Current Events > Black Mirror (spoilers)

(+) Yeah! (+)

Just finished the latest season.

Episode One: Dueling Snakes (or whatever)

Emmy bait. How the hell could it not get nominated without the nominating committee looking like racists and/or homophobes?
Frankly it was okay. A couple of mildly interesting thought experiments brought to light, such as what constitutes cheating, and the complexities of gender swapping. The interesting thing is, we probably arent that far off from jumping to into a virtual world and banging randos, and if that big tittied anime girl is actually a dude will be a thing. I actually liked the ending, but I would have been more pleasantly surprised if it was the guys wife who starred gaming with him.

Episode 2: Falling Down (dont remember the actual name)

As my suggested title suggests, the angle of this episode missed the mark in a lot of ways. The concept that the tech company was doing the police work better than the police was interesting, but it wasnt embraced to its full potential. I liked the way they blew off the fbi guy when they started annoying them. That was an interesting touch. The whole distracted driver thing was an enormous cop out for the motivating factor. A smaller catalyst should have been used, and the dude should have just been having a meltdown over the state of tech addiction. There was one really solid rant by the guy, and that should have been expanded on exponentially. As implied, it should have been more like the movie Falling Down. When he did finally talk to the head tech guy Topher Grace, we should have seen an equally fucked up rant from the other side, kinda like what we started to see before he was cut off to bring it back to the shitty cop out. By the end we could have seen how these two extreme rants on how far gone society has become come together, with the clear message of how it cant be stopped. A potential classic episode but a huge missed opportunity. It also could have been seen as prophetic because we arent far off from people starting to lose their shit over how far technology has gone. But Im guessing they didnt want to challenge big tech. Way to not rock the boat, black mirror.

Episode 3: Nine Inch Miley

Probably the most black mirrorish of all of them, but still pretty fucking dull. And predictable. Right down to the lyrical changes at the end. But thats about the only complaint. Mildly interesting. Im just not that passionate about this one and i dont have a rant. I think that says it all.

In closing, this show is no longer one that motivates me to keep my subscription. Even I doubted my resolve at the conclusion of the season, but the autoplay hardened my resolve. Did it loop back around to season one, episode one? No. San Junipero was what I should watch according to them. Fuck off, Netflix.

I thought this season was the weakest. I agree mostly with your thoughts. I thought episode 2 had so much wasted potential. Episode 1 and 3 were okay, but felt like something was missing.

They didn't have the same captivating hooks or twists that we have come to expect from Black Mirror.
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It lacks the fuckupsery of shut up and dance
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NeoShadowhen posted...

n closing, this show is no longer one that motivates me to keep my subscription. Even I doubted my resolve at the conclusion of the season, but the autoplay hardened my resolve. Did it loop back around to season one, episode one? No. San Junipero was what I should watch according to them. Fuck off, Netflix.

For what its worth, it put me back on episode 1.
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bruh episode 1 was a weird af watch, can't play playstation with the boys the same way again

Yea episode 1 of this new season resonated with me.

Fucked up indeed me and my friends joke about this now when we play any fighting games.
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Sputnik1337 posted...

NeoShadowhen posted...

n closing, this show is no longer one that motivates me to keep my subscription. Even I doubted my resolve at the conclusion of the season, but the autoplay hardened my resolve. Did it loop back around to season one, episode one? No. San Junipero was what I should watch according to them. Fuck off, Netflix.

For what its worth, it put me back on episode 1.

Yeah, it might have been something as simple as Ive rewatched all the other episodes except that one. Or maybe I started that one again years ago because I thought the mrs might enjoy it after the first season scaring her off.
It was probably my own doing somehow, but it felt like a sign.

apocalyptic_4 posted...

Yea episode 1 of this new season resonated with me.

Fucked up indeed me and my friends joke about this now when we play any fighting games.

Tell me about it. My roommates and I used to play the hell out of some DOA back in college. One of them mained Jann Lee, the other Gen Fu. I mained Kasumi...

Just watched all three of them and this is definitely the weakest season by a considerable margin.

Maybe I missed the point of the first one the entire thing read like these two dudes were gay irl and just didn't realize it. I mean, they get one actual match in and then immediately make out? To me, that looked like unresolved sexual tension that they'd previously had coming out because they were in this strange environment. Even after they kissed, I just wasn't feeling whatever the episode was putting out. Like the dude said he tried the game with other players, so it was pretty obviously meant to be an emotional connection with this dude in particular that was doing it for them.

And this is more of a minor quibble, but I just found the concept a little unbelievable. Who wants to play Mortal Kombat when you can feel every punch? Or was it intended to be a sex game considering they fully rendered the genitals of the characters?

Second episode didn't really feel like a Black Mirror episode. Could have been an episode of CSI or Law and Order or something. They've done the "social media is bad" thing before and in much better ways. In fact, I think the message of the very first pig-fucking episode was almost the exact same thing.

Third episode was the best one IMO, but it didn't really live up to its potential. We didn't really explore the sisters' relationship or Ashley Too being a thing. Another half hour on the runtime would have done it some good. Stretch out the "finding evidence" plot a little bit or something.
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Probably the weakest season yet, but still worth watching.

Ep1: this was quite the ride. I really enjoyed it, love how they just went for it with this story. Doesnt compete with the greatest episodes of the series for sure, but it was still great.

Ep2: the ride was better than the payoff. Like TC said, the little bit of commentary on the social media company having more knowledge, control, and capability than the law enforcement was great, but it was a dead-end plot thread. The payoff was just, a rant? About stuff we already agree with and nothing new is really illuminated? This is like when you think you have to poop really bad and it just ends up being one tiny dry piece of poop with no relief.

Ep3: could have been so great, I was even surprised that I liked Mileys acting. But anything interesting just gets cut short. Like we could have examined the little sisters dependent fandom more and how it affects her. Also annoyed with how Miley was apparently supposed to be just like this Kurt Cobain-esq figure just waiting to burst out. But thats not believable. Like, we could try humanizing what we really saw with Mileys real career, how there was never really art or depth to her music at any point, because why would there be? She had her musical ability and experience boxed into a rigid formula and couldnt explore, but an artist doesnt need to be genius to be humanized and legitimate. We could have explored the psychology of the abused pop star and how any avenue they take can attract ridicule and exploitation. But instead we get that cliche formula of the caged genius.
Also, the robot version of her was funny at first but quickly became annoying. And that Dreamworks ending was just a big no thank you.
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