Black Mirror

This is purely for seasons 1-4 and for Bandersnatch from season 5.

Season 5 was boring and silly. Season 6 is a mixture of terrible episodes and some quite well done episodes that have nothing whatsoever to do with Black Mirror.

Seasons 1 through 4 are masterpieces. Some episodes are better than others, like with any Anthology series. But the good ones are just next-level, even when you have to suspend disbelief sometimes (full nervous system VR systems the size of an M&M - no, not unless everything else is up to the same level of tech!).

It seems that once a series peaks, we just have to accept that that's it, it's done, it will never get up there again. For me the high water marks were CROCODILE, METALHEAD and WHITE BEAR. Though I have to say, I still got back and watch the speech from 15 MILLION MERITS for the thrill of it. It's too good.

4 seasons, 1 special - that's pretty good. Now we need something of equal calibre!

"Somebody" removes negative reviews so I hope this one will just sail through.

You're reviewing the whole show here,not individual seasons or episodes. Don't give a low rating just because you didn't like Miley or the 5th series. Keep everything in context and just rate on your overall impression of Black Mirror. Carry on.

I've been a longtime fan of Black Mirror. It had always felt like a modern Twilight Zone with a focus on the potential downsides of future technologies. With season 6 it feels like they threw the premise out the window and went with an anything goes approach to storytelling, including the supernatural. In addition, the overall quality of the writing has declined in seasons 5 and 6. The first 4 seasons of the show is among my favorite TV shows ever, but they seem to have mostly lost their touch.

It's not that the most recent seasons are irredeemable because there are some pretty good episodes, but they are nowhere near the high bar that was set by the early seasons. Don't believe me? Go watch from the beginning and it will become obvious how much the show has changed. None of the newer episodes are remotely close to the quality of "The Entire History of You", "White Bear", and "White Christmas." Even the weaker episodes of seasons 1-4 are significantly better than most of seasons 5 and 6.

I suppose it's nice to get some new episodes of Black Mirror even if it isn't what it used to be, but I was hoping for much better. Despite my misgivings about the last two seasons, I hope there ends up being a season 7 because I am a big fan of the anthology series format. Overall, I still think the show deserves a solid 8 when considering the entirety of the series to this point.

Latest series is on the rails, by the book, it almost feels like series 6 has been written by AI.

Hold on. Is that going to be the final twist - that Charlie Brooker got ChatGPT to write series 6? That would explain the lack of plot twists and the by-the-numbers predictability.

If Charlie Brooker is playing 4D chess and has willingly created a poor series 6 to make a brilliantly executed point to the suited streamer overlords that AI cannot create as well as humans, then hats off to him. I'll revise this review to an 11/10.

But if that's not the case, then what did happen between series 5 and 6?

I just finished Black Mirror and the first word that comes to mind is...wow! I've never seen anything like it. The stories are all shocking, disturbing and thought provoking. Most of them are about how technology is changing, has changed us, and not always for the better. It's almost like a satire of how media obsessed we have gotten. Each episode really makes you think afterwards and will make you want to talk about what happened. Every episode is like a mini movie, there're stand alone episodes and every episode has an incredible cast filled with A-list actors. While everyone will have their own favorite episodes, every single one of them will make you think and there's not a "bad" episode in the entire series.