S1.E2

Fifteen Million Merits

Episode aired Dec 11, 2011
TV-MA
1h 2m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Dark Comedy Dystopian Sci-Fi Psychological Drama Psychological Thriller Showbiz Drama Tragedy Crime Drama Mystery Sci-Fi

In a world where people's lives consist of riding exercise bikes to gain credits, Bing tries to help a woman get on to a singing competition show.In a world where people's lives consist of riding exercise bikes to gain credits, Bing tries to help a woman get on to a singing competition show.In a world where people's lives consist of riding exercise bikes to gain credits, Bing tries to help a woman get on to a singing competition show.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

8.0/10

70K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

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Featured reviews

10malicenbandarlnd

The real genius of this story

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.

10Sleepin_Dragon

One of the best episodes of Black Mirror, and that's saying something.

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.

9jetkot

This is Art

Cycling continuously and earning points was so similar to us being in mundane jobs and accumulating points to pay off our bills. Even when we accumulate enough points and buy the golden ticket; we do not actually get what we were hoping for. We humans have made a viscous circle for ourselves that we can never escape from.

9jzathajenious

A powerful, heart wrenching vision of the future (and the present).

This episode tore my heart out and stomped on it for good measure. Whereas Black Mirror's first episode was more darkly comic in tone (disturbing nonetheless), this was an utterly bleak excursion into the realms of reality television and our consumerist culture. Oh and a beautiful love story to boot. But if you think this love story is bound for a happy ending, you haven't watched Black Mirror before.

Although a touch heavy handed in its message, its themes still ring painfully true. It looks with disdain upon our symbiotic relationship with reality television, and how anything of purity, authenticity, and honest beauty will inevitably become corrupted and filtered down to a 'lowest common denominator' level of entertainment to feed the willing masses.

Its simply a powerful yet utterly bleak hour of brilliant thought provoking television.

9planetShhhh

Satire Alert

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.

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Trivia
Charlie Brooker stated the idea for this episode originated from his wife Konnie Huq (who co-wrote the episode and is credited under her birth name Kanak Huq) when she remarked that he'd be happy in a world where every wall was a screen.

Goofs
When Bing meets Abi in the cafeteria, Abi buys an apple. While standing and talking, Abi takes two bites out the apple. But when the sit at a table, Abi picks up the apple and it is untouched.

Quotes
Bing: I haven't got a speech. I didn't plan words. I didn't even try to I just knew I had to get here, to stand here, and I wanted you to listen. To really listen, not just pull a face like you're listening, like you do the rest of the time. A face that you're feeling instead of processing. You pull a face, and poke it towards the stage, and we lah-di-dah, we sing and dance and tumble around. And all you see up here, it's not people, you don't see people up here, it's all fodder. And the faker the fodder, the more you love it, because fake fodder's the only thing that works any more. It's all that we can stomach. Actually, not quite all. Real pain, real viciousness, that, we can take. Yeah, stick a fat man up a pole. We laugh ourselves feral, because we've earned the right, we've done cell time and he's slacking, the scum, so ha-ha-ha at him! Because we're so out of our minds with desperation, we don't know any better. All we know is fake fodder and buying shit. That's how we speak to each other, how we express ourselves, is buying shit. What, I have a dream? The peak of our dreams is a new app for our Dopple, it doesn't exist! It's not even there! We buy shit that's not even there. Show us something real and free and beautiful. You couldn't. Yeah? It'd break us. We're too numb for it. I might as well choke. It's only so much wonder we can bear. When you find any wonder whatsoever, you dole it out in meagre portions. Only then until it's augmented, packaged, and pumped through 10,000 preassigned filters till it's nothing more than a meaningless series of lights, while we ride day in day out, going where? Powering what? All tiny cells and tiny screens and bigger cells and bigger screens and fuck you! Fuck you, that's what it boils down to. Fuck you for sitting there and slowly making things worse. Fuck you and your spotlight and your sanctimonious faces. Fuck you all for thinking the one thing I came close to never meant anything. For oozing around it and crushing it into a bone, into a joke. One more ugly joke in a kingdom of millions. Fuck you for happening. Fuck you for me, for us, for everyone. Fuck you!