LogFAQs > #882856506

(cont)

The greatest sin of the episode, though, lies in the unfortunate choice to ultimately put so much focus on the villain. By giving Scholes so much focus in the back part of the episode, and so heavily emphasizing his super-genius plan and the hunt to bring him down, I felt the episode lost its focus and betrayed the core principles of Black Mirror. When I sit down to watch this show, yes, I anticipate a story about technology that pushes something ethical boundaries, but more than anything, I expect a story that makes me do a little introspection on a part of society I see or even partake in that makes me uncomfortable. To be fair, they headed squarely that direction with the #DeathTo concept of the whole episode, but by making the ultimate punishment SO disproportionate to the crime, I felt the lesson was less "don't be a cyberbully because it's shitty" and more "don't be a cyberbully because a supergenius 'nice guy' might kill you and 380,000 others with robot bees." It ended up making the chase for a terrorist more important than the societal critique, right down to the "we got him" ending. I think the episode would've been better served if Scholes was never revealed/revealed after the events of the story, ala Shut up and Dance or The National Anthem, the latter of which more deftly incorporated a terrorist threat without overshadowing the societal critique.

All in all, it may sound like I hated the episode. I didn't. I found it enjoyable, and the house scene was one of the most tense setpieces in the entire run of Black Mirror. The problem isn't that it isn't good -- it's that so many fascinating and interesting pieces were in place, but the finished puzzle was ultimately unfocused and overly familiar. As a result, the relative waste of a great premise ended up disappointing me, but there was still plenty of fun to be a had and I'll certainly rewatch it at some point in the future.
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-Shred