20 LGBTQIA+ stories with upbeat endings

13. “San Junipero”

Practically no one turns to Black Mirror for upbeat stories. This British anthology TV series thrives on technological paranoia and the general sense of unhappiness and unease that you might get from a social media binge. It’s science fiction with a dark, dark layer over all.

Well, except for “San Junipero”, the fourth episode of series 3. That isn’t to say there are no thorny issues — this is still Black Mirror, after all — but this episode is substantially more hopeful than its predecessors.

“San Junipero” is set in a beach town of the same name. The shy Yorkie crosses paths with the substantially more extroverted Kelly at a club there. The two women seem to be almost complete opposites at first, but the attraction between them is increasingly hard to deny. They grow closer until Kelly suddenly draws back. She reveals that she’s dying and is afraid to make a lasting connection before her death.

The reality of San Junipero

Seems strange for such a young, energetic woman, until you learn the truth: San Junipero isn’t exactly “real.” The town is actually a simulation. It’s populated by real human people, or at least their consciousnesses. Some of them are still alive and have hooked themselves up to the simulated world in order to escape a reality where they are old, sick, and dying. Others have already passed in a physical sense, but their minds (or a copy of their minds) live on inside a server of sorts.

Both Yorkie and Kelly exist in the physical world. However, Kelly is an elderly woman and Yorkie was paralyzed long ago in a car accident. Yorkie wants to commit assisted suicide so she can live in San Junipero forever, though her family doesn’t accept this proposition or Yorkie’s sexuality. Kelly marries Yorkie and, with her newfound power of attorney, lets Yorkie move forward with her plan.

Though the pair is more committed to one another, Kelly still has reservations. Her husband has already died without uploading himself to a simulation. He and their daughter, Alison, are really, truly gone. Kelly thinks that she might go along with them, but her relationship with Yorkie significantly changes that plan.