Yeah Season 3 had a couple of poor episodes. The first one is probably the only really consistent season I'd say.
Television Black Mirror | Season 6 out June 15th
- Thread starter Pogue Mahone
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Yeah Season 3 had a couple of poor episodes. The first one is probably the only really consistent season I'd say.
The whole “Black Mirror” part of the ep didn’t really hold up. It was almost a magical conceit, designed to get the characters into that particular setting. The fun came from Brooker (kinda) writing some comedy again. And Jimi Simpson, whose always great.
Perhaps, or perhaps they were just more impactful back then, but I do think the strongest work was in the earlier seasons, when he only had 3 (or sometimes only 2) to focus on, rather than the obligation to bang out 6. If I were to rank my favourites, I’d probably get down to 6 or 7 before I put anything from season 3+ in. It’s basically just The Waldo Moment that doesn’t keep its end up. But that could simply be that it’s harder for it to surprise us now.
I think that's more to do with Black Mirror being a breath of fresh air in the TV landscape when it was released. I think episodes like Hated in the Nation which got a lot of critical acclaim would have had more if aired in season 1 or 2. Episodes like Arkangel which have mixed reviews would have critical acclaim, and episodes like metalhead which not too many seem to care for would be seen as excellent horror.
They were never going to maintain that "this is different in the best way" aura it had at the beginning.
You're not far off with Metalhead. Brooker said they were inspired by the
Boston Dynamics robot dog things. He was always fascinated with how pathetic they look when you try push them over but yet how menacing they could potentially be
Id disagree, on the basis that a lot of people (myself included) were ready to write off White Bear before the big reveal, interesting new horror spectacle or otherwise. It was the idea that made that, as its the ideas that make the best BM episodes, and Metalhead doesn’t really have a very strong idea behind it. I’d argue probably only Hang the DJ and Arkangel do of this run, and sadly for them, they’re both quite similar to ideas he’s had before
Of course not. But in terms of chaff, there’s obviously going to be more when you have to write 6 eps instead of 3.
We'll have to disagree here. Maybe they did handle it badly, giving too little information to the audience, but given recent developments from companies like Boston Dynamics it felt like the most realistic idea they've had. Maybe Black Mirror is better when it delves into more advanced, futurist technology. But being chased by killer robots is something you can imagine happening next summer, and there's something scary enough about that to stay with you. I'll be thinking about a dog sticking a spinning knife into my knee far longer than I'll be thinking about an app that runs a thousand simulations of my dating life.
Totally, they should either hire more writers if they want quantity, or let charlie focus on 3-4 episodes a year. But I don't think the quality has dropped enough for it to a major critical point.
But the “idea” isn’t the tech. It’s what the tech will encourage/allow humans to do with it against our better judgement. Ideally tied up in a jet black social commentary of some kind. Killer robot dogs may be plausibly realistic, but they dont say anything interesting about us, or really about anything beyond “these killer robot dogs are shit scary!”... To me at least. It was a perfectly entertaining bit of media, with some nice action ideas in it, but it wasn’t anything that resonated with me. I think it would’ve been a huge disappointment amongst the more satire orientated earlier eps personally. Different strokes I suppose.
It’s odd, as he’s actually had co-writers in other seasons (and I think Jesse Armstrong’s turn is one of the series strongest) but seems to have taken it upon himself to go all in on this one. To the point where he couldn’t do a Wipe this year.
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I disagree completely. I just rewatched S1-3 with my wife during Aug/Sept and the stuff before Netflix is very strong. Mockney is correct that Waldo one is the only real dud there. S3, I liked more than most but even then only 2 episodes - San Junipero and Hated in the nation compare well to S1/2 for me. This season was a big step down in quality IMO and it is evident that they are struggling to come up with new concepts for the episodes now.
I did a ranking of all the episodes recently for another group I was discussing this season with and came up with this -
San Junipero
Fifteen Million Merits
Be Right Back
Entire History of You
White Bear
Hated in the Nation
White Christmas
Hang The DJ
Nosedive
National Anthem
Playtest
Arkangel
USS Callister
Black Museum
Shut Up And Dance
Metalhead
Crocodile
Men Against Fire
The Waldo Moment
I haven't seen San Junipero, but 15 mil merits was my absolute favourite. Big hype if it's better than that!
Knew I recognised that voice.Heh, had no idea at the end of Callister that
Aaron Paul is the guy on the voice comm
Other than the epic use of Heaven Is A Place on Earth....pretty sure I'd easily rank Hang the DJ over San Junipero. Bit of optimism certainly hasn't hurt either Netflix drop mind you, cos I like both episodes.
Arkangel I liked. The direction and acting was very nice. Simple yet effective, the dog montage was cool. Jodie Foster apparantly. The story is a little too much of the old cautionary tighten the parentel reins at your peril tale, with digital accoutrements. Enjoyable though.
USS Callister seems to be the flagship episode. It's big, glossy and suffers from what I call overwriting and others call complexity. I really disliked the flippant revenge porn tangent where the ends seemed to justify the means and the lazy deus ex hackina. It's also less ballsy than the similarly themed It's a Good Life. Brilliantly constructed, looks and sounds great but the longer it went on the crapper it felt. It's either doing that smug bluff morality thing or it's ethically suspect. Wasted potential.
Crocodile is a well made little thriller. Nothing particularly original about the tangled cover-up premise, or necessarily sci-fi anthology about the themes but this is top draw acting and filmmaking. Loved it.
Metalhead is a brilliant cat and mouse short. Loved the economy of the filmmaking and it looks incredible, particularly the dog puppet design. The little mannerisms and touches of comedy from the robot (the cock of the head or studying the knife for example) were just great. Great action and tension, the acting sold it. My favourite.
Hang The DJ had very likeable characters but jeez was it pedestrian. Like a jlo romcom where in one scene she has to cat-sit for Schrodinger. Waste of time really.
Black Museum was very good. Three nifty ideas brought together well. I felt the pain addict/Driller Killer story was the most unique, well rounded idea in the season and the other two pieces worked well too. A personal peeve is that the digital/portable consciousness idea is very limited and has been exhausted by BM and sci-fi in general. They just about freshen it up enough in this episode though, even with the obvious Malkovich Malkovich influence. This was conceptually the strongest episode by far. Very good.
USS Callister seems to be the flagship episode. It's big, glossy and suffers from what I call overwriting and others call complexity. I really disliked the flippant revenge porn tangent where the ends seemed to justify the means and the lazy deus ex hackina. It's also less ballsy than the similarly themed It's a Good Life. Brilliantly constructed, looks and sounds great but the longer it went on the crapper it felt. It's either doing that smug bluff morality thing or it's ethically suspect. Wasted potential.
Crocodile is a well made little thriller. Nothing particularly original about the tangled cover-up premise, or necessarily sci-fi anthology about the themes but this is top draw acting and filmmaking. Loved it.
Metalhead is a brilliant cat and mouse short. Loved the economy of the filmmaking and it looks incredible, particularly the dog puppet design. The little mannerisms and touches of comedy from the robot (the cock of the head or studying the knife for example) were just great. Great action and tension, the acting sold it. My favourite.
Hang The DJ had very likeable characters but jeez was it pedestrian. Like a jlo romcom where in one scene she has to cat-sit for Schrodinger. Waste of time really.
Black Museum was very good. Three nifty ideas brought together well. I felt the pain addict/Driller Killer story was the most unique, well rounded idea in the season and the other two pieces worked well too. A personal peeve is that the digital/portable consciousness idea is very limited and has been exhausted by BM and sci-fi in general. They just about freshen it up enough in this episode though, even with the obvious Malkovich Malkovich influence. This was conceptually the strongest episode by far. Very good.
Good season overall I thought, 4 good 1 broken and 1 meh. If anything the dark-tech remit is starting to look restrictive though. Black Museum aside, the best episodes worked despite the futurism and there is too much recycling of ideas (It's amazing how old hat smart phones and tablets look everytime they pop up in every episode). I would love to see it broadened out into a more general platform for up coming talent, focusing on odd and interesting short storytelling, but that sure as shit aint going to happen - not least because Netflix can't brand it and serve it up like a hamburger.
It is my fav and also of a lot of other folks but some did not like it as much. On this thread itself you can see some posts of naysayers.
USS Callister was pretty awesome - Jesse Plemons did creepy loser very well - but I found it too similar to the concept used in White Christmas (where they take a copy of you into a digital world where it can be horrifically tortured forever).
Will start on the rest of the episodes this week.
Will start on the rest of the episodes this week.
I do find it funny how Brooker thinks all the technology in the show can be explained by them attaching some small device to the side of someone's head.
Fair comments but they took that same concept and made a far better show out of it. I thought this episode was arguably the best BM to date. Brilliantly combined funny and creepy in a way that very few other episodes ever have.
Oh I agree, the idea was better executed in USS Callister.
And don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the episode - I just prefer the darker, bleaker episodes of Black Mirror.
Reading the comments above looks as though there's a big range of opinions re favourite episodes, which is part of what makes it such great TV. I'm personally quite a fan of the dark/bleak stuff too. My favourite episode in the last one was Shut Up and Dance. USS Callister really tickled my funny bone though. Just a great concept, perfectly executed. With a killer script and solid performances all round. Might have worked for me so well because I'm old enough to have grown up watching the original Star Trek series that's being so perfectly lampooned.
Callister was great fun yeah, Hang the DJ was also full of very funny moments, especially the
"ahhhhh" after he goes down on her 
Callister was great fun yeah, Hang the DJ was also full of very funny moments, especially the
"ahhhhh" after he goes down on her
he nailed that noiseVery late to the party on this one. Only just finished season 1 last night. Been putting it off for so long for whatever reason.
Watched the first episode of the second season - "Be Right Back"- late last night and loved it. The episode was on the brink of losing me when they introduced that dummy. I thought they took it too far, but fair play i thought it paid off in the end and it leads to a pretty devastating episode on the whole. Fantastic performance from Hayley Attwell who gives a pretty gut wrenching performance.
I will say though that no episode I've watched has met the sheer oppressiveness of first episode of season one - it's just so damn bleak. Beyond the obvious uneasiness and absurdity of a man literally fecking a pig, the whole episode was uneasy.
A fantastically disturbing piece of fiction and some great TV.
Watched the first episode of the second season - "Be Right Back"- late last night and loved it. The episode was on the brink of losing me when they introduced that dummy. I thought they took it too far, but fair play i thought it paid off in the end and it leads to a pretty devastating episode on the whole. Fantastic performance from Hayley Attwell who gives a pretty gut wrenching performance.
I will say though that no episode I've watched has met the sheer oppressiveness of first episode of season one - it's just so damn bleak. Beyond the obvious uneasiness and absurdity of a man literally fecking a pig, the whole episode was uneasy.
A fantastically disturbing piece of fiction and some great TV.
One thing that really pisses me off about TV shows, movies and Crocodile is how cars never start just when one is in mortal danger.
tbf they did show in some foreshadowing that her car was shit and struggled to start.
I know and I know it's not a big deal but the convenience of a car somehow always stalling at the worst moments is something I wish I didn't have to keep seeing in all sorts of movies and shows. It's just very predictable.
It's a good point. I think at the very essence of an anthology series is always something that is going to be hit and miss - which I've personally subscribed to in the thread before. Combine that with Mockney's point of an increased number of episodes with a greater level of immunity from the viewers to be wowed and you can see why the season doesn't hold as high in peoples minds.
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In general though - does anyone else feel like whilst the season has hit a lull conceptually; retracing its steps, or just not pushing the same sort of boundaries - it's been really pretty visually? Ep 3 had that gorgeous Icelandic backdrop, Ep 4 made an excellent contrast between the end scene and the very rustic tones of the sim-dating scene, and Ep 5 had that great paint scene.
No surprises there when you're going from a channel 4 budget to a Netflix budget.
Oh shite yeah, I completely forgot it started out on Channel 4.
The serious lost a bit of the true spooky factor. At least two episodes from every other season had this feeling of creepy hopelessness at the end of the episode if that makes sense.
Whereas this season the endings and plots seemed lighter and a bit more Hollywood Formula which is a bad thing imo.
The best episode was the first one - highest budget too with the best actors - but it ends with a happy ending. Black Mirror shouldn't have happy ending. It should have trippy/weird ending at best. "Meth Damon" (lol I love that name from someone earlier in thread) really should have won. Then that episode would have been good.
Whereas this season the endings and plots seemed lighter and a bit more Hollywood Formula which is a bad thing imo.
The best episode was the first one - highest budget too with the best actors - but it ends with a happy ending. Black Mirror shouldn't have happy ending. It should have trippy/weird ending at best. "Meth Damon" (lol I love that name from someone earlier in thread) really should have won. Then that episode would have been good.
Watched 3 episodes so far and none have the old 'Black Mirror' feel of general hopelessness if that makes sense. They all seem to have a general lighter feel to them but I have to say that Hang the DJ was the best of the lot so far.
For me Nosedive and Playtest are among the best (or at least most memorable) 5-6 episodes. I'd put USS Callister above Hang the DJ.
Be Right Back I was not into at all and in my bottom 5 but otherwise pretty good list.
Shut up and dance is criminally overlooked.
Just the Black Museum one left to watch tonight and I've pretty much enjoyed them all. Even 'Crocodile' which has to be the one of the silliest ones yet. A Guinea Pig ffs .
Presumably they held a dirty nappy to it's snout to stimulate it's memory recall as was established earlier in the episode with the other 'guinea pigs' (not actual guinea pigs though...can you see what they did there?). Nonsensical.
Actually I was really enjoying the Metalhead one too (just being dumped into this post apocalyptic world of Terminator 2 Amazon Prime death dogs) until the silly ending.
Endings........hmmmm
.Presumably they held a dirty nappy to it's snout to stimulate it's memory recall as was established earlier in the episode with the other 'guinea pigs' (not actual guinea pigs though...can you see what they did there?). Nonsensical.
Actually I was really enjoying the Metalhead one too (just being dumped into this post apocalyptic world of Terminator 2 Amazon Prime death dogs) until the silly ending.
Endings........hmmmm
Not sure how 'Crocodile' qualifies as light hearted. Surely that's about as grim as it gets (until the silly end). Metalhead and Arkangel were pretty bleak too.
I think that was my problem with crocodile. It had one of the silliest concepts and twists yet was delivered in an incredibly serious and grim tone. Could've benefited with some of the comedy and humour in Callister and Hang the DJ and been much better for it.
It would've definitely benefited from some Coenesque black humour or maybe that's what they were going for? If they were, it missed the mark for me.
My order:
Fifteen Million Merits
White Christmas
Shut Up And Dance
White Bear
Entire History of You
Metalhead
USS
Black Museum
National Anthem
Hang The DJ
Nosedive
Playtest
Crocodile
Hated in the Nation
Arkangel
The Waldo Moment
San Junipero
Be Right Back
Men Against Fire
Ahh so difficult to make this list. Because I really liked be right back. Wish I didn’t make this list. I’ve actually really liked every single episode.
I suppose those top 7 are my clear favourites.
Also Black Museum, the doctor plot was one of my favourites. I wish they made it a full episode.
Fifteen Million Merits
White Christmas
Shut Up And Dance
White Bear
Entire History of You
Metalhead
USS
Black Museum
National Anthem
Hang The DJ
Nosedive
Playtest
Crocodile
Hated in the Nation
Arkangel
The Waldo Moment
San Junipero
Be Right Back
Men Against Fire
Ahh so difficult to make this list. Because I really liked be right back. Wish I didn’t make this list. I’ve actually really liked every single episode.
I suppose those top 7 are my clear favourites.
Also Black Museum, the doctor plot was one of my favourites. I wish they made it a full episode.
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I doubt it, Brooker said in an interview that it's supposed to be Black Mirror's take on a Noir Crime.
Then again I got zero noir vibes off it either.
I felt like the killer just didn't really work as a character.
Her motivations to kill the interviewer and interviewer's family was...flawed at best. Did she think the family just existed in a vacuum, and that their mysterious disappearances/deaths wouldn't attract attention at all? As soon as it was discovered they were missing and that the interviewer had visited the killer, piecing everything together would've been simple for the police. Although I suppose she was maybe meant to be flawed.
Although...right enough, the guinea pig twist didn't really annoy me at all. Was setup fine beforehand.
Although...right enough, the guinea pig twist didn't really annoy me at all. Was setup fine beforehand.