After my friends raving about it for ages, I've finally started watching Black Mirror. Anybody else? Naturally I like some episodes more than others, but I think the quality is great for all of them. And they all leave me feeling either depressed or disturbed. The last one I watched was White Bear, where the woman wakes up with amnesia to find herself in a dystopian England with hunters trying to kill her. I got bored of post-apocalyptic/dystopian a long time ago so I didn't enjoy it too much, and I thought of the forum because I realised there's a trope I really hate: fleeing people run into a person who appears friendly and then turns out to be bad. Blurgh. My 'favourite' episode so far was probably the very first one, The National Anthem. It was so good I lost sight of just how ridiculous the premise was, not to mention the gaping plot holes. At the beginning I thought the concept was hilarious, and by the end I felt dirty. It was so cleverly written it made the viewer into one of the gawping spectators turning their TV on with glee to watch somebody forced into having sex. Very clever. I like the way the programme is making a point about technology without being preachy or patronising. At least I don't feel preached at or patronised - maybe this isn't universal? I'm excited to get to series 3 and see what they did with a bigger Netflix budget.
I've seen all the original episodes of the UK release. I've yet to see the episodes that were picked up by Netflix. I enjoyed it muchly. My super-mega-turn-me-str8 crush, Hannah John-Kamen, is in at least two episodes. The following is not from Black Mirror, but instead from another show she's in called Killjoys where she plays the lead role of Dutch. I'm hers for the asking.
I've seen all the episodes. Season 3 episode 2 is probably my favorite. It scared me the most and was super twisted. It was a very memorable episode. In close second are episodes 4 and 6, also from season three. I'm not gunna go into detail because spoilers. But lemme know when y'all have caught up. Personally, I hated the first episode. It's still my least favorite after watching all of them. But I'm squeamish, so it didn't sit right with me.
@Wreybies I spent the entire episode 2 thinking OH MY GOD HOW IS SHE SO BEAUTIFUL? I'll get in the queue behind you for her. @Lea`Brooks That's why I put 'favourite' in quotes... it didn't seem the right word. It wasn't exactly the most enjoyable, but I thought it was mindblowingly well done. I'm glad others are watching. Did either of you feel like episode 3 (the one with the memory chips in people's heads) had a lot of lost potential? I was very intrigued by the opening scene in the law firm, where they talked about people suing their parents for childhood damage. That would have been more interesting than the affair thing.
I think the reason it interested me the most was because of what they didn't focus on. Just the idea of what a recording device in your head could do, with all things. No more lying, no longer being able to hide cheating, no more questioning innocence. I think if they would've tried to tell a more serious story, it may not have been as intriguing. I don't know if that makes sense... So I'll just say I liked how they used it. However, I think episode two season one (15 Million Merits) with the bicycling was a missed opportunity. I loved the entire episode, up until the end. I guess it was just to point out that people will do most anything for money and stuff, but I still feel they could've done better.
I'm commenting so I can come back to this thread. I'm just getting over the flu, and my brain doesn't seem to have the ability to make a deep thought. But I want to really bad because I watched this show recently and loved it.
I thought the bikes were a nice touch. It was a clever metaphor for being trapped in a dead-end job. Those people were quite literally just spinning their wheels, useless cogs in the corporate machine.
I liked that too. And they had to cycle to power their screens, but without their screens they wouldn't need as much power...
Oh, no, it wasn't the bikes I didn't like. I enjoyed most everything about the episode. I just didn't like how it ended. I felt like they could've made such a stronger impact, but the ending was kinda.. meh for me.
Ahh. I get it. Just curious, what do you think would have been a better ending? I liked it as a bit of social commentary. Dude felt slighted by what happened. He went up there to stick it to the man, and they just gave him more kool-aid, just a bit stronger. If you're picking up what I'm putting down.
Love the series although the new season kind of let me down. Not bad but not as strong as the previous ones. From the new bunch I liked the one with the army and the eye implants best. It was the most memorable. I love the symbolism behind these stories and I don't mind their usually tragic endings. They serve a well transmitted message that is not far off from the reality upon the themes that are being explored. Very creative and insightful.
As disturbing as this episode was, I thought the message was quite poignant. Past the surface story, there's a deeper question about our politicians (all countries, all parties) being made prostitute at the hands of concepts and thinking that appears to be one thing and is probably another, all of it a rabbit hole. I certainly do think there are those who enter politics with very noble intentions, I just don't think they tend to survive the upward filtration process and at some point end up fucking a metaphorical pig to get any further. And we, pretending to be hapless, tune in. I thought it was quite well done, in a very British way, which is a complement.
I just watched the first episode of series 3, and while I clearly see the point being made, I think it completely fails to take into account the human animal. Our current addiction to internet rating, reviews, likes, etc. in no way points to us pacifying in this pastel colored Easter dream (nightmare?) in order to appease. The "comments section" is missing from this formula, and the comments section phenomenon says we don't become Stepford People, we become homo habilis on the day after having eating some berries we should have left alone. The last bit, in jail, where speaking their minds is made to seem almost sexual, that bit hits the nail a little more squarely on the head. Sidenote, if this were the world I lived in, I would blow it the fuck up just to do it. Like, actual explosives. I would give a heads-up to all 2.9's and lower.
I watched/tried watching, but sadly could not get into it. Some reasons you mentioned. I thought the writing was pretty bad. I cared nothing for most of the characters and saw most of them as causing their own problems. Plus I felt hammered with a sledgehammer with the message.
Personally, I've always liked my fiction to hammer its message with a sledgehammer, so I've really enjoyed this show. Seen seasons 1 and 2, but only San Junipero out of season 3, because everyone was raving about it so much. Far and away my favorite ep is 15 Million Merits, perhaps because it's among the most sledgehammer-y. The Waldo Moment is a close second, although watching it after the election we've just had here in the States was an exercise in almost unbearable masochism. I mean, I fully believe this show is at its best when it's most depressing, but that one was almost too much even for me. Perhaps illustrating the inverse of that statement, I didn't care much for San Junipero. I watch this show to make myself miserable, dammit! I don't want to be happy.
Yes, and I think wanting to depress your audience is also quite British. I think that's why I liked The National Anthem (and 15 Million Merits) the most of the ones I've seen. Both were very depressing.
I don't mind the occasional sledgehammer either, but the sledgehammer for S03E01 just kept missing the stake no matter how wickedly it was wielded. The Entire History of You was also a pretty ham-fisted address of how poorly our sense of privacy meshes with our continued addiction to access, but that hammer struck true.
Speaking of depressing, in White Bear, the role played by Lenora Crichlow... The only other thing I've ever seen her in is the UK original of Being Human (the US version was fucking rubbish), and all I could think was that this poor woman seems to always be stuck in a really shitty situation. I'm sure in the UK you folks see many of these actors in uncounted roles, but unless they make the crossover (like my love, Hannah John-Kamen ) our exposure to them here in the US is hit and miss. I really, really, really wish we imported more of your programming. BBCAmerica is the fucking worst. It's basically "Let's call it BBC, but put a bunch of Americans at the helm to filter the fuck out of the programming. Actually, fuck it, just play reruns of Star Trek: TNG all day long". These days most of the UK programming I come across is by accident, the odd reference or meme, and it's really frustrating. There's a lot of really fun UK programs that we don't hear shit about in the US. I mean, it's not like Misfits or Mongrels won any awards or anything, but those shows (found by accident) were super fun to watch. For a Yank, anyway...
I have wondered why some British programmes have to be remade entirely for a US audience - e.g. The Office, Steptoe and Son (which I think was called Samford and Son or something in the US). I've never watched the US versions to compare, so I don't know if it's purely because of the accents (my US friend says she sometimes had to use subtitles for Black Mirror ) or because the humour doesn't translate.
Sometimes there are cultural references that don't connect. For example, in Mongrels they dropped names of UK celebs of all sorts, many of which I had to look up because I just didn't know who they were. But, it's not like this kept me from enjoying the fuck out of a really funny show. Your humor, in and of itself, translates just fine, tho I am sorry to report that over the years I have watched UK comedy take a heavy dose of Americanization. You guys sometimes also reboot our shows. Less-so these days than in the past. I remember watching The Upper Hand when I was over there and it was clearly our Who's The Boss? rebooted.
The business model is almost the complete opposite of what we have. I think my real problem is where I live. Born, raised, and still live in.....Silicon Valley. Where tech/software is nearly a religion and all that comes with it. Every day I feel hammered by both the pro and anti tech factions, and have for most of my life. I also view the future differently than most. I very much see a future of tech helping in most aspects of our lives, but not ruling them, unless you 'give up'. A big future tech thing I see 180 degrees differently than most is the future of robots. My opinion is that robots will never 'rise up against us', but will be detrimental is big ways due to our ignorance and ego. Many stories have been told over the years warning man away from creating things that we have no knowledge of or cannot control, and I feel robots fall into that. I think a small mistake will be made that will lead to a problem that will never be able to be bottled back in and we will always struggle with it, kind of like IBM BIOS.
I'm intrigued @antlad - what kind of mistake and what problem? Sounds like you should be writing a Black Mirror episode. And what's the problem with IBM BIOS? @Wreybies Wellll you know what you need to do to get her: stop shaving and start eating junk food.
