Hamster's top 8 Black Mirror episodes (series 1-3)

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Ex Machina was definitely my favourite film of the last 5 years. Chilling ending too. He acted it perfectly.

 

I'll check Frank out!

[TEOL]

No Playtest? Only episode of Black Mirror so far that actually gave me nightmares.

Actually I was thinking about this the other day. I think one of the things that makes Black Mirror work is that it has many different aspects to it. There's the social commentary, there's the bleakness and horror, there's the terrific acting and writing and personal relationship side of things, and then there's just the 'wow, that's an interesting idea' side of it. All the episodes have all those aspects to one degree or another, just in different levels, and so the episodes you like the most end up saying more about you than about the episodes. Which, you know. It's a mirror.

[RPS]

On 06/01/2018 at 20:43, ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster said:

3. White Bear

 

The episode follows Victoria (Lenora Crichlow), a woman who does not remember who she is and wakes up in a place where almost everybody is controlled by a television signal. Along with some of the few other unaffected people (Michael Smiley and Tuppence Middleton), she must stop the "White Bear" transmitter while surviving merciless pursuers.

 

 

 

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We head deep into Black Mirror bleakness with White Bear. White Bear is horrific, equally as much for the human condition as the punishment.

 

We start by thinking that something has gone horribly wrong, the world has gone feral and half the population has become zombified mobile-phone wielding voyeurs. Through a fast-paced, unnerving half hour we draw closer to the truth which is that our protagonist is actually a child abducter (her boyfriend killed the child while she recorded it). This doesn't make her fate any less horrible though. After her boyfriend committed suicide in his cell, Victoria is sentenced to this same horror EVERY DAY with her mind being painfully wiped of the memories each night. Every morning she wakes, not knowing who she was, being chased, attacked and terrified before finally having the pain of realisation of what she has done, and being paraded back before a braying mob each evening before waking up and doing it all over again.

 

It's torture for Sun, Express and Daily Mail readers to salivate over. "THAT F*CKIN' BITCH DESERVES IT!" says Len (53) of Braintree, Essex, before applying to be one of those who get to come on set and follow the action on his phone. "CHILD KILLERS SHOULD SUFFER EVERY DAY!" says Katie (27) of Gravesend, Kent, happily throwing rotten vegetables at a truly hopeless, husk of Victoria as she is wheeled back to the block of flats where she awakes every day to go through it all again.

 

The episode digs right down into the very consciousness of the national heart - crime and punishment, rehabilitation, torture, reality TV. It's a bleak Truman Show with no happy ending and a country where it's ok to payback an, admittedly horrible crime, a thousand times over. Only a psychopath would really think that her punishment is fair...and yet there would be millions in this country who would sign their name to support such a punishment tomorrow.

 

 

 

This episode was the most disturbing thing I have ever watched before.

[Meacon Keaton]

I watched Shut Up and Dance for the first time two nights ago and I can't stop being mad at it.

Spoiler

It was fucking brilliantly done. I felt so much sympathy for that little shit all fucking episode. "All he did was jerk off? Who cares? Everyone does it!"

It was perfect that it was a young guy, because when you're young you obviously think that something like that video getting out would be the end of your world. But then they hit you with that twist at the end and I'd bit hook, line, and sinker.

It's been a loooooooooong time, if ever, that I was that sympathetic toward a character only to despise him so much 50 minutes later. Well fucking done, Black Mirror. You definitely won this round. 

White Bear was different, but I, perhaps sadly, wasn't all that disturbed by it. It wouldn't surprise me in the least bit if something like that happened in the next twenty years. Maybe even ten years if Trump stays in office.

Nosedive, though not my #1, is a great one. It's exactly what my issue with social media is. No one is who they really are. It's all about social perception. Screw that mess. I'll live a happy life off of social media, instead of a fake happy one on it. 

Fifteen Million Credits was one of the most depressing throughout the entire episode. It was good, but not one I'll go back and re-watch.

White Christmas was brilliantly acted. I've watched it twice now, because the first time I kept trying to figure out what the twist was instead of just enjoying the episode. 

The National Anthem was, like most I'd imagine, the first episode I watched. My buddy told me to watch the show, but not to judge whether I wanted to watch the series solely on the first episode. I'm glad I didn't. I think it was by far my least favorite episode. 

The one you didn't list that I really enjoyed was The Entire History of You. 

Spoiler

I dated a girl after high school that cheated on me with an ex-boyfriend, so even when we weren't sure if the main character had legit reason to be concerned or was just a paranoid git, I felt sympathy for the guy.

Like Fifteen Million Credits, it's depressing almost all the way through, but for whatever reason I've been able to sit and watch it a couple times now.