You Can Party Like You're In 'Black Mirror's' 'San Junipero' This Halloween

By Stephen Gossett in Arts & Entertainment on Oct 26, 2017 4:35PM

'San Junipero' / 'Black Mirror'

Black Mirror's tales of near-future technological dystopia tend to be so bleak that the show might seem like unlikely source material for a Halloween party—where you want levity that merely channels horror. So kudos to Current, the restaurant at W Chicago - Lakeshore, for finding the appropriately hopeful needle in the Netflix show's sci-fi cringe-view haystack and running with it for its Oct. 31 throw down. The room is hosting a "San Junipero"-themed Halloween party on Tuesday, centered around the much-loved, atypically optimistic episode.

For the uninitiated, the "San Junipero" episode takes place in 1987 in a blissful, ethereal beach town—or actually, an elaborate, immersive digital-reality simulacrum thereof, which the elderly and dead of a future time period can choose to eternally inhabit. The entry centers around the budding same-sex romance between hesitant Yorkie (Mackenzie Davis) and confident Kelly (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), and whether Kelly will ultimately permanently jump into (the fabulously 80's-soundtracked and neon-saturated) San Junipero, despite how such a decision might affect her ability to reconnect with lost family. The Season Three episode is (rightfully) roundly considered a series high water mark, with its departure into comparatively giddy tone helping its cause.

The W Chicago's homage gets started at 7 p.m. with a cocktail hour called "Meet me at the Quagmire," a reference to the club where our heroines meet. A four-course tasting menu follows from 8 until 10 p.m. Then a dance party—buoyed with a costume contest and vintage arcade games—runs from 10 p.m. to midnight.

Considering it's just one night and the party is merely drawing inspiration, we don't anticipate any sort of Stranger Things-pop-up-style roadblocks.

Tickets are $45 and can be purchased here.

[H/T Time Out Chicago]