Be Right Back | White Bear | The Waldo Moment
Start running.
"I guess they were always like that underneath. Just needed the rules to change, for no one to intervene."
— Jem
Awaking without memory of who she is, a woman soon finds an armed, masked man is pursuing her with the intent of killing her. Of course, things wouldn't be as bad if everyone would stop filming it on their phones and help. Trailer here.
It stars Lenora Crichlow (Victoria), Michael Smiley (Baxter) and Tuppence Middleton (Jem).
Tropes related to White Bear:
- Accomplice by Inaction: Victoria was just as complicit to the crime as her boyfriend as she recorded a video of a child burning to death instead of actually getting the girl back to her parents.
- Action Girl: Jem is introduced as a competent survivalist, although it's subverted when she turns out to be just an actress playing a role.
- After the End: All media now displays a symbol that turns 90% of people into zombies, resulting in them filming anything interesting. Those who aren't affected either run to survive or hunt those who run. It turns out that's a lie — there was never any brainwashing going on.
- Alternative Character Interpretation: In-universe, Victoria is horrified by the person she used to be. She claims she'd rather be dead than live with her crimes. Baxter doesn't buy it, because he says he's seen her make the same statement night after night.
- Amnesiac Dissonance: Victoria is quite clearly upset when she sees that she enthusiastically assisted in the murder of a little girl.
- Amnesiac Hero: Victoria doesn't remember anything about her life prior to waking up. And really, it's a big stretch to call her a "hero".
- Amnesia Loop: Stuck in a particularly painful one, as the protagonist has to repeat the experience multiple times for the audience's entertainment.
- And I Must Scream: What happens to Victoria. She's forced to relive the traumatic events of the episode, over and over, possibly for the rest of her life. The jury's out on whether she deserves it.
- Anti-Hero: Baxter and the rest of the participants believe, not totally incorrectly, that they are punishing a terrible criminal, but they have a disturbing Lack of Empathy towards Victoria.
- Anti-Villain: Victoria helped kill a little girl, but she's scared, helpless, and hates herself once she finds out what she's done… probably.
- Arc Symbol: A lambda (λ) type symbol frequently appears on pieces of technology and the pursuer's mask. Turns out it's the tattoo on her boyfriend's neck.
- Asshole Victim: Victoria herself; it turns out the whole episode is a show and she's being punished for her part in the heinous murder of a six-year-old. There was also her boyfriend, whom she helped kill said six-year-old, although he's already dead by the time the episode takes place.
- The Atoner: Upon finding out what she's done, Victoria is overcome with remorse. Though Basil dismisses her "crocodile tears".
- Author Tract: The episode's uncomfortable ending, wherein we learn that the general public now takes part in the punishment of some criminals via a kind of interactive, voyeuristic theme park, echoes Charlie Brooker's criticisms of the 24-hour news cycle and its constant exploitation of tragedy (for an example, see his commentary on the Oscar Pistorius murder case).
- Bait-and-Switch: Victoria finds a photo of a little girl in the room where she wakes. She wonders if the child is her daughter, given the care the photo has received. Nope; it turns out the girl was a neighbor that her fiance murdered, while Victoria videotaped.
- Bewildering Punishment: Victoria has no idea who the masked figure is or why he is pursuing her. Nor will she ever, thanks to her repeated memory erasure.
- Big Damn Heroes: Jem comes back to help Victoria after escaping Baxter in the forest. It turns out to be just a part of the game.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Basil. He seems like a nice and heroic guy at first before revealing that he's just as homicidal. Then it's subverted when it's revealed he's just an actor pretending to be a serial killer and is actually a pretty jovial guy. Played somewhat more straight with Jem, who is also an employee just pretending to be Victoria's ally, though she's also fairly polite and likable, like Basil, just not to Victoria.
- Both Sides Have a Point: There's lots of evidence that can be used to support whether Victoria should be kept in this ironic hell or not. On the one hand, she was complicit in murdering a child and her only defense was that her fiance's charisma convinced her it was a good idea. While it's unclear if she had a defense lawyer, the judge is all set to Face Palm at the lame excuse. She would probably get beaten up in prison for the said crime and killed if not worse. On the other hand, because Victoria doesn't remember what she did, she comes off as a nicer person and more compassionate. Thus, she's not the same person who was holding the mobile phone. There's also the argument to be made that trapping her in this scenario prevents her from ever experiencing genuine remorse, which she shows herself as capable of at the end, and is simply cruelty for its own sake.
- Black-and-Gray Morality: Partway in, it becomes clear that there are no decent characters in the whole episode.
- Book Ends: The protagonist is punished, has everything explained to her, and then has her memory wiped to do it again tomorrow. It's also at least the eighteenth time it's happened ... in October. The ending credits have her go through the park yet another time and possibly begin another one.
- Brainwashed: Nine out of ten people have been, according to Jem. Turns out they're not brainwashed.
- Brainwashing for the Greater Good: The White Bear Justice Park owners certainly think it is, having guests feigning it when they are intentionally recording a criminal.
- Bystander Syndrome: Passing people not only ignore the protagonist's cries for help, they simply start recording the events on their phones. Turns out the reason is far more insidious than initially thought.
- Capitalism Is Bad: "White Bear" presents a society where justice porn is monetised; notorious criminals are continually run through a torture theme park for the entertainment of the mob. And in doing so the mob and the park personnel are made criminals too.
- Central Theme: The phenomenon of "justice porn" and social voyeurism, and how mob justice mentality can make us blind to justice and just as bad or worse than the people we are punishing.
- Chekhov's Gun: Several, especially those that resurface in the protagonist's memory.
- White Bear holds a negative significance for the protagonist: it was the type of teddy bear the little girl had, and was a symbol of the search for her.
- The symbol that brainwashes the public: it was her boyfriend's tattoo.
- The little girl: was actually her victim.
- The sleeping pills: Her actual suicide implements in prison.
- Her wrist bindings: used to protect her from the metal wrist-locks when strapped into the chair.
- The calendar with crosses: is keeping track of how many times she's relived the day.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Supposedly performed by the Hunters. Later it turns out that the whole experience is a particularly inventive kind.
- Come to Gawk: That's all the "normal" people (called "Observers" by the other survivors) do throughout the episode. And played more straight at the end when they jeer and throw stuff at Victoria as she's paraded through the streets.
- Come with Me If You Want to Live: Baxter helps the two women escape in his van this way. Subverted when he turns on them, and double subverted when it turns out the whole thing was an act.
- Conditioned to Accept Horror: The Observers. Originally portrayed as brainwashing, later shown to be just as accepting without any apparent coercion.
- Conveniently Timed Distraction: Baxter gets a phone call right in the middle of crucifying Victoria. Jem uses the opportunity to turn the tables around. This interruption was staged though.
- Cool and Unusual Punishment: Victoria's punishment for being an accomplice in the murder of a six-year-old girl (having videotaped the incident and doing nothing to help while her boyfriend did the deed) is to have her memories erased on a regular basis and forced into a staged enactment wherein it seems people are out to kill her, and no one will help. At the culmination of the act, Victoria is strapped down, forced to confront what she did in front of a crowd of vicious onlookers and be paraded in front of them while she's the recipient of screams and curses. The conclusion of her day is to have her memory of the events forcefully and painfully erased. Repeat.
- Cosy Catastrophe: Deconstructed. The breakdown of law and order is fun for the Hunters and the recorders, not so much for the other survivors. Part of the reason why is it is all a theme park attraction, and the catastrophe is Victoria being an accomplice to a child's murder.
- Cut Lex Luthor a Check: It is brilliant, in a dark way, that White Bear Park funds itself on tourism. It earns enough money to operate and torture Victoria from the guests' admission fees and merchandise purchases.
- Darker and Edgier: The entire series is pretty bleak and harrowing, but this episode really cranked it up a few notches, to the point where it stops being a "satirical dystopian" show and feels more like a simple horror movie.
- Downer Ending: Victoria is condemned to keep repeating the events of the day, possibly for the rest of her life, all the while the public continues to gawk and relish in her misery. This is after we find out that Victoria, far from being an innocent victim, is actually a child murderer.
- Driven to Suicide:
- We open up on a failed attempt, hence the amnesia. It turns out the suicide wasn't actually attempted, though Victoria begs to be killed every single night after she remembers.
- Victoria's boyfriend (who actually killed the girl) did hang himself in prison. It's actually possible that she did attempt suicide in prison but it didn't stick.
- The Ending Changes Everything: A while into the plot it's revealed that the entirety of the episode was a setup; Victoria's fiancé abducted and burned alive a six-year-old girl, while she stood and filmed it. After they were caught, the boyfriend hanged himself in his cell, leading to her sentence to be centered around not letting Victoria escape being punished.
- Everyone Has Standards: It's revealed that Baxter's hatred for Victoria is real because she murdered a child with two loving parents. He even takes care to straighten Jemima's photograph. When Baxter talks to the new audience of the day, he reassures everyone that the cast members will protect them from Victoria, children included.
- Evil Versus Evil: Somewhere in between this and Black-and-Gray Morality. Victoria is objectively a monster who helped murder an innocent girl, but the Park is extracting money by keeping her in an infinite loop of torture, showing her what she did wrong and then wiping her memory thereof.
- Fatal Family Photo: One of the darkest variants; Victoria looks at a photo of herself and a man, along with a separate school photo of a little girl. Victoria wonders if the girl was her daughter. She finds out at the end that Jemima is not her daughter, but a child that her fiance murdered before he hung himself in prison. Victoria tried to kill herself.
- Fate Worse than Death: At the end of each day, Victoria begs to be killed, but White Bear Justice Park seems in no hurry to do that. And who knows how long this punishment will last. It's the whole point of her sentence. People think her fiancé got off easy when he killed himself in prison.
- Forced to Watch: The Observers. None of them complains, though, because they feel they're doing the right thing.
- Foreshadowing:
- The little girl's picture is separate from the one of Victoria and a man she doesn't remember. Victoria muses that it must be her daughter, but isn't sure. If the girl were actually their daughter, she'd more than likely be in the photo as well rather than balanced in the frame. It turns out the man was her fiance, who kidnapped the girl Jemima and murdered her while Victoria videotaped.
- Victoria simply leaving Damien to die rather than following Jem's instruction to help him fight off the gunman at the beginning is a clue to her instinctual modus operandi of being a Dirty Coward who doesn't actively participate in events, but rather selfishly slinks through them.
- Vast amounts through her slowly returning memory. Most notable is when the protagonist picks up the dropped phone and the other survivor points a taser at her claiming she'll go mad if she looks at it; it's later revealed that the protagonist would have seen it was all a setup, and the tasers are used for days when things don't go according to plan.
- Baxter is particularly harsh with Victoria when talking to her, despite not having met her before, indicating that he holds some deep-seated contempt for her for a reason that isn't initially apparent. He is noticeably surprised at some memories she recalls while they're driving.
- When Jem saves Victoria from Baxter by shooting at him with his shotgun, all it seemingly does is knock him down with no sign of blood anywhere despite Baxter earlier boasting that if he were to use it when he was holding Jem and Victoria at gunpoint with it earlier, they'd both be cut in half from a single blast, hinting towards the staged nature of the scenario.
- For the Evulz: This seems to have been Victoria and her boyfriend's motivation for their crimes, as evidenced by her recording it and Victoria's visible lack of remorse in her mugshot.
- Girls Love Stuffed Animals: The murdered girl had a distinctive white teddy bear, which became a symbol of the nationwide search for her and the namesake of the park where one of her murderers would be punished.
- Happier Home Movie: Throughout the episode, Victoria keeps having flashbacks of a homemade video that shows the little girl in her photo having a picnic with her stuffed toys. Very much subverted when it turns out that the video concludes with Victoria's boyfriend burning her alive.
- Harmful to Minors: During the end credits, a young girl is seen participating in the park charade and being encouraged to enjoy Victoria's torment.
- Headache of Doom: the story begins with Victoria waking up with a severe headache, and throughout the episode she experiences additional surges of pain accompanied by vivid flashbacks to her forgotten past; at first, it's believed to be from the "White Bear" signal, an apocalyptic event transformed most of the human race into "hunters" and "observers." It turns out the signal was just a story cooked up to fool her: she's really a prisoner in an amusement park, and the headache is a side-effect of Victoria being mind-raped in order to erase her memory of the day.
- Here We Go Again!: It is revealed that post-apocalypse was a complete ruse so that Victoria can be horribly frightened and emotionally tortured before she is told the truth and forced to do it again after having her memory wiped.
- He Who Fights Monsters: The White Bear Justice Park.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Victoria filmed her fiancé torturing and murdering the young girl, which provided the evidence needed to convict them of the crime.
- Humans Are Bastards: Jem suggested that the onlookers of them being chased are that way because the White Bear signal really brought out what was beneath the surface. Played straight as the truth about the protagonist is revealed, with the whole thing being a ruse designed to make sure she "doesn't escape justice" like her boyfriend, as she is chased, brought to the place with a braying crowd watching her, watches the clip she filmed of the little girl's last moments, while she's mind-wiped, every day. In their minds, of course they are giving justice to the deceased girl, while ensuring Victoria doesn't live a single second of peace.
- Humiliation Conga: Invoked by the park management, as the entire experience is meant to torment and degrade Victoria ... endlessly.
- Hypocrite: The people running the park and subjecting Victoria to her "punishment" as well as the people enjoying the show are completely oblivious to the fact that they are guilty of being capable of the same dehumanisation and moral degeneracy that they are disgusted at Victoria for. Or they know and don't care or think it's justified.
- I Hate Past Me: Victoria is horrified when she discovers she was an accomplice to a murder of a little girl.
- Implacable Man: Jem and Victoria can't shake the Hunters while on the run. Justified, as the simulation requires no one to be hurt for real.
- Ironic Hell: As punishment for watching and recording while her boyfriend terrified, tortured and murdered a little girl, Victoria now lives her life being constantly terrified and helpless while people just record and watch.
- Karma Houdini: The public thinks Victoria's fiancé invoked this because he hanged himself in his cell before he could go to trial. Then they turned their attention to making sure Victoria herself didn't get off so easy...
- The Killer in Me: Baxter reveals to Victoria that the entire "onlooker apocalypse" is an elaborate simulation tailor-made to punish her for her participation in the torture and murder of a young girl.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: The Identity Amnesia variety.
- Lack of Empathy: Victoria is horrified to see that in her mugshot and court drawings that she was always glaring at the camera, without any hint of remorse.
- Basil and the rest of the staff as well as the public have a similar attitude towards Victoria, gleefully participating in her ongoing torture and dismissing the idea that she is remorseful for her crimes, Basil angrily calling out her "crocodile tears".
- Large Ham: "WHY ISN'T ANYONE HELPINNNNNG USSSSSSSSSS?!?" and "HOW DO YOU LIKE IT!!!" If happiness could be measured in Ham, then all of Victoria's problems in this episode would be solved.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: A woman is being chased around by a hunter and a gang of Malevolent Masked Men rescued by an Action Girl and led to a final confrontation at the factory for the viewers' entertainment.
- Malevolent Masked Men: Invoked. Jem specifically tells Victoria they do it to scare survivors. Turns out it was specifically for just the protagonist.
- Memory Wipe Exploitation: This is taken to a policy level as part of the twist in the episode. Every day, Victoria Skillane wakes up with no memories and is chased through the streets by maniacal mask-wearers who will only commit horrific acts of violence and seemingly "ordinary" civilians filming on their cell phones who will never attempt to stop them, no matter what happens. It's revealed that this is Victoria's punishment for assisting in the abduction, torture, and murder of a little girl and that every night her memory is wiped after she is forced to remember. This is specifically so that the "amusement park" visitors can engage in the exact same torture, knowing that Victoria has no idea why any of this is happening and is experiencing the same terror as her victim.
- Mind Screw: The second half of the episode details not just how the first half was entirely fake and staged, but how the protagonist the audience has been following is revealed to be a horrible murderer, and is reduced to a sobbing mess while she's punished for her crimes. The antagonists meanwhile casually and somewhat smugly go along with their jobs of entertaining nameless onlookers, all while Victoria is breaking down.
- Mind Rape: The memory eraser appears to be this, if the day's events weren't horrible enough.
- The Mole: Baxter was one of the Hunters all along, and he and Jem turn out to be park employees manipulating Victoria.
- Moral Pragmatist: Baxter makes a show out of the power drill he's going to use to torture Victoria, without actually placing it to her back. It turns out that the psychological effects were part of the show and he wouldn't maim her for real. This isn't due to any nobility; the park needs Victoria healthy enough to run every day from supposed tormentors and being paralyzed would put a crimp on that.
- Mundanger: There is no actual brainwashing signal. The truth is much worse.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Victoria is not happy when she seems her own trial footage, where she glares into the camera with no remorse for being an accessory to murder. She's sobbing the whole while, and begging for death. Baxter doesn't believe her.
- No Name Given: No introductions are given, so character names are reserved for the credits or brief mentions. For clarification: Victoria is the protagonist with memory loss, Jem and Damien are the survivors she meets at the start, and Baxter is the survivor with the van.
- Not Brainwashed: All the people observing, in a fairly chilling example.
- Nothing Personal: Unlike Baxter, Jem is matter-of-fact about torturing Victoria. She nonchalantly helps strap her into a chair just as the truth is revealed.
- Once More, with Clarity: The 'credit sequence'. We see another scene of the episode, but get a backstage look at it.
- Punch-Clock Villain: The people subjecting Victoria to her life of torture appear to be simply doing their jobs as employees of the park and are otherwise normal, friendly people who get along with one another off the clock. Although they seem to take great satisfaction in it, given what Victoria did.
- Red Shirt: Damien is offed pretty quickly by the masked man. He's a park employee; he turns out just fine.
- Revenge Is Not Justice: Deconstructed as the story is designed to make the audience question if Victoria truly deserves such a harsh punishment. White Bear Justice Park was designed to punish Victoria for her role in Jemima's death because Victoria recorded her torture, death, and burial at the hands of her boyfriend, Iain Rannoch. While Victoria is definitely complicit in Jemima's death, her punishment is disproportionate because they are mentally torturing her by making her relive the same day every day and ending it by giving her amnesia. Given that Iain committed suicide to escape the consequences of his actions, the White Bear Justice Park is merely punishing Victoria because they're trying to get closure by any means necessary because they couldn't get revenge by torturing Iain. However, the judge at Victoria's sentencing stated that her punishment would be "proportionate" prior to Iain's suicide, implying that she would have ended up in this situation regardless of what Iain had done.
- Shout-Out: The murder is meant to be a nod to the infamous Moors murders which, even now, still haunt the British public consciousness. Victoria shares a few traits with Myra Hindley. Unlike Hindley, however, her remorse appears to be genuine. Appears to be. The detail of her boyfriend committing suicide on remand, leaving her to face justice alone references another British serial killer couple, Frederick and Rosemary West.
- Symbolic Blood: As Victoria is being driven in a van through a crowd of jeering and shouting onlookers, sponges covered in red paint are hurled against the glass walls of the vehicle, being sold at a stall for $2 each.
- This Loser Is You: You (especially bystanders) are just as bad as the voyeurs. Word of God even stated it that the inspiration of this episode was taken from Bystander Syndrome and mob mentality, especially on the internet.
- Took a Level in Badass: Victoria spends the whole episode as The Load to Jem's Action Girl, but finally picks up the shotgun while surrounded by Hunters inside White Bear ... and shoots confetti.
- Tomato in the Mirror: The protagonist conspired in a murder and is perpetually being punished for her crime.
- Trauma-Induced Amnesia: It looks like the leading woman is suffering from it after a Bungled Suicide.
- "Truman Show" Plot: It's all a theme park experience, where the protagonist's memory is eventually wiped and done again for more people.
- Truth in Television: Many child murderers face the public eye and scorn for their victims being innocent and helpless. Even in prison, other inmates may gang up on them to either beat them, kill them, or worse.
- The Unfettered: Jem states that the hunters aren't actually being affected by the signal to act torturous and cruel. Rather, they're simply other unaffected people who saw the breakdown of society as an excuse to Rape, Pillage, and Burn. Subverted when it's revealed to all be a ploy.
- Vigilante Injustice: A woman has lost her memory and is told that the world is brainwashed and she is being actively hunted. The twist is that the woman is Victoria Skillane, who was arrested for recording the murder and torture of Jemima Sykes at the hands of Victoria's fiance, Iain Rannoch. Victoria is being repeatedly tortured in the White Bear Justice Park as visitors pay to watch her suffer. The episode is designed to question whether or not Victoria truly deserves this punishment and if the workers at the White Bear Justice Park are in the right to punish her so severely for what she did.
- Villain Protagonist: Victoria, in a way, though the episode makes it very clear who the true monsters are.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: The White Bear Justice Park is ostensibly serving extreme justice for a horrible criminal. Though it's arguably just a transparent excuse for them to profit off of someone else's torment.
- Wham Line: At the end of the day, after running from her life from "zombies" and "hunters", having her crimes revealed to her and being driven through a crowd of onlookers baying for her blood, Victoria pleads as she's being strapped into the chair: "Please kill me." Baxter's response:
- Would Hurt a Child: It is revealed that Victoria filmed her boyfriend torturing and murdering a six-year-old girl, and the "apocalypse" is a simulation she is forced to relive daily as punishment for her crime and for the entertainment of the park's guests.
- You Bastard!: We the audience are watching a show where a woman is being tortured every day, as a form of punishment.
- You Wake Up in a Room: The episode starts with Victoria waking up in an unfamiliar room with no memory.
