Black Mirror's Most Violent (But Gorgeous) Episode Originally Had A Different Setting

The nationality of "Black Mirror" is a little complicated. Most of the first two seasons of the show were definitely British, which makes sense given that it was released on Channel 4 in the UK. The first bit of foreshadowing for its American turn came in the 2014 special "White Christmas," in which Jon Hamm (the man behind one of the most iconic American TV characters of the 2000s), co-led the episode. The episode still took place in a fictional version of the UK, however, and its dark ending feels much more in line what fans consider to be the British spirit of "Black Mirror."

After "White Christmas," the show was bought by the American streaming service Netflix, and its first episode back was a very American "Nosedive." From this point on, "Black Mirror" would seem to switch back and forth between American or British settings and protagonists. Fans immediately picked up on how the British episodes were noticeably darker and grittier. The American Kelly and Yorkie in "San Junipero" got to live happily ever after in a digital utopia, whereas the British Kenny in "Shut Up and Dance" got tortured for an entire episode before being arrested for pedophilia. There are exceptions of course, but there's a general sense of optimism in the American episodes that's not shared by the British ones. 

Season 4's "Crocodile" changes things up slightly: the characters are from the UK, but the episode itself is set (and filmed) in Iceland. And unlike other episodes, which are filmed in one place but disguised as another, the setting of "Crocodile" seems like it's clearly supposed to be Iceland. The camera often lingers on the landscape, which looks so peaceful in contrast to the horrors going on in the main character's life. The Icelandic backdrop of "Crocodile" gives the whole episode a unique, almost otherworldly feel.

Showrunner Charlie Brooker was happy with how the Iceland scenery turned out, although he revealed in a 2018 interview that it was originally supposed to take place in Scotland. He explained, "Originally, the first draft of the script said 'Scotland' and then I think Netflix actually suggested Iceland as a stunning backdrop and we went, 'Yeah okay! That sounds good.'"

It's easy to see the initial appeal of filming in Scotland. It would've been more in line with the show's roots of being a British (or at least, half-British) show, and of course the landscapes of Scotland are pretty stunning in their own right. There are also large areas in Scotland with relatively low population density, which would help a lot with capturing the isolated, barren feel of Iceland in the finished episode. But Iceland simply has more extremes with its geography, and with that new Netflix money at Brooker's disposal, why not go all out?

The only real complication that came with filming in Iceland was the extra snow involved, but Brooker explained how they used the "Black Mirror" episode's idea of unreliable memory to get around that:

"The night we shot the accident with the pizza truck, they had their biggest snowfall in 40 years. So we got around a continuity problem by having a character say they think it's starting to snow at some point. Nobody's noticed, but it got us around a massive problem because suddenly there was a snowfall after we turned the cameras the other way."

Another minor complication is the characters' accents. Fans have noted that many of the main characters sound like they're from Scotland, which caused some confusion over whether the episode was actually supposed to be in Iceland or if it was simply filmed there. The episode itself never explicitly clarifies the country its set in, but the fact that the cars in the episode drive on the right side of the road help to settle the fan debate in Iceland's favor.

Even this apparent discrepancy isn't an issue, however, because "Crocodile" seems to take place in an optimistic version of the future. The memory-retrieving tech the episode is based around comes with clear positives, and it's implied that nationalist attitudes are on the decline in this world, with immigration being casual and happily accepted. "Crocodile" presents a version of society that's very peaceful, except for that one unexpected side effect of the memory-retrieving tech. 

The decision to set one of season 4's darkest, most violent episodes in a place like Reykjavik, Iceland — one of the most serene places in the world — is a fun and twisted joke from the writers. Although "Crocodile" may not be a fun watch, at least we can distract ourselves with the gorgeous scenery.