With Spiral: From the Book of Saw just around the corner, the Saw franchise continues to permeate into pop culture, reminding audiences of the symbol Jigsaw represents. The sadistic mastermind set games up for years, torturing and maiming people that wronged him while coming off as a warped social justice warrior who gained followers that believed society needed to be reset. In 2016's third season of Black Mirror, "Shut Up and Dance" gave the series its most demented yet heroic game, and it's one that even topped Jigsaw's crusade.
Jigsaw was all about gore and blood as he played his games, making people grimace and creating a spectacle with death traps and escape rooms. However, in Black Mirror, the "game" is more cerebral. Kenny (Alex Lawther) gets roped into a situation where he has to complete a variety of tasks. In fact, many others are tied in as well, forced into acts because the people texting and emailing them have dirt. In Kenny's case, they hacked his laptop camera and caught him in a self-gratification moment, so he doesn't want his social life ruined.
He is joined by Jerome Flynn's Hector. Together, they go on a wild ride that culminates in a bank robbery, and Kenny fighting a man in a deathmatch. Whilst Hector drives off per his instructions, it seems like once the task is completed, the architects of the game will forgive the people. But the plot takes a darker turn when the man Kenny fought reveals he was viewing child pornography and has to kill Kenny to get freedom back from the blackmailers.
At this moment, the story shows us it is all about wolves in sheep clothing; citizens who fake being ordinary. One woman in the group's web had her racist emails leaked, while Hector's wife receives intel on his infidelities with prostitutes. Kenny turns out to be just as nasty as the man he fought. When he heads home, bloody and shaken up, the cops arrive. Through his mother's screams about the porn on his laptop, the audience discovers Kenny is a pedophile too.
The reveal reconciles scenes earlier of him helping little kids out while he bussed tables, touching crayons and coloring books, and viewing them with an unsettling wide eye. At first, it seems as if he is just fascinated with childhood, but the discovery proves it is much more. He's the kind of guy Jigsaw definitely would have inflicted terror upon. However, in Black Mirror's case, the secretive group uses other sinners and dredged-up info as the weapons rather than tech and engineering.
While Jigsaw usually gives his opponents a fighting chance, Black Mirror does not. The game is rigged because the guilty end up paying big time despite completing their tasks. When Kenny tries to kill himself, the gun is empty, making it clear there was always going to be one outcome -- Kenny's arrest.
All five seasons of Black Mirror are available on Netflix.