Black Mirror

Withnail

Well-Known Forumite
In the absence of, a place within which to.

I have but the last one to go - anybody else on it?

Have enjoyed them all so far - in fact, i have rarely been so moved, or had my thoughts so provoked, as i have done over the last two days.

San Junipero i found achingly beautiful - i wept at it.

Men Against Fire i just watched - i tend, i realise, to use the word 'genius' perhaps a bit too often, but this i'd be tempted to make a 'set text'. What would you choose?

Shut Up and Dance i will have to watch again - suspect this will be the most prescient of them. This is not a good thing.

Watch Nosedive first,it's the first one - it sets the right tone. You will 'see' this world all too easily. It is suitably terrifying whilst having catharsis. Willing to wager the catharsis won't last.

Bravo Mr. Brooker.
 

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
Yet to watch them as always had other things on, and they deserve my full attention. series 1 & 2 were great, didn't think much of the Xmas special but people were talking and I didn't get to focus on it.
 

db

#chaplife
i've been waiting for this for ages, downloaded all 6 as soon as they became available.. watched the first two so far and i have to say i'm a bit disappointed.. it seems to have lost something in the transition to netflix - every episode feels like a budget straight-to-TV "movie" now, instead of a high quality channel 4 short film..

nosedive was ok, but i felt like it should have been 30 minutes instead of an hour..
especially the protagonist's breakdown towards the end.. that went on far too long, and i found myself getting bored and wishing it would just end, hoping that brooker had a point to make

the second episode, the computer game one, was ok.. i hated the protagonist, and the girl he hooked up with.. their bar interaction was terrible - not in a "deliberately awkward hook up in a bar" kind of way - in a "this isn't how people talk at all and it's distracting me" kind of way.. the effects were brilliant though, and genuinely creepy.. it was a little predictable, i thought - though that's not necessarily a bad thing imo.. i know people often say that as a criticism, but i like it when you get that little smug sense of satisfaction that you knew the direction the director was going, and you're along for the ride..

haven't watched the rest yet.. they will no doubt be great TV, but i get the impression that this season won't be a patch on previous ones..
 

Withnail

Well-Known Forumite
... but i get the impression that this season won't be a patch on previous ones..
I will be more than interested to hear what you think of the rest of them, because personally i'd say the latter, especially the last, are a lot stronger.

'Nosedive' i thought was a good place to start because, with a move to Netflix, it's going to pick up a LOT more viewers - a tone had to be established for newcomers whilst feeding the appetite of the 'waiting for ages' crowd.

Apropos the 'budget straight-to-TV "movie"' "feel" of the first, i thought that was in its own way peculiarly fitting with the theme, and can't help thinking that it was in some ways intentional - especially considering it is the only one that could, by any stretch of the imagination, have something approaching an 'happy' ending and thus fulfil the actual criteria of the 'comedic'.

Second i agree was a bit 'meh', which is probably why i didn't find anything to say about it, but i suspect i'll watch it again and enjoy it more in the doing so - all of them have been thought-provoking in their own way.

One thing about the Netflix deal that is blindingly obvious is that it has to sacrifice a bit of its Channel-4-ness to cater to the US, but i think it has gained something, as much as it has also lost, by looking further afield.

The last one - episode 6 - in particular i feel sure will restore your faith.
 

db

#chaplife
I will be more than interested to hear what you think of the rest of them, because personally i'd say the latter, especially the last, are a lot stronger.

defo.. i've watched the first four now and they are definitely getting better imo..

'Nosedive' i thought was a good place to start because, with a move to Netflix, it's going to pick up a LOT more viewers - a tone had to be established for newcomers whilst feeding the appetite of the 'waiting for ages' crowd.

true, perhaps you're right - it would certainly lower a new unsuspecting viewer gently into the murky world of black mirror, with its glossy, hollywood start, and slow descent as cracks start to appear in the surface..

Apropos the 'budget straight-to-TV "movie"' "feel" of the first, i thought that was in its own way peculiarly fitting with the theme, and can't help thinking that it was in some ways intentional - especially considering it is the only one that could, by any stretch of the imagination, have something approaching an 'happy' ending and thus fulfil the actual criteria of the 'comedic'.

come on, san junipero was happy! way happier than nosedive imo..
fair enough she had an epiphany at the end of nosedive and a cathartic release, but she was still banged up and i can't help but feel that the nature of the world around her means she would no doubt go back to that way of thinking..

san junipero, on the other hand, doesn't get much happier - she got to spend all of eternity with someone she loved, in a near perfect utopia of her own making.. and not in the hellish "stuck here forever" ironic eternity, because they said they can end it and die for realzies whenever they like..

The last one - episode 6 - in particular i feel sure will restore your faith.

i started to watch episode 5 last night, but was just too tired to give it the full attention it deserved so didn't finish it.. it felt like charlie brooker does starship troopers, so i'm looking forward to watching the whole thing.. like you said, i'm really enjoying these latter episodes..

check out this completely unrelated image which brooker swears he has never seen before:

zh14pv92lftx.jpg
 

Withnail

Well-Known Forumite
...come on, san junipero was happy! way happier than nosedive imo..
Yes, sorry, it was, very much so - lapse in concentration.
San Junipero i found achingly beautiful - i wept at it.

Interestingly it's worth considering this episode through the prism of a US market, though...
san junipero, on the other hand, doesn't get much happier - she got to spend all of eternity with someone she loved, in a near perfect utopia of her own making.. and not in the hellish "stuck here forever" ironic eternity, because they said they can end it and die for realzies whenever they like..

... Yet the happiness of our protagonists depends upon a gay marriage and what could be seen to be an assurance of an heaven that otherwise might not exist...
... which adds a layer of complexity that is admittedly 'outside' of the world the narrative inhabits.

If nothing else this is testament to the whole series - it don't half make you think, what?
 

ATJ

Well-Known Forumite
Seen all but the last one now and tend to agree that the first two were poorer and the series improved as it went on. Nosedive was blindingly obvious, it lacked the subtlety of other episodes. The second one just had twists for the sake of it and no one learned anything. Shut up and dance is the most thought provoking so far.
 

Withnail

Well-Known Forumite
Shut up and
images

will happen within our lifetime - or at least something that remarkably resembles it.

We will, then, ruminate upon whether Life imitates Art or vice versa - especially if it happens in August - , interminably, while Oscar spins languidly in his grave. If there is one saving grace it is that at least A.A.Gill will not be adding his voice to the tired proceedings.

Hated in the Nation is the stand out for me - imaginably terrifying but still some way off...

I warm to Nosedive more on reflection - it is much darker in the mind and memory of it, than it is in 'real' time.

Black Mirror has probably been, on the whole, the best use of my 'free' time thus far this year, and with so little of the year left it is unlikely to be 'pipped'.
 

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
Still only seen the first 3, but shut up and dance was the stand out so far while nosedive has me thinking most as I watch people's interactions.
 

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
Anyone watching the new series? Only seen the first so far but I really liked it, hopefully get time to watch another this week.
 

Withnail

Well-Known Forumite
Yes - three in now.

Really liked the first - expansive, big budget stuff, but as thought provoking as ever.

* thoughts go out to Gillian from Accounts *

Second the best for me so far - low-tech high-tech, great antidote to the 'feel-good' first, all too believable

Third much darker - whiter in tone but darker of heart. A strict machine.

Enjoying.
 

Withnail

Well-Known Forumite
So Bandersnatch?

Which one did you watch?

Was it really a different arc?

Which one did i watch?
 

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
I watched it by myself and saw 4 endings, but when watching it with my brother (who I let choose) we saw at least 2 more. It was a very interesting concept, I rather enjoyed.
 
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