Television Black Mirror | Season 6 out June 15th

Not sure shows like BM are suited to binge watching. Anthology shows are great, only in small doses.

Having said that I just watched the first one, and it made me want to see the second one right away. Really strong start. :)
 
First 2 are very good, third was a bit of a miss for me. Looking forward to the last 3.
 
Not sure shows like BM are suited to binge watching. Anthology shows are great, only in small doses.

Having said that I just watched the first one, and it made me want to see the second one right away. Really strong start. :)
I binged them all this afternoon. Maybe I would have enjoyed them more individually if I spaced it out a bit, but being in that universe for 6 hours has it's own particular kind of reward.
 
Just watched the stuck in a machine one (I assume it's the USS Callister - I wandered into the lounge after it started). This is the first Black Mirror episode I've ever watched. Really was extremely good. Definitely going to binge watch the rest at the first opportunity.
 
Not sure shows like BM are suited to binge watching. Anthology shows are great, only in small doses.
Agreed, and I really like it. The gutterpunch from Shut Up and Dance was so strong that I didn't even manage to finish Season 3 until now.

On that note, I really liked Hated in the Nation. It felt like a fairly standard sci-fi thriller, but inventive and dark enough to keep me intrigued throughout. The first bee scene was genuinely chilling too. Plus, I absolutely adore Kelly MacDonald. To be honest, she was probably 90% of the reason I loved the episode.
 
Just watched the stuck in a machine one (I assume it's the USS Callister - I wandered into the lounge after it started). This is the first Black Mirror episode I've ever watched. Really was extremely good. Definitely going to binge watch the rest at the first opportunity.
Liked it, reminded me of those holodeck stories on Star Trek TNG.
 
First episode of the new one's good, strong start.
 
Watched 4 episode so far, don't think it is as strong as the last season or bunch of episodes if you will, for me. The third episode - "Crocodile" was worst of the lot and one of the poorest BM episodes till date IMO. I liked 4th episode till the climax. Second one was probably the best of the lot.
 
First two episodes were very, very good. Second especially was very dark.

Callister had lots of holes I feel you could spend ages picking apart but feck it, it was great fun, and also Cristin Milioti :drool:
 
Strong opener. Second episode wasn't great. Overall premise was good enough, but it just felt a bit flat.
 
Crocodile wasn't great. Thought it was unnecessarily grim considering the technology at use.

Hang the DJ was fantastic. Not quite San Junipero quality but definitely the best of the lot.

Metalhead was.. pointless. Not sure what they were doing there. Yawn.
 
Crocodile...what in the absolute feck?!
 
Crocodile wasn't great. Thought it was unnecessarily grim considering the technology at use.

Hang the DJ was fantastic. Not quite San Junipero quality but definitely the best of the lot.

Metalhead was.. pointless. Not sure what they were doing there. Yawn.

Yeah thought the same about those episodes.

Just watched Black Museum, thought that was really well done.
 
So my ranking on all the episodes of this season and some thoughts on the same (spoilery)

Hang the DJ -
Most people think the ending was a happy one but I don't think it was that straightforward. Throughout the episode you saw the main characters rail against the system and question its infallibility. Yet, in the end it is a dating system running simulations that supposedly brings two people together. Whole episode is pretty much an argument in favor of traditional dating than any hook up based on algorithmic matching but it subverts the very same argument with the ending. I think it ponders the question if you buy that these 2 will indeed be happy matched up a system running 1000 simulations.
Arkangel
It was a good episode but not really a very black mirrory episode if you will. You could have had a similar story without any technology in play with a mother snooping on her daughter in any era with best available means. Overall story and theme was very strong though but I think it would have been more interesting to see a timeline with a whole generation of children with similar chips growing up and altering society based on their experiences.
SS Callister
I liked this episode less than others. Premise seemed good but I don't know if I cared about the virtual copies of folks stuck in the game as much as the show wanted me to. The whole subplot of AI bots forcing the real life cole to commit a crime did not work for me either. Ending seemed predictable and I guessed it half way through the episode.
Black Museum
I loved the overall premise of a person taking someone through this kind of museum, explaining the story behind every artifact. I know each episode is a standalone one but I think they missed a trick by not framing this whole season in this context. The guy behind museum could simply have had started the narration of all the 5 episodes before this one on the basis of some left over device like parental control from episode 2. Just an idea. Overall the episode seemed like an intersection of themes from 3 stories. I found the first one best and think that could easily have been a whole episode on its own. Second one did not work for me and the third one seemed predictable in its ending. Also the reveal of the mother inside daughter did not work for me and seemed to contradict the theme in second episode of the season.
Metal Head
I actually enjoyed the episode for what it was. Just a straight up survival thriller. But I think best black mirror episodes have a great rewatch value and I don't think any exists here. They did not leave any clues about the reason behind this kind of state of the world and not sure about the decision to shoot in BW, maybe I missed something but what did it add to the episode?
Crocodile
I did not enjoy the episode much while watching it but pondering over the theme after the fact, I think there is something to it. A desperate criminal ending up killing much more folks than intended due to a technology that on surface should make us safer. I still did not like the overall story and execution though. I think they could have framed a much better story with better characters showcasing the same technology and it pitfalls.
 
Arkangel just felt like a rehashed The Entire History Of You.

Third episode was ridiculously grim. Contrasted well to the beautiful backdrop of Iceland where it was shot, though.
 
It was an average season and not upto the previous seasons standards. I still enjoyed it but none of the episodes left me mindfecked like previous episodes.
 
Heh, had no idea at the end of Callister that

Aaron Paul is the guy on the voice comm :lol:
Supposedly Kirsten Dunst - girlfriend of the main guy - was in it for like a split second in the opening scenes.
 
It was an OK season, I'm a bit dissappointed. No real masterclass episodes although none of them were particularly poor either. I feel like they played it a bit too safe and none of the episodes were really groundbreaking, and it all felt a bit repetitive by the end. I wish they made an entire episode about the doctor one from 6th.

My rankings are: 1 > 6 > 4 >>> 2 / 3 / 5
 
I'm not sure theres been a masterclass episode since well....Entire History. Be Right Back and White Christmas maybe.

Maybe he set the bar too high straight off the bat. Well, no he definitely did. I've enjoyed the three I've watched so far from this batch, just taking my time a bit, but none are treading new ground....
 
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I'm not sure theres been a masterclass episode since well....Entire History. Be Right Back and White Christmas maybe.

Maybe he set the bar too high straight off the bat. Well, no he definitely did. I've enjoyed the three I've watched so far from this batch, just taking my time a bit, but none are treading new ground....
I definitely think White Christmas and San Junipero are TV masterpieces.
 
SS Callister
I liked this episode less than others. Premise seemed good but I don't know if I cared about the virtual copies of folks stuck in the game as much as the show wanted me to. The whole subplot of AI bots forcing the real life cole to commit a crime did not work for me either. Ending seemed predictable and I guessed it half way through the episode.

Agree with your post and I think the last sentence was what they were pointing out to actually. Something that is already happening to an extent where everyone's lives are being tracked through the continuous data we are feeding to various digital ecosystems we are exposed to. They merely gave direct access to all that to their parent. If one of these massive data warehouses gave someone access to the entire data for someone they wouldn't be far off from seeing someone's life entirely.
 
Agree with the sentiment that it’s a good, but somewhat perfunctory BM season. I certainly don’t feel like the move to Netflix has improved the quality as much as it’s spread Brooker a bit thin. But of course, only judged against some really stellar top tier TV that was the C4 stuff.

Metal head was the most glaring example of this. My assumption of its meaning was that...

the “dogs” were some kind of Amazon drone like tech that had gone awry and ended up killing everyone. Based on nothing but the fact that they encountered them protecting Teddy’s in a warehouse and I thought it seemed a nifty-ish idea

But whether true or not, it doesnt rescue the episode, which doesn’t feel like it would’ve made the cut in earlier seasons, and was probably a late “oh shit I’ve got to write six of these” addition.

Black Museum was interesting, especially when viewed as a self parodying Meta-narrative with Brooker as the curator of a literal anthology museum of wicked tales, but you could also see why he didn’t feel any of those ideas merited their own ep, because they all went pretty much where you expected them to. Also I refuse to believe anyone would agree to have their girlfriend implanted into their own head.

Callister was great fun and I really enjoyed the writing, but I’m not sure the concept was that strong.

Crocodile, Arkangel & Hang the DJ may all have been more interesting in earlier seasons, but here felt a bit like a retread. Arkangel particularly, what with the tech being similar to Entire History, only with a less compelling story. And I agree with @crappycraperson that the more interesting tale there was how the tech would shape her development, which they touched on, but then immediately abandoned in favour of the more obvious (and more like Entire History) route.
 
Metal head was the most glaring example of this. My assumption of its meaning was that...

the “dogs” were some kind of Amazon drone like tech that had gone awry and ended up killing everyone. Based on nothing but the fact that they encountered them protecting Teddy’s in a warehouse and I thought it seemed a nifty-ish idea
But whether true or not, it doesnt rescue the episode, which doesn’t feel like it would’ve made the cut in earlier seasons, and was probably a late “oh shit I’ve got to write six of these” addition.
There was originally a scene in the script where, during the tree scene, it cuts away to the dogs operator doing to give his kid a bath, but they cut it for being "a bit too on the nose"
 
The first episode would have better if Meth Damon won. It didn't make much sense that he went from being a god to being completely fecking useless.

I don't understand the "not as good" critiques, people might be remembering previous seasons as being better than they were.
 
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