Current Events > Literally Black Mirror s4 is out and no topic?? Potential spoilers throughout

(+) Yeah! (+)

Holy fuck it's so good.

Couldn't get into the Star Trek format of the first episode.

ArkAngel and Crocodile were GREAT. I love how you think nothing of the hamster in the beginning.
---

starting it in a few minutes

>Holy shit it's so good
>Couldn't get into the first episode
---

>Because I don't like Star Trek.
>But my jaw dropped multiple times in the following episodes.
---

Hang the DJ was pretty good
---

Metalhead is quite terrifying.
---

First episode: A really great look into the mind of the beta male (tips fedora), and I assume the AI-people are run like ai would be (i.e. in an area of an mmo if npcs fight, they will do it if no one is around) but it would make sense if he simply left his version of infinite open, as this would explain why they can move around/interact, though it really seems all they can do is drink

second: It was a slow start but ended up being a very interesting episode imo. the ending was depressing.

third: possibly my favourite episode so far of the entire series.
---

Ulyanyx posted...

First episode: A really great look into the mind of the beta male (tips fedora), and I assume the AI-people are run like ai would be (i.e. in an area of an mmo if npcs fight, they will do it if no one is around) but it would make sense if he simply left his version of infinite open, as this would explain why they can move around/interact, though it really seems all they can do is drink

second: It was a slow start but ended up being a very interesting episode imo. the ending was depressing.

third: possibly my favourite episode so far of the entire series.

This

The episode was great in every aspect. Im also glad it had a bittersweet ending unlike all of last season
---

Muffinz0rz posted...

>Holy shit it's so good
>Couldn't get into the first episode

---

I no-lifed all of them. Here are my thoughts.

USS Callister
Probably my favorite episode, possibly because I'm a Trek fan. I mentioned this in another topic, but I can't help but feel this episode deliberately apes a TNG episode (at least at the start). TNG had a character named Reginald Barclay, a skilled engineer with utterly no social skills. Like Daly, he spends his off-time in a simulation, filling it with recreations of his coworkers. The difference is that TNG makes you feel sorry for Barclay. Having seen that episode, I was completely prepared to sympathize with Daly....and you do to start with. That first scene is completely harmless - weird, but harmless. Then you transition to the real world where he's a loser: receptionist coldly ignores him, intern calls him fat, coder flouts his authority, his CEO "friend" tries to steal the new girl. You sympathize with him even more because most of us have been at that point sometime in our life...and then he goes home to his simulation and freaks the fuck out. Even before it's revealed that the simulations are real people, this makes him a much scarier, more villainous character.

I also enjoyed the ending's transition from TOS camp to TNG/DS9/Voy appearance.

Arkangel
I think this is the second weakest episode. I think they did all they could with the premise, but it just wasn't much. Like the season one episode with the cheating wife and the perfect memory implant, I feel like the tech twist doesn't add too much to this episode. I enjoy that you can't really figure out who to sympathize with though. The daughter is on that border between "normal teen exploration" and "going down a really bad path," so you understand the mom's point of view. Except for the abortion pill, that was fucked up.

Crocodile
The weakest episode by a fair amount. This one's just bleak for the sake of bleakness. I'd almost call it really mild torture porn. I'm a bit disappointed too because this imperfect memory recollection thing is much more interesting than the perfect one we had in season one. That technology doesn't really go anywhere though since Mia isn't able to trick it into not revealing the murder. Her being undone by the guinea pig was worth a laugh, but that's about it.

Hang the DJ
Not as uplifting or as moving as San Junipero but hey. I enjoyed it, but I can't really think of much to say about it.

Metalhead
I'd say this was a good episode, but not really a good Black Mirror episode. It was a fun Terminator-esque trip, but that might not be what you want from Black Mirror.

Black Museum
Second best. Like White Christmas, it throws a lot of concepts at the wall which could all probably be a full episode in their own right. I personally find the toy scenario the most chilling one BM's done. The slow reveal of who this tourist actually is and just how slimy the host is was done wonderfully.

Overall.

USS Callister > Black Museum > Hang the DJ > Metalhead > Arkangel > Crocodile
---

I'm halfway through.

Crocodile > USS Callister > ArkAngel

All really good so far. Crocodile felt like Season 1 Black Mirror
---

USS Callister>Black Museum>Arkangel>Metalhead>Hang the DJ>Crocodile
---

I honestly found the first one just okay. it didn't feel very Black Mirror-ish to me. felt like some standalone sci fi movie with a slight twist.

I got faith in the rest though
---

Adored both of the first two.

Worth pointing out that in Callister, Daly is absolutely 100% dead. Do Not Disturb sign on his door, Christmas break for ten days so no one will notice hes missing... hell starve to death. Some people say thats not deserved, but a) dude was absolutely a sociopath and b) Black Mirror rarely deals in deserved so much as you unwittingly walked into that one. Loved how towards the end the whole thing went from his fake Star Trek episode where hes the hero to a borderline real Star Trek episode where hes the villain.
---

Just finished Black Museum. Karma's a bitch!
---

As for Arkangel, it reminded me a lot of Entire History of You, which is one of my favorites. Some people want stronger sci-fi influence whereas these crappy people will probably have been crappy regardless of the tech, but I loooove when Black Mirror revolves around a personal story where tech allows a moment of weakness to devolve into the worlds slipperiest slope (Be Right Back is similarly in this vein).

Thing is, I could sympathize with the mom up to a point. Getting it in the first place was a mistake and I honestly cant imagine how youd ever think blocking out things like a fucking dog barking would ever result in a well-adjusted child, but she admittedly eventually faced the music and didnt use it for like ten years. I can even understand why she turned it back on when she did your daughters missing and you can check GPS... oh, shes by a random lake, is she dead or being abducted?! The problem is that her mom never said a word to her OWN DAUGHTER about what she saw, awkward though it may have been, and instead just went full Big Mother on her. And hey, surprise surprise, your kid with zero coping skills snapped when she found out.

Really fitting, beautiful, and sad ending when the mom is once again screaming for her lost daughter, but this time shell never be found.
---

I just have to point this out on USS Callister. those are not real people in the infinity program! They're simulations. Idk how truly evil Daly could be considered. He was torturing video game characters. Your not labeled a murderer if you rock at Call of Duty. Great episode though.

@Wasssup_Now posted...

I just have to point this out on USS Callister. those are not real people in the infinity program! They're simulations. Idk how truly evil Daly could be considered. He was torturing video game characters. Your not labeled a murderer if you rock at Call of Duty. Great episode though.

I get what youre saying but IMO that is waaaay too surface level of an analysis. Those people were NOT Call of Duty characters. They were fully sentient carbon copies of people he disliked, complete with memories of their outside lives, brought in explicitly so he could torture them. They were cognizant of the passage of time and able to be mentally and physically tortured, feeling pain and anguish. He threw a little boy out of an airlock. I dont care if its a virtual little boy; Im sure thats how Daly got himself to sleep at night, but that boy could feel pain and fear. Daly was fully aware of this and did not care. He was a sociopath.

Daly was a red-alert risk for an office shooting or chaining up women in his basement if he didnt have that outlet.

Id agree if it was more similar to your CoD example, but theyre on different planets of morality. Its closer to White Christmas where Jon Hamm tortured and mentally broke those AIs except probably even worse because these remember their real selves.
---

First and second episode were fucking awful. Gonna check out episode three later.

@pegusus123456

Crocodile is a good example of human psychology, Mia originally wanted to report the initial incident, but after 15 years of holding on to it, when rob wanted to make amends, she snapped because she had held on for so long and built an entire life around that secret, and as the episode goes on, she becomes the very thing she originally wasn't, solely to protect herself so she wouldn't lose her family. And not once was she happy about it.
---

Mr_Biscuit posted...

@Wasssup_Now posted...

I just have to point this out on USS Callister. those are not real people in the infinity program! They're simulations. Idk how truly evil Daly could be considered. He was torturing video game characters. Your not labeled a murderer if you rock at Call of Duty. Great episode though.

I get what youre saying but IMO that is waaaay too surface level of an analysis. Those people were NOT Call of Duty characters. They were fully sentient carbon copies of people he disliked, complete with memories of their outside lives, brought in explicitly so he could torture them. They were cognizant of the passage of time and able to be mentally and physically tortured, feeling pain and anguish. He threw a little boy out of an airlock. I dont care if its a virtual little boy; Im sure thats how Daly got himself to sleep at night, but that boy could feel pain and fear. Daly was fully aware of this and did not care. He was a sociopath.

Daly was a red-alert risk for an office shooting or chaining up women in his basement if he didnt have that outlet.

Id agree if it was more similar to your CoD example, but theyre on different planets of morality. Its closer to White Christmas where Jon Hamm tortured and mentally broke those AIs except probably even worse because these remember their real selves.

This is why I really liked the episode

^Same! Its a great discussion to have, one of the greyer subjects Black Mirror hits on.
---

Mr_Biscuit posted...

^Same! Its a great discussion to have, one of the greyer subjects Black Mirror hits on.

I mean, not really <_<

They're still sentient creatures being tortured by a tiny, pathetic man for imagined slights against him.
---

pegusus123456 posted...

Mr_Biscuit posted...

^Same! Its a great discussion to have, one of the greyer subjects Black Mirror hits on.

I mean, not really <_<

They're still sentient creatures being tortured by a tiny, pathetic man for imagined slights against him.

I totally agree, but I mean compared to objectively terrible shit like White Bear, AI morality is relatively nuanced.
---

first episode was great and i was expecting a lot.

What a let down. Holy crap, the rest of the season is either more cookie shit or just boring af.
---

Just finished episode 3, Crocodile. It reminds me of a MadTV sketch where some guy kills someone else and more and more witnesses keep showing up so they have to keep killing until the whole room is just a bunch of dead bodies. A bit absurd... slow and predictable :(
---

Watching Metalhead, the woman looks so much like Keri Russell how is it not her
---

Liked it.

The Star Trek and the dating one, and Black Musuem were good.

Metalface and Crocodile were dull, Arkangel wasn't much to write home about. A mixed bag all up.
---

I need the backstory for Metalhead.

I assume it's some kind of "the war/police robots we made went rogue and started killing everyone" scenario.
---

i mean there was a topic but okay
---

Seems to be a lot of varying opinions, on every episode. Interesting
---

Only saw that first Star Trek episode, it was pretty good. Probably a 7/10 as far as Black Mirror episodes go
---

Watching Metalhead atm. Didn't expect this type of episode.

So far for me:

Callister > Hang the DJ > ArkAngel > Crocodile
---

Just finished Metalhead

What a weak ass episode. Too much whiny dialogue, the fight scene was cool but then she had to die but it didn't really have any impact because
1 - we had no back story so we didn't even know who she was talking to
2 - we don't even know what's up with those robot shits

And they were seriously just after a fucking teddy bear? Three people got killed because of a teddy bear? And they had to go to the warehouse to get it they couldn't just go to the regular ass shelves and be done with it?

I feel like I really missed something here.
---

USS Callister = Crocodile > Hang the DJ > Black Museum > ArkAngel > Metalhead
---

Hexenherz posted...

Just finished Metalhead

Just finished it. You pretty much echoed my thoughts.

It was an interesting try, but the fact that they did zero world building made me not give a shit about anything that happened. I thought we'd get something at the end, but nope.
---

Hahahahahaha episode 6
---

_Near_ posted...

Hexenherz posted...

Just finished Metalhead

Just finished it. You pretty much echoed my thoughts.

It was an interesting try, but the fact that they did zero world building made me not give a shit about anything that happened. I thought we'd get something at the end, but nope.

Yeah :\ The end was the most stereotypical monster horror movie ending ever, with scenes of more of the monsters out there. SpOoKy

I did really appreciate the scene where the dog grabbed the knife and was carrying it around the hallways LOL.
---

I got a huge kick out of the end of the Star Trek one. when they update, and go all J.J. Abrams star trek, complete with ridiculous lens flare
---

loafy013 posted...

I got a huge kick out of the end of the Star Trek one. when they update, and go all J.J. Abrams star trek, complete with ridiculous lens flare

lmao there were some clever details in there
Like when he turned that one woman into the monster as punishment for trying to send a message to the outside.

He's talking to the new girl about the consequences of her action, and it's obviously meant to be a dark and serious scene, but in the background you see the rest of the crew trying to help the "monsterfied" girl out of the bridge and they clunk her head on the door frame and it's like this little comical out of focus detail.
---

well metalhead is the first one i'm actually bored of watching... 20 min to go
---

Just finished Crocodile. Kinda sucked by BM standards, which means it was still decent overall, but bleh.

I just kinda... didnt buy it. The main characters literally-overnight transition from workaholic mommy to beating innocent people to death with logs and hammers before suffocating a baby was SO drastic that I dont find it believable. Shed have had to be a straight up born-and-bred psychopath and we know that isnt the case from the beginning.

Plus, Black Mirror is at its best when the tech presents a slippery slope that characters believably tumble downwards. The tech really had nothing to do with the core of Crocodile and couldve almost as easily been told without it. Ive seen people say that about episodes like Entire History, but that featured the aforementioned slippery slope at its finest, even if they were jealous people in the first place.

Still an entertaining enough watch, but it was kinda just a softcore torture porn flick.
---

^ 100% disagree. But to each his own.

I thought the downward spiral was fascinating and gradual enough that it felt believable. The episode isn't saying she was a saint beforehand and suddenly turned into Hitler. But it does just get crazier and crazier and she's put into these situations, and something within her stops her from stopping like most people would. And it's not like she set out to murder the child, it's just that (as far as Mia knew) it saw her, and that was that. There was only one way out. Of course the irony being the child was blind, but she wasn't aware of that).
---

I dunno about rating them in a particular order but I liked em all besides metalhead. really liked the last ep. maybe my favorite of the season
---

Stalolin posted...

^ 100% disagree. But to each his own.

I thought the downward spiral was fascinating and gradual enough that it felt believable. The episode isn't saying she was a saint beforehand and suddenly turned into Hitler. But it does just get crazier and crazier and she's put into these situations, and something within her stops her from stopping like most people would. And it's not like she set out to murder the child, it's just that (as far as Mia knew) it saw her, and that was that. There was only one way out. Of course the irony being the child was blind, but she wasn't aware of that).

I just found nothing believable about going from Mom to Norman Bates in the span of one day. I also dont really get what the point/message of the episode was, tbh, which is the crux of Black Mirror.

She was 100% unrelatable for anyone remotely well-adjusted. Even the shittiest people in Black Mirror (like the White Bear spectators, 15MM judges, etc.) have some semblance of ourselves that we hate admitting we recognize. Hence, you know, Black MIRROR and all.
---

Fair points, I can dig it.
---

idk I'm with you on this Stalolin, everything just started spiraling out of control so she wasn't thinking clearly and murder became the only way to keep her freedom but obviously it wasn't something she enjoyed.

I still find the whole episode ridiculous because of how many people she killed.
---

Hexenherz posted...

idk I'm with you on this Stalolin, everything just started spiraling out of control so she wasn't thinking clearly and murder became the only way to keep her freedom but obviously it wasn't something she enjoyed.

I still find the whole episode ridiculous because of how many people she killed.

Thats really it for me right there, though. If this whole thing centered around a woman who lived a life of guilt for what happened with her boyfriend hitting that guy, and ultimately spiraled out of control into her killing the insurance lady because she witnessed the repressed guilt from 15 years earlier, I think thatd have been a potentially really powerful arc and wouldve opened more interesting questions into whether the tech actually prompted additional violence in the end.

Instead, in the span of 24 hours, she went from Business Mom to BRUTALLY murdering four people in three different locations, including a fucking baby. The fact that she just went on a massive psycho torture porn killing spree took me out of it a bit. The questions about the tech take a massive backseat when the character lens we see the story through is one-dimensionally evil, crocodile tears (hyuck hyuck hyuck) aside.

Like, they were so close to a more nuanced episode if they skipped the hotel murder and had her just witness the pizza van crash some other way, leading to her memories being scanned and exposing the PTSD from the initial incident with her boyfriend. Theres just zero sympathy for Mia.
---