“Striking Vipers” is one of those episodes in Black Mirror that adds to the show’s list of complicated narratives. Starring Anthony Mackie and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, this season 5 episode focuses on two old friends who reconnect over their favorite video game.
What starts as a simple reunion takes a strange turn, with their friendship evolving into something far more complicated within a virtual reality game. As the episode progresses, it heads toward an unexpectedly bittersweet conclusion.
Virtual worlds blur the lines of reality in a way no one expects (Photo: Black Mirror Season 5/Zeppotron, Charlie Brooker’s own company, in association with Endemol, the UK television company)The story follows Danny (Mackie) and his wife, Theo (Nicole Baharie), as they try for a second baby. Meanwhile, Danny reconnects with his old friend Karl (Abdul-Mateen). They begin playing Striking Vipers X, a new virtual reality fighting game, to stay in touch.
However, their interactions using the player characters Roxette (Pom Klementieff) and Lance (Ludi Lin) quickly become sexually charged. This development changes the dynamics of their relationship and also impacts Danny’s marriage, creating a complex situation.
As Black Mirror season 6 approaches, many fans are likely eager to explore the meaning behind the Striking Vipers ending in greater detail.
What Happens in Striking Vipers’ Ending
The Striking Vipers ending picks up after a rift between Danny and Karl. A seven-month time jump brings us to a point where Theo is heavily pregnant, Danny’s life seems to have gotten back on track, but Karl is struggling.
His unresolved feelings for Danny make it difficult for him to find satisfaction in other relationships, and even virtual encounters with other players don’t fill the gap. This tension resurfaces when Theo, unaware of the growing rift, invites Karl over for dinner on Danny’s 39th birthday.
While Theo is away, Karl confesses to Danny that nothing compares to what they shared in the game and asks him to play Striking Vipers X once more. Danny gives in, and that night, he and Karl again engage in a sexual encounter in the game.
The moment ends with Karl, playing Roxette, saying “I love you,” which ignites a heated argument. Danny tells Karl to meet him in the real world, behind an old club they used to frequent.
Expecting a confrontation, Karl is surprised when Danny suggests they kiss to determine whether their feelings are real or merely a product of the virtual world. After some hesitation, they kiss, but neither feels anything.
Danny insists that their relationship is over, but Karl disagrees, insisting that the connection in the game was different. They end up fighting, and soon the police arrive to arrest both of them. Theo, picking up Danny from jail, demands to know what caused the altercation.
Another year passes, and Danny is celebrating his birthday with another barbecue. Theo has given birth to their child, and their marriage appears to be stable. Later that evening, Theo gives Danny a box containing the VR disc for the game, while he hands her a box with her wedding ring.
They agree that both items will be returned in the morning. Theo decides to go out to a bar and find a stranger for a one-night stand. Meanwhile, Danny reconnects with Karl in the game.
An “X” marked on the calendar shows that Danny and Theo have struck a deal: once a year, on Danny’s birthday, they are each allowed to live out their sexual fantasies with another person for just one night.
Are Danny And Karl Gay Or Bisexual?
After their first encounter in the game, Karl, playing as Roxette, jokingly says, “That’s us gay now.” Danny, playing Lance, responds that it “doesn’t feel like a gay thing.”
Throughout Striking Vipers, Danny and Karl struggle to understand whether their sexual encounters in the game, using avatars, mean they’ve shifted their sexual identities. Is their relationship real, or is it just part of the game world?
At dinner, Karl confesses that having sex with other players, as Lance doesn’t feel the same. He even tried to replicate the magic by having sex with other characters, but none of it worked. “I f**ked a polar bear and I still can’t get you out of my mind,” he says, revealing the difficulty of moving on.
The real issue for both men is trying to label their experience within the confines of traditional sexuality labels like heterosexual, bisexual, or homosexual. This issue is especially complicated by the virtual nature of their interaction, which is unprecedented in human history.
While it’s clear that Danny and Karl aren’t gay or bisexual in the real world, their experience in the game complicates things. When they try kissing in real life, neither of them feels anything, reinforcing that their connection was unique to the game.
In the game, their actions are still heterosexual, despite the virtual identities they take on. So, what is happening? While Striking Vipers operates within a sci-fi framework, it touches on a real-world issue: the contrast between people’s real-world sexuality and their preferences for virtual experiences or pornography.
A 2016 study found that 21% of straight men had watched male-on-male pornography in the last six months. With the growth of the internet, people can look into and role-play various sexual fantasies without ever engaging with real-life partners.
Through Danny and Karl, Striking Vipers highlights that the virtual experience may have little bearing on a person’s actual desires, suggesting that people might become less focused on their real-world sexuality due to the limitless possibilities offered by virtual environments.
The Real Meaning of Striking Vipers’ Ending
The Black Mirror title refers to the reflective surface of devices like phones, TVs, and computers. Each episode of the show assesses how technology impacts our daily lives and speculates on its potential future consequences.
What happens when gaming brings more than just nostalgia (Photo: Black Mirror Season 5/Zeppotron, Charlie Brooker’s own company, in association with Endemol, the UK television company)Many Black Mirror episodes feature sci-fi premises rooted in existing technology, such as season 4’s Hang the DJ, which took dating apps to a logical extreme. Striking Vipers examines the impact of pornography and virtual sex, looking at how these experiences can desensitize people to real-life intimacy.
However, the episode is more layered than a simple critique of technology. The ending of Striking Vipers deliberately mirrors Karl and Danny’s virtual sex with Theo’s decision to sleep with a stranger, which has been a part of human relationships long before the digital age.
This theme is introduced early in the episode, with Danny and Theo role-playing as strangers in a club to spice up their relationship. Their dissatisfaction with their real-life relationships existed before they began playing Striking Vipers X. Danny felt bored with his routine life, while Karl couldn’t connect with his younger girlfriend.
Though the game offered temporary satisfaction, it was their dissatisfaction with life that led them to the virtual world in the first place. Whether the ending of Striking Vipers is happy or sad depends on individual perspectives.
While many Black Mirror episodes portray technology as a dangerous force with disastrous consequences, others, like San Junipero, highlight its positive potential. There is a melancholic tone when we see Karl, living alone with a cat, eagerly waiting for the one night each year when he can experience the intimacy he craves.
The scene where Theo and Danny exchange their boxes indicates a compromise to save their marriage. Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker referred to it as a “pragmatically romantic ending.”
Despite the mixed emotions, the conclusion, set to Della Reese’s “Not One Minute More,” signals that Danny and Karl have come to terms with their relationship, letting go of their previous struggles to label it. Perhaps the audience, too, is invited to release their need for clear definitions.
