At the end of the first episode she was human again, so what happened?
People on Twitter and Reddit believed they had spotted a plot hole in Black Mirror’s USS Callister: Into Infinity, but as it turns out, Elena Tulaska suddenly being blue again was explained in an easily missable throwaway line.
In the first instalment in what many hope will be a trilogy, we were introduced to a group of tech employees who had been inserted into a video game by their boss. These included Elena Tulaska, Kabir Dudani, Walton, Nate Packer, Shania, and Karl Valdack. Nanette Cole, played by powerhouse Cristin Milioti, entered the game a little later as the main character.
After the crew of the USS Callister managed to thwart Robert Daly’s evil plan, they left his private version of the game to enter the public domain. All of their alterations, including Elena being a blue alien, were removed as a result. However, in the recently released continuation of the story, Elena is once again a “foxy” blue alien, and many of us believed it was a plot hole.
“Maybe I missed something, but in the original USS Callister episode… once the mod is removed and they go through the wormhole, they lose the Star Trek costumes and Elena goes back to her regular skin tone… why is she suddenly blue again in the new episode? Seems like a really stupid continuity error,” one person said on Reddit.
Another wrote: “I’ve seen many people on this subreddit asking this, including myself.”
Though Charlie Brooker is known for twists and turns that leave our brains hurting, this is actually one instance where we should have just paid more attention.
Here’s the moment we all clearly missed in Black Mirror’s USS Callister: Into Infinity
About 18 minutes into the episode, Karl gets annoyed because he wants to go on a mission with the rest of them. He claims he’s the only crew member without a purpose, with Kabir being the tech guy, Nanette being the captain, and Elena the “foxy blue alien.”
“We had to revert back to her alien skin to cure her eczema,” Kabir Dudani says, as Nanette adds, “And now we can’t afford to change her back.”
I’m not quite sure why Elena’s eczema desperately needed to be cured amid being hunted by the game’s players, but apparently her species of alien does not suffer from skin conditions.
When the first episode of USS Callister came out in 2017, Elena’s actress Milanka Brooks spoke about being under the paintbrush of the makeup department for literally hours a day. It was slightly shorter this time, but not by much.
“It took slightly less time because I was slightly less blue! We’ve upgraded her look and they didn’t have to paint my tummy, because we’re now in jumpsuits, which I was glad about!” she recently told What To Watch. “But it still took about two and a half hours. And then it takes 45 minutes to get off, but there would still be blue in my hair roots from the makeup. I’d go straight home afterwards so that I didn’t scare people!”
Black Mirror season seven is available on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news, drops and memes like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook.
Featured image credit: Netflix
