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- Orlando
- Parental Advisory: Explicit Content
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- From: Year Zero
- Registered: 2009-02-19
- Posts: 15,807
Re: Black Mirror
I don't get how people don't like 2x02. 2x01 okay, 2x03 was more of a miss, but 2x02 is genius.
- Rwings
- Ay!
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- Registered: 2010-12-01
- Posts: 1,545
Re: Black Mirror
Yeah season two definitely didn't recreate the same feelings season one brought.
- RDPlissken
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- Registered: 2014-09-29
- Posts: 2
Re: Black Mirror
‘Mad Men’ Star Jon Hamm Joins ‘Black Mirror’ Variety wrote:LONDON — “Mad Men” star Jon Hamm, “Game of Thrones” thesp Oona Chaplin and Rafe Spall will co-star in the “Black Mirror” feature-length special due to air on U.K. free-to-air channel Channel 4 this Christmas. The special, which has three interwoven stories of Yuletide techno-paranoia, will start filming in the U.K. this week. Hamm’s character appears in all three stories.
- Orlando
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- Registered: 2009-02-19
- Posts: 15,807
Re: Black Mirror
So what do you guys think of the special? I thought it was really good, such a horryfing tale.
- graybags
- not british
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- From: Essex, England
- Registered: 2008-01-13
- Posts: 1,845
Re: Black Mirror
Yeah, I really enjoyed it too, but I worked out what was going on not long into it.
2020. Meh.
- Registered: 2008-10-25
- Posts: 94
Re: Black Mirror
It genuinely disturbed me. was staring at my computerscreen drinking approx. 500ml of wine in 10 min. To quickly fall asleep. As a big horrofan i appreciate this. What a powerful tale
- scorpius074
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- From: The Thirteenth Floor
- Registered: 2013-08-01
- Posts: 1,111
Re: Black Mirror
Quality storytelling at its best. Original, thought-provoking, interesting characters throughout, and disturbingly entertaining! It's been awhile since I watched this but this topic made me revisit the series. I almost forgot how brilliant the first season was. This is exactly the kinda stuff I look forward to watching. My problem nowadays is that I tend to give a lot of new shows a test run by trying to at least stick it out for a couple of seasons for completion purposes before making an assessment. Sadly a majority of them tend to not hold my interest, so I eventually drop them. I gotta do better at sticking with my code. Stick with the good stuff, revisit the classics, and ignore the rest.
- scorpius074
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- From: The Thirteenth Floor
- Registered: 2013-08-01
- Posts: 1,111
Re: Black Mirror
Time to resurrect this thread because in four days greatness is coming!! Black Mirror | Official Trailer - Season 3 [HD] | Netflix
- Wizard
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- Registered: 2006-02-16
- Posts: 2,629
Re: Black Mirror
Awsome
DRM "manages access" in the same way that Prison "manages freedom". http://xkcd.com/488/
- Sleuteltje
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- Registered: 2010-07-28
- Posts: 155
Re: Black Mirror
\ O / .. How I love Black Mirror. So Pysched it will be back! I had already given up all hope it will ever return. It's been a long, long time since the last season.
- scorpius074
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- From: The Thirteenth Floor
- Registered: 2013-08-01
- Posts: 1,111
Re: Black Mirror
^^ Yeah I felt the same way. I must have watched seasons 1 & 2, including the Christmas special, a half dozen times over the past couple of years praying for its return. So glad that it's back! I'm not waiting around neither because I plan on clearing my schedule to make room for this as soon as it drops.
- graybags
- not british
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- From: Essex, England
- Registered: 2008-01-13
- Posts: 1,845
Re: Black Mirror
Looks like it's gone all American, but as long as Brooker is still writing I'm hopeful.
2020. Meh.
- Orlando
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- From: Year Zero
- Registered: 2009-02-19
- Posts: 15,807
Re: Black Mirror
IMO we should not be worried. Netflix is known for giving creative space to their showrunners (which I'm sure Brooker used to its full extent).
- graybags
- not british
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- From: Essex, England
- Registered: 2008-01-13
- Posts: 1,845
Re: Black Mirror
Let's hope so. I've dl'ed the first 5, not seen any yet. Looking forward to them though.
2020. Meh.
- scorpius074
- Member
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- From: The Thirteenth Floor
- Registered: 2013-08-01
- Posts: 1,111
Re: Black Mirror
Well so far I've watched the first three episodes and I must say that all three were FUCKIN' BANANAS!! Nosedive and Shut Up and Dance were ingenious to say the least (at this point do we really need to ask?) but Playtest imo was....well, all I gotta say is DAMN! -_- Sure I could've ran through all six episodes yesterday but this is what I call quality entertainment so I'm taking my time, probably finish up sometime this evening or tomorrow. Slow down and savor baby, just savor...
- Suasor
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- Registered: 2012-06-06
- Posts: 756
Re: Black Mirror
Ep 1 was kind of predictable. That's why I stay off Facebook...
67 Reply by scorpius074 2016-10-23 06:30:00 (edited by scorpius074 2019-01-02 04:54:03)
- scorpius074
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- From: The Thirteenth Floor
- Registered: 2013-08-01
- Posts: 1,111
Re: Black Mirror
^^Me too! The fourth episode was absolutely golden. I was planning on watching the fifth ep as well, but I had to stop it right there and let things marinate. Oscar-worthy IMO and probably the best overall Black Mirror episode I've seen so far. That one almost had the same impact on me as The Inner Light did from Star Trek TNG. Incredible!! And speaking of 'incredible' man this season was surely it IMO. I felt like putting together this review based on a collection of facts and ideas, fused with my own opinions and experiences this season, which really hits at home for me unequivocally...
▼Spoiler
1. San Junipero: To me, this was hands down the best episode this season, and perhaps even the best overall Black Mirror episode throughout all three seasons. Shot in beautiful Cape Town, South Africa, the port city on South Africa’s southwest coast, on a peninsula beneath Table Mountain, is rich not only with natural beauty but also history. Ironically there’s something just and beautiful about the fact that an episode filmed in Cape Town centers on an interracial relationship — and that no one even mentions that it’s an interracial relationship. While I found this episode hauntingly beautiful, it also holds a special place in my heart with the 80's vibe and stuff. The music (shout outs to Clint Mansell for doing the score and Brooker for coming up with the soundtrack idea), the club scene, the cinematography, the nostalgia, the themes, the culture, the people, oh did I forget to mention the 80's music... Man, this really set the tone throughout but more importantly the premise, ingenious story, and captivating performances are what makes this a 5-star episode in my book. Plus the happy Hollywood ending caught a lot of people off guard expecting a typical dark Black Mirror twist leading to its conclusion; not everything about technology will have a deleterious effect on us, and I'm glad Brooker showcased it here. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) The main attraction with this gem of an episode are the human stories it focuses on in the midst of some mind-blowing technological masterpiece. Black Mirror, for the most part, has focused on the darker side of technology, this one instead focuses on how technology could connect us within a virtual world. The only darkness I got from this episode were events leading to the plot twist — The Quagmire, the dark tones every time they showed us the time, and of course the morbid idea of essentially previewing your death before becoming a permanent part of the landscape of the afterlife. What reasons do you have to advance medical science anymore when even minor pain would be gone entirely in San Junipero? This episode, along with Shut Up and Dance, has sparked some intense online debates. Gugu Mbatha-Raw (MI-5, Doctor Who, Concussion, Free State of Jones) and Mackenzie Davis (Halt, Catch Fire, The Martian, Blade Runner 2049) were spectacular throughout and had amazing chemistry (props to Annabel Davis for her great performance as older Kelly). The fact that Brooker took his time by showing the dynamic between the two characters was essentially important to its overall success. I also love how Yorkie & Kelly are interspersed with the final scene — really hit home with the idea of making a transition from one 'reality' to another. I also had this big, stupid-looking grin on my face when the credits popped up lol... As I stated earlier, this episode almost had the same impact on me as The Inner Light did from Star Trek TNG, and anybody that watched The Inner Light knows that's saying a lot. An incredible episode from start to finish. The plot, pacing, acting, directing, character assessments, and dialogue were true collegiate lessons to all future films. If it were a full feature film, it would unmistakably be a Best Picture contender. A true masterpiece! -- 11/10
2. Hated In The Nation: A powerful episode with a top-rate cast, superbly directed and well written. This episode, along with San Junipero, felt more like full feature films rather than 60 min episodes. I absolutely loved it, it's solid in every aspect, and the two female leads were just perfect, both their storylines and their acting. Hell, I wouldn't mind a spin-off with Karin (Kelly McDonald of Boardwalk Empire) and Blue (Faye Marsay 'The Waif of GoT') tbh. I was automatically drawn in by the two lead actresses because of their high entertainment value in other shows I enjoy watching, Boardwalk Empire and GoT. Their acting was superb, very subtle and clean, and the storyline reminded me a lot of Alfred Hitchcock's 'The Birds' but mixed well with today's modern progression of technology. What struck me the most is how accurate it portrays today's society. I'm not the type that gets caught up with social media, but I am outraged by some of the things that high profile people are capable of these days. The problem with social media is that people tend to hide behind their phones and computer screens while cyber-bullying without any consequences. The scary thing is that you understand the antagonist's motivations. However, although you know his reasoning, it's utterly sickening knowing that he was able to get away with the death of 387,000 people. They may not have been saints and were only sheep followers of a herd, but that's no indication in a million years for their lives to be taken away. The end also left me wondering how far the 'ADI bees' could fly, and if it could spawn a worldwide loss of life outside of the UK. Overall this episode had the vibe of a Scandinavian crime drama which had very little to do with killer robot bees and much more to do with GCHQ's intrusive spying on UK citizens with the full support of the British government. The theme of anonymous online trolling and accountability featured heavily as well. UK law is known for being insanely Orwellian in its approach to such cyber crimes so no surprise there. Everything Black Mirror explores is painfully relevant to issues we're facing today, and this episode's no different. My other favorite episodes overall in the Black Mirrorverse are the 'Entire History of You,' 'Be Right Back,' and 'White Christmas.' But I must say that 'Hated in the Nation' fits right in since it showed how even the most innocent form of technology could produce mass destruction and the loss of thousands of lives. Superb ending to cap off an incredible season. Black Mirror delivered again!! -- 10/10
3. Shut Up and Dance: This episode had its hilarious moments; man, I almost pissed my pants on more than one occasion, but at the same time there's also a chilling message reiterated over and over. A disturbing episode all around, from both the side of the invasion of privacy, manipulation of people by hackers, and the exploitation of minors on the internet. The secrets in this episode don't quite elevate things to the same level as the similarly morally challenging 'White Bear,' (2x02) but it does at the very least force us to question the danger of unsupervised vigilantism even when the victims arguably deserve what’s coming to them. Alex Lawther (The Imitation Game, A Brilliant Young Mind) plays Kenny, teenage protagonist whose life goes from typical to horrific in a matter of minutes, and Jerome Flynn (Game of Thrones, Ripper Street) who plays Hector, Kenny’s reluctant partner in crime, both literally and figuratively, were massively entertaining with performances that will be remembered for years to come. It's one of, if not the main selling point of this episode. Alex was so convincing in his combination of fear and panic, and Flynn was absolutely rock-solid, exuding confidence and wisdom that it left its viewers questioning their very own judgment. In a nutshell, this episode was pretty much a perfect audience study of what makes people feel sympathy and whether that sympathy can be retracted through exposition. Which it wasn't. We all know that Black Mirror LOVES to morph its stories with little contextual changes that make us switch from supporting to hating a character or vice versa, and that's what I absolutely love about Black Mirror — The fact that a single episode can both be someone's favorite and someone else's least favorite. For instance, while I enjoyed San Junipero, I've read a few comments from people online saying they hated it. I don't think I've ever come across a show where every episode can be so divisive. One thing I've noticed is that this episode above all the rest this season has sparked some heavy online debates. Excellent episode regardless which side of the fence you're on. -- 9.8/10
4. Nosedive: Although very predictable, it was still quite enjoyable and an excellent start to an outstanding season. In a world where everyone does everything for the sake of 'Likes', this episode is one of the most concurrent and scarily 'close to home' to date from the Black Mirrorverse. Beautifully shot with excellent aesthetics, 'Nosedive' was also filmed in Cape Town, South Africa. Penned by Rashida Jones and Michael Schur (from a story by Charlie Brooker), and directed by 'Atonement' and 'Hanna' director Joe Wright, 'Nosedive' stars Bryce Dallas Howard as a shallow young woman name Lacie, who was exceptionally perfect for this episode; putting on her best face for every interaction in hopes that people will rate her five out of five stars on a kind of universal social media app that also has economic ramifications. I thought it was a pretty damn good satire placing social platforms' self-curation and validation-seeking into the backbone of a future society. Brooker always said that Nosedive was always intended as a satire, which helps explain its arch, bright, over-the-top tone. Personally, I thought the pastel visuals were great, and the subtle technological advancements encapsulated the Black Mirror feel we've all grown accustomed to over the years. The bigger budget is also evident in a lot of scenes which can sometimes hinder things but mostly aided the story forward. Honestly, I'm not a fan of 'social media' because most times it can be a deterrent rather than a tool to supposedly 'connect people.' We see it all the time from couples in public hardly noticing one another, people nearly getting run over by someone texting because they were also too busy texting, households where good conversations and common interactions are non-existent, and scores of nonsensical content that receives higher praise for achieving even higher levels of absurdity. But the real message this episode is pushing forward is the endgame of customer rating systems, which turns the world into a lopsided giant prisoner's dilemma of applied power. And as exaggerated and unlikely as it is, it's also an effective story because even in the broadness of its metaphor, it's relatable. Howard's performance goes a long way toward making the story work because she projects such a fragile, 'brittle form of happiness' when she's working hard for validation, and she is so rawly naked and afraid when her tricks stop working that her real self starts pouring past the dams she has built. That feeling should be familiar to anyone who's censored their image on social media out of fear of exposure, or just in hopes of sparking a particular response from a particular person. It should also be familiar to anyone who has been in an online sphere where they can be rated and ranked. Fortunately for me, I have no worries about such a system as I couldn't care less about how people felt about me. I would probably be a '0.5' at best in a society such as in 'Nosedive.' Lucky me lol... And based on that this episode should be ranked at the bottom of the barrel as far as I'm concerned, but honestly, that would only aid its cause even further, which I'll explain later. The wedding speech was one of those WTF moments, but the ending was decent, and the irony of finding freedom at last from her jail cell seemed gratifying; even though she should have liberated herself at the wedding instead of kissing more ass. Either way, it was great to see a somewhat optimistic ending to such an overall bleak episode, with a powerful social message more relevant to today's culture than anything I've ever seen on TV so far. The irritating tone, the over-the-top delivery, the high pitched obnoxiousness, the social factors and categorization, and the overall structure of this episode were designed mechanisms to frustrate the viewer purposely, and it was really quite effective in communicating the protagonist's experience. It's probably the main reasons why this episode received so many negative ratings but what people don't understand is that both criticism and appeal towards this episode are one and the same. It's a win either way, and you guys played right into their hands lol. The overall presentation of this episode was its greatest selling point. Brooker, Jones, Schur, and Wright are all fucking geniuses (props also go out to Borg, Hogan, Richter, McGarvey, and Jay for their contributions). If you're an avid social media user, this episode will make you question why you make certain social connections, and whose acceptance are you really trying to gain. Hmm, I hope you found this review helpful and if so maybe you'll feel gracious enough to add me to your friend's list. -- 9/10
5. Playtest: A simulation within a simulation, that's within a simulation??? I'm starting feel like I'm on the thirteenth floor, oh wait a minute, I already am lol. I give this episode points for incorporating one of the great boogeymen of modern technology, the 'interfering cell phone signal.' (The episode even cleverly nods to its conclusion in the opening scenes, when a flight attendant asks Cooper to turn off his phone during some turbulence.), and points as well for getting at the obvious downside of giving an application access to your brain and having it figure out what scares you the most. The program here isn’t a game so much as an excuse for irony but the more fixated we become on finding true experiences, the more likely it is we’ll lose sight of the danger of such experiences. Playtest questions whether Cooper’s everyday life is sadder or scarier than his death. Through his phone, he can find love (Sonja), money (the video game company), and enrichment (traveling the world), but there’s a blush of menace to it all too, an idea that our phones can create soulless simulacrums for these abstract objects, taking away from an actual experience. Speaking of which, moment-to-moment experiences are where Playtest really shined, but unfortunately IMO it raises expectations too high before settling on a fair but disappointing conclusion, which doesn't give it much replay value in the long run. Don't get me wrong, IMO it was a genius statement about running away vs. turning and facing your fears (and the simulation was supposedly all about fear), but there were too many loose threads. Him dying at the very start of the test left too many plot points unanswered, ultimately making the first portion pointless filler. Who cares about his money being taken or who that girl was? None of it matters by the end of the story. Other than that, I thought it was a great execution of the mind going mad. To be fair events leading towards the conclusion were good but I knew halfway thru the episode that it was going to have an 'Inception-like' ending. These type of concepts have been done before with much better story arcs and twists. He should've just left his damn phone off (or called his 'mom') but if he had there would not have been much of a story to tell since it was the main point behind the parable. It's a decent premise for a feature-length horror movie with a different or better-written lead. -- 7.2/10
6. Men Against Fire: Interesting concept regarding the tech and at times it did have that 'dark sci-fi feel' (even more so if actual mutants were involved), but it suffered from a story that we've seen too many times. It got to the point where I said, okay WE GET IT, we understand its a metaphor for the Holocaust. However, it's worth noting that there were many genocides throughout history that all transpired due to the same flawed reasoning that we saw in this episode — One subset of humans being inferior to another and deserving expungement. Some might even suggest that much of the language and rhetoric drawn from and referenced in this episode had more to do with the Rwandan genocide (and its media depictions) rather than the Holocaust, perpetrated by the Nazis on Jews, Romani, and other groups. Don't get me wrong I thought this episode was okay, well made, decent effects, nice twist, good atmosphere, and vibe, but I felt it paled in comparison to most of the other episodes this season. Actually, now that I think about it, this episode reminds me of an episode of the Outer Limits ('95) where two opposing sides took drugs that made each other look like aliens. And speaking of twists, it was unexpectedly terrific mostly because it seems so plausible: What could be more enticing to an advanced military power than a device that allows soldiers to kill without suffering any guilt or emotional repercussions? This episode should also make people think about augmented reality and the ethical boundaries that don’t yet exist when it comes to showing people things that aren’t really there. It was also a compelling and nuanced exploration of military valor and the potential might of an army that could fight without morality getting in the way. But it also seemed to point toward the drone technology that exists now, and how much easier it makes eliminating large groups of people remotely at the flick of a switch, without the smell or the sound of warfare. To round things off, I got to give props to Malachi Kirby, fresh off his performance in the 'Roots' remake, who was absolutely stellar in this, and to Michael Kelly (House of Cards), who always infuses every performance with extraordinary poise and menace. -- 6.5/10 Overall, the 2nd season of Black Mirror has always been #1 to me (if it weren't for White Christmas then the 1st season would've remained in the top spot), but I rank this 3rd season right up there with the second as rulers of the Black Mirrorverse. The first season will always own the best introduction to the show's cold-realist aesthetic, National Anthem. Looking at all the episodes, across all the seasons, there's not one episode that can better serve as the grand opening to the Black Mirror series. But just because it was the perfect opening doesn't necessarily mean it's the best. And with that being said these are my favorite episodes ranked from all three seasons... 1. San Junipero (11/10) 2. White Christmas (10.5/10) 3. Be Right Back (10/10) 4. Fifteen Million Merits (10/10) 5. Hated In The Nation (10/10) 6. Shut Up and Dance (9.8/10) 7. White Bear (9.7/10) 8. The Entire History Of You (9.5/10) 9. Nosedive (9/10) 10. The National Anthem (9/10) 11. Playtest (7.2/10) 12. Men Against Fire (6.5/10) 13. The Waldo Moment (6/10) _____________________Edit (01/04/18)______________________ Personally, I felt this season of Black Mirror wasn't as good as last season, but I enjoyed it for the most part. Standout episodes for me were 'USS Callister,' 'Hang the DJ,' 'Crocodile,' and 'Black Museum.' And just like last year, I decided to put together this review based on a collection of facts, ideas, and opinions, fused with my thoughts and experiences which, once again, unequivocally hits home for me.
▼Spoiler
Hang the DJ Hang the DJ [meaning] • US/UK - Go with the beat of your own drum rather than the song that someone else plays.
Rarely do you come across a film you love so much, you want to reach for the creators and say ‘thank you.’ Well, guess what, this is one of those rare moments. Hang the DJ is the Tinder-style episode of Black Mirror that is very similar in style to season three's San Junipero - and of course, because I love SJ and it takes on love, I loved this episode too. Here, Charlie Brooker takes a lighter approach - well light concerning Black Mirror - which in general is still shrouded in darkness - with a message that is positive -- go for what you believe in. And, IMO it’s this seasons best - and definitely one of my favorites of the entire series run. Charlie Brooker has explicitly stated that the series exists to unsettle, to examine the many ways in which human weakness has inspired, and been inspired by modern technology, which has naturally required exploring modern romance. Since moving the show from the BBC’s Channel Four network to Netflix, his satire has lightened somewhat, offering a few more bittersweet endings like those of last season’s ‘San Junipero’ or ‘Nosedive,’ but ‘Hang the DJ’ is genuinely exceptional. It gives a targeted audience both the catharsis of recognition, of seeing ones most miserable experiences reflected uncannily back to them and the promise of a better future. For a moment at least, its final flourish gives audiences still stuck in a 2017 hellscape hope. For the most part, there were several questions I had swirling inside my head about this mysterious world. Something about this reality that's a bit blurred around the edges: Do these people have jobs? Does everyone in this world have to take part in this dating program? What happens if they ignore the countdown? What's beyond 'the wall'? 'Hang the DJ' is so deft at charming us, that, for most of its running time, you almost forget about those questions. An early hint at this episode's outcome comes when Frank is expressing his theory about the ‘System’ to Amy -- that if the System ‘slurps up’ all of your memories and reactions, does it have thoughts? “Okay,” she says, “so now you're gonna say, what if we're stuck in a simulation?” It's the first spark we get, 31 minutes in, that all this could be a programmed reality. But Frank and Amy feel so utterly real, so indefatigably human and three-dimensional, that you quickly brush off that thought. There's so much chemistry between Georgina Campbell (Amy) and Joe Cole (Frank) that it literally cracks the screen! IMO this is clearly the best episode of season four, and one the best overall, which ranks up there with the likes of San Junipero, White Christmas, Be Right Back and 15 Million Merits. A beautiful masterpiece from beginning to end -- an original love story, both heartwarming and heartbreaking, hilarious, intriguing, hopeful, brilliantly executed and fabulously smart. Joe Cole and Georgina Campbell are the heart and soul of this episode, and their performances are truly mesmerizing. They have a natural chemistry together, which makes their awkward first date scenes both heartwarming and hilariously funny. The set of the episodes society is very visually stunning also - again, reminiscent of San Junipero. And admittedly, as a fan of Charlie Brooker's darkest stories possible, I cannot deny my love for this episode - a refreshing break from season four's darkness up until this point. I’ve always been a sucker for a good love story, but JEEZ, Charlie Brooker ran us through the wringer, again, with this one. Absolutely amazing! Bravo!! – 10.5/10
USS Callister I must say IMHO USS Callister was a superb opening for this latest season of Black Mirror. Robert Daly lectures at some point in the episode “What Is Space Fleet?” “It is a belief system, founded on the very best of human nature – it is a goal for us to strive towards for the betterment of the universe!” Of course, we soon find out that there's no ‘betterment of the universe’ in Daly's pocket reality, just a waking nightmare for all those who have crossed him, slighted him or simply delivered him the wrong sandwich. He's no more Captain Kirk than Captain Hook was, and is more on par with one of those petulant but omnipotent man-children from the original Star Trek series we used to love so much. This is as much a love letter to Roddenberry's 1960s show as it is a top-tier episode of Black Mirror. I have to admit that the opening sequence, with its on-target pastiche, over-dramatic musical cues and 4:3 aspect ratio, sent shivers down my spine anticipating that the entire episode would be portrayed this way. But, as usual with Black Mirror, Brooker delights in wrong-footing us. At first, it looked like Daly was the victim here -- a meek, socially awkward coding wizard who's treated more like the new office employee than the joint CEO of the company. But, actually, there are no real bastards in Callister Inc, (none at all) and if his old mate and fellow director James Walton is dismissive of his contributions, it's because, well, Daly's dragging his feet. I will vehemently say this, Robert Daly is one of my most hated television characters of all-time. He currently ranks third behind Joffrey Baratheon (GoT) and Nina Myers (24) as the most disgusting characters I’ve ever come across on television! I’ve actually had the pleasure of disliking Sarah Clarke in not only 24, but also in Covert Affairs. Guess you can say that she plays her part quite well. But the way Daly’s Space Fleet colleagues/prisoners kiss up to him and then cower when he blows a fuse was absolutely agonizing for me to watch. They may only be digital copies, but Brooker makes us care more about them than their flesh-and-blood counterparts in the real world. After all, they were sentient. I really enjoyed this episode, and it’s one of my favorites of this season. It was less about AI abuse or torture and more about how petty and tyrannically humans can be when given enough power. Daly wasn't just a fanboy who wanted to play captain; he was a sociopath who wanted to torture the people who slighted him. Daly’s introvertedness causes him to avoid conflict, so he quietly submits to his co-workers ‘mistreatment’ because he knows that he can take it out on them at any time in his own bubble universe; so instead of causing conflict, he'll assert himself in a state where he has full control (i.e., in Infinity). Speaking of which, he doesn’t really have full control since he has to abide by the laws of physics within the game itself, and that’s where things start to fall apart for Captain Daly and ultimately this episode. The overall concept was still fantastic. It's superbly presented, masterfully directed, visually stunning, heartfelt, tense, good tempo throughout, littered with easter-eggs, fun to watch, and enough LOL-worthy lines to keep you chuckling well after its conclusion. However, I felt that there were too many inconsistencies in the final act to force an unneeded happy ending (well, sort of) and that negatively impacted the episode just a tad IMO. Now there are some who will lead you to believe there were too many ‘plot holes’ throughout the entire episode that would make J.J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof, and Jeffrey Lieber cringe in their seats, and enough scientific/technological miscues and inconsistencies that would make the nerdiest of the herd pull his or her hair out. With that being said, some of these so-called plot holes were self-explanatory within the episode, while others could be theorized. Too many that I care to list here (i.e., obtaining memories from DNA may sound ludicrous to those clueless about the subject being portrayed in a fictional world, but the bottom line is that it was never stated that Daly cloned their consciousness/memories from DNA, to begin with). And overall it didn’t diminish my overall experience, not one iota. Jesse Plemons (‘Meth Damon’) gives a nicely nuanced performance as the meek Robert Daly of the outside world, and the tyrannical bully of the virtual one, but this episode really belonged to Cristin Milioti (Nanette) and to Westworld's Jimmi Simpson, who's both hilarious and tragic as the perpetually humiliated Ensign Walton (That airlock scene was insanely fucked up in all the right ways). Jimmi Simpson delivered a powerful performance, bravo! A high-five also goes to Milanka Brooks as the blue-skinned Elena, who brought a weary dryness to lines like, ‘I miss taking a shit.’ Like I stated earlier, USS Callister was entertaining and definitely one of my favs this seasons. Was it perfect? No! But I was entertained nonetheless, and that’s all that really matters in the end. It was never meant to have a ‘perfect ending’ if you speculate on what would've transpired the next day. Daly would've been found dead and would've been seen as a victim instead of a villain. After all, nobody in the real world knows of Daly's crimes, and all evidence of those crimes has either been physically removed or deleted. Nanette would likely have been implicated. She broke into his apartment, simply blindly following orders due to blackmail. She has no idea what Daly actually did, and in her eyes, he's still a slightly creepy, but not evil, hero. So even if she's not arrested, she will probably feel a tremendous amount of guilt over killing her idol and boss. However, digital Nanette on the other hand literally ruined the real Nanette's life, one way or another. The theme of this episode was all about Robert Daly from the beginning, and that was the intentional twist. You're made to believe, by a big chunk into the story, that the crew and Nanette are the subjects of despair and the theme of the story, but it's actually Daly's horror story by the end of it. If you watch it again and watch him and his life as the developer, you’ll definitely notice it's more about him rather than the other characters. He's internally dissolved socially throughout the episode, as you saw while he's at work, and while the Star Fleet mod characters had existential crises, it's actually an allegory for success and failure in life. Ironically they ended up being freer than they could ever imagine, regardless that they were in a game (a game called Infinity, no less); all the while, Daly gets exactly what he asks for, to escape life and forever be in his favorite TV universe. And if that chase situation was real, that's exactly how his journey as a crazy narcissistic, paranoid captain would end -- drifting in space inside of a dead space shuttle. And back in the real world keep in mind that Callister Inc. was closed for ten days due to the holidays and there's a "do not disturb" sign turned on his apartment door. More than likely he was left in a comatose state, but he'll most certainly die after three days of dehydration. So much for happy endings… – 10/10
Black Museum Three chillers for the price of one! Black Mirror hasn't run out of ideas, but this self-referential Season 4 sendoff felt like the show’s coming to terms with its own expiration date. Rolo Haynes isn’t just the narrator of ‘Black Museum,’ he’s also the pinnacle of the best and most frustrating aspects of the series, all at once. As the engine behind the sixth and final episode of this season, Haynes is the arbiter of philosophical quandaries and the physical link between a number of the series’ past installments. Having a stand-in narrator is one of the last novel twists that Black Mirror could employ to ensure that this last Season 4 episode stood out, and all of those converge Haynes’ retelling of Dr. Dawson’s horrifying downward spiral so indicative. What a perfect analogy to the show overall -- finding addictive entertainment value in the plight of removed dystopias. Black Mirror is a unique and admirable fixture in the TV landscape, but this section feels like Brooker’s most potent response to an inability to have a show like this in the current climate. The longer you spend in this world, trying to riff on a coming apocalypse, you end up driving yourself crazy. Filtering everyone’s anxieties into a TV show has to on some level be a kind of burden. If this is when and how Brooker checks out of this universe, no one will blame him. That’s what happens when there’s nothing left to shock people anymore. This episode had such powerful storytelling that one gets completely indulged in it. Tons of easter eggs in this one too (I'm not spilling the beans, so you’re on your own). Transferring consciousness in an already virtual conscious upload, now that's some Inception-level shit right there. I challenge anyone to think of anything worse than being digitally alive and conscious forever while being fatally shocked for eternity, but never dying while being locked in a cell. I loved how they structured the stories like the classic portmanteau horror films; certainly felt a Tales From The Crypt vibe. Honestly, I wouldn't mind an audiobook narrated by Douglas Hodge aka Rolo Haynes. That guy can definitely tell a story. I really like Black Museum, but I also felt it was a retread of White Christmas; that didn't really do anything better than it (White Christmas is still one my favorite episode of the series) stories told by semi-unreliable narrators 3 mini stories the first story is basically standalone the second story gives the backdrop about the technology the third story is the main plot point conclusion of the third story is the conclusion of the framing device as well themes about cookies & eternal cookie hell reinforces what I've always believed since season two – everything's connected in the Black Mirrorverse!
What makes Black Mirror feel so fresh and exciting at its outset is the idea that one anthology could be guided by a number of fresh avenues into the connective theme without too much overlap. Feeding the demand for a dozen new episodes in the last two years alone, these chapters have remained distinct, but their individual quandaries have begun to bleed into each other. So far, writer/creator Charlie Brooker has taken on politics, terrorism, sensory overload, video games, VR, policing, war, memory, and immortality. It’s not a comprehensive or exhaustive list, but at some point, the fundamental truths underneath these hypothetical scenarios will lose that unique flavor that used to make this show even more thrilling. It also comes down to the devices themselves: The third and fourth time you see a character stick a small disk behind their ear, the novelty wears off, and it becomes an odd part of an episode-to-episode ritual. Like Liz Shannon Miller pointed out in her Season 4 review, on a rewatch Nish’s end goal becomes less a surprise than an inevitability. But when she does release her father from an eternal digital prison, it’s an act of mercy. Perhaps it’s a stretch to say that Brooker is doing the same for this show’s devoted fanbase, but for a story in such proximity to the dangers of constantly needing more, setting someone free from a technological jail cell built on repetition and anguish is a pretty stark metaphor. Brooker is essentially saying “Turn off the TV and go play outside,” so now it’s our turn to wait and see how many people in living rooms and board rooms will listen. The episode suggests Haynes is a scapegoat for short-lived viral outrage, while other people successfully adapt his work. (Apparently, he laid the groundwork for the ‘cookie’ brain uploads from ‘White Christmas.’) This tracks more closely with the series’ usual assumption: that people are too stupid to understand the true dangers of technology, and they focus their anger on superficial issues. But the episode doesn’t flesh out this idea beyond a few passing references. By the same token, it implicitly compares Black Mirror viewers to gawking Black Museum visitors -- but since no one actually seems to like the Black Museum, that’s not much of an indictment. Black Museum keeps a potentially scattered story on track without digressing into generic complaints about modern culture. But it seems uncomfortable diagnosing the problems it presents. Is a product dangerous because someone will always use it for evil, or because it was designed to make evil easy? Do people put up with injustice because they’re lazy and ignorant, or because they’re powerless? And when a high-tech hustler starts offering deals that are too good to be true, who’s supposed to stop him? While Black Museum raises some thought-provoking ethical questions, it doesn’t really hang around long enough do any of them justice, though Nish and her mom can finally be at peace. Still, I’d like to see a Rolo Haynes spinoff and find out what other technological misfires exist in the Black Museum. It’s especially telling when the Black Museum finally get engulfed in flames. Like the car in that Angela Bassett GIF from “Waiting to Exhale,” it’s almost more cathartic for the revenge-seeking characters involved knowing that the flames will consume it slowly over time. It’s a literal slow-burn ending, lingering just enough for anyone watching to wonder if this is really it. Like the reveal at the end of ‘Metalhead,’ the ultimate fate at the close of ‘Playtest,’ or the final choice in ‘Be Right Back,’ there’s that extra beat or two to soak in the full scope of things before the credits roll. In a season that de-emphasized surprises, to have it end here would be the biggest, most satisfying twist of them all. It may not be as perfect an ending as floating off into the clouds with Charlie Bucket and Grandpa Joe, but it’s pretty darn close. I really enjoyed seeing Aldis Hodge in this one too, which is always a splendid delight. – 9.5/10
Crocodile Undoubtedly the darkest episode of the new series – the most disturbing episode since series three’s ‘Shut Up And Dance’ – 'Crocodile' centers around a device which allows the user access to others’ memories. While the trailer hinted at the story surrounding a truck hitting a pedestrian, that’s just the tip of the iceberg in this tale. The episode, with a strong connection to 15 MM, begins with a strong euro noir setting and premise, surrounded by the barren snowy hills of Iceland (at the behest of Netflix) and directed by John Hillcoat, Crocodile addresses what could happen if our memories were accessible, and how far you’ll go to keep your mind private. Narratively speaking, there's no hard reason why this episode was shot in Iceland. All of its leading characters are British, and the location is almost flippantly irrelevant to the storyline. But it does give the series a impressively cinematic aesthetic and lends it the chilly feel of a Nordic noir crime drama. Technologically, we've almost been here before. But while season one's ‘The Entire History of You’ featured people fitted with implants that allowed them to store memories on a hard-drive inside their head, this episode has a device called a Collaborator (or 'memory dredger,' as it's nicknamed). The difference, though, is that TEHOY's implant felt a lot more convincing as a piece of future tech. In 'The Entire History of You,' memories are replayed because they are recorded through microscopic cameras built into people's eyes. In 'Crocodile' we're meant to buy that a machine can interpret our memories of an event in awesome, crystal-clear detail. There's no real clue in the episode's opening to suggest where this one is going. After the fatal accident with the cyclist, it's Rob, the drunk driver, who instigates the cover-up. It's he who dreams up the plan to dump the man in the river, and he who insists Mia (Andrea Riseborough) add more rocks to the sleeping bag to make sure the body sinks. But, 15 years later, it's Mia who has turned into the monster. Now a successful architect, with a nine-year-old son, a loving husband and an enviably ravishing house amid the Icelandic mountains, she'll do anything, it seems, to protect her cozy new existence, including killing her former boyfriend. And, of course, that's just the start of it. It's a clever subversion – that the character we thought we'd be following in this, who would be the conscience of the episode, turns out to be its villain. However, it's Shazi we care for – we get to see her home life, we see her joke and laugh, and we know she likes the 'Anyone Who Knows What Love Is' song (the third airing in Black Mirror for this Irma Thomas evergreen). So when she's finally killed (blessedly off-screen), it's a gut-wrenching, heart-tearing moment. Personally, I felt Crocodile was one of the best entries of this season. Much like USS Callister, I was thoroughly entertained from start to finish. The story, the oppressive cues, mind-stabbing twists, excellent design, and beautiful backdrops were all freaking amazing. This is classic Black Mirror, at it’s best. There is absolutely no let-up, with every brutal twist shocking you as they arrive. The best Black Mirror episodes are those that merely use technology as a plot point; a means to show what humans are capable of themselves – whether that is good or bad. Charlie Brooker’s writing is top notch here, and the stunning scenery of Iceland makes Crocodile a beautiful watch. Meanwhile, Andrea Riseborough’s performance as Mia as she spirals out of control will leave you on edge. However, when it comes to Black Mirror, with the good also comes the bad, and there weren’t that many as far as I’m concerned… Shazia, who is a representative of some minor insurance claim leaps down this ridiculous rabbit hole of random faces, tracks them down in their own time and questions them if they were present at the time of the incident. But she only does all of that in the first place because not one, but TWO security cameras that should have seen the incident were conveniently not working. Especially in this age of such amazing technology it just seems really silly. Not to mention it feels like complete overkill to investigate a pizza delivery truck accident to such an extreme degree, EVER.
We're expected to believe, in this futuristic world, that there are no cameras in the hotel halls, elevators or the parking garage? There was a dead body in the cart that was very visible with the cloth being too short, not to mention she had to drag the body into her car (100-pound woman at best) without any real cover. We already live in a world with cameras everywhere. I find it hard to believe that companies would get rid of them once memory-reading tech became available simply because cameras are better than memories for many scenarios (a prime example being when no witnesses are present). Also, camera tech would be even cheaper than it already is, and liability lawsuits are always expensive relative to the cost of security. Memories are far from perfect too. They are an amalgam of what happened with what you think happened, with other influences blended in. Sometimes people remember events that didn't happen or suppress things that did. They sort of touched upon it when the dentist was describing the color of the pedestrian's coat, and the insurance adjuster corrects him. It would seem more plausible that memory technology would supplement traditional video cameras rather than replace them altogether.
Mia's an architect and paid conference speaker (obviously a very intelligent woman) yet she thinks an anonymous apology letter about a killing that happened in the middle of nowhere, and has been successfully buried for 15 years, presents more risk to her than killing someone new, today, in a hotel room that's checked out in her name? C'mon guys, seriously?? Keep in mind that Mia was utterly oblivious to the memory-reading tech and even so, the crime occurred over 15 years ago, which pretty much eliminates any accurate memory extraction from Rob. All she had to do was go along with it and instruct Rob to leave her out of the letter.
The car accident that left the young man dead on the side of the road was vehicular homicide the minute they decided to cover up their wrongdoing. Why didn’t they just hop back inside the car, drive off, purchase a burner phone, and make an anonymous call to the police that they saw a dead person lying on the side of the road? Burner phone, pay phone, anonymous call, it’s all the same and would have saved Rob a sure death sentence 15 years later, and Mia from spiraling down the rabbit hole to hell. They’ve already decided that they weren’t going to do the right thing obviously, so they might as well have made it easier for themselves, one way or another. End of the episode right there!
Anyway, for much of its running time, 'Crocodile' feels like the first installment of a new Nordic noir series, with Shazi as its likable, dogged lead. When she's offed, it looks as though Mia will actually get away with it. But then, of course, she goes and murders Shazi's husband and – most cruelly – their baby daughter (with the horrible irony being that the child was actually born blind). But then we're back to the problem of this Collaborator gizmo. Would a baby's visual memory really translate into pictures that are readable as evidence? And (more to the point) would a guinea pigs? I’m not going to get into the guinea conspiracy because it’s just flat out silly. I’m usually the first to point out plot holes, inaccuracies, and fallacies, but I’ll leave this one for the obsessed to hash out. Of course, it's highly likely the police trail would have ended up at Mia's door anyway. Shazi had spoken to the hotel clerk about wanting to track down that particular guest so it wouldn't have taken a Sarah Lund-like police mind to work out what Shazi's next moves were. And, of course, the police have 'memory dredgers' of their own, possibly even more sophisticated than the '60s Star Trek-style ones Shazi was using. Also, keep in mind that Mia’s information was also stored on Shazi’s home computer. Aside from that, there's much to admire in 'Crocodile' - not least the winningly sympathetic performance from Kiran Sonia Sawar as the doomed Shazi, or Mia who buried herself in an irrational desire to preserve the life she had made for herself, believing the only way to cover up what she did was to remove all evidence of it ever happening. And with each passing kill, her face left drenched with ‘crocodile tears’ and her soul even more hollowed. It was a sort of instinctual autopilot for the last few and really spoke to one's sense of self-preservation. Mia was ruthless!! – 9/10
Metalhead Charlie Brooker has described 'Metalhead' as "like a two-minute punk single." To say it's unlike any other Black Mirror episode would be underselling it – there are lots of Black Mirror episodes that are unlike other Black Mirror episodes, but there's never been one that is so brazenly unlike any other episode around it. This is Black Mirror at its most pared-down and gimmick-free. This is basically Black Mirror going ‘lo-fi.’ The story of 'Metalhead' is bracingly low-concept. In a post-apocalyptic world (amazingly, for a series so often labeled as bleak, this is Black Mirror's first explicitly post-apocalypse episode), a group of survivors attempts to steal something from a deserted warehouse when the ‘dog’ latches onto them, killing two and rapidly pursuing the other. And, well, that's pretty much it. It's basically Terminator without all the time-travel BS; The Invaders without the Rod Sterling intro; Boston Dynamics future right in front of your eyes on the tv screen. Although ostensibly a science-fiction series, Black Mirror has always relished breaking its own rules. Last season's 'Shut Up and Dance' purposefully jettisoned any sci-fi trimmings, and 'Metalhead' once again rips up the manual by giving us a story that doesn't have a point to make. There are no satirical barbs from Brooker here or a fearful warning about new technologies, just a gleefully one-note horror story that feels thrillingly in its own right. However, that doesn’t come without its detractions. The female lead was moronic, unrealistic and not really all that interesting to care whether she lived or not IMO. It would also seem that she was adept enough to survive in the post-apocalyptic world yet she’s seen throughout much of the film fuddling around, shaking and generally taking the maximum amount of time to accomplish any task. She saw two of her comrades die in the episode and probably saw or heard about several others before. However, once she is in a shelter and sees a gun, suddenly it's time to be squeamish about touching a decomposed hand. Then, she takes off her jackets, takes her time washing her hands and using the fluffy towel to dry her face, takes her sweet time dressing her wound, and then stares in the mirror for like 10 minutes. Maybe she should have ordered some take-out and fired up a flick or two on Netflix while the killer robot dog retraces her steps back to the house. Jeez... Maybe she hadn't seen the robot launch the tracker bomb, but she definitely saw it shoot the first guy, and saw the splatter from the second. She spent too much time on the radio repeating statements and later knew it could track her after it chased her ass up the tree. Why the bloody hell didn't she just cover the bot up after leaving the tree to prevent it from recharging, and why didn't she possess better skills at evading the machine in the first place? Why the hell was she bleeding everywhere if the wound was so small, and why did she always wait for the bot to catch up with her (i.e., car scene chase)? It got to the point where I actually started rooting for the robot dog to catch up to her and put her out of her misery with a double tap to the skull. Speaking of which, I don't think they were actually facility guard dogs from Amazon, like so many want to believe. Instead, they were highly efficient autonomous military robots. Small, fast, nearly impossible to hit with bullets and easy to hide. Shoots bullets with trackers, are solar powered and can hold out sieges. Can trace calls, hack just about any system, open any lock and potentially repair itself. Honestly, the only real fault is with the design of their cameras, which could've been improved by giving it additional thermal camera modes. A true killing machine nonetheless. The dogs in this episode were incredibly well done, and I thought the overall message was extremely straightforward -- This is the inevitable outcome of autonomous military robots. It's easy to see the link from Boston Dynamics to this, and it's only a matter of time before they start arming their robots. This is precisely the future of AI that Stephen Hawking is trying to warn us about! And I don't think the lack of context or surrounding backstory is a problem neither. In fact, I think it improves the episode somewhat. It drives home the point that the robots don’t give two shits about you or anyone else. They aren't interested in the fact that she's trying to get a teddy bear to comfort a sick kid. They're programmed to kill, and everything else (including color) is irrelevant. The entirety of the episode is devoted to showing us exactly how difficult it is to defeat them, and when she finally puts one down, it only summons a dozen more. With all that being said, this happens to be my least favorite episode of the season, and one of the worst overall. It wasn’t terrible, but I didn’t find it to be all that good either. The premise was good, but the plot literally goes nowhere. The supporting characters were basically nonexistent, and the protagonist was dumber than some of those chicks you saw in popular horror films from the ’80s and ’90s. I basically spent 20 minutes watching a chase scene through the forest (that didn’t really require a killer robot), and another 20 minutes watching the female lead shacked up with two corpses in an empty mansion. I understand that the episodes last-minute reveal was to show us that for all the harshness and brutalism of this future society, there's still room for a tender gesture, but in the end, it just seemed like it was all for nothing. I also understood that it was just an episode of action, trying not to get killed, through the eyes of the protagonist — not a typical plot for Black Mirror. In other episodes, we see more of a backstory, and each episode leaves you on a speculating rollercoaster ride, but Brooker decided to go the Junji-Ito angle with this one. Horror is much scarier when left unexplained. There's no why, what, or how to the dogs. They just are, and it leaves you feeling both frustrated and uneasy but also wanting more, so you can fruitlessly try and piece it all together. With little to no tinkering 'Metalhead' could have been successfully presented as a silent film in 4:3 AR. Yes, Metalhead was dark. It's about fear. It was unforgiving. And it was brutal! But unfortunately, I didn’t experience any fear throughout and in the end, I wasn’t really all that entertained. I've seen similar premises done much better with higher replay value. – 5.8/10
Arkangel Caution: Extreme Parental Surveillance Advisory Some Black Mirror episodes take place in a world so far-flung from our own that they’re much easier to digest as science fiction fantasies. Other times, they feel more adjacent to reality, delivering dire warnings of technology run amok in fallible hands. ‘Arkangel’ belongs more in the latter camp, telling a contained story about a small family that slowly disintegrates. So there’s a hint of back-to-basics to Arkangel, which is very much about humans being horrible to themselves and one another. Directed by Jodie Foster, it is perhaps the most conventionally ‘Black Mirror’ of this season. It is undoubtedly the one that best conveys the longstanding Brooker worldview, that anything bearing a passing resemblance to a smartphone or tablet is a gateway to a future-shock purgatory. In the hands of a nervous single mom (Rosemarie DeWitt), Arkangel becomes a digital umbilical cord she refuses to release for fear of losing her daughter forever. While current apps, such as Apple's Find Friends, allow us to keep a GPS-assisted eye on our family and partners, this is that technology taken a few more miles down the road. It's no coincidence that Brooker includes the line "cutting the umbilical cord," because, of course, for Maria, it never was cut metaphorically speaking. Clearly, the mother sees the daughter as an extension of herself; being able to see what she sees is just a blatant example of that, and her naivety to the damage it was causing was really annoying, to say the least. What starts as a necessity, to protect her three-year-old daughter, soon becomes an addiction. The older Sara is never granted any privacy or the space to discover life or to screw up. Using ‘Arkangel’ becomes like reading a diary, but instead, she’s reading her daughter. Not many details about ‘Arkangel’ would have to change to make it work outside the faux sci-fi realities Black Mirror creates. While most Black Mirror episode takes care to extrapolate technological nightmares based on developments firmly rooted in reality, ‘Arkangel’ leans on a conceit that’s so close to our existing world that it’s about as low-key as Black Mirror can get without being … well, our existing world. Black Mirror has always been about the interplay between technology and humanity. Dedicating an episode to some theatrical, statistically improbable plotline about a child getting kidnapped doesn't really say much of anything. Telling a story about a parent who wants to protect her child by clipping her wings is something very relatable and poignant. However, there’s a lot of terrible irony at play here. The mother, out of paranoia and negligence, decides to safeguard her child from possible dangers by monitoring where she goes and what she sees. At no point is she shown teaching Sara how to discern right from wrong; how to make good decisions instead of bad ones; how to process and confront disturbing situations; how to heal from trauma. She creates an artificial shield around her daughter instead of preparing her daughter to face life on her own terms, as a fully functioning adult. She does not address her daughter's lack of judgment by finding out what is making her act out - she merely seeks to eliminate problems on her behalf. The technology amplifies the scope of control that she exerts over Sara, but it is at its core authentic, and something many people have dealt with, either as children or as parents. This episode did provide several things to ponder... Although the twist at the end was equally gut-wrenching for the mother, as the scare at the playground during the opening, sadly, IMO Arkangel wasn’t very good, or memorable enough, for the questions it raises to have a much lasting impact on the people who watched it. Personally, I thought the story was a bit simple, very predictable, and the payoff wasn't satisfying. Of course, this episode benefits from Black Mirror's greatest directing coup. Throughout 29 years of filming, Jodie Foster's directing credits amount to just four TV episodes and four movies, so she's clearly picky, but Foster (a former child actress, remember) seemed like the perfect fit for this story. Apparently, it was she who suggested to Brooker that the story is given a blue-collar makeover, and, more than any other episode (including season three's 'Nosedive'), this feels thrilling, authentically American and more like a one-off, Sundance-friendly indie flick than an episode of a well-respected, powerful British anthology series. We’ll inevitably all disagree on which Black Mirror episode is the best, but the ones that seem to gratify fans the most tend to allow some goofiness into the premise. ‘USS Callister’ was no less enthralling or psychologically rich for playing around with monsters and riffing on the ’60s format of the space series, and the joke buried at the end of ‘San Junipero’ was a Belinda Carlisle song. But episodes like ‘White Bear’ and ‘Shut Up and Dance’ are unrelentingly bleak, and ‘Arkangel,’ if less nightmarish, didn’t offer much in the way of consolation. Black Mirror has come so far now, with diverse genres, delayed plot device reveals and super-sized budgets. Some may find this to its detriment, preferring the simplicity of a Channel 4-era 'White Bear' or 'The Entire History of You,' but if the show is still interested in making lower-budget, more character-heavy episodes and proving their worth, it needs to do better than this. Personally, I thought ‘Arkangel’ was meh at best, and I have my doubts it will be anyone's favorite episode of season four. For a more engaging spin on a very similar topic (parents wreaking havoc by intervening with their children's tech communications), I would suggest checking out Jason Reitman's Men, Women & Children. – 5/10 One of the strengths of this season is that it reinforces what I've always suspected since season two -- that everything is connected in the Black Mirrorverse. One of the most subjective series of all-time. Opinions are scattered all over the place just based on a single episode; season ratings are alike. We’ll inevitably all disagree on which Black Mirror episode is the best. My reason for keeping this year's review contained within last years post is because I felt it was significantly lower than last season; really didn't justify a new post at the time. However, I was entertained for the most part, and even the worst BM episode is better than 80-90% of the content that's currently on television IMO. No other series' get me this charged but GoT, and The Expanse; at least not since the days of 24, Lost, and Battlestar Galactica. Very curious to see where Brooker takes us next. 1. San Junipero (11/10) 2. White Christmas (10.5/10) 3. Hang the DJ (10.5/10) 4. Be Right Back (10/10) 5. USS Callister (10/10) 6. Fifteen Million Merits (10/10) 7. Hated In The Nation (10/10) 8. Shut Up and Dance (9.8/10) 9. White Bear (9.7/10) 10. The Entire History Of You (9.5/10) 11. Black Museum (9.5/10) 12. Crocodile (9/10) 13. Nosedive (9/10) 14. The National Anthem (9/10) 15. Playtest (7.2/10) 16. Men Against Fire (6.5/10) 17. The Waldo Moment (6/10) 18. Metalhead (5.8/10) 19. Arkangel (5/10)
68 Reply by HomerS 2018-12-28 23:08:19 (edited by HomerS 2018-12-28 23:09:24)
- HomerS
- TV Devil
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- Registered: 2005-10-20
- Posts: 3,390
Re: Black Mirror
Black Mirror - Bandersnatch Black Mirror is back with a feature length special. And what this special makes it even more special, is that it is interactive, that the viewer can decide what happens next. It works great on a Tablet by touching but works also on a Smart TV via remote clicking. Therefore it probably can only be "enjoyed" correctly if watched via Netflix as in a ripped version the plot decisions would be already decided by someone else? I haven't finished it yet but thought it was interesting and really something different.
- graybags
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- Registered: 2008-01-13
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Re: Black Mirror
I've not seen it yet either, but I read that watching all possible endings or options or whatever would take 5 hours. I don't have Netflix, so I don't even know if I'd download this. Unless Netflix do a 30 day trial or something, I'd sign up for BM alone.
2020. Meh.
- Wizard
- Administrator
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- Registered: 2006-02-16
- Posts: 2,629
Re: Black Mirror
BM went downhill with season 3 when it turned American. Season 1 and 2 were great, I couldn't even finish season 3.
DRM "manages access" in the same way that Prison "manages freedom". http://xkcd.com/488/
- HomerS
- TV Devil
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- From: Germany
- Registered: 2005-10-20
- Posts: 3,390
Re: Black Mirror
graybags wrote:Unless Netflix do a 30 day trial or something, I'd sign up for BM alone.
Doesnt Netflix do a 1 month free trial for new customers? Atleast they did with me, but of course you still have to register with your payment info, coz if you dont cancel it will continue, but it still can be canceled after every month. Wizard wrote:BM went downhill with season 3 when it turned American. Season 1 and 2 were great, I couldn't even finish season 3.
I enjoyed every season of Black Mirror, but of course there were stronger and weaker episodes.
- Rocky_Rock_Rockbottom
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