Summary
Part Three begins with Callett checking on Noel’s progress in setting up the green screen substitution at the studio. He says the performer is on his way. Other special agents show up in a car with pornographic film actor Rod Senseless (Jay Simpson). Senseless speaks in a cockney accent, explaining that he’s never done bestiality before, because it’s illegal. Just before they enter the studio, a cockney man snaps a photo on his phone of Senseless, saying, “Oi oi Rod!” while grinning. The agents push Senseless through the doors.
Malaika receives a text from her contact at Downing Street. She goes to take another photo in the bathroom. He smiles and laughs when he receives it, while looking flustered. Back at the studio, Callett tells Senseless he needs to get into a suit and wear a green screen sock on his head. Senseless jokes about giving his costar a kiss before the scene. Callett humorlessly says she is in the truck outside. Senseless jokes that Callett is full of “joie de vivre” and puts on the green head sock.
Police in tactical gear have assembled outside a rural home. Some of Callow’s aides watch the head cam footage of the raid. Callow stands at his window smoking a cigarette and discusses the current polling on the topic with Tom. Tom says that public opinion is sympathetic toward the prime minister; all outrage is at the kidnapper, not at him. Tom says, “The public anticipates non-compliance.” Tom speaks low so only the prime minister can hear, adding, “If he kills her, there’s no blood on your hands. Bottom line.” Callow pats his arm and throws away his cigarette.
In the control room of the UKN news broadcast center, a courier package arrives with a finger on ice inside a sunglasses case. There is also a USB stick with the words “WATCH ME” painted on it. The news people watch the video on the thumb drive, which says, “I GAVE YOU RULES. I SAID NO CHEATING. ROD SENSELESS? PLEASE.” The video then shows the princess struggling while a man with a burlap sack on his head shows the bloody finger to the camera.
UKN reports on the development, showing the video of the princess’s finger seemingly being removed. The public and Downing Street watch in shock and horror. Callow gets angry with the Home Secretary for attempting visual trickery, reminding her that it goes against the kidnapper’s demands. She says she considered it necessary.
Callow kicks his desk in rage, then lunges at her, grabbing her throat and raising his fist. His aides pull him away from her. She explains that she thought it would work to put his head on another man’s body, but some idiot at the studio tweeted a photo of Senseless and the “online hive mind did the maths.” Tom checks his phone and says, “It’s not playing well. With anyone.”
Just before 3 p.m., UKN reports that the public mood has shifted. While previously only 28% of the public believed the prime minister should fulfill the “bizarre and illegal request,” the images of the princess’s finger being severed have changed things, and people believe he just has to do it. Now 86% of voters believe the demand should be met.
Callow sees the report and rushes out of his office to get the raid started. He says, “They go in now.” As the tactical police begin moving, the journalist Malaika steps out of a bush at the scene. She phones the newsroom to tell Martin that she’s standing outside the building where Susannah is being held.
Analysis
Brooker builds on Special Agent Callett’s comedic subplot when Callett brings in fictional porn actor Rod Senseless to have sex with the sow in the prime minister’s place. Once again, Callett undertakes his assignment with absolute seriousness, even while Senseless cracks jokes about his animal “costar.” Senseless also provides comic relief with verbal irony, sarcastically stating that the humorless Callett is full of joy for life.
More of Callett’s and the Home Secretary’s plan becomes clear as Callett orders Senseless to wear a green sock over his head so footage of the prime minister’s head can be substituted over Senseless’s using a special effects replacement technique known as chromakey. The themes of government incompetence and the dark side of technological innovation return when a random member of the public snaps a photo of Rod on his way into the studio. Despite MI6’s training and apparent professionalism, their plan is easily exposed by an indifferent stranger with a cell phone camera and access to Twitter.
The theme of public opinion returns with the scene in which Tom updates the prime minister on the latest polls. Despite the life-or-death implications of Susannah’s kidnapping, Callow cannot help but wonder how voters are receiving the scandal. He is relieved to learn that polling figures suggest the public doesn’t see him as responsible, and all blame will be placed on the kidnapper if he doesn’t go through with the broadcast.
Not mincing words, Tom makes it clear that there will be “no blood” on Callow’s hands if he wants to let the kidnapper murder Susannah. In one of the episode’s darkest moments, Callow reveals his true callousness, patting Tom on the shoulder upon receiving confirmation that it won’t affect his political career too badly if he lets Susannah die.
The theme of public opinion returns when video of Susannah’s finger being severed is broadcast for the world to see—ostensible proof that the kidnapper is serious and ruthless. In an instance of situational irony, the polls that moments earlier released Callow from responsibility suddenly turn against him. While polls before the video had been in Callow’s favor, now the majority of voters see the UK government as recklessly risking Susannah’s life by trying to fake the footage.
Delivering a line of ironic understatement, Tom reports that the fact of Susannah’s finger being severed isn’t “playing well” with the voters, as though the violence is a mere unwanted development in a political campaign. As a result, most people believe Callow must go through with the obscene act. Desperate to avoid the humiliation of having to have sex with a pig, Callow orders his operatives to raid the suspected hideout of the kidnapper. In this way, he attempts to take charge of what is proving to be an impossible dilemma.
