Black Mirror

[Appletiser]

love this discussion!

Loch Henry intrigued but disturbed me, I used to love horrors but can’t cope with them anymore this series defo seems more violent and gruesome

My fave ever is Hang the DJ, I find the couple so cute together , I wasn’t as keen on San Junipero

the one where the young boy turns out to be a pweirdo stuck in my mind as well

 

[MrsBsDayOff]

Just watched the paparazzi one, wtf was all that about? Dire.

I liked Beyond The Sea and Loch Henry.

 

[Blond3g1rl]

Loch Henry. Guessed it pretty quickly.

 

[Appletiser]

What did people think of the demon one?

I loved the bit with the red leather jacket, and the ending. The girl and the demon were both a bit annoying

 

[MrsBsDayOff]

What did people think of the demon one?

I loved the bit with the red leather jacket, and the ending. The girl and the demon were both a bit annoying

I loved it. It wasn't very 'Black Mirror' but I so enjoyed it. The music and set was excellent too. Great acting from the lead

 

[HockyRorror]

What did people think of the demon one?

I loved the bit with the red leather jacket, and the ending. The girl and the demon were both a bit annoying

I fell asleep three times trying to get through it and eventually watched in bits. I don’t know if this impacted my watch, or, like @MrsBsDayOff mentioned: it didn’t really feel like Black Mirror, but didn’t enjoy it. As said, will rewatch and see if my mind changes. My favourite from this era is still Joan is Awful.

 

[Alexaj]

Mine goes:

Loch Henry
Beyond the Sea (needed editing)
Demon 79 (apparently supernatural episodes are 'Red Mirror'. Just save it for a different series... although I didn't hate it, I was just disappointed that there was no technological twist)
Joan is Awful (just a silly episode)
Mazey Daze (absolute crap. Heavy handed message and lazy plot twist)

 

[Blond3g1rl]

What a boring serious. None of them made you think like the previous series’ did

 

[bubbadabut]

Just watched Beyond the Sea. I was looking forward to that one based on the actors involved, but Jesus, it was so boring and predictable. Way too long at 1h20m. Could have been done and dusted in half that time.

 

[Shimmering]

I've been rewatching the old series on netflix.

Nosedive is definitely the stand out for me. The whole look of the episode and BDH is just phenomenal.

From this season, I didn't enjoy Loch Henry it made me feel low and I guessed the twist very early on. I wasn't a fan of Beyond the Sea either. I enjoyed the other 3 as the were entertaining but not very Black Mirrorish.

 

[HockyRorror]

I've been rewatching the old series on netflix.

Nosedive is definitely the stand out for me. The whole look of the episode and BDH is just phenomenal.

From this season, I didn't enjoy Loch Henry it made me feel low and I guessed the twist very early on. I wasn't a fan of Beyond the Sea either. I enjoyed the other 3 as the were entertaining but not very Black Mirrorish.

I guessed Loch Henry too. I really liked Beyond The Sea. The imagery (and the actors) were beautiful I agree Nosedive is the best, the pinnacle of the show. It’s perfect Black Mirror***. For me, White Bear is a close second.

***And sort of ironic because general consensus agrees Black Mirror turned more crap after Charlie Brooker sold it from Channel 4 to Netflix and Netflix turned it more American, and that was the first American episode, which I’m sure Charlie could probably write and make some sort of outlandish episode out of for the next series
---

I loved it. It wasn't very 'Black Mirror' but I so enjoyed it. The music and set was excellent too. Great acting from the lead

Forgot to mention I read today that this episode was specifically not Black Mirror but Red Mirror (tbf it did state that at the start of the episode, I forgot until I read this) and Charlie Brooker said Red Mirror will be episodes and storylines that don’t involve technology themes, probably why it didn’t seem like normal Black Mirror

 

[Moniker]

I didn't like any of this series. I thought Demon79 was absolutely tit and don't get the rave reviews. None of the episodes hold a candle to the early series.
Shut Up And Dance is so good. Also loved Nosedive and San Junipero.

 

[Sandydan]

Just watching San Junipero. 20 minutes in and nothing has happened yet, is it worth continuing?! Others had my attention by now!

 

[Warpaint]

Just watching San Junipero. 20 minutes in and nothing has happened yet, is it worth continuing?! Others had my attention by now!

I've always thought it was fantastically overrated as an episode.

 

[Katykatykaty]

Just watching San Junipero. 20 minutes in and nothing has happened yet, is it worth continuing?! Others had my attention by now!

I totally didn’t get it the first time I watched it and just didn’t enjoy it very much. However with a couple rewatches I definitely enjoy it more now than I did before. Still nowhere near one of my top episodes.

 

[Mark81]

Not a precise order as it can vary a bit but the top, middle and bottom groups are roughly grouped


Shut Up and Dance
white Christmas
Loch Henry
Black Museum
Crocodile
Nosedive
be right back
The Waldo moment
Striking vipers (in my experience with straight guys this is completely realistic)
Hated in the nation
Entire history of you
White bear
Playtest
Men against fire
Hang the dj
San junipero
Demon 79
Arkangel
Joan is awful
Rachel Jack and Ashley too
Fifteen million merits
Beyond the sea
Mazey day
National anthem
Metal head
USS Callister
Smithereens
Bandersnatch

 

[Bleurghgram]

National Anthem so near the bottom that is peak Black Mirror for me. I’ll always remember watching it in my childhood bedroom with my jaw on the floor.

 

[greenvelvet]

I think it takes more imagination and more technical awareness now to make a good “typical” black mirror episode than it would’ve done ten years ago tbh. They’ve exhausted a lot of the ideas a layperson would be able to come up with.

I guess nowadays, even if you have the technical awareness about the direction social media & technology can take, you also have to be able to write a piece that connects with and makes an impact on your average person. But then the writers said they wanted it to be less depressing in light of the state of the world so maybe it’s just that I respect them for having fun with it either way.

 

[emm]

I think it takes more imagination and more technical awareness now to make a good “typical” black mirror episode than it would’ve done ten years ago tbh. They’ve exhausted a lot of the ideas a layperson would be able to come up with.

I guess nowadays, even if you have the technical awareness about the direction it can take, you also have to be able to write a piece that connects with and makes an impact on your average person. But then the writers said they wanted it to be less depressing in light of the state of the world so maybe it’s just that I respect them for having fun with it either way.

I agree, realistically what they need to write episodes about are things that could happen 10/20+ years in the future and seem almost possiblenjownbut not quite. None of the new episodes (I've only seen 3) seem like that

 

[greenvelvet]

I agree, realistically what they need to write episodes about are things that could happen 10/20+ years in the future and seem almost possiblenjownbut not quite. None of the new episodes (I've only seen 3) seem like that

Yeah, exactly, and they’re not really! A lot of what people were speculating about happening with social media and AI ten years ago is only just starting to happen recently. The main challenge for the future seems to be ethical collection & applications of data which is what BM dealt with ten years ago. There is stuff left they could do but I think they’ve covered most of the big popular issues

This season they were a lot more abstract/retrospective with the “tech” that acts as the springboard for the commentary, eg

Spoiler: Extremely vague spoiler

In the demon episode it was probably the talisman/domino and maybe even nukes as it’s set in the Cold War; in Mazey Day & Loch Henry it was to do with cameras; the Aaron Paul episode had a kind of 70s retrofuturism approach to technology in it which I thought was creative at least. In two episodes they did away with the social media age angle entirely. The one episode where they did sort of touch on the big things atm (how your data is used for AI, accidentally signing away your rights when signing up for staple products) was negatively received