生死搏击
分析

The episode is a romance, where Danny, Karl and Theo are in a love triangle. Dan Stubbs of NME and Jim Vorel of Paste（英语：） characterised it as a "spiritual sequel" to "San Junipero". Stubbs saw that as in "San Junipero", the episode "finds the beauty and ugliness in a new form of romance". Writing for Vox, Alex Abad-Santos compared that in "San Junipero", Kelly and Yorkie "play semi-artificial, digital-only versions of themselves", like Danny and Karl. Stubbs and Wired's Matt Reynolds found that in "Striking Vipers", the technology is not the focus of the episode—instead its implications and the human stories are. Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club analysed that the episode has humour but it is "never designed to undercut the emotional development of the characters". Sexual and gender fluidity, infidelity and love and friendship are major themes, with The Guardian's Lucy Mangan writing that "every boundary is porous". Critics identified a large number of questions posed by the episode. Louisa Mellor wrote in Den of Geek（英语：） that the episode initially asks about Danny and Karl's sexual activity: "Is it cheating? Porn? Love?" It also asks if they are gay or bisexual. Commenting in Wired, Victoria Turk viewed the episode as making a case that engaging in virtual reality porn is infidelity. Tasha Robinson, a reviewer for The Verge, said that Karl's attempts to persuade Danny to keep the relationship going is "needy and manipulative" and characteristic of an "imbalanced relationship", with Karl going back and forth between "defending their virtual trysts as meaningless fun" and "claiming they mean everything and are worth any risk".
Critics explored the implications of Danny and Karl's relationship. Vorel wondered whether it was a romantic or physical connection, how Karl's choice to play a woman related to his masculinity, and whether there would still be attraction if Danny and Karl swapped characters. He called the pair "two alpha males" who feel "shock and embarrassment" when made to confront their sexualities. Michael Ahr of Den of Geek suggested that the pair could be suppressing their homosexuality or "indulging in the objectification of their avatars' hyper-sexualized appearances". Den of Geek's Alec Bojalad gave a partial answer that "there is at least some homosexual energy" but "Roxette and Lance's bodies are an essential part of the equation". Bojalad found that despite uncertainty over their sexuality, Danny and Karl "needed each other in ways they didn't fully understand because they didn't have the language for it". Abad-Santos suggested that Karl enjoys "letting Danny take control sexually". He also recalled playing Li in Street Fighter II, the only female character, as did lots of gay children because it gave them "the freedom to be someone ... who [they] could never be". Handlen said that Karl could be interpreted as a "potentially closeted trans woman ... but the text stops short of suggesting he's going to make any steps towards transitioning or understanding himself better". Vorel reviewed that the episode "chooses not to judge its characters", while The Atlantic's David Sims said it "withholds answers for most of the questions".
Some reviewers drew meaning from the technological aspect of Danny and Karl's relationship. Sims analysed that the episode raises questions about "how sexuality on the internet is continuing to evolve". Stubbs queried whether the "meat person or the avatar" is the real version of us, when "we spend our leisure time in a virtual world and our real lives wearing our work masks". He also suggested that a "virtual/real life balance" could be as fundamental as a work–life balance. Hugh Montgomery, writing for the BBC, found a "pornographic quality of computer game violence" and Abad-Santos saw "Striking Vipers" as serving to connect "video game addiction and porn addiction" as well as "violence and men's sexuality". Another perspective came from Bojalad, who wrote that the episode sees video games as "a safe, consequence-free simulation space for little boys and eventually little men to work though the complex feelings they've so often ignored". Ahr similarly described that Striking Vipers X lets the characters "shed their culturally ingrained male inhibitions and admit their devotion to each other in a way that society discourages in real life".
Critics found that Danny and Karl's sexual activity gave them what they were lacking in their real lives. According to Bojalad, Danny and Karl's younger selves have a "classic and recognizable college student dynamic". Ahr wrote that the "sudden" time skip creates an "atmosphere of disillusionment", with a "contrast between the party atmosphere of the intro and the mundane backyard barbecue". While Danny lives an "idyllic suburban life", as Stubbs put it, Vorel and Vulture's Charles Bramesco said he has a mid-life ennui. His sex with Theo is for conception, not enjoyment. In contrast, Stubbs called Karl a "rich executive living the bachelor dream"; he fits the trope of a "ladies' man" and dates younger women. Bojalad believed that Danny and Karl each wanted what the other person had: Karl's freedom or Danny's security. Mellor wrote that Danny gets "energy, abs, joint mobility" and "virility" when playing Lance, which he has been deprived of through ageing and parenthood. Additionally, she wrote that Theo has a "need for excitement in the desert of adult responsibility".
Some critics noted foreshadowing in the initial scenes, eleven years before the main story. Bojalad and Ahr both commented that Theo is aroused by Danny treating her like a stranger, a sign of her later desires to meet strangers at a bar. Reynolds interpreted that the roleplay "sets up this idea that the desire to be someone a little different is a completely human thing". Additionally, Karl's mock-humping of Danny while playing Striking Vipers was seen by Bramesco to indicate homoerotic tension. Ahr stated that early on, Theo tells Danny he should talk "more openly and frequently" to Karl, and communication between them is a central tension in the episode. The episode also makes reference to other Black Mirror instalments: it shows products made by SaitoGemu, of "Playtest（英语：）", and TCKR, of "San Junipero"; and Karl's pinball machine has different gameplay modes that can be seen to reference locations from past episodes.