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Stripe
"Stripe" Koinange
Portrayed By: Malachi Kirby
- Ambiguous Ending: When Stripe returns to his beautiful (actually run-down) house to see his (virtual) wife, tears stream down his cheeks, hinting that he may still subconsciously realize that he's living a lie.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: The implants make him see innocents as monsters, causing Stripe to murder them on a whim.
- Flat Character: Stripe is much less developed than other protagonists.
- Heroic BSoD: When he realizes that he's been killing innocent people, Stripe becomes a broken mess.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Has this reaction when he finds out the roaches aren't actually monsters.
- Obliviously Evil: Stripe had no idea that the roaches weren't actually monsters.
- Only Sane Man: Justified as he was the only one whose implant was damaged so he could see the awful truth.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Nobody is able to correctly pronounce his surname, so he is known to everyone as Stripe.
- Sadistic Choice: After discovering the truth about the roaches, Stripe is given the option to either relive the murders he commits without the implant's filter or to have his memory erased and continue massacring innocents. Stripe chooses the latter.
- Shoot the Shaggy Dog: Stripe does uncover the truth about the roaches, but has his memory erased and goes back to murdering them, meaning that he ends up exactly as he was at the beginning of the episode.
- Unwitting Pawn: The MASS implants make him think the "roaches" are monsters, causing him to massacre civilians under the impression that they're dangerous.
- Villain Protagonist: Unintentionally fits this role, as he's committing genocide under the military's orders, not knowing that the roaches he is assigned to kill aren't actually mutated monstrosities.
"Rai" Raiman
Raiman
Portrayed By: Madeline Brewer
- Blood Knight: She seems to take an almost sexual delight in hunting down "roaches", and has to be talked down from going beyond her orders.
- Faux Action Girl: She has good aim and excellent tracking skills, but considering her targets are unarmed defenseless civilians, it's not very impressive. She also gets easily overpowered by Stripe, who while more muscular than her, is not a violent person.
- Obliviously Evil: Since she has a MASS like every other soldier, she doesn't see reality as it is and thus thinks she is killing monsters when it is actually innocent human beings.
- Punch-Clock Villain: Being a soldier who thinks she kills monsters. See Obliviously Evil above.
Catarina
Catarina
Portrayed By: Ariane Labed
- Ms. Exposition: She's the one to reveal the truth of what the Roaches are to Stripe and how they came to be persecuted.
- You No Take Candle: She speaks somewhat broken English.
Medina
Medina
Portrayed By: Sarah Snook
Arquette
Arquette
Portrayed By: Michael Kelly
- The Bad Guy Wins: Arquette gets exactly what he wants and is free to continue carrying out the Roach genocide, thanks to the only person who knows the truth having their memory erased.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: The soft-spoken and friendly military psychologist turns out to be the evilest character in the series.
- Bald of Evil: Balding and an utter monster.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Arquette's speech is eerily similar to one you'd hear from a Nazi or somebody with adjacent views.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Subverted. Arquette genuinely believes that Humans Are Good and don't actually want to kill or hurt each other, and that is the reason why the MASS system was invented: to make the "enemies" look like boogeymen instead of people.
- Double-Subverted as he still thinks that Stripe should understand why they are committing genocide since he thinks the target has "inferior genetics".
- Evil Sounds Deep: Has a pretty deep voice, since that is what Michael Kelly is really good at having.
- Fantastic Racism: Although the "Roaches" are humans like anyone else, Arquette is viciously prejudiced against them, like any good Nazi expy.
- Faux Affably Evil: He's rather polite and understanding, even while being a cold-blooded genocidal maniac who agrees wholeheartedly with his employers' attempt to purge "the undesirables".
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Arquette wears a pair of rather thick glasses in addition to being a genocidal sociopath.
- Hate Sink: Arquette gleefully enables the genocide of entire populations whom he deems unworthy. He's a manipulative, sadistic bastard who administers the deaths of innocents to fulfill his racist ideology. He is easily one of the most evil villains to ever appear in Black Mirror.
- Light Is Not Good: Wears a white shirt underneath a blue suit as he sits in a white office and is one of the most evil characters in Black mirror.
- Karma Houdini: Receives no punishment whatsoever by the end of the episode.
- Mad Doctor: He's a bigoted psychopath who happily directs genocidal actions through manipulation and technology.
- Mouth of Sauron: As the one of the main links between the genocidal regime and the soldiers carrying out said genocide, he is the one who gets to exposit about the regime's true goals to Stripe.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Is deeply racist against the "Roaches" and gleefully supports their extermination.
- Psycho Psychologist: A military psychologist who oversees a unit committing genocide against a group of people deemed "undesirable".
- Sadistic Choice: Gives Stripe one at the end of the episode. He forces Stripe to rewatch his memories of killing innocents without the filter, seeing them in their true forms as innocent people. Arquette threatens Stripe to play it on a loop in isolation or he can erase it all for Stripe to continue his mission.
- Social Darwinist: The reason why he supports the genocide - he believes that the Roaches have inferior genetics, claiming that they have higher risks of getting various diseases and proclivities for criminal behavior and so on.
- The Sociopath: For this episode. In addition to being a manipulative and genocidal social Darwinist, he replays Stripe's memory of killing innocents in front of his eyes and is willing to do so on a loop if Stripe doesn’t agree to continue the mission.
- Soft-Spoken Sadist: Arquette hardly ever raises his voice, even when talking about how he plans to murder millions.
- Walking Spoiler: When it's revealed he's behind the MASS implants.
Heidekker
Parn Heidekker
Portrayed By: Francis Magee
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The fact that he hides the "Roaches" in his home and offers them sanctuary is an obvious parallel to the Europeans who hid Jews in their homes away from the Nazis while World War 2 raged on.
- Nice Guy: He shelters the "Roaches" in his home and does his best to keep them safe from persecution.
- Only Sane Man: He's one of the few people who doesn't buy into the propaganda the governments spew about the "Roaches".
- Real Men Love Jesus: Has a cross hanging in his house, which contributes to his moral and altruistic nature.
