Fifteen Million Merits

I only recently came to Black Mirror and find it fascinating viewing them through the prism of all that's happened in the five years since this first season was produced.

The structure of this episode feels more like a piece of theatre. The scenarios in which the characters are placed are implausible and don't bear analysis (yes, of course using humans to generate electricity is not efficient) and the supporting characters are deliberately one- dimensional. But that's what makes it so effective.

Look beyond the obvious and specific commentary it provides on reality TV and body image obsession, and you'll find that what it really exposes is the fundamental futility of our modern consumption-driven existence. Our visceral needs to obtain more drives us to greater debt. Our debt forces us to work, pedalling frantically at life just to keep our heads above water. Like the man relegated to wear yellow and serve as the butt of crass humour, failure to keep up just pushes us onto a downward spiral from which we cannot return. And ultimately the fear of failure, of the oblivion of death, allows us to swallow our moral objections to that life when a path to greater comfort is offered to us.

And of course, at the end of the day, those in power know how to manipulate our weaknesses. They are caught up in the cycle, trapped themselves. The judges know they have to keep pushing the boundaries to keep people viewing. So their moral compass spins as wildly as our own as they struggle to stay ahead of the pack. In a world bereft of genuine feeling or emotion, what little genuineness exists is itself commoditized. Expressions of individuality, of innovation, become the intellectual property of others, are franchised and end up as dully ubiquitous as what came before.

But what choice do we have? Can we escape the treadmill? We are not fulfilled, but can we see a viable path to a fulfilling life? Are we better off mindlessly keeping the wheels turning so that the material necessities of life are still provided? Or do we take the risk and break out? Is there even anything outside the treadmill? Can we live outside of the economy that imprisons us? Is death really our only escape?

Or should we just resign ourselves to it? Become like the crass, mindless idiot who laughs along with the spoon-fed televisual mush? Can we suppress thoughts of betterment and make our lives tolerable by giving in to conformity? Can we let "I really had no choice" become a valid defence for our inhuman actions?

In a future world you have to cycle for your supper, Bing does his best to help talented singer Abi get onto a singing contest.

It's a magical episode, a study of exploitation, containerisation and a demand for fame abd fortune, there's also something of a love story running through it.

It's definitely a mirror image of life itself, the endless cycling represents the rat race that many people live their lives by, blindly running along the treadmill, eating, sleeping, repeating, but every now and then something good comes along, do you strive for it, or let it pass? That's the situation for Bing.

That scene where Abi faces The Judges, it's just brutal.

I just love the imagery, the emojis, the idea of those constant, forced adverts, and being penalised for not watching them, amazing ideas.

Definitely a pop at the likes of X Factor, Britain's got talent, and all of those other shows headed up by egotistical judges.

Daniel Kaluuya and Jessica Brown Findlay deliver truly astounding performances.

Made back at the time when this show was producing genuinely sensational, thought provoking episodes.

10/10.

SPOILER: The real genius of this story wasn't so much the setting, or even most of the plot. The dystopian future this is taking place in with two modes of life - underground, in a sort of indentured servitude, or in the penthouses with a view - isn't all that original either. What i loved about this episode was the ending. It wasn't a dramatic ending. It wasn't a happy ending. It was a depressing ending. The protagonist starts out with morals and a stand to take and ends up consumed by the consumerism he makes money off of. Its disconcerting most of all because i think it rings true. And it's creepy how true the entire setting seems.

Whatever it was, it nearly made me suffocate with holding my breath.

You know that feeling you get, that almost nausea, that exhilarating terror when you take the plunge over a roller-coaster loop, that feeling of stretching out a finger to barely touch something transcendental, that white blank feeling you get when you've hit ground zero and the truth is there, almost there...

No?

I've had that feeling before. I almost can't quite remember when, just that the enormity of feeling something like that couldn't possibly be contained in a memory.

This makes no sense, does it?

I don't know - but tell me you didn't feel something rare when you watched Bing nearly commit cultural, political and physical suicide on that stage. I've never seen anything that's managed to depress and stimulate me at once. I've never seen anything that raw and human. Not for a long time.

Watch it?

And transcribe the end speech. I would have that tattOOED.

Firstly if you want to ingest something that validates your life, that confirms everything you already believe in or something that makes you feel comforted, loved or thrilled then you probably need to go away and look in the (black?) mirror.

It manages to be upsetting, tedious and poignant and necessarily so. Also add intriguing.

Unfortunately judging by outbursts on Tw*tter (its a love/hate relationship) it seems many people are reacting in a similar way to one of the more remedial characters in this work of genius.

Watch this then turn of your TV for a while and read. Society depends on it.