Black Mirror
- Thread starter bigloum
- Start date
Based on the 3 episodes I’ve seen in the first season, I’d say yes.
Keep in mind, each episode is it’s own story. From what I can tell, there is no connection between the individual episodes.
It's not the best way to get introduced to the series. I accidentally started on season 2, then watched season 1.
Great show, season 4 didn't quite live up to standards overall but I still enjoy the show.
While it's not as good, Electric Dreams on Amazon Prime Video is similar and pretty good. Not quite as dark or tech centric, but similar feel.
Out of curiosity, which are in your bottom 5 for Black Mirror?
I didn't hate Episode 1 of season 1, but it does tend to be polarizing.
I'm not necessarily saying I don't like these episodes (except for The Waldo Moment and Metalhead. Those both stunk on ice), just that they're the weakest in my opinion.
Worst to better:
The Waldo Moment
Metalhead
Fifteen Million Merits
Men Against Fire
Playtest
I think the reason The National Anthem tends to be so polarizing is that it's the first episode and a lot of people never went past it. If Shut Up and Dance had been first, it would have the same affect. I think most, aside from San Junipero, would turn a large audience away.
Yeah, I would have to agree with all of that. Waldo and Metalhead were trash. Metalhead had great special effects but was a completely shallow episode. Nothing redeeming or thought provoking.
And yes, Shut Up and Dance would have been a rough introduction to the series as well.
I didn't like Crocodile either, probably less than Playtest.
Crocodile and Playtest are nearly interchangeable to me in that spot, and I almost flipped them. The cinematography and landscape from filming in Iceland won me over, even if the story wasn't wonderful.
Yes, I am a sucker for that Icelandic landscape. The episode had promise, beautiful setting. Lacking in execution. While technology was a part of the theme, it felt like more of an afterthought.
Everyone I've recommended this show to, I've advised in advance that S1E1 was disturbing as to the end result, but to take in the symbolism with today's political climate and to fight thru for the sake of the rest of S1 and all of S2.
Bottom 5 for me:
Metalhead (yeah, feral robot dogs, we get it... what was the actual story though?)
Crocodile (so much "meh")
Hated in the Nation (just end already, good God did that one last about 45 minutes too long)
Arkangel (yeah, that was probably the most "this already happens" in story)
Waldo Moment (though, honestly, I still kind of liked it simply because I could see it happening in 2018 and not 2038)
Bottom 5 for me:
Metalhead (yeah, feral robot dogs, we get it... what was the actual story though?)
Crocodile (so much "meh")
Hated in the Nation (just end already, good God did that one last about 45 minutes too long)
Arkangel (yeah, that was probably the most "this already happens" in story)
Waldo Moment (though, honestly, I still kind of liked it simply because I could see it happening in 2018 and not 2038)
I agree on Arkangel. It felt like it already happens or has been done. Better ending would have been kid kills mom with the tablet and goes blind from breaking the device on her mom (or can't see people because everything is blocked out). Not dark enough of a story, not "out there" enough to make it worth the time for Black Mirror.
Hated in the Nation was a bit long as well, I would certainly have those be towards the bottom of my BM list.
RE: Crocodile episode
The episode was pretty dumb in that they didn't even need that tech to get to that point to catch her at the end. The insurance lady was at her house and went missing, then her whole family gets murdered. They obviously would have retraced her steps back to main Lady's house No need to tap into the hamster to catch the lady, regular old police work would have sufficed there. Especially in the future when I'm sure every vehicle has a tracking system. Found the episode to be sloppy, careless, and lacking in motivation to commit the crimes that she did. For some reason, of all the episodes that require you to suspend disbelief, this episode really made it difficult for me to do so.
Let's not also forget that this far in the future and they don't have cameras on every street corner to capture original event, or a tracking device on the driverless vehicle that crashed (thinking black box like on planes)? After all, the only reason why the insurance lady was interviewing everyone was because she needed to "see how fast the vehicle was traveling". Again, they can tap into people's minds to see the past but they can't figure out how fast that vehicle was moving? And how exactly could they confirm the speed by looking at people's past visions?
[\spoiler]
Let's not also forget that this far in the future and they don't have cameras on every street corner to capture original event, or a tracking device on the driverless vehicle that crashed (thinking black box like on planes)? After all, the only reason why the insurance lady was interviewing everyone was because she needed to "see how fast the vehicle was traveling". Again, they can tap into people's minds to see the past but they can't figure out how fast that vehicle was moving? And how exactly could they confirm the speed by looking at people's past visions?
[\spoiler]
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Randomly selected another episode to watch; went with season 4, episode 1: USS Callister (picked this one because I recognized the guy from Fargo)
Great episode, was completely bought in from the beginning and stayed tuned in until it was over.
Looking forward to watching a few more.
Great episode, was completely bought in from the beginning and stayed tuned in until it was over.
Looking forward to watching a few more.
The episode was pretty dumb in that they didn't even need that tech to get to that point to catch her at the end. The insurance lady was at her house and went missing, then her whole family gets murdered. They obviously would have retraced her steps back to main Lady's house No need to tap into the hamster to catch the lady, regular old police work would have sufficed there. Especially in the future when I'm sure every vehicle has a tracking system. Found the episode to be sloppy, careless, and lacking in motivation to commit the crimes that she did. For some reason, of all the episodes that require you to suspend disbelief, this episode really made it difficult for me to do so.
Let's not also forget that this far in the future and they don't have cameras on every street corner to capture original event, or a tracking device on the driverless vehicle that crashed (thinking black box like on planes)? After all, the only reason why the insurance lady was interviewing everyone was because she needed to "see how fast the vehicle was traveling". Again, they can tap into people's minds to see the past but they can't figure out how fast that vehicle was moving? And how exactly could they confirm the speed by looking at people's past visions?
We are to assume she was becoming more crafty at not getting caught with each death. The stranger to begin with no connections followed by her friend with connections who was driving the car in the first scene. The insurance lady was freelancing so it was not clear how much of her agenda was actually being recorded. Since this was a last moment visit, we are to assume it wasn't. Even if it was recorded warrants and evidence would still have to be processed at her located. Once the husband was dead her loose ends, according to this story, were tied up until she heard the baby. We later find out it the baby was blind and the lady who started as an innocent passenger in a vehicular manslaughter case ends up a monster perpetrating unspeakable acts who would never be able to fit into regular society again. All the evidence they needed came from a recording through the eyes of a Ginnie Pig and the technology to extract such information lol.
I've watched a smattering of episodes over the few seasons, including a couple of this most recent season.
Don't you think in general, they are almost ALL too long? I feel like they've got a premise, sometime very interesting...but they basically drill it to death until you barely care any more. It's in a weird space between a TV episode and a movie...they don't spider out into B and C plots like a movie might, but the run time is too long to sustain a single premise in most cases.
Some are worse than others in this regard, but it does seem pretty consistent...too long and too redundant that the hook of the premise starts to wear off.
It might just be a function of this type of anthology. I was revisiting Twilight Zones not long ago and was pretty surprised how often in a show merely 25 minutes long I found myself internally saying "YES, WE GET IT." I mean, I got that he likes books more than people after the first 14 examples... the last seven are superfluous...just get to what happens!
So considering that Twilight Zone is short and pretty much the gold standard for these type of shows, maybe it's just unavoidable, but most of the Black Mirrors I've watched seem like they could lose 15-20 minutes and have a stronger impact.
Don't you think in general, they are almost ALL too long? I feel like they've got a premise, sometime very interesting...but they basically drill it to death until you barely care any more. It's in a weird space between a TV episode and a movie...they don't spider out into B and C plots like a movie might, but the run time is too long to sustain a single premise in most cases.
Some are worse than others in this regard, but it does seem pretty consistent...too long and too redundant that the hook of the premise starts to wear off.
It might just be a function of this type of anthology. I was revisiting Twilight Zones not long ago and was pretty surprised how often in a show merely 25 minutes long I found myself internally saying "YES, WE GET IT." I mean, I got that he likes books more than people after the first 14 examples... the last seven are superfluous...just get to what happens!
So considering that Twilight Zone is short and pretty much the gold standard for these type of shows, maybe it's just unavoidable, but most of the Black Mirrors I've watched seem like they could lose 15-20 minutes and have a stronger impact.
Response:
I didn't pick up that the insurance worker was freelance. Still, surprising that she'd go to investigate without letting others know where she was going or that her vehicle didn't allow her to be tracked as to where she had traveled.
The main lady had bought herself some time, but it was just a short amount of time. Particularly since if she ever had to allow her memories to be read, she'd most certainly be found guilty with all the history of visions that she had.
I'll give you another angle that would have been an interesting twist of fate. She goes to someone to try and wipe the memories out before the insurance lady comes to interview her and it ends up wiping out the history of her child's birth, her life between the original accident (hitting guy with car) and current time. So on one had she's wiped the murders to avoid exposing her guilt. On the other, she has lost what she cherished most: her new family/life
The "aha" twist of the actual show was not enough of a twist of fate to really have any impact on me, left me wanting more depth to it.
[\spoiler]
The main lady had bought herself some time, but it was just a short amount of time. Particularly since if she ever had to allow her memories to be read, she'd most certainly be found guilty with all the history of visions that she had.
I'll give you another angle that would have been an interesting twist of fate. She goes to someone to try and wipe the memories out before the insurance lady comes to interview her and it ends up wiping out the history of her child's birth, her life between the original accident (hitting guy with car) and current time. So on one had she's wiped the murders to avoid exposing her guilt. On the other, she has lost what she cherished most: her new family/life
The "aha" twist of the actual show was not enough of a twist of fate to really have any impact on me, left me wanting more depth to it.
[\spoiler]
Amazing fact to me, Twilight Zone had 156 episodes starting in October 2, 1959 and ended on June 19, 1964.
That is impressive. I need to revisit. I've only watched about 40 episodes, or what has come on re-runs via TV when I was younger.
I never watched Outter Limits, but I feel like both shows could be rebooted with similar modern versions of same shows. Plenty of material to redo for modern age.
I felt like it was important to do about 20-25 of the most classic episodes with my kids. So many of those things became resonant in popular culture, either directly referenced or by influence. Hell, I still think that the movie Arrival basically wholly lifted "To Serve Man", but made it four times as long, more boring, and with a worse twist.
That said...if you just pick at random...there are a lot of duds in there, which you'd expect from anything produced on that kind of schedule. I don't know if I'd say they don't hold up, just that they're just kind of there. They're not all special, and with so many to choose from, it's easy to hit one that's kind of dull. It's easy to find a list of "20 best Twilight Zone Episodes" and work through those.
I will say that they uniformly are really well acted and directed in a way that was a little bit shocking before the new golden age of television. So many recognizable and talented names associated with those Twilight Zone shows. You have that again now, so it's easy to forget there were about 30 years in between where television was a wasteland of hacks and sub-standard talent that were only doing TV because couldn't make it at even the lowest levels of film.
I had one episode left to watch, Black Museum, and caught it last night. I've seen it catch a bunch of flak online, but I enjoyed it. Really liked the vignette style episode.
The twist at the end was pretty obvious, though. I knew she was there to kill him for some reason or another as soon as he chugged her water bottle.
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