Netflix‘Eulogy’ is the fifth episode of Black Mirror Season 7, starring Paul Giamatti as a man forced to confront the memory of the one who got away. It’s also one of the saddest stories in the show’s history.
Black Mirror may have begun with a prime minister having sex with a pig, but it’s also included some of TV’s most dazzling and heartbreaking love stories.
Lest we forget ‘Be Right Back’, where Martha (Haley Atwell) bought an AI clone of her dead boyfriend (Domhnall Gleeson), or ‘Hang the DJ’, where two people defied the natural order and chose to be together, no matter what their ‘Coach’ said. Most notably, there’s ‘San Junipero’, arguably the show’s most iconic episode since coming to Netflix.
Admittedly, Black Mirror can sometimes feel strainingly edgy or wilfully bleak. ‘Eulogy’ is a remarkably low-key episode in Season 7… but it will still break your heart.
What happens in Eulogy in Black Mirror Season 7?
Netflix‘Eulogy’ follows Philip Connarthy, a lonely man who lives on the coast of Cape Cod. He receives a phone call from someone on behalf of Kelly Royce, whom he doesn’t know. She’s the daughter of Carol Royce… whom he also doesn’t know. It’s not until he learns her maiden name – Carol Hartman – that he realizes what’s happening.
“I knew her… why are you calling?” he asks, and it’s revealed that she died the week prior.
He says he’ll be unable to attend the funeral in England, but the man on the phone works for a company called Eulogy, which creates immersive memorials. Philip is reluctant, but Eulogy sends him a “kit” so he can decide without having to go to any effort.
How does Eulogy work?
NetflixIt’s quite simple: using one of TCKR Systems’ Nubbins (the little circular gadget you put on your temple), all Philip needs to do is think of Carol and the device processes his memories.
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There’s just one problem: he can’t remember what he looks like, and he doesn’t have any physical photos of her face… because he cut them all out. So, Eulogy’s AI is able to take Philip inside the photos, creating a 3D-ish environment from any photograph in an effort to recapture any lost memories.
What happened between Philip and Carol?
NetflixPhilip met Carol in 1989, and after seeing each other at a few parties, they quickly hit it off. However, their relationship fell apart when Carol got a job working in the orchestra at a production of The Phantom of the Opera in London.
It should be said, there was already tension between them before she left. For example, they’d fought at a Halloween party in 1991 after she seemingly flirted with another man all night – but as Eulogy’s AI points out, that may not have been the case.
Later, one of their British friends got her the gig in London’s West End. She told Philip it would just last a few months. “It’s easy to say that when you’re the one going on an adventure,” he tells the AI.
While Carol was away, Philip cheated on her with their friend Emma. They would have gotten away with it… if Carol didn’t call to wish Philip happy birthday, and Emma hadn’t picked up the phone.
Things got worse. Philip had booked a trip to see Carol in London, and he planned to propose. He reserved a table at a fancy restaurant and a suite in an expensive hotel, and when they sat down for dinner, he ordered them a bottle of champagne.
She refused to have a drink, which irritated him. After plucking up the nerve (with the help of half a bottle of champagne), he took out the engagement ring. She didn’t say a word, and when he asked her to say something, she left, and he never saw her again.
Eulogy ends with one of Black Mirror’s smallest and most painful twists
There are two twists in ‘Eulogy’. The first is the reveal that Eulogy’s AI is Carol’s daughter, “programmed with her thoughts and opinions.”
That’s how she knows that Carol was pregnant when she left Philip in the restaurant that night, but she admits that Carol never spoke much about their time together. “It doesn’t mean your time together wasn’t meaningful,” she says.
However, the episode ends on a bittersweet, tear-jerking note. Carol’s daughter tells Philip that her mother wrote to him to explain everything, but he swears he never found a letter or received anything.
In the closing scenes, he finds her letter tucked away in a magazine, decades after she left it for him.
“Philly, I have to tell you something. I couldn’t say earlier. I froze. I’m sorry. Please… please don’t hate me. That day I rang and got Emma, I was so mad. I had a one-night stand with someone in the orchestra here. It didn’t mean anything and I’m sorry,” it reads.
“I’ve missed my period. I don’t know what to do. I love you and I want us to work, but I don’t know how you’ll feel. I think I wanna keep the baby. I don’t know. But could you live with that if I did?
Netflix“If you still wanna talk, meet me tomorrow afternoon at the stage door after the matinee. I’ll understand if you never wanna see me again. I hope you do. I love you, Carol.”
She didn’t want to leave him. She wanted to make their relationship work, but because he didn’t read the letter, there was no way for him to know she waited for him in London.
As painful as that is, the knowledge that she didn’t fall out of love with him is enough to make him want to see her again. So, he plays a tape of her playing a piece of music on the cello and grabs an old photo of her looking at her in another room.
“Let’s see her,” he says, and Eulogy’s AI takes him inside the photo. We also see him attending the funeral, where Carol’s daughter gives him a nod as he stands at the door. As the music plays, he sees her face again.
Make sure you check out our Black Mirror episode ranking before Season 7, check out the show’s secret QR code, and find out why Charlie Brooker refuses to watch Severance.
You can also keep tabs on the year’s releases with our 2025 TV show calendar and our list of the best TV shows of all time.