Black Mirror

[MoogleViper]

I just got around to watching White Christmas. Fuck me, what a show. Whilst I do like Charlie Brooker's comedy, I don't think he's amazing, and he gets very samey quite quickly.

 

But with Black Mirror, it's completely different. Every episode has been brilliant. It's managed to be genuinely thought provoking (and not at all pretentious). This is definitely his forte.

 

Black Mirror is one of my favourite shows. I know there's only been 7 episodes, but for me it's a contender for one of the best shows of all time (I wouldn't say it's number 1, not at all, but it's definitely near the top). I honestly believe that, although maybe somewhat of a cult favourite, in future years and generations we will look back, and consider Black Mirror to be one of the defining pieces of our generation.

 

What are other people's thoughts? If you haven't seen it, then you can watch it all here on 4OD. (Not sure if it works outside of UK, but if you don't know how to access a TV show on the internet then what have you been doing all these years? I'm sure you can access it on your Z-Eye.)

 

Previous threads for Series 1 and Series 2.

[Goafer]

I thought it was brilliant and, as you said, thought provoking. Although it's hardly upbeat viewing. I seem to recall the episode with the exercise bikes being particularly uncomfortable.

 

Probably one of my favourite shows. I think I ended up watching all of them in a row, or at least in a very short period of time.

[The Peeps]

I watched series 2 on Netflix some time last week and thought it was brilliant. I watched them all in a row and had to laugh when I went downstairs and saw my stepsister sat in the front room, TV on, laptop on and doing something on her phone.

[DriftKaiser]

Black Mirror are quite scary but brilliant at highlights the possible consequences of using possible upcoming technologies that will occurs within next few decades. Found the bit where they used the digital mind copy technology are so heartbreaking for me.

 

I remember an episode (BRB) where a woman lost her husband and her friend signed her up to a service that use an algorithm technology where it access to every his tweets, facebook posts, etc to make a virtual him so she can talk to him.

 

That technology is actually a reality right now!

Edited January 3, 2015 by DriftKaiser

[Glen-i]

That technology is actually a reality right now!

 

Bloody hell! That's kinda scary.

[Sméagol]

Season 4 will be available 29-12-2017.

 

 

[drahkon]

Awesome.

I've recently watched Season 2 and (aside from The Waldo Moment) it was incredible. "White Christmas" in particular was outstanding.

[DriftKaiser]

Can't wait to see what another nightmares I'll get from season 4.

[Sméagol]

I watched the first 5 episodes last night.

I thought the first two were ok. Actually, I'm not sure what I think about the Star Trek episode, a lot of it is funny, and tongue-in-cheek, but it clashes a bit with the serious tones I think. As for the Arkangel episode, I liked it somewhat, but I found some reactions of the characters to be strange. My favourite episodes so far (as I haven't seen the last one yet), are the 3rd and 4th episode, and they couldn't contrast each other more. The one being really dramatic, starting with fatal car accident, the other a funny and really lighthearted dating episode.
Then there's the 5th episode which was absolutely terrible.

Edited January 1, 2018 by Sméagol

[EEVILMURRAY]

On 31/12/2017 at 6:26 PM, Sméagol said:

 

Then there's the 5th episode which was absolutely terrible.

Just seen Metalhead. Dunno what they were thinking at all with that. The decision to film it entirely in black and white didn't help the tension at all and made things more confusing. The trademark "twist" at the end wasn't as world altering as normal, it was just "oh, they were going to get something all along like we thought, it just wasn't what I thought it was"

[Kav]

Loved them all!

[somme]

I enjoyed episode 5. I thought the black and white worked great. The shots were very reminiscent of old Twilight Zone episodes, which may have been what they were going for. 

I enjoyed the whole season, and thought on average it was better than the last but lacked the real stand-out moments like San Junipero and Shut Up and Dance. 

[Nicktendo]

Episode 5 was my favourite because Maxine Peake. I thought the B&W and direction were superb.

[Sméagol]

Yeah personally I think Bandersnatch is great, and more entertaining than most of last season. A great "meta" story. One or two niggles.. I think? But I'll elaborate later. After several game overs (including one where 

Spoiler

he fights his psychiatrist

) I finally got one of the legitimate endings. I dunno how many there are and how wildly they vary, but I thought the one I had was great and appropriate. The feels! Anyway it was this one:

Had a bit of a 

Spoiler

Donnie Darko vibe.

Will definitely replay / rewatch.

Edited December 30, 2018 by Sméagol

[EEVILMURRAY]

Watched Bandersnatch last night. Very underwhelming. I was alright but the gimmick wore itself out quickly and I know there are other endings, but I'm just not invested enough to go through it all over again to get five-ish minutes of other footage.

[Shorty]

Did you at least skip back a few times? It's kind of designed in a way that you're meant to see multiple endings without repeating yourself at all, except for a few tactfully sped-up sections.

[EEVILMURRAY]

1 hour ago, Shorty said:

Did you at least skip back a few times? It's kind of designed in a way that you're meant to see multiple endings without repeating yourself at all, except for a few tactfully sped-up sections.

When we got to an "end" and it gave the opportunity to go back, we did and tried the other route to see what happened. Saw about four different reviews for Bandersnatch on the Games Master of the time.

[EEVILMURRAY]

So Season 5 snuck on the Netflix under the radar...

Striking Vipers - the concept was definitely interesting, although how it got started was a bit weird, classic Black Mirror.

Smithereens - boring. There was literally nothing special about this episode. It might as well been a random PSA

Something something and Ashley Too - As someone who wasn't all fond of Miley Cyrus I wasn't expecting much, but this had serious potential but I feel this could've started later in the story so could show more of the aftermath. A pity

[Goafer]

Finished season 5 last night.

Striking Vipers: it was a bit meh. Nothing great, but nothing bad either. Interesting idea, but I just couldn't get over the fact that characters in a fighting game could now have sex for some reason. Like, why would that be programmed in? And how easily the guys got over the fact that they were boning each other. I would have liked to see the reasons explored a bit more. Like, did they secretly have feelings for each other all along?

Smithereens: As Eevil said, it was a bit boring. I enjoyed it, but it was slow paced. It also fell into the trope of "Police are dumb and only the plucky tech nerds can help them". Topher Grace was good though. It didn't feel like a Black Mirror episode though. Just some random guy angry at Facebook.

Ashley Too: I enjoyed it, but the ending was far too sickly sweet.

 

Spoiler

The good guys triumph and Miley gets to write the sings she always wanted to, free from "The Man". Also the sister gets to play bass, because of course she does.

 

Overall, none of the episodes felt like Black Mirror. They've always been kind of dark and thought provoking. These were just generic sci-fi based loosely on near-future (or current in the case of Smithereens) technology.

[EEVILMURRAY]

4 minutes ago, Goafer said:

 

Smithereens: As Eevil said, it was a bit boring. I enjoyed it, but it was slow paced. It also fell into the trope of "Police are dumb and only the plucky tech nerds can help them". Topher Grace was good though. It didn't feel like a Black Mirror episode though. Just some random guy angry at Facebook

I loved Topher too, but what did it for me was that there was no Black Mirror twist, normally something isn't something you expect or has something stuck on the side of the head. This had some dude who basically killed his wife because he was on his phone and wanted to bitch about it, with no goal in mind but just to bitch.

[Goafer]

1 hour ago, EEVILMURRAY said:

I loved Topher too, but what did it for me was that there was no Black Mirror twist, normally something isn't something you expect or has something stuck on the side of the head. This had some dude who basically killed his wife because he was on his phone and wanted to bitch about it, with no goal in mind but just to bitch.

"No Black Mirror twist" is an accurate description of the whole series.

The only thing I found even remotely thought provoking was thinking about whether it was actually cheating in Striking Vipers.

Ashley Too had the dark tones of a good Black Mirror episode in places, but the ending was far too Hollywood. That end scene at the rock bar was just painful. It's a shame, as it was a very good episode up until the last 10 minutes or so.

[BowserBasher]

Has anyone watched any of the latest series yet?

Have to say after the first two episodes I'm a little disappointed as neither have really stood up to any of the previous episodes and series. First was OK, but I found the second could have been a run of the mill horror film. I don't know if it's because of the shift to it being a Netflix show but I haven't really enjoyed them. They don't feel like the old episodes which you could see as being set in their own world and connected. So far, and especially the second episode, they just feel like they are set in this world (doesn't help that Netflix cram in their name or as in ep 1 a streaming service that is pretty much just them). I'll give the rest a go to see if any are better. Just glad I don't subscribe to watch these.

[Glen-i]

I watched Joan Is Awful. Very much enjoyed it. Got really trippy near the end, which I usually dig.
The church scene was absolutely amazing!

[EEVILMURRAY]

1 hour ago, BowserBasher said:

Has anyone watched any of the latest series yet?

Have to say after the first two episodes I'm a little disappointed as neither have really stood up to any of the previous episodes and series. First was OK, but I found the second could have been a run of the mill horror film. I don't know if it's because of the shift to it being a Netflix show but I haven't really enjoyed them. They don't feel like the old episodes which you could see as being set in their own world and connected. So far, and especially the second episode, they just feel like they are set in this world (doesn't help that Netflix cram in their name or as in ep 1 a streaming service that is pretty much just them). I'll give the rest a go to see if any are better. Just glad I don't subscribe to watch these.

Forgot about this thread, from the Netflix one...

 

On 6/27/2023 at 8:39 AM, EEVILMURRAY said:

Finished the new season of Black Mirror a few days ago, the verdicts:

  Joan is Awful (Reveal hidden contents)

A perfect start to the season, blending the digital of things with reality but with a now more real pressing threat (many may consider self inflicted) of TV twisting reality and it backfiring spectacularly. Salma Hayek does a beautiful job, and should cement an Oscar with the line "who's anus is doing the shitting?"

I thought Michael Cera had his greatest acting role ever, but then he couldn't shut his mouth and it became another one of his failed attempts of portraying someone.

  Loch Henry (Reveal hidden contents)

A slow burner which because of its spooky nature could've gone many ways with its mysterious past nature, but I think it did a good job with the two twists it pulled, not only the dad, but mummy too?! Not sure why the girlfriend had to die, but eh

  Beyond The Sea (Reveal hidden contents)

If any episode needed to be feature length, it should not have been this one. Events were spread out over tedious bullshit, and although the seduction was predictable from the start, the final act I wasn't truly expecting until the last minute. I thought the inclusion of lil Culkin as the terrorist was going to have a more decent impact, like Josh Harnett was going to borrow his friends body for either a Taken style rampage to avenge his family/stop an extremist group, or the group would find his friend and he'll have to do a violent Home Alone and fuck them up. Instead we were treated to a dude painting a house. Ah'mazin.

  Mazey Day (Reveal hidden contents)

A nice reminder that the paparazzi are fuckers. When they found the lass in bed I thought I was going to have a seizure with all that snapping. But that final twist... it was so out there it bordered on silly, but it pulled it off with a standard diner in the middle of nowhere shootout. Another silly moment how a cop can pull off a few nice decent shots and have no effect and dies, lead lady fires once and incapacitates the enemy

  Demon 79 (Reveal hidden contents)

This reminded me a little of the monkey paw episode of Inside No. 9, and due to the outside nature to me (being in the 70s), it felt a bit more mystical and nice to end on a season which has moved away from people messing around in virtual spaces

And have now been sucked in by Battlebots, which is what Robot Wars used to be before they stretched out 3 battles over an hour

 

[EEVILMURRAY]

One thing I will now say in defence of Beyond The Sea. Not long after I bought the sci-fi book mentioned in the episode - The Moon is A Harsh Mistress - I've been taking my time going through it and still am yet to finish, but it's a good read. It's a bit like 1984* mixed with Total Recall.

*but not as boring