Agreed as a one-off special after Channel 4 rejected potential series three scripts, the episode was the last to air before the programme moved to the streaming platform Netflix.

The episode explores three stories told by Matt (Jon Hamm) and Joe (Rafe Spall) from a remote cabin on Christmas Day.

The first follows a man attempting to seduce a woman at a Christmas party while receiving remote guidance; the second sees Matt at his job training "cookies", digital clones of people; and the third shows Joe obsessed over an ex-fiancée after the relationship abruptly ends.

Topics depicted include pickup artistry, artificial intelligence and consciousness, as well as the concept of Internet blocking extrapolated into real life.

Easter egg references are made to each previous episode and a "Z-Eyes" technology which records hearing and vision has the same design and similar functionality to the "grain" from series one's "The Entire History of You".

He used to work as a sort of advisor that would talk less confident or social people through the process of meeting women using "Z-Eyes" – implants that transmit the user's vision and hearing.

Joe then opens up about his own past, explaining that he was "blocked" by his fiancée Beth (Janet Montgomery) after the two fought over her decision to have an abortion, causing them to see each other as grey silhouettes and preventing him from contacting her.

Because the block was removed after Beth died in a train accident, Joe arrived at the home to meet the girl, only to discover that she was the product of an affair.

For his service, Matt avoids imprisonment for his role in Harry's death, but he is now registered as a sex offender, permanently blocked by everyone and will have to live the rest of his life as a social pariah.

After presenting some ideas, series creator Charlie Brooker and executive producer Annabel Jones were told that they "weren't very Black Mirror", leaving the show in a limbo situation.

[1]: 115  Brooker later commented that the story was timely in the context of pickup artist Julien Blanc being denied a visa to the United Kingdom.

[1]: 107  Whilst the original version portrayed Matt as slightly grating, Hamm was keen for his character to be likeable and affable as a contrast to his odious actions.

[5] Spall welcomed an anthology series role, having found that he needed a "huge amount of energy" to commit to long-running serialised shows so that he could understand all relevant storylines.

The first story has monochrome tones and a "lopsided weirdness" to its soundtrack; Jennifer's dress is made of navy leather and mesh to signify her role as a dominatrix.

[1]: 120  Editing took place up to the day of its press screening at Channel 4, leading Brooker to delay work on his annual review special 2014 Wipe for the BBC.

According to Shelli Nicole in Architectural Digest, the "stark white, hyperminimal, and eerily pristine" scenes of Greta's home, cookie and hospital room contribute to the recurring feeling of detachment.

Club, Matt resembles Hamm's Mad Men persona Don Draper in that both have a "fundamental character flaw" of cowardice which is not so obvious that people would find it untrustworthy.

Handlen believed that Hamm found a "link" between "the Perfect Man" and "the pathetic striver" that "defines them", in the case of both Draper and Matt.

"[12] With Joe, Brooker commented that the viewer quickly loses sympathy in the third story, as he is obnoxious towards Beth and is hinted to have an issue with alcohol.

[1]: 121 [6][13] Finding the themes to be "classic" for the series, The Guardian's Ben Beaumont-Thomas noted "a desperate yearning for human connection" relating to many of them.

[8] Riesman saw the episode as addressing topical issues such as police brutality and compared Matt and Joe to men's rights activists such as those involved in the Gamergate harassment campaign.

[16] Similarly, Joe flicks past Hot Shot and a client has the username "Pie Ape", in reference to two shows within the story of "Fifteen Million Merits".

[17] The ticker during a news report mentions Michael Callow from "The National Anthem", as well as Victoria Skillane from "White Bear", and Liam Monroe from "The Waldo Moment".

[17] Taken in addition with the Z-Eyes design reused from "The Entire History of You",[1]: 106  this evidences that "White Christmas" makes reference to each of the six previous episodes.

He viewed each technology as "fascinating enough to warrant entire entries in their own right"; in contrast, Sonia Saraiya of Salon saw the cookies' mechanics as a "misstep".

[6][10] The special's structure was praised as "excellent" by Monahan, with Krupa saying that "so much of the episode's pleasure derives from seeing its disparate elements connect and intersect".

[22] Though Handlen wrote that the episode maintained an "efficient, unceasing suspense" with the questions raised about Matt and Joe, he found that the three stories "don't quite add up to more than the sum of their parts".

[32] Proma Khosla of Mashable ranked the 22 Black Mirror instalments excluding Bandersnatch by tone, concluding that "White Christmas" is the 7th-most pessimistic episode of the show.