Black Mirror

I have only seen the first two installments of this series and but was impressed enough to leave a review. Charlie Brooker has popped out of the internet at times when I least expect it revealing the more unsettling aspects of our culture through his program Screenwipe and others. That was my first exposure to Doug Stanhope, a comedian who among others brings us closer together via demonstrations of how media and technology are changing our society and rarely for the better. Black Mirror arrives in the form of anthologized science fiction in the vein of the Twilight zone. It is a series that examines our society's relationship with the media and how it allows us to both shape our own identity and imprison us in a space where empathy and truth are weaknesses and something to hide in order to get ahead.

I have always been interested in futurists and Brooker seems to fill the requirements for one. There is nothing in the first two installments that do not reflect current trends in our collective behavior but instead extrapolates where current trends in communications technology; avatars, social media and reality television might lead us if we do not seek to preserve what is beautiful and pure about our collective consciousness and humanity.

Having seen reviews here that feel there is no commentary embedded within these stories I couldn't disagree more. As the title suggests, Brooker's Black Mirror shows us a dark reflection of our selves and allows us to evaluate these scenarios through our own emotional filters.

There are no blatant soap box messages but I interpreted the narratives as cautionary tales and would hope that no one, when confronted with them, would hope for these near futures. The only thing holding them back from becoming reality is our own resistance to complacency and purely spectator culture.

Beyond these philosophical aspects, the program is incredibly well produced and executed in my opinion. The characters and sets create convincing realities and I was never once drawn out of the story due to poor acting, scripting or characterizations. I could not recommend this series more and hope that it will continue on. Congratulations to Brooker and company for their work and their apparent concern for all of us.

Black Mirror is an anthology, meaning it is complied of different sci fi tales to make their seasons. This means the series doesn't really have any synopsis I can say, the only thing I can say is just watch the bloody show already. Every episode is different, some horror, some romance, some drama, and if you don't like the episode then just skip it, it's not like you'll miss anything as the next episode on your binge watch will be the complete opposite of what you just watched. As far as acting goes, it's top notch, stars like Jon Hamm, Daniel Kaluuya also appear on episodes bringing their amazing performances to the table. Every episode has their own cinematography, some bright and colorful, one episode will be black and white, really adding in on the unique feel of the whole thing. I would definitely call this show a masterpiece, but i almost gave it a 9 because of the 5th series. 2 episodes from the fifth series were pretty sh*te. Smithereens was great, so was Andrew Scott's performance. So yes, a masterpiece still, I won't let 2 bad episodes change that especially when compared to the works of art that the previous series had to offer. So ignore season 5 apart from Smithereens, Smithereens had a very important message and was a wonderfully shot and acted tale. Think of it as a mix of mini films. Now there may be some things that you may not find good, but there's always an episode for you. There 's twists, laughs, scares all in hour long episodes and tied up in a neat little bow just for you. And the Christmas Special was stunning, don't forget to watch that. But if that isn't enough, they have their own interactive film, Bandersnatch. An. Interactive. Film. You choose what the main character does, and it is awesome. So please, If you have the time, try watching this, you will not be disappointed. Verdict: With something new every episode, Black mirror really gets to you, and in all the right ways. A+

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'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.

Black Mirror is one of the most original and best Mini-Series ever created. Each episode tells a different story about the modern world we live in and the technology we all love and while not all, most of them are fascinating. They are all filled with a-list stars and made by great directors. Each stand alone episode is thought provoking and filled with enough drama and suspense to keep you at the edge of your seat. While there are a few episodes that are not as good when compared to the others, most of them are fantastic. This show gets compared to The Twilight Zone a lot and while it's a pretty good comparison, I think Black Mirror is actually a lot better. It's hard to explain how incredible this show is so just go watch it.