There will be spoilers ahead!
The second episode of Black Mirror season six unfolded like a real crime documentary, with a conclusion that was far from grim.
Loch Henry follows Pia (Myha’la Herrald) and Davis (Samuel Blenkin), a young couple who travel to his homeland in Scotland to film a nature documentary.
The tale they end up pursuing is far darker, as they are dragged into’shocking events of the past,’ which implicate Davis’ own parents in a frightening twist.
With the help of friend Stuart (Daniel Portman), Pia and Davis go to work solving the mystery of a couple’s murders while on vacation in Scotland.
According to the legend, the pair was abducted, tortured, and murdered by local Iain Adair, who then shot his parents, himself, and Davis’ police officer father Kenneth in the shoulder.
While in the hospital, Kenneth had an illness and died, leading Davis’ mother Janet (Monica Dolan) to blame Iain Adair for leaving her a widow.
However, on their way to the farmhouse where it all happened, Pia, Stuart, and Davis discover some troubling evidence, which they capture on an antique camera of his parents.
Davis is in the hospital after a car accident, so Pia studies through the film alone, but discovers something quite unexpected.
Pia finds what they were really shooting over – the missing pair bound and tied up – after believing they were filming over old Bergerac videos.
In the video, Iain and Kenneth announce that ‘the mistress’ will be ‘having fun’ with the young couple, and Pia quickly realises that the lady in question is Davis’ mother Janet, who is disguised in a nurse’s costume and a red mask.
Still at Janet’s house alone, Pia, following her horrific discovery, tries to make a break for it, but is hounded by ‘the mistress’.
During the terrifying chase, Pia attempts to cross a creek in the dark, but loses her balance and strikes her head on a boulder, killing her in the river.
What happens at the end of Loch Henry?
Janet unintentionally comes home after Pia’s death, uncovering images of her and her late husband’s misdeeds.
She places things in a box with a message for Davis before donning her red mask (which had been hanging in the dining room the whole time) and hangs herself in the bedroom.
The programme then jumps ahead to Davis now filming a documentary on what happened, utilising video of Janet and Kenneth, pictures of Pia, footage from the farmhouse where they discovered evidence, and his own interviews.
The teaser for this documentary then runs, with Stuart’s father Richard admitting he was aware of Kenneth and Janet’s sex games, which led him to believe Iain never acted alone.
In truth, Kenneth, who shot the Adairs and himself to cover up their crimes, had persuaded Iain to do so.
Loch Henry Truth Will Out, Davis’ documentary, finally wins a Bafta, with the producer dedicating it to him and his late lover Pia.
But he is unable to rejoice, and in the closing scene, he breaks down in tears while reading the message Janet left him: ‘For your film, Mum.’
Talking about the ending, Samuel said: ‘When you watch Davis dealing with the reality of the fact that that his tragedy is known to everyone in the world, how can he reconcile himself with his own grief, and how does he process it now that he’s sold his story.’
‘It’s pretty bleak,’ he added.
Black Mirror is available to watch on Netflix.
