Crocodile

**Crocodile** is the third episode of season four of *Black Mirror*. It was written by Charlie Brooker and released on December 19, 2017.

## Short Summary

Architect Mia scrambles to keep a dark secret under wraps, while insurance investigator Shazia harvests people's memories of a nearby accident scene.

## Full Summary

Mia Nolan and Rob dance at a rave.

Rob is driving with Mia in the passenger seat. Rob brakes suddenly when he hits something. He tells Mia he didn't see them, but she says they have to go look. They get out and find a bicycle and near it, a man who was thrown off it. Mia wants to call someone, but Rob stops her. He'll be sent to prison if they call the police, because he's been drinking. He goes to get a sleeping bag from his car while Mia keeps a lookout. He has Mia help him get the body into the sleeping bag and then he drags it while Mia takes the bike. They weigh it down with rocks and push it into the water, followed by the bike.

Rob continues driving with the broken windshield.

Years later, Mia practices a speech in front of the mirror.

Mia says goodbye to Finn and Simon, her son and husband, and leaves.

Shazia Akhand leaves her car and walks up to a shack, where she knocks on the door. Felicity Carmichael puts on a neck brace and grabs a cane before answering the door. Shazia says she's there on behalf of Realm Insurance, to log Felicity's recollection of the accident. Felicity lets her inside.

Martin introduces Mia as an accomplished architect and she comes on stage to give her speech.

Rob comes to Mia's hotel room. They haven't seen each other for three years. He saw she was in town. She offers him a drink, but he's completely quit drinking. He's been thinking about that night. They agreed to put it out of their minds, but he can't anymore. He shows her an article by the cyclist's wife. They never found his body. The wife is still waiting for him in case he comes back. Rob wants her to know that he won't be coming back. He's going to write her a letter anonymously. He promises not to mention Mia. Mia says he'll just open things back up and they'll trace it back to him. Rob says when he quit alcohol, they told him to make amends to those he had hurt and he hasn't hurt anyone more than her. Mia reminds him it was his idea to dump the body. He knows and he's sorry. She's dealt with the shame and guilt for fifteen years. She has a life now. Rob doesn't understand. She begs him to think about her son. He says he's made up his mind. She begs him to change her mind. She grabs him and pushes him up against a wall and then to the floor, where he hits his head. Then she holds her arm over his neck until he dies. Mia looks out the window and sees a self-driving pizza delivery truck hit a pedestrian. She starts frantically closing the blinds.

Shazia is working on the report about Felicity when her husband, Anan Akhand, comes in with a guinea pig. Shazia's not thrilled, but Anan says Ali will love him. He offers to take it back, but Shazia says to keep it. Anan hears Ali cry and goes to check on him while Shazia gets back to her work.

Mia watches through the window while the police check on the pedestrian. Mia's room service is delivered. She has hidden Rob's body under the bed. Once the deliverer is gone, Mia puts on a pornographic film and uses the food cart to move Rob's body into her car.

Mia is in her car when her phone rings. She tells Simon that her speech went great. Then she talks to Finn about his play rehearsal. Once she's done, she dumps Rob's body at a building site.

Mia lies awake in bed.

The next morning, Farshad checks Mia out and confirms the charges for room service and the movie she watched. Mia pays and leaves.

Shazia looks up at the security camera on the street and sees that it's covered in paint.

Shazia meets with Gordy to talk about the pizza-tuck accident. He was meant to go on tour with the Philharmonic but can't now because he's been injured. She says because of the size of the payout, they'll have to investigate. She tells him about the camera being covered in paint. He asks about the delivery van's camera. She tells him it wasn't working, but that's good for his claim because it's a large pizza company. They've been claiming their driverless vans have a good record, but the camera being broken is a strike against them. It puts him in a good position to file a civil case against them if he wants to. She hooks him put to the recaller, explaining how it works. Then she opens a bottle of beer, explaining that the smell can help unlock his memory of that night as the street smelled like beer. She has him smell it and picture the street he was on. She's able to get video of the night from his perspective. It cuts off right as the van hits him. It's enough for Shazia because he saw a woman and that woman might have seen the accident.

Mia sits in her car watching her house.

Mia comes home to Simon and Finn. Simon reminds Mia that Finn's school is doing Bugsy Malone. He notices something is off with her, but she says she's fine. Simon's going to be at the school all day helping them with a problem with their sound system. He and Finn leave. Mia pours herself a glass of wine and chugs it.

Shazia searches for the woman from Gordy's memory. She's Noni Harper-Brown, a 29 year old factory worker.

Shazia goes to see Noni at work. Noni's surprised to see her so quickly, but Shazia explains that the fresher the memory is, the better for them. She has Noni smell the beer as she did with Gordy. Then she plays "Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand)" on her phone for Noni to hear, to enhance her memory. She has Noni picture the accident. Noni says she didn't see the impact, just the aftermath. Shazia sees a flash of light in the reflection of a windshield in the video. Noni says it was from the dentist's place.

Mia walks around her home.

Mia walks out to her car and starts cleaning it out.

Shazia talks to William Grange, the dentist. He says the windows are soundproof, so Shazia doesn't bother playing the song. He admits his memory of the night is embarrassing. She says she's seen everything. She promises that his memories will be sealed and private unless he's harming himself or someone else. He allows it. He recalls seeing a patient and then seeing a nude man in a hotel window. He tried to take a picture, but he left the flash on, so he just got a reflection. He was going to take another one, but he saw a woman, Mia, looking down at something and he saw commotion in the road. He says he didn't see the actual crash. Shazia promises not to put the bit about him taking the picture in her report.

Shazia shows the picture of Mia to Farshad, who tells her it's room 304, but she'll have to file an information request to get the name of the occupant. Management's been a stickler about that since the *HotShot* guy got caught with a rent boy and someone hacked their booking system to get his name. Shazia says she just thinks the woman might have seen something. He knows that she wasn't outside because he knows what she was looking at. They log the movies people watch and she made an interesting choice. Shazia laughs at that and leaves.

Shazia tries to find a match to the picture of Mia. Anan brings her tea and she tells him how hard her case has been. She finally gets a match to Mia. Shazia thinks she might be the one if she's willing to talk. She sees that Mia lives far out of town and asks if it's okay with Anan for her to go right away. If she wraps the case up within 24 hours, she gets double pay. He tells her to go.

Mia looks at the article Rob gave her. She gets up and grabs it.

Shazia drives to Mia's.

Mia burns the article in the fireplace. Her doorbell rings.

Mia goes to the door and sees Shazia. She says she doesn't know anything about the accident. When Shazia gives her more details, Mia remembers it. Shazia wants to ask her some more questions, but Mia says no. Shazia says it's a legal requirement now because she's witnessed an incident. Shazia has to notify the police when people refuse. Mia lets Shazia in.

Shazia turns on the recaller. Mia says she can tell Shazia without the recaller. She explains what she saw. Shazia needs to know how fast the delivery van was going, which Mia can't tell her. Shazia tells Mia she doesn't care what Mia was doing in the hotel room. She just needs to know what she saw. Mia offers Shazia an espresso and gets up to make it.

While the coffee is brewing, Mia looks at the knife block on the counter. When Shazia looks over at her, she excuses herself to go to the bathroom.

In the bathroom, Mia practices what she'll tell Shazia.

Shazia puts the recaller on Mia. She has her sniff the beer and plays the music. Mia pictures the room service and the movie she ordered. Shazia asks her to picture the moments leading up to the impact. She sees the accident, but it's intercut with flashes of her killing Rob and her and Rob hitting the cyclist and throwing his body off the cliff. Shazia turns of the recaller and tells Mia she got what she needed on the van. She takes the recaller off Mia and packs up. Mia follows Shazia out and says sometimes she thinks mad things, but it doesn't mean anything. It's just in her head. Shazia says it's fine. Like she said, she got what she needed. Shazia gets in her car and struggles to get it started. Mia takes a rock and breaks Shazia's window and pulls her out of her car.

Mia apologizes to Shazia, whom she has tied up and gagged. Mia says she messed up and she panicked. She doesn't know what to do with Shazia. She can't let her go because she'll tell someone. Even if she says she won't, her recollections are all recorded. Mia has Shazia promise not to scream and removes her gag. Shazia promises to delete everything. Mia says she tried to delete it and couldn't figure out how. Shazia promises to forget the whole thing and never tell anyone. Mia doesn't believe her. Shazia says she's seen all kinds of personal secrets on the recaller and she's never told anyone. By law, she's not allowed to. It's like Catholic confession. Mia doesn't believe it's true. She asks if Shazia told anyone she was coming there. Shazia says no. Mia knows that's a lie. She puts the gag back on. She turns on the recaller and puts it on Shazia. It shows Shazia telling Anan where she was going. Mia grabs a log, tells Shazia she's sorry, and asks her to close her eyes. Shazia starts saying a prayer. Mia hits her with the log repeatedly, then goes outside and retches. Once she's done, she gets into Shazia's car to get her home address from the GPS. She also takes Shazia's keys.

Mia talks to Simon, who tells her that everyone is in their costumes. He asks her to make sure she's on time. She tells him she'll make it.

Mia carries a hammer into Shazia's house. She finds Anan watching television. He turns it off and goes upstairs. Mia sneaks upstairs after him. She finds him in the bathtub. Her phone vibrates as she approaches, so he turns to her just as she swings the hammer at his head. When he continues moving, she hits him a second time. He falls under the water. She drops the hammer and puts a towel up to cover his face.

Mia goes to leave, but hears a baby. She walks into the room, where Ali has pulled himself up to stand at the edge of his crib.

Mia arrives at Finn's school just on time and meets Simon out front. They go in together.

Mia and Simon watch the show. As the kids perform "Bad Guys," Mia rests her head on Simon's shoulder.

At Shazia's house, Detective Constable Lydon questions who kills a baby. The police detective says it's probably someone worried about leaving a witness. Lydon says Ali couldn't see. He was born blind. The detective has no idea who she's looking for. They leave so the recall team can do their job, using the pet guinea pig.

The children sing "You Give a Little Love" and get standing ovation. Mia cries as she stands up. She turns and sees that police have entered.

## Cast

* Andrea Riseborough as Mia Nolan
* Kiran Sonia Sawar as Shazia Akhand
* Andrew Gower as Rob
* Anthony Welsh as Anan Akhand
* Claire Rushbrook as Detective
* Joshua James as Gordy
* Adelle Leonce as Noni Harper-Brown
* Brian Pettifer as William Grange, Dentist
* Jamie Michie as Simon Nolan
* Armin Karina as Farshad, Hotel Receptionist
* Stefán Örn Eggertsson as Finn Nolan
* James Eeles as DC Lydon
* Ólafia Hrönn Jónsdottir as Felicity Carmichael
* Dilja Imana as Ali Akhand
* Sigurdur Sigurjóns as Room Service Man

## Notes and Trivia

* In Black Museum, one of the exhibits is the bath that Shazia's husband was killed in.
* The pizza firm mentioned in this episode, Fences, previously appeared in USS Callister.
* One of the porn channels that appears on Mia's TV is *Best of Wraith Babes*, while it is mentioned that the host of Hot Shots was caught with a rent boy in the same hotel, both references to Fifteen Million Merits. Also, the song *Anyone Who Knows What Love Is* (which has recurred through the show starting with that episode) is heard again here.
* Mia is seen burning a news article published in the recurring UKN.
* Mia was originally meant to be male, however this changed when Andrea Riseborough (who had been approached to play the insurance agent) read the script and showed interest in playing the murderer. Charlie Brooker agreed, stating that it subverted the cliche of the panicking male murderer.
* The prayer Shazia mutters before getting killed is an islamic prayer, "ان لله وان اليه راجعون" inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi rajioon. Which means "To God we belong and to him we will return."
* Mia's son performs in a school production of *Bugsy Malone*. The original 1976 film featured a 13-year-old Jodie Foster, who directed Arkangel, the previous episode.
* In Bandersnatch, the UKN's news ticker reveals that the UK police are currently testing out a new memory recall device.

### Production

Co-creator Annabel Jones disclosed the following information about the episode: "Crocodile is a beautiful, more personal study. It's set in Iceland which introduced a totally new palette – one of the privileges of doing Black Mirror is the opportunity to create different worlds and moods and tones. It's a film set in the near future where your memories are no longer private so they can be dredged – sometimes in helpful ways. It's very different to [season one episode] ‘The Entire History of You’ in that they're not accurate – they're memories rather than recordings. We follow Andrea Riseborough, a woman trying to solve a dilemma..."

## Gallery

### Trailer

 Specials | • White Christmas • Bandersnatch •