Black Mirror is my favorite show of the past few years. Show-runner Charlie Booker has now created thirteen hourlong episodes, all available on Netflix, that each independently create future dystopias through top-notch television. It (alongside Kevin Kelly’s ‘The Inevitable’) started my mind thinking about what the next few decades will have on offer.
A number of the episodes have proven remarkably prescient. One episode presaged the revelation that PM Cameron had sex with a pig. ‘The Waldo Moment’ seemed too implausible back in 2013 for me to take it seriously…until Brexit and Trump proved the power of Waldo’s appeal. As Giles Harvey wrote in the New Yorker, “Critics were unconvinced when it aired in 2013, and Brooker told me he agreed that the ending, which skips forward to a Waldo-dominated global police state, is too abrupt. Now it seems prophetic.”
Episode 1: Nosedive
This plot isn’t even the future. Ask anyone in the service industry who has to get reviewed on Yelp. Or Amazon. Or Uber. Or China. Hell, I just blown up by a Canadian on Airbnb.
Jordan was nice but he did several small things that would make me not recommend hosting him. Didn’t read the house rules so the second day he broke a big one for me and I had to ask him to read them. Stained the comforter on the bed, used an entire box of Kleenex in 48 hours that usually lasts a few weeks in there, left water all over the bathroom floor and counter and didn’t clean up after himself, gave him a shelf to himself in the shower and he used my personal area instead, left the bathroom door shut every time so I wasn’t sure if anyone was in there or not, closed doors loudly every time, left the toilet seat up every time. There are more examples but overall it left me frustrated as I rarely have guests cause so many issues particularly over a short stay. He was very nice and friendly just not my cup of tea.
I must say that I put the seat down at least once. Further, that requirement was not specified in the house rules.
The characters were all cookie cutter — the lead actress, the brother, the truck driver, and the bride were uncomplicated archetypes. The twist was too telegraphed (the two sentences Netflix showed you to describe also gave too much away) and the conclusion of her screaming in jail was too cute.
I feel like there was a missed opportunity here to do more with race and attractiveness-bias.
Overall, an underwhelming start was expecting more. Maybe I just like the dark stuff.
5/10
Episode 2: Playtest
Cute-ish concept but it falls back on the Inception-y stuff that Black Mirror has relied on for the Christmas Episode and White Bear. Also, it doesn’t have that much of a twist.
Wikipedia told me that: ‘The casting of Wyatt Russell as Cooper led to the rudeness of the character being toned down so that the audience is ‘rooting for him to learn a lesson.”’
Not how I felt at all. Cooper was way too contrived. He was far too annoying to have anyone take him home. His use of ‘video game lingo’ and just personality overall before he started shriveling into a ball was painfully bad, and our lack of sympathy for him made the conclusion less impactful.
I would’ve liked to see him fly home in business class.
Black woman character was the only redeeming part. Also it looks like the love interest was cast in Spielberg’s Ready Player One.
4/10 (though, maybe I just hate it because I’m scared I actually am like the lead)
Episode 3: Shut Up and Dance
Finally this season brings it. With such short one-off episodes it really requires top notch acting and writing to develop characters, and even then the show often falls back to relying on archetypes to have the audience fill in the details. Clearly Charlie Booker can write and cast well enough to give us distinctive personalities, but by making the main characters (redhead in ep 1, American ‘gap year’ bro in ep 2, teenage boy in ep 3) really predictable I think he’s trying to make it as easy as possible for the viewer to project themselves on them. That said I wish he made them more distinctive and memorable (like the lead in Waldo).
I think unless this show is doing something in the far future, its important for the show to lean heavily on dystopia, because otherwise it feels too much like flat contemporary satire. This episode works where episode 1 didn’t in that it was surreal and ‘unbelievable’ but didn’t rely on any future tech to execute its plot.
7/10
Episode 4: San Junipero
I liked that both of the characters were sympathetic and likable, maybe the first for a Black Mirror episode? It was interesting and jarring having the first thirty minutes of an episode actually be happy.
I think I’d definitely upload myself. The whole ‘I’m betraying my dead husband’ bit felt a little put-on, though it was superbly acted.
The fonts changing as the years changed was a very nice touch. Also, shout out to Time Crisis, that game was the shit.
Initially 8/10, upon reflection 6.4/10
Episode 5: Men Against Fire
Holocaust allegories are almost universally terrible (I don’t remember The Third Wave being bad but I haven’t seen it in 10 years…). This one wasn’t!
I also thought that having America do a holocaust to white people was an interesting wrinkle.
I’m a big Starship Troopers fan and it was cool having the crazy Rambo character be a woman. I think it would’ve been less cliche and creepier if they had the psychologist be female too. The current character had very little going on.
Dream sex as punishment/reward was a great little beat.
I think it helps that this one was further into the future. Back in 2011 and 2013 we hadn’t yet lived through smartphones taking over life, Snowden, drones all day every day, Syria and the refugee crisis…etc. The more mainstream stuff is harder to shock us with. The tech I hadn’t really pondered before and was way more horrifying than the videogame episode. After watching this, I later learned that SOMA the computer game explored this scenario as well.
9/10 (recognizing I may be biased in favor of war themes)
Episode 6: Hated in the Nation
The best character of the season was the PM. His push to leak stuff was hysterical and rang totally true. He also had the season’s best line: “He’s a pedophile and only in 4th place!”
By the way, bug drones are totally a thing! This DARPA project is absolutely horrifying — they hooked something up to a live bug and can control its flight.
Black Mirror consistently fails to give believable backstories to its villains. Episode 5 was the stronger for keeping the villain anonymous. This guy also came off silly, which made the final scene where she almost catches her less impactful. I think they should’ve just ended the show at the hearings.
9.4/10.