Charlie Brooker's BLACK MIRROR

Metalhead was probably the best thing about this season, even if it doesn't feel like it belongs to the Black Mirror Universe (not just in theme, but more on this later). USS Callister was fun but then completely fell apart once they got to the wormhole and/or trying to work out what the last 10 minutes *means* destroys the logic of the rest of it. Hang The DJ had quite an engaging story but the tech bolt-on to provide DO YOU SEE was clunky as hell.

Didn't care for either Arkangel or Crocodile, they were both completely in service of the one DO YOU SEE idea and the circumstances portrayed were pretty ridiculous.

Black Museum was kind of hacky and predictable but, as noted above, adhered pretty strongly to portmanteau tropes (spooky owner linking the plot strands, which all subtly contribute to each other and culminate in pet toad hoisting). The real reason for it, however, is I think it's there to act as an anchor to prove the Black Mirror universe exists and all the stories take place in the same setting. In the Black Museum I spotted:

Photos of the 'victim' from White Bear and Michael Smiley's character.
The bath from Crocodile.
The DNA converter from USS Callister
The Arkangel tablet
A bee from Hated In The Nation
A mention of "old people uploading to the cloud" i.e. San Junipero
The embalmed(?) body of the artist from The National Anthem
and finally one of the death masks appears to be Charlie Brooker.

In a different episode, the porn film she watches in Crocodile is the one that gets made in Fifteen Million Merits.

I really like Black Mirror and I'm unafraid to say it

Also, jokes about the premise are fun

― mh, Tuesday, January 2, 2018 5:04 PM (two days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

me too

The first section of Black Museum (written by Penn Gillette!) was just fucking gross. And then the idea that people would enjoy owning a screaming keychain of a permanently-tortured human soul was misanthropic, even for Black Mirror.

I thought Metalheads was well-made, but I could have used a little more backstory/explanation. Is this a Skynet world?

Hang the DJ was pretty cool.

Surprised Black Mirror hasn't done the VR world hell idea, a la Iain Banks' Surface Detail...

It's not the best episode but I'm surprised how negative the reception to black museum is. there's way too much going on in it and none of the individual stories in it would be strong on their own, but idk it was fun in how over-the-top it all was

I've only watched 3 so far - Crocodile was stunning (landscape etc) and not too bad as a straightforward drama (end bit was laughably eye-rolly). It winds me up no end how the 'technology' plots don't stand up to the slightest scrutiny, not even where ideas overlap. For example even in Arkangel, people avoid the single child with the implant because of 'spying' fears; yet in Crocodile every living being is potentially subject to being on the giving/receiving end of similar 'spying' with a device common enough to be used by insurance companies yet it's not really known about.
Picking 'holes' obviously pointless to even start, but it's kind of frustrating how little effort's been put in to extend any idea beyond 'what if phones but too much'.

OK lol I take it back cos as I was typing this my laptop switched itself off

I had more of a problem with the idea (in the first episode) that you could generate a simulated copy of someone's personality and memories from their DNA.

I never thought of the different episodes of Black Mirror as all taking place in one universe, so your criticism doesn't bother me as much. Depending on how a technology evolved, it could make for very different use-cases. However, Black Museum seems to suggest that all (or at least some) of the episodes are from the same reality.

(in which case your criticism is totally valid)

As much as I enjoyed that episode - the memories being included in people’s DNA was pretty dumb.

i watched Marjorie Prime last week, and my final take was: it was like BM would be if Brooker wasn't an absolute pile of fucking overrated doggie plop.

20 minutes into season 4 episode 1. my prediction is something is going to go badly.

i do not think this guy will stand up to his business partner, gain confidence, and win the affection of that girl.

i hope i'm proven wrong.

oh fuck

Livetweeting Black Mirror could be pretty funny.

nerds are the worst

Haven't seen Black Museum yet, but I wasn't particularly assuming any take place in the same universe other than some sort of future western society that's like ours but with one thing changed/changing that somehow hasn't affected the rest of society (this doesn't apply to every ep obv).
Consider how many thinkpieces, jobs, opportunities etc smartphones (or even any one particular use of a smartphone, app, whatever) have spawned yet being effectively forced to show your memories on demand is like oh nbd

tbh every time I think of the cryptkeeper framing I mumble "gree hee hee"

Black Museum is very bad because of the tone. It's very SyFy Channel cheesy bullshit.

i like black museum--the tone doesn't strike me as that different from the Hamm Christmas Special--but it def feels like a different show than Metalhead, which felt refreshingly beamed in from a different channel

Season was good overall. Feel like they're running out of ideas a little bit though - it's like every episode is about consciousness or being inside someone's head, a slightly different Cookie. Hang the DJ was maybe the most interesting take on that this season, but there's a lot more they could do outside of that. Yeah Metalhead was refreshing in that respect

I dunno about Black Museum... some of the ideas were cool, but the conclusion of each story is just way bleaker than it needs to be, with the shit like the keychain. There's a point at which I feel like the writer is just not a good person

The real reason for it, however, is I think it's there to act as an anchor to prove the Black Mirror universe exists and all the stories take place in the same setting.

I just figured the real reason for this episode (and the White Christmas one) is that they had a bunch of ideas they couldn't stretch out to episode length

Any trend (real or hypothetical), taken to its extreme, is the template. So in a way, Black Mirror is a Portlandia spinoff.

He's on Desert Island Discs this week: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09kx840

“I lived in a field, and now I live in a tin!”

metalheads should have been called "strong and stable"

extremely happy w my decision to watch only "san junipero" from last season and "uss callister" & "metalheadz" from this season, i feel like i'm 3 for 3

those little tracker flechettes the robot tracker fired made me cringe! ouch

I'm not going to think too much about whether the ending, with the reveal of what they were looking for, is a definite reference to another episode. Probably.. yeah

I didn't enjoy Metalheads much. But it was probably the right aesthetic decision to have no backstory, no frame. Why are there robot dogs here; why are they so frickin determined, what do the robots even want, why are they so scarily good at what they do...

Every smart thing the lady does to confuse or outwit the robodog strikes me as deserving of better payoff.

I'm still on the "why do stories explain too much instead of relying on a simple premise and dumping us in, in media res, like good stories should be able to" so I'm perfectly fine with how it was structured

imo the point of survival horror is undermined if we know where and how the monster comes from, the unknown is the real fear

I've watched about 14 episodes. I have actively enjoyed 2. The rest ended with me saying "that's it???" (even though they all seem overly long).

awwww mia don't help your junkie boyfriend hide that body

huh, in the end she is more ruthless than him.

well

we don't know yet

holy shit

ok.

wayyyyy more.

love this show.

'the baby...was blind!!!!'

Not like a baby is capable or forming coherent memories at that age but whatever, still enjoyed it.

Um, hate to quibble or spoil but it looks like the box can get the visual feed from even the most unlikely of sources, and this becomes a crucial plot point. Presuming a sighted baby would have been no trouble.

not that it matters, but hamsters have notably terrible eyesight

that was not a hamster!

my bad

guinea pigs are pretty blind too

Metalhead would have been greatly diminished by a backstory or explanation. You already know what a guard dog is.

Feel like they're running out of ideas a little bit though - it's like every episode is about consciousness or being inside someone's head [...] there's a lot more they could do outside of that.
[...]
I just figured the real reason for this episode (and the White Christmas one) is that they had a bunch of ideas they couldn't stretch out to episode length

― Vinnie, Thursday, January 11, 2018 2:30 AM (three days ago)

the vast TVGH writing staff

Any idea why Crocodile was filmed in Iceland (by the looks of it) but everyone had an English accent?

racist

had to pause and restart

i'm not buying mia's "crocodile tears" following her murders

lol this children's recital with the 1920s mobsters

Crocodile is phenomenal.

All but the first and last are super imho.

The first one was the weakest so far for sure. Going to watch metalhead tonight.

They really go hard on this “virtual selves” idea, and the moral chaos that would emerge from it. I find it interesting, but it’s also really outlandish and might take away from the show’s ability to respond to our actual relationship to technology and media, which it clearly intends to do.