Victoria Skillane (Lenora Crichlow) is the plot-twist protagonist villainess of "White Bear," episode 2.02 of Black Mirror (airdate February 18, 2013).
Introduction[]
For much of the episode, Victoria remained unnamed, as the episode began with her awakening with amnesia in someone's house. After Victoria left said house, she was attacked by sadistic masked people while others simply stood back and recorded the events on their phones, alarming the confused woman.
After being rescued by fellow "survivor" Jem, who narrowly "saves" Victoria from being "murdered" by her apparent would-be killer Baxter, the women arrive at a "transmitter" allegedly called "White Bear" that Jem claims caused the mayhem. Although the pair planned to destroy the "transmitter," Victoria was having flashes of memories that hinted at impending doom.
Reveal/Conclusion[]
Victoria's villainous reveal occurred after she attempts to shoot masked assailants who "attacked" her and Jem, only for the rifle she obtained to fire confetti. After that, a wall opened up to reveal an applauding audience as Victoria is strapped to a chair by Jem and also a few of the other actors. Baxter (who Victoria believed had been shot to death by Jem) appeared and Victoria was shown a news report revealing her true identity, as well as the reason she was put through the simulation.
She had participated in the kidnapping of 6-year-old Jemima Sykes, and later recorded her fiancé Iain Rannoch as he tortured and eventually burned the girl to death. Later on, Iain committed suicide (likely to avoid going to prison), and despite claiming that she was "under his spell" at the time of her crimes, Victoria was sentenced to be psychologically punished for an undetermined amount of time at White Bear Justice Park, where she would go through the simulation countless times while the public participated.
After being paraded past several White Bear participants, Baxter had the tied up Victoria rewatch the footage she recorded of Jemima as he prepared to have her memories of the day painfully erased again, ignoring her pleas to kill her; as the process took place, she screamed in agony several times. The episode ended with Victoria waking up, going through the exact same sequence of events once more, and then waking up without any memories yet again, with the woman presumably being unable to escape her predicament due to the constant memory wipes that she underwent.
Trivia[]
- Lenora Critchlow also appeared on BBC's Death in Paradise as evil Sergeant Lily Thomson.
- The name of Victoria Skillane appears on the screen in a scene from Black Mirror's episode "Smithereens" at 33:38, among the words typed by the protagonist on his social media postings.