the groceries. Nathan has a big speech, which he needs cue cards to remember, though Bo insists she’ll get the money for him. Bo doesn’t only work as a paparazzo, she works at a coffee shop slinging caffeine and treats. Her pap friend Hector (Danny Ramirez) drops by, albeit not received happily by Bo. She didn’t love seeing his doggish side come out last time they were together. Yet Hector wants help with a new job related to Mazey, who disappeared after her film shoot; “nobody‘s seen her since.” There’s a $30K price tag for any photos, especially if they’re of Mazey appearing like a junkie, or something equally as degrading and exploitative. This is tempting to Bo, solely for the payday. She tries reaching out to an old contact, but there’s nothing on Mazey; she’s been a ghost ever since her last movie finished.

Wherever Mazey’s staying, she’s spotted by a woman delivering food. Maybe that’ll leak out. These things typically do get out eventually. Bo’s already on the hunt trying to find out any kind of potential lead. In a magazine interview, Bo finds a reference to an Asian restaurant, so she heads there immediately. She talks to the delivery woman, who claims Mazey’s at “some producer‘s house.” Bo finds the address and posts up outside the house in an attempt to get a glimpse at Mazey. Meanwhile, Mazey’s thinking of the night she ran the man down, remembering when she got out of the car to take a closer look and haunted by what she witnessed.
Bo’s dedicated. She remains outside watching the house until the following morning. When the maid shows up at the house she discovers Mazey inside and the place is trashed almost entirely; glass is everywhere. A while later, Bo wakes up in her car to see a big vehicle pulling into the driveway. Dr. Dmitri Babich (Kenneth Collard) is brought in to speak with Mazey. He says they’ve got a place out of town to take Mazey for a few days. He tells her she needs a little isolation and rest. Soon the doc and his patient leave, as Bo snaps more photos outside, and Bo decides to follow the vehicle onto the freeway.

Bo follows Mazey and the doctor to a place called Emerald Pines Diner. She pulls into the parking lot, just barely missing a chance to snap a photo of Mazey as the backseat window rolls down. Then a man in sunglasses and a suit comes over to puncture Bo’s tires with a knife. Kind of serves her right. Such is the life of a paparazzo! And what a place to end up, there’s barely anything nearby. Except for a “new age” rehab retreat for celebs, Cedarwood Retreat. A waiter at the diner tells Bo someone rented out the whole retreat for the weekend; no staff or anybody will be there. This clearly gets Bo’s brain working. She calls Hector, who eventually turns up at the diner. They don’t take any more time, heading directly for Cedarwood.
A couple of Bo’s old paparazzi pals show up at the retreat. It really pisses Hector off because they put a tracker on his bike. But Bo is definitely not happy; it’s her find, she did all the legwork. There’s quite a sturdy fence built around the retreat, so the paps have to dig a way under part of it. As darkness falls, the paparazzi hear some power tool-like sounds. They see Dr. Babich come out with a medical kit and they see the guy who blew Bo’s tires with a rivet gun, too. Very weird. The paparazzi sneak up to attempt snapping photos through an air vent. They don’t get much, but enough to see that Dr. Babich chained Mazey up by the neck to keep her there. Bo wastes no time busting open the door’s lock. They all rush in, though Bo’s the only person not taking photos; the men are just snapping away at Mazey. While the flashes go off, Mazey tells them: “You‘ve gotta go.”

Then they hear a goat next to them in the room.
Weird, right? Mazey tells the paparazzi to run. Nobody listens. Suddenly, Mazey looks up into the sky at a full moon. She remembers the night she hit the man; it wasn’t a regular man, it was a werewolf. Now Mazey’s body contorts and starts changing into animal form. Hector and Bo run out while their two friends keep snapping photos, as Mazey transforms into a wolf right in front of their eyes. The werewolf eats one paparazzo while the other runs out. Hector and Bo make it through the fence, however, the remaining photog doesn’t make it through in time and the werewolf chews him up, too. Hector’s still a greedy man and fights his supposed pal to get the camera with all the best photos on it. He and Bo get to his bike. They speed off down the road but swerve and hit the dirt when an oncoming car nearly hits them.

Hector and Bo make a run for it through the woods, as the man in the truck is attacked by the werewolf. They make it back to the diner, where a cop’s complimenting the delicious chicken. The cop and the waiter are shocked when Bo and Hector move the jukebox to the door, then eventually things devolve when Bo tries to grab the cop’s gun. They all hear strange noises in the back followed by a wolf growling. One man’s attacked by the werewolf, and his girlfriend gets killed trying to help him. Hector also gets his neck bitten into it by the werewolf, as does the cop, who accidentally shoots the waiter when he hits the floor. The cop’s gun slides across the diner floor next to Bo, who shoots the werewolf just in time before she’s its next meal. Hector’s bleeding out when Bo rushes to his side; he passes her the camera before he finally dies.
Then Bo hears Mazey: “Kill me.” Mazey’s lying naked on the floor in a pool of her own blood, as well as the blood of others are all over her skin. She begs Bo to shoot her and end it. This is not the kind of shooting Bo does, so she gives Mazey the gun. As Mazey raises the gun to her head we see Bo pull the camera up; a strange, blood-soaked tale of addictions in various forms, addictions that lead to nothing but horror.