Black Mirror: Eulogy ending explained – What happened between Phillip and Carol?

The tear-jerking episode stars Paul Giamatti and Patsy Ferran, and follows a man called Phillip who has lived a life full of regret after the breakdown of his relationship with a woman named Carol.

In an interview with Radio Times magazine, Giamatti described his character as "a guy who’s a little stuck, pretty content but with some unresolved issues from his past".

He added: "I don’t often feel that I consciously bring anything of my own life into something, but there were definitely moments of thinking about my own past here. Regrettable relationships, things that were left open-ended in uncomfortable ways."

The episode kicks off with Phillip learning that Carol has died, and being asked to contribute to a virtual Eulogy. He would use a technology to reenter his memories of Carol, with the best being used, along with others' memories, to fill out a eulogy which would be played into the heads of mourners at her funeral.

But what did we learn about Phillip and Carol's relationship through the process and where did we leave Phillip at the end?

Read on for everything you need to know about the ending of Black Mirror episode 5, Eulogy.

Eulogy ending explained – What happened between Phillip and Carol?

Throughout the episode, we saw Phillip using the Eulogy technology to enter his old photographs and memories, trying to find ones to include in a package which would be played at Carol's funeral.

However, after dating in their youth, he and Carol had split up, and in his rage Phillip had destroyed all photographs of her, removing her face from each of them.

With an AI guide to help him, Phillip traversed his memories through old photographs, through which we learned that his relationship with Carol had been rockier than he had at first implied. He had got her to join his band but had compelled her to play the keyboard rather than her beloved cello, so as to fit in with their sound. They had also argued about petty jealousies.

Carol had then got a six-month placement playing the cello in the orchestra for The Phantom of the Opera in London, with the couple trying to maintain a long-distance relationship.

However, Phillip had cheated on Carol with his colleague and friend Emma, who Carol already had suspicions of. Carol had found out when she called him and Emma picked up the phone.

Later, Phillip had gone to London, booked dinner at an expensive restaurant, ordered champagne and planned to propose. Carol refused to drink the champagne, irritating him.

Phillip had got down on one knee and pulled out the ring, but Carol went quiet before walking out on him, leaving him humiliated.

Phillip had gone back to his hotel room where they had both been staying and found her things were gone. He trashed the room before heading back to America, never to see her again.

Yet through the system he learned that Carol had, in fact, been pregnant, explaining her decision not to drink. After finding out about Phillip's affair, she too had cheated, having a one-night stand with a member of her orchestra.

Unbeknownst to him, she had left him a letter in their hotel room, explaining everything and asking to meet him the next day. She said in the letter that she would understand if he never wanted to see her again. He had completely missed it, but had boxed it away with the rest of her belongings that he still had and couldn't bear to look at.

Finding out about all this, Phillip was devastated. Carol was gone, and he would never be able to make amends. More than that, in his rage he had foolishly given away the life that he could have had with her.

"It’s a little bit strange and creepy," Giamatti said (via Variety) of the episode's conclusion. "He doesn’t need [the device] anymore, which is good. He’s let go of all of that, and he’s re-found that person and can see her again, finally.

"Also in that moment, he has to let go of it. He doesn’t have it on. But there’s still the creepy image of all these people lined up in a church, zoned out on this thing. That’s why it’s still somewhat ambiguous."

The actor echoed those comments in an interview with Tudum.

"There’s something ambiguous about [Kelly] nodding to me,” he said. “Was she really there in some way? Was she more connected to [Eulogy]? How does that thing work? There’s something wonderful about that sense of, ‘We know each other, but we don’t, but we do.’ It’s like I found this other person.”

Creator Charlie Brooker also discussed the ending with Tudum, explaining that Phillip has "realised that he made her [Carol] into a villain in his head".

"That was his narrative, that she was just this terrible person who was horrible to him and did a horrible thing,” he continued.

“He has a new take on what she was going through that he didn’t allow himself to see [at the time]. As a consequence of that, he’s fallen in love with her again at the end, which is bittersweet because she’s gone.”

Who was the guide?

Midway through the episode, it was revealed that the guide was not just a random artificial intelligence, as had once been assumed, but instead an artificial replication of Kelly, Carol's daughter.

Phillip would have known this, but he skipped through the introduction when setting up the system.

The AI was imbued with all of Kelly's thoughts and opinions, so decisions could be made on her behalf regarding what should be included in the Eulogy, but in a way which meant she wasn't exposed to everything and distressed further in her grief.

Where did we leave Phillip?

At the end of the episode, in spite of his earlier insistence that he wouldn't be able to attend, Phillip did go to Carol's funeral, flying to London to do so.

He appeared to have gained some closure when it came to his relationship with Carol, and the mistakes of his own past. He had found a tape of Carol playing the cello, and by listening to it and combining it with a photo taken when the recording was made he was finally able to remember her face once more.

In London, he looked on from the doorway of the church where the funeral was going on, seeing attendees hooked into the Eulogy system, watching memories of Carol.

He also caught eyes with Carol's daughter Kelly, and the two shared a knowing look as she played the cello.

Black Mirror season 7 streams on Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £5.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

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