Why Black Mirror Works & When It Doesn't
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 พ.ค. 2024
- This video essay analyzes Netflix's Black Mirror, written by Charlie Brooker. As season six of Black Mirror has just been released, let's take a look back at the best and worst episodes of Black Mirror to understand why the series works so well, and why it sometimes fails to deliver. Black Mirror has been declining in quality lately, buy this video essay explains why.
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Timestamps:
0:00 Black Mirror Concept
1:43 Why Black Mirror Works
8:02 When Black Mirror Doesn't Work
12:24 Season 6 Review
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#blackmirrorseason6 #blackmirror #aaronpaul - บันเทิง
The reason why Pia died in such a random and anticlimactic way in Lock Henry was because it was set up that people who die in the town from an accident are forgotten rather then the people who are horrifically murdered. It's also ironic how Pia admired the landscape of the town which ends up killing her. This was to show how those deaths that aren't sensationalized don't end up being remembered. The only mention of Pia was a quick mention during the speech at the BAFTAs. The commercial for the documentary does not even mention Pia at all.
It was also crucial in the mother believing Pia had gotten away and was going to tell the police, and the fact the mother kills herself for nothing is the wonderful irony of it.
This feels kind of superficial. I don’t think the landscape killed her. She died because she tripped while frantically running. That could’ve easily happened in a city. We also don’t see the documentary fully. We don’t know what mention of Pia there is in there. Pia was the very first thing mention when he got the award. That point would’ve been more plausible if she just wasn’t mentioned at all.
Oh my gosh. Thanks for this insight.
I just thought it was dumb she’s running away from someone that old. I don’t know why you’d be scared of a grandma who looked had no muscles or anything worrisome about her.
@@mmtayi understand more now, but the commentary did not make the episode any better. It was terrible and did not seem like a black mirror episode.
Wait...White Christmas was a masterpiece and one of the best Black Mirror Episodes out there tho!
YES! It completely messed me up in a good way
Agreed! And John Hamm is fantastic in it!
Yeah, I agree. That was the only point he made that i disagreed with.
It’s my favourite. It was tech driven, dark, suspenseful and morbid until the end.
Wait I thought he said White Bear & not White Christmas because I completely agree with you. Hands down my favorite episode!
Bruh white Christmas is one of the absolute best episodes of black mirror top 3 for me. It wasn't predictable, it was gut retching, dark, it had several twists you don't see coming and it made you think. Like how messed up it would be to live for 6 months in white silence only to find out you're in an "egg" and in reality you've only been there for 30 seconds. Or to live out 1000 years in just a weekend time! That is just horrible. Or go the rest of your life not being able to see or hear a single person, just blurry silhouettes !! Like man, that is one of the most creative and soon to be possible scripts ever produced IMO
reading your comment actually gave me anxiety
No man he lives out 1000 years EVERY MINUTE. Yeah that episode will haunt me for the rest of my life.
@@favouriteghost even fkin worse 😵💫🫨
@@lindsayejoy 😂 sorry it gave me anxiety writing it 😆
but its not as good as s6
-terms of service and having your phone and computer making your whole life public into a show and you cant stop it?! how convincing
-scumbag white ppl and white cop get eaten by werewolf and some paparazzi girl BEATS her with the perfect head shot in mid air moving target while a real officer misses when the wolf is staying still?! UH MAY ZiN.
-little indian shoe salewoman overpowers 1979 white man in a fight to the death and even out grapples him on the ground in his own house?! while all the big bad rahCIST white peepol are sooo bad?! unBeLIEVABLe bro.
this show might go the way of Westworld if it keeps it up. Shames since their is potential there.
The ending of Loch Henry is so spot on with its commentary though. The trauma of using your own pain and story in your art and work, and how unfulfilling it can be even when you get everything you ever wanted such as accolades and success is just *chefs kiss*. It can be applied to so many art forms and artists, and how we can as an audience enjoy it.
I’ve not seen anyone talking about this, but to me it wasn’t clear whether Davis knew about his parents. The way in which he had never told Pia about the killer, how he refused to make a documentary about it, how he repeated the lies about the detective show, how he said explicitly that he wanted to shoot over the original tapes (erasing evidence) and how we never see his reaction to the revelation. The documentary at the end is both a commercialisation of his grief and (if I’m correct) an attempt by him to ‘shoot over’ his own involvement in the crime. He is able to set the narrative.
Yeah i too think it made perfectly sense, dehumanizing for moola and fame, at the cost of losing people you love.
How does a TH-cam comment provide more thoughtful commentary than the video itself
Ikr AND IT GETS BETTER when you remember he says at the start of the episode how he doesn't want to be a sell out, it's just such a good episode, that's why I believe black mirror shouldn't limit themselves to just sci-fi
It’s also an incredible moment when Davis stares at the award because he got exactly what he wanted but he lost the person he loved. If he were to make the movie about the egg guy, it would probably be a flop but at least he would have Pia instead of being a successful filmmaker and losing her. He was even in the background during the awards while the people from the streaming service were accepting it and acting like they did all the work. This episode was incredible
White Bear works tremendously with me lol it's always interesting how people have different perceptions of the show
that episode was disturbing
thats a top 3 episode
Top comment
Agreed. White Bear is one of the best Black Mirror episodes. Very shocked that anyone could call it mediocre.
White Bear is the episode I show newcomers first. I think it's one of the best and most disturbing.
The funniest thing about the Ashley-O episode is that the main take away you could make is that if Pop stars could write what they want, they'd be Nine Inch Nails.
It s self insert Miley Cyrus story ok how her life went. The off this is that the tec in that episode is a reality now thanks to ABBA
@DanteMustLearn a better example to cite would be Tupac but I get your point.
i love this episode idk
it doesn’t have the black mirror vibe but it’s just a great episode and i love miley, it was fun seeing her maybe since i grew up watching her.
@@erikablu429 Personally I loved the episode too, I wasn't a huge miley fan but I respect a lot of the decisions she made in her career, stepping away from that Hannah Montana Disney-fied image to one that challenges people's sense of comfort (ilbeit in a pretty crass direct sense). The episode served well as a story about that kind of shift she went through, but I also understand why people consider this the worst black mirror episode because it strays furthest away from it's core identity
The last two episodes of season 6 kinda give me the impression that Brooker doesn't even really want to make Black Mirror anymore. I don't think the show should have supernatural elements at all, I'd rather they just end the show and make a Red Mirror spin off instead.
I mean...I wouldn't watch it. But at least it would be its own thing.
I definitely didn’t like the werewolf episode it was so random but I can see where they were going with it- message wise
@@prettypatties5170 Yeah but even then it's on the nose.
@@prettypatties5170I feel like we’ve already gotten this episode out of black Mirror multiple times tho. It felt so gritty in a way that was unappealing, in my opinion
I think one of the issues is that the real world has progressed, in some ways, faster than Black Mirror, so many of the things we would find amazing or gut-wrenching or terrifying are now seen as mundane.
The other issue is that, for some of the more recent episodes, they simply don't do certain narrative or story ideas better than what we could arguably see another show do. Take "Loch Henry". His parents turning out to be fetish killers was telegraphed a mile away, and that particular twist has been done better. And if the goal was to be a commentary on victims of violent crime willing to tell their stories for the sake of fame or profit (or outsiders using those stories for fame and profit), dear God, the entire true crime genre has existed for centuries.
All in all, this season was very "meh". Too many stunt-castings, too many stories that are no longer interesting once you get past the first 15 minutes of the central conceit, and overall lacking some of the subtlety present in the earlier seasons before the series became a cultural phenomenon.
I'm sorry but demon 79 was the best episode in the entire season, the climax and dark humor behind it were the best thing I've seen in a long time in black mirror, it wasn't related to any technology but accomplished its mission of not being a boredom pit
The problem with Beyond the Sea is that they needed a really good reason why the humans were aboard the spacecraft and the replicants were left on Earth instead of the opposite. It also seemed really weird that there was no oversight for what they were doing from any operating group like NASA. It just seems to me like they wanted the plot point of a man isolated in space with only one link to Earth, but didn’t give me enough to buy into that situation.
There are so many reasons for a person being in space long term that the audience can come up with that it would have been a waste of time in an already-long episode that used its time very well.
Space X is not NASA! 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯
@@huli566 if there are a lot of possible reasons, then that’s even worse because they didn’t give us a single one. The best thing I can come up with based on what we’re shown in the episode is they are testing the effects of space on the body which is why the physical happens once a week, but it is really odd that nobody else seems to be in contact with either of the characters except the ship itself and their families. Just really odd that an hour and twenty minute episode about a 6 year space flight doesn’t bother to mention how and why the characters are in this situation.
@@Stoneador they don't mention it because it isn't relevant to the plot in any way. They didn't need to give one because suspending your disbelief is easy. They take measurements, or whatever. It doesn't matter at all.
what would they do if the replicants malfunctioned 2 years into the project with no way to fix them? The entire mission would be screwed. Of course real people had to go.
I personally hated Joan is Awful. In my humble opinion, Netflix doing meta-commentary NEVER works, because it's always just surface level problems being poked fun at, like streaming being slightly addictive or TOS not being read before you agree to them. Of course Netflix will never acknowledge the REAL problems people take issue with, like the Cuties movie and locking people out of their accounts for sharing passwords.
I totally disagree. The concept that is was ‘Joan is Awful’ instead of ‘Joan is Awesome’ because people tend to watch things that feed into their neurotic view of themselves was powerful, and when we saw real Joan at the end doing her best to embrace the good in her life along with the bad it packed a huge emotional punch for me. Netflix isn’t going to roast themselves as a problematic corporation, but the damage streaming companies can do on an individual basis was front and center in that episode.
That’s the whole point......It’s shallow and surface level. It’s meant to be ironic....
I would, without difficulty, argue that the addictive nature of Netflix and our surrendering of privacy are massively broader and more potent issues than account lockouts. In fact account lockouts are about as surface level as it gets.
I hated it as well. Black Mirror has a couple satirical episodes but this one was so goofy and silly...it felt like a comedy that would star Melissa Mccarthy or Kevin Hart. And the whole meta aspect felt like Netflix was trying to fellate themselves.
It's just another technological concept taken to extremes. What is AI capable of with unlimited processing power & access to data? It's often a childishly simple concept.
I am enjoying how everyone is agreeing that Mazey Day was just awful
Nah
@@ProdLucioYeah
I thought it was entertaining but not a black mirror episode. It felt so out of place. I didn’t hate it.
I liked it. Just was not what i was expecting
Maybe I’m the only one who liked it. I thought the commentary it provided was amazing
15 million merits is by far my favorite episode. It doesn’t get enough love. Black mirror at its best in my opinion
How
It’s always interesting listening to others opinions on which episode was their favourite.
I feel it’s a significantly better version of Loch Henry in terms of “selling out for money”.
Mine was Shut Up and Dance and White Bear. It really messed with your mind.
It didn’t seem like a Goosebumps episode like what Season 6 was about.
My favourites episodes are Hang the DJ, San Junipero and Entire history of you
White Christmas, shut up and dance and space force one (can’t remember the name) were my favorites
I agree completely!! The speech at the end coupled with the actual ending of the episode give me chills every time I watch it!! It’s my favorite by far.
I maintain that Black Mirror peaked within the first 3 seasons. It used to have a really specific vision as far as what it was trying to accomplish and felt like one of the most prescient works of our time as far as what it described. I always felt that the first season was the best and most consistent, the second one was slightly worse in some areas but was overall great on average, still a 9.2/10 show as far as how I rated it. But the acquisition of the show by Netflix is when I felt things degrade more. It began to feel less subtle, too Hollywood as far as how some episodes were and the never-ending need to put in random celebrity cameos in ways I felt didn't serve the plot much. Still season 3 has some of the best episodes in the series i.e: Shut up and dance is one of my favorite, and was still 8.5/10 television / storytelling wise. But, I'd argue from that moment Black Mirror sort of became a more water downed version of what it was before. I found you saying that Charlie Booker had some issue sticking to the sci fi concepts very telling because I felt like there were so many more sci fi left to tell.
Pretty spot on assessment. I feel pretty similar to everything you said. Seasons 1-3 and White Christmas were consistently good. (Although I personally don't care for San Junipero, I can recognize it's widespread popularity.) S4 onward is when the inconsistency really kicked in. I would call less than 50% of season S4 stellar. In fact, I only really rave for USS Callister. Bandersnatch was a chore that I'll never put myself through again. I actually like S4, but "Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too" is so bad that it really tarnishes the whole season. And now we got S6, which I feel is the first season with no truly amazing episode.
Nah U S S callister still the best black mirror experience of my life. Great episode.
It peaked with bandersnatch
@@indoorplant2392frrr
@@Titan_Jaelthat was the worst thing they ever did to that show lol
I think the biggest problem is the technology aspect became the central focus of the show, as opposed to it just being a point that furthered the plot focused on humanity, and it lost focus as a result
This is kinda funny given that many people started bashing on Season 6 for not being technologically-focused enough
@@davidci I’ve never seen that as a criticism but that is hilarious
Some of the best episodes imo have little/no advanced technology used, and the good episodes that do still keep the focus on the human interactions so the fantasy side of it still feels real
Season 4 onwards I think that shift is clear to see, & the series has suffered for it
@@Wraith8082 I found that episodes that attempt social commentary regarding technology's potential misuse or recklessness are some of my favorites personally.
i don't think that's an issue from the show itself, i think everyone watching pigeonholed it into 'technology bad' when it's actually always been about how fucked up people can be. some of the best episodes don't focus on the technology, but on how it's used, or they just have the technology we have now. it's never Really been about exploring new technology.
i think youre wrong
I remember watching White Bear on Channel 4 for the first time as a teenager, I was so blown away I texted my mate about it but he'd forgotten, so watched it straightaway again on 4+1 (channel 4 but an hour later), then again the next night showing my parents, still one of my absolute favourites and definitely not a one off episode!
Love the video though man you definitely put season 6 into words for me
Yes same it was very De Ja Vu rewatching on netflix.
I did the same thing to my ex-boyfriend!
White Bear had the most brutal ending of any episode. I love it.
White bear is my favorite episode for sure
I think I saw it on channel 4 for the first time when I was like 16, the good old days
I never saw this as a tech is bad show, it was more that it used tech as a story device. Which resonated with me because it feels like it could be real one day.
This season is better than last, however it seems lost and is no longer about the technology improvements coming etc. kinda losing me
I feel the same way.
Yeah werewolf really grinded me wrong Is not black mirrors style
@@bnt4379 it doesn’t need to be technology based. Just more futuristic. The space episdoe was good because many many years from now maybe that’s possible
Yeah they are all talking about society now instead of tech
Not entirely true, first episode is about AI. But I see what you mean. It seems that the focus was taken off of tech and put more on content and how we engage with it - AI creating content, how we market content, what we would do for content, etc. but they did hit us with some good old horror romps as well. Overall, loved this offering more than the last season.
I’ve scrollen through 50+ comments and haven’t seen a comment about black museum. The ending really left a sour feeling in my stomach. It is possiblely one of the worst fates out of any black mirror episode.
its there now. black museum and white christmas are the best black mirror episodes in my opinion. now we can add beyond the sea to that, and season 6 in general was definitely one of the better seasons.
Top tier
My personal favourite black mirror episode is Hated in the Nation. It gives the world a sight technological upgrade with the nanobots, but it absolutely nails the anonymous on the Internet angle it was criticising.
I really wish he could decouple from the title Black Mirror, since Charlie clearly is a good writer but has fallen under increased pressure and a narrow purview of what he can do under the heading of Black Mirror. I recall interviews where he said he felt a great deal of pressure to essentially write 6 movies a year for Netflix, and that even dropped for the fifth season which felt like it was just completely burning out.
But now with this new season I definitely felt the overall almost mocking image of black mirror, ie wot if your phone wuz bad, is being eroded away and is potentially focusing on more interesting aspects of humanity outside of technology, but again this would probably be better as an anthology under a different name.
All that being said, at the end of Loch Henry and Beyond the Sea, I definitely felt that horrid "Black Mirror" feeling.
I see what you mean! Maybe he needs a new format to create under - a new series outside of black mirror and then he can still continue black mirror if he wants to and when he feels inspired to
Honestly, the ending of Beyond the Sea just made me angry.
Because it relies on a TOTAL heel turn for one of the characters. There was absolutely no way I could believe this dude was a murderer. The entire episode, he feels like a guy with PTSD and trying to learn how to cope. Then...he turns into a generic movie villain for 5 minutes. If he was gonna kill anyone, the woman he supposedly "loved" was absolutely not the one I would ever buy. He would go after the other astronaut, especially since he would effectively fill the role of the cult members while his PTSD is affecting him.
It certainly was "Black Mirror" in the dismal sense, but that's about where it ends. The ending wasn't earned in any way, and actually threw away the primary focus of what the villain was doing throughout.
Our villain wanted:
1) Connection to others
2) A place that felt like home
3) Freedom from his claustrophobic confinement
4) To manage his PTSD
His final moments literally do not connect to ANY of his desires, but instead hammer onto the point of this other dude "not appreciating what he has" as a motivating factor...rather than what our villain wants. Because now our villain's desires have turned into:
1) Hurt bad man's family
2) Make bad man feel sad
3) ???
4) Profit
@@brendonw456I think he killed the dudes family so he would be forced to interact with him.
@@bruhbruh1339 No, the story made it painfully clear.
"You don't appreciate what you have!"
"You take what you have for granted!"
"You even don't know what you have!"
"You have no idea how I feel. I lost everything!"
He killed the family to take away what he had because he didn't think he valued it enough, and to show him how he felt. It's a fine enough message if it wasn't done so sloppy
Plus, David knew he couldn't kill Cliff because Cliff made it clear that the ship needs two people to operate it. Killing Cliff is a death sentence for himself as well. At the same time, David knows Cliff can't kill him for the same reason. If he wants to hurt Cliff, which he clearly does, while at the same time making him feel just like David does, that loss, that confinement, that lack of connection and the appreciation for what he had that Cliff didn't really value, killing his family actually makes a lot of sense. I still think the episode is sloppy, and definitely way too long, because you can see that things are going to go wrong from a million miles away and then you're just waiting for that moment, but the ending I think is very well executed, and within the context of the story and the characters, makes sense.
While I really love the show and moderately enjoyed Season 6, I think it’s time Charlie moves on to other projects. He’s obviously a talented creator, I feel like many of these narratives would be more appreciated without the ‘Black Mirror’ title attached to it. Even some peak episodes of the show may have better served as feature length films.
I was surprised to find out he created the show Cunk On Earth. It's radically different from BM and much, much lighter.
I really enjoyed Demon 79, but I think I would have liked it a lot more if it was a fully fleshed out movie or miniseries. Additionally, I was very disappointed by Beyond the Sea. I thought the premise was interesting, the technology very intriguing, but it just felt too predictable and I really couldn’t relate to the characters. I think they could have done so much more with all of these episodes.
Demon 79 made me want more Red Mirror lol
Most people were predicting him to lock the guy out in space when he went out to fix the 'problem' - it wasn't predictable that he would murder his family
It was a sequel to White Bear. They used the Entire History of You tech to make her see the demon and people’s pasts. The white bear logo is EVERYWHERE in this episode. It fits right into the show but people are too quick to react to the new season instead of think.
It was supposed to be a black mirror spinoff called red mirror
@@hamm8934🤨🤨🤨 no its not
Do you think there has been a shift in tone and style of episode between when it was published by Channel 4 in the UK vs. when Netflix acquired it. I always feel the UK has a more bleaker style of story telling to that of the US?
The Last Kingdom also plummeted in quality after being acquired by Netflix.
@@HazardGoat last kingdom declined because Stephen Butchard left after s3
Honestly I had no idea C4 had it (I live in the uk!) but that makes total sense
100% a tone change, I'm in two minds about it. They kind of went crazy overboard at times in s1 and s2
I agree with you that its very hit or miss - maybe mostly miss these days. You used to never be able to binge Black Mirror because you needed a day to reflect upon what you just watched...this season, I didn't want to binge because I thought a lot of it was rubbish.
I wanted to binge it just to be through it. not a good reason for binging.
i swear every episode even the less interesting ones used to stick with you seasons 1-3. but season 4 onward its just hit or miss
Some of the episodes you say are mediocre are some of my favorites. The army one and Archangel really hit me. You don't have to not know a twist for it to be good. I like knowing the twist and then watching it play out.
Personally I found the comedic tones of Joan Is Awful and Demon 79 to be awesome, with Demon 79 being my favorite out of the season and Joan Is Awful being my second favorite. But that werewolf episode was not very good at all.
Agreed, I didn’t rly see the focus of mazey day. It felt very out of place and not at all black mirror
Demon 79 might be favorite episode of black mirror because it was just so much fun to watch.
The wearwolf episoide has the absolute best thme but just didnt have the pace or writeing to keep up
@@breadg1818not to mention the lead actress has only one emotion “mild disinterested” 😂😂
Joan is Awful felt too comedic. It almost just felt like a Disney episode rather than a black mirror episode.
By technical merit, Demon 79 was probably the best one in this season, making you reflect about Nida's sanity and her own views living in the UK. Having said that I would have probably agreed in making this episode a longer feature or a Mini series rather than implementing it into the "Black Mirror" universe. I also have some conflicting thoughts regarding "Red Mirror", will there be a common thread a side from the horror element? There are already many horror anthologies and what made Black Mirror different and great is its Technological Approach to Human Nature. I feel like I watched some epiisodes of this season (Loch Henry and Mazey Day) just because they were from Black Mirror, and it is hard to imagine that I would watch them again even if they have elements to enjoy in a rewatch.
I could not get into demon 79. I kept zoning out and having to rewind. It was meh and predictable
"White Bear" is one of my faves. Definitely not mediocre. Neither is "White Christmas."
Also, Demon 79 deals with technology: the atomic bomb. It's sneaky, clever and has no faith in humanity whatsoever. If, like me, you're terrified of nuclear war, it's a horrifying episode, and the comedic timing is brilliant, campy and makes it a totally fun classic B-movie, which it was totally emulating. I thought it worked very well.
Interesting technological takeaway from the episode for D79. I took away that the corrupt politician was the catalyst for the terrible future that Nida foresaw, with adv. technology being used (namely the Metalhead dogs)
Even if South Park did the "terms and conditions" idea I still felt like it was a very appropriate thing to have in Black Mirror, one of those problems with modern technology that doesn't have an easy answer. It was my favorite bit of commentary in Joan is Awful, but it's still not the strongest episodes.
I've also gone back to White Bear and White Christmas many times, they're both within my list of favorite episodes. White Bear is a fun one to rewatch after knowing that the whole event is staged for entertainment. The commentary on how we treat criminals, was greatly handled in a way that doesn't provide an easy answer, although the "Justice Park" idea is clearly a disturbing one.
I thought White Christmas was excellent, even though most of the events were in flashback, the reveal that they were all inside a cookie was greatly handled, and I found the way they handled blocking to be one of the most interesting Black Mirror technology ideas. The fact that Beth blocked Joe so he doesn't find out she cheated on him was a strong example of people being fucked up with this available technology.
I had repressed that Miley Cyrus episode, what in the world were the thinking?!?
That whole season and the most recent one pretty "meh" for me.
It was eh but I liked it for what it was funny creative just not meeting the standards and Miley does a good job and I like a ending that’s is satisfying
it's a good episode actually
They should've made Miley the protagonist and having her deal with someone using her likeness to create AI music while she's deviating to make rock. Could've been an interesting comment on the state of the music industry, which they do in the episode, but it's so messy with the kids and rat catching dad
I loved that episode. I'm glad they made it.
Be Right Back for me is the most underrated episode. No twists. Just good acting and storytelling. The technology was only a part of the plot. Not the lesson they hit you on the head with. The ending was sad but relatable.
@@ghost_mall and that's honestly why season 5 and most of season 4 were rather weak in Black Mirror
- Smithereens did have characters to empathize, but the messaging of the plot was rather shallow (episode came off as saying "social media is bad", so the tech basically is just straight evil when it should never be treated as a scapegoat for the actual issues our society is dealing with and the flaws of our human nature that Black Mirror have been trying to show us). Similar case with Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too (specifically Ashley O is easy to empathize, especially thanks to Miley Cyrus), just the story was too straightforward to what it's commenting about.
- Striking Vipers, however, is for sure the weakest Black Mirror episode of all. Had some very interesting concepts involving infidelity and the involvement of gender fluidity, but the plotline was too questionable and you can't really empathize the main character because of that (instead we just ended up empathizing with the wife, who has done absolutely nothing wrong at all in the whole episode, which makes it worse for the main character)
- USS Callister and Arkangel had interesting concepts, but it's hard to empathize with the characters (For USS Callister, it's hard to even like anyone by the end of the episode except maybe the real life/actual new employee that Robert Daly likes and felt treated nicely, but hardly anyone's likeable there. For Arkangel, it was going pretty well up until the adolescent/teen segment of the story as the plot felt it was too easily resolved by just having the characters actually talk to each other and stupid for the mother to constantly continue helicopter parenting and not even confront with her daughter, more baffling that the daughter seems to act like she's just discovered Arkangel for the first time and thought her mom is a psycho, when at the beginning, we literally saw them get along very well, so the daughter's decision to lie doesn't make sense and only gets worse when the mother made what's supposed to be bad decisions, are understandable, but she handled them poorly somehow despite raising her daughter alright without using Arkangel)
- Crocodile basically reused the concept surrounding Shut Up and Dance and The Entire History of You's memory tech to mix in for a thriller murder spree plot, but because Shut Up and Dance's concept had been already cleverly explored, Crocodile easily comes off as inferior. And it tried to make the main character sympathetic, but she became too dislikeable from the very moment she killed her ex (I do hear that the reason this episode is called Crocodile is because of "crocodile's tears", so maybe that's the point, so I guess that works. But honestly, she felt more hateful than disturbing like the kid in Shut Up and Dance)
- Hang the DJ and Black Museum were the only season 4 episodes, while not up there with the season 1-3 episodes, that were really good, especially since we did have characters to really empathize with.
Given season 6, despite the retroactive direction, it turned out really well. Not as good as season 1 and 3, but miles better than season 4 and 5. It's especially good to point out that season 6 episodes overall made use of concepts and elements already used in season 4 and 5 except way better executed and it also helps that most characters in season 6 are easy to empathize unlike with season 4 and 5.
Overall it is still great tv, with some unexpected almost comedic episodes. I'd have enjoyed more the Joan is awful episode without real celebrities though, but it was still fun, even if it lacked a poignant social commentary. I agree that the werewolf episode is forgettable, and that Beyond the sea is hands down the best one, on par with some of the best old episodes.
I disagree with Beyond the Sea, it had classic elements to it but it was wayyy to long for an extremely predictable ending
@@tinkerella from what i've read most people (myself included) predicted it will end with David locking Cliff in somewhere and live in his link pretending to be him. And while i agree the episode could've been shorter, as you said it had all the elements what made early episodes of the show great, so this is the standard we expect from the show
The overarching theme of season 6 was centered around how much one was willing to lose in order to gain what they really wanted. You can see prime examples of this in Mazey Day and Loch Henry losing a best friend just for that 1 picture or losing your mother and significant other for an award. You can see glimpses of this in Beyond the sea even tho David lost everything previously before hand with his family being murdered before him, He was willing to kill Cliffs son and wife just so Cliff would understand how David felt. In Demon 79 Nida "sacrifices" 3 people to save the world from an apocalypse. You could say what she lost was was more metaphorical as she lost her sanity as well as her freedom because she was arrested. As for Joan is Awful, I felt like this one fit the theme the least. You could say she was willing to sacrifice her dignity to gain her privacy and social life back.
Tbh, that's reaching. Pretty bad.
You gotta stretch bad to make Joan is Awful fit into it, and honestly you could say that same about pretty much every other season of Black Mirror. The characters always have something they want and things they're willing to give up over it. That's just how the majority of narratives work
You could consider it about Netflix wanting content and sacrificing their customers for it.
I thought Joan was pretty funny and was gonna set the tone for a more light hearted black mirror series......boy was i wrong
@@makeitsonumberone1358 Well series 5 got a ton of backlash FOR being so lighthearted, so there was pretty much zero chance of that one.
Sort of. There's still 2 feel good endings in this one since Joan is Awful has basically the exact same ending as Nosedive and Demon 79 has some sort of quirky, twisted, yet happy ending for the protagonists...and feels more like Hot Fuzz than Black Mirror
I thought the season was broadly about exploiting trauma for personal gain. Joan Is Awful was about a tv show that invaded Joan's privacy and exploited her lowest moments for the purpose of making binge-watchable entertainment. Loch Henry has them making a documentary out of the horrific torture and murders of people for their filmmaking careers and to bring business into the town. Beyond the Sea has someone take advantage of a generous gift to them in the wake of their own horrifying tragedy, eventually inflicting on him the same pain out of spite and arguably to force them to keep each other company out there in space. Mazey Day is about paparazzis feeling entitled to know everything about someone's own private life and getting themselves killed over it - but obviously they don't learn because it ends with photographing Mazey's suicide so that she can get the money for it. And Demon 79 is literally about a demon manipulating someone into murdering innocent people and trying to feed off of her anger towards the constant racism she faces while ALSO sneakily avoiding having her kill the actually really powerful figure who could cause the most damage.
The Miley Cyrus episode is literally coming true right now with all of this AI generated music stuff I felt like that episode was about how the artist doesn’t own their music their manager does and with the advancements in technology, the manager won’t even need the artist anymore. 12:52
So true!
managers owned artist music way before AI generated music existed
@@tiktokexposed898 yes but in the episode they were creating new music with her voice and likeness while she was in a coma
I weirdly loved demon 79! And i totally thought I had beyond the sea figured out until the last moments 😭. I appreciated the final twist of Joan is awful, and really liked Loch henry because of how unsettled it made me feel. Mazey day was the only one I wasnt that fussed with, which is a shame, because i wouldve loved a well executed werewolf episode
Agree! I initially disliked demon 79, but upon second watch, I really enjoyed it.
Totally agree. I even forgot about Mazey Day until it was brought up in this video!
I loved “crocodile.” Very haunting, and in my top 10.
I agree with most of your takes. I disagree that White Bear is a one-off. I think it's one of the best. Bandersnatch was pretty meta, and came before Joan is Awful. Beyond the Sea was almost amazing, but that ending was such a leap and I just didn't buy it. For me, S6 is the first season without one official great episode. Feel like it might be beginning of the end for our beloved anthology.
Agreed that Bandersnatch was meta before Joan is Awful. I guess Bandersnatch was not technically part of a season as a Black Mirror episode. Perhaps the intent is that Bandersnatch and White Christmas are excluded from this discussion?
Season 5 was pretty bad, with no redeeming episodes. At least S6 had Beyond the Sea.
@@HazardGoat I enjoyed Striking Vipers and Smithereens. Probably because I got a kick out of Topher playing Jack Dorsey
@@HazardGoat
Season 5 was pretty garbage (Striking Vipers was okay).
That Ashley-O part with that weird van making a jump reminded me of Dumb and Dumber.
I was also onboard with Beyond the Sea until that ending
i dig the mix, i dig the connections and easter eggs, i dig the overall creativity.. each episode is a dice roll, and most are worth watching.
I dig that you dig it!
and i dig that you dug it 😎🤙
@@dude-man I dig that you dig that he dug it!
@@pretendtobenormal8064 Hot Diggity Dog!!
Even the worst episodes of Black Mirror are a million times better than 90 percent of the crap out there.
after watching The Idol i totally agree lmao
@@cloudtinn7829 Damn this is now one of several times I've heard this. That bad, huh?
@@Royal_Fortune yeah i mean theres been plenty of criticism already but the worst part is that the show is so incredibly boring, I stopped after 2 eps
For real
@@cloudtinn7829 You hate to hear that. No bigger waste of your time than something that just ends up boring. Well thanks for the heads up
I believe Ashley O was aimed at the generation of kids who grew up watching Hannah Montana, it mimics the stress Miley Cyrus went through as a TV icon all the while showing how the younger generations idolized and admired her as a form of escapism in their own lives, its more of a take on what IS happening with the modern technology and child stars, who are constantly being viewed and forced into a mold, as someone who did watch Hannah Montana and watched Miley break out of that role, I was quite a fan of that episode even if it did diviate from the usual
The episodes you picked for why it doesn't work I completely disagree. White Christmas is amazing and are many peoples favourite of the entire show. White Bear and Metalhead are not "watch once" episodes. Men Against Fire, although not my absolute favourite, i still thought was good and maybe I'm just slow but I did not guess the twist at all. And I loved Crocodile. After I watched it I couldn't stop thinking about it.
I agree with the Miley Cyrus episode though lol. Very cringe.
I disagree about Beyond the Sea being one of Black Mirror's best. I liked the concept but it didn't wow me or shock me and I hated the ending. It felt underwhelming. I kind of think it would have been better if they had gone with the predictable ending. I was waiting for it and it didn't happen lol.
I think we have different taste or something hahaha
Wait, what episodes do you dislike?
@@mrgreentea4938 Waldo Moment, Be Right Back was actually pretty forgettable to me and I wasn't a massive fan. I didn't really like San Junipero and think it's overrated. I've only seen this episode once and can't remember what happened in it but I remember Black Museum feeling really slow and I was getting bored. Striking Vipers was pretty mid and weird and then obviously the Miley Cyrus episode.
I've not seen season 6 yet apart from Beyond the Sea.
I had the exact same thoughts after watching Demon 79. I kept asking myself: What‘s the point of this episode? It really didn‘t fit at all with what people expect from black mirror. On the other hand it was really well made and quite entertaining. If they had made it a movie special I would have been on board. Really shows you how your expectations influence your viewing experience.
The point was, was she psycho or not?
@@HyperSquid1234 maybe. Maybe there was no point at all.
The ending was a loss because she and the demon didn't have any chemistry to merit their final choices.
The point of demon79 was loss of sanity and the blur between the “real” and “fake” world. Its like other episodes in that there is a direct altered sense of reality but instead of it being implemented via technology instead she suffers an illness of psychosis. However, they don’t ever actually say wether shes actually experiencing what shes seeing or not, so that message is lost for most people who dont know mental illness as much I think.
It seemed like it was trying to tie the black mirror universe together with that one evil politician who is implied to have started a lot of the tech in earlier seasons when she looks into his future
The Red Mirror label is interesting, instead of Technology, its the Supernatural. I do feel like it should be its own seperate show though. Red Mirror series anybody?
I actually felt the ending of Arkangel really hard when I first saw it. Didn't hit quite as hard as some of the best (I've had literal nightmares about White Christmas) but it is one that had a real impact and I still remember and think about.
That episode I thought was extremely well done and def left an impact on me
Idk how White Christmas didn’t make it into the great episodes, I thought it was one of the more well thought out episodes with one of the darkest twisted endings.
As for Season 6, I was thoroughly perplexed. I didn’t love or hate any particular episode, except for Mazy Day, which felt completely out of place and poorly written, with no relatable characters and a very scattered and aimless plot.
Demon 79 was a bit out of place as well, but still consistently made me mull over the concepts of morality and “kill three to save billions”, and I loved it’s Evil Dead vibe, although it would have been more fitting if the stakes were more relatively realistic and involved some sort of technology that made Nida’s dilemma more tangent. The injection of Gaap’s personal dilemma, being a demon and all, was impossible to relate to and the ending also made zero sense.
Loch Henry was a good concept, but again, very out of place in the Black Mirror universe, with a terrible ending. Would’ve made a much better horror film had the plot been fleshed out a bit more.
Joan is Awful was a good concept, but as you said, seemed more like an opportunity to plug in a bunch of big names, with little effort going into explaining the technology or the overarching theme in general.
And while Under the Sea was the best episode of the season - with interesting technology and moral dilemmas well tapped into - the ending (while shocking and horrific), seemed a bit more forced for the sake of just that, being shocking and horrific. There wasn’t much throughout the story to lead me to believe David could succumb to such a terrible act, especially after having experienced what he had, after one heartbreaking and mean outburst from Cliff, and not having the chance to say goodbye to a woman he had known for one hour a week for maybe a couple months.
Overall it was a very disappointing season, and it seems like Black Mirror may have run it’s course of plot lines. Like you said, it almost felt like a sampler season to see what audiences will like for future seasons. I will still be looking forward to future seasons, though, to see where they go from here.
Thanks for reading my novel lol
Liked the 3rd episode a lot but has too many plot holes like why the replicas couldn't be in space
that's not a plot hole, the whole point of their mission is to test human survivability in space. also replicas have been shown to lack the precision that humans have, and arent 1:1 perfect copies.
@@randomt800kiddo2 the guy was painting which requires fine strokes
Demon 79 is actually good. I loved the way you don't know if the demon is real or not at the end. Either way, freaky.
@@treefiddy23 but if the demon isn't real, then she didn't get those visions and just made it up
Mazey Day just flips the "pack of wolves" trope on its head though, by making the celebrity the wolf that exacts her vengeance.
Found this to be the best episode the shot of her taking the picture of her milking herself is haunting . And she’s also took the photos to protect herself and for proof but also that payday! Although nope did a better job at this idea of “getting the shot” and better social commentary
@@RobbyRockaholic i ws thinking about this! i watched nope and mazey day in the same week they had similar concepts but nope was better overall!
I feel there's a symbolic meaning of mazey day committing a hit and run and being a werewolf, but i just can't figure out what
But celebrities have no right to anything. They crave for fame and get paid millions for virtually nothing while people around the world literally have nothing to eat.
I think the new season is good as long as you’re not expecting it to be the same show that it was. It’s still really high quality in terms of anthology fiction shows.
I really like Joan is awful it was more of a hopeful story imo it ended with real Joan finally taking control of her life(destroy the computer thing, opening her coffee shop etc.) I really loved that i especially loved the line “it’s not my choice, it’s Joan’s”
Before Bandersnatch and S5 were aired, Black Mirror used to be my fav show of all times. I felt really strongly about all (or most of) the episodes. While some episodes were better than others, all of them had something to say and were creative in the ways they were saying it. I was so hyped for Bandersnatch before it released, both because of the gimmick of choosing what to say and because I was starved for Black Mirror content. When it released I think I spent like 8hs playing and replaying it but I felt kind of... eh about it. I was disappointed but I couldn't explain why? Then S5 came out and I was so mad lol I remember going to a friend's house to watch like the season together and I left as soon as we finished the Ashley episode. I haven't rewatched any Black Mirror episode since. Maybe it was overdramatic but it even felt disrespectful and it ruined the show for me. Because of those two (imo) misses, when they announced S6 I was skeptical and scared about it. My expectations were very low. I watched S6 with some other friends the other day and while it wasn't as bad as I expected, I again felt so... eh about it. I enjoyed quite a bit but it didn't feel right. I told my friends the season didn't feel like Black Mirror but I couldn't explain why either, I was kind of mad that I couldn't feel positive about the season. This video made me realise that I think that Black Mirror just doesn't have anything else or new to say -- at least not about technology. And in a way, even if they kind of ventured away from technology, I think they were holding themselves back because of the weight of the "Black Mirror" stamp. The creative people behind Black Mirror clearly have passion for what they do but at this point I think they should let the series die and start something else.
"They just jumped the shark" was exactly my thought after watching Mazey Day. Instead of making it that the paparazzi girl was halucinating and she was actually the one who killed everyone, no no, werewolves are a known real thing now and there are hundreds of genuine photos of the transformation. Likewise with Demon79, the show is now set in a universe where the UK was nuked in 1979 and somehow never mentioned.
I think Mazey Day is one of my favourite episodes of Black Mirror. the final shot of the camera raising to take the photo is so messed up in all the best Black Mirrorish ways. i dont think its an accident that Mazey Day only turns into a monster after the paparazzi deliberately wanted to frame her that way. I think it totally fits with one of the main overarching themes of the season which is about how media and fame are exploitative and dehumanising. And i think that using a supernatural element was extra effective at expressing that dehumanisation because people weren't expecting it. They could have just had the paparazzi show the world this horrible celeb (revealing her hit & run), But they wanted to really over-do it and shock the audience into feeling like 'wow this woman is a monster this is ridiculous' which is exactly the kind of over the top reaction that gossip magazines foster. This season was easily the best season in a while with Episode 2 also being a standout for me. I think it only makes sense that they also reflect on ways past/modern technology affects us too. I Love the video, thats just my thoughts :)
I think some people see supernatural and think "well this can't possibly have any social commentary" like if they aren't spoon fed the themes they just don't get it lol
At the end, The main character getting the money shot, instead of calling 911 was the social commentary. I feel it went over many people's heads and they hate the episode because of it.
Dude, Metalhead is one of my favorite episodes. No idea why people dislike it so much.
I KNOW! It's insane the hate the episode gets for being a truly terrifying thriller and overall amazing BM episode
I guess it missed the "human" part of the storyline compared to others, it doesn't have many human characters or dialogue.
And this is personal but I disliked that it was filmed all in a sort of grey/sepia tone.
way too shallow of a Black Mirror story
Basically, "KILLER ROBODOGS ARE SCARY!" (and not much elaborated about what's up with them) with the ending being the closest thing to have depth and nuiance about our humanity
but other then that
KILLER ROBODOGS ARE SCARY!
Basically Charlie Brooker wanting to do his own Terminator film in Black Mirror
Though Black Mirror has always been entertaining
Maxine Peak was epic in it, and gave the episode presence, charisma and soul.
right??? I love how bleak it is. it's almost like a zombie or alien invasion movie. the b&w and barely any dialogue is extremely fitting.
I think if you consider the plots of the other episodes, Joan is Awful doesn't require as much suspension of disbelief as you think. I think because it is grounded in our current tech of smartphones etc. maybe you scrutinized it more, but Black Mirrors conceits are usually extremely convoluted and all the plot holes boil down to "offscreen vague tech explanation." It isn't a stretch to say that she turned off her phone but there are so many devices recording around her that Streamberry invariably picks up a lot and the AI just fills in the gaps (inaccurately). The fact that the entire "real life" version of the episode is completely offscreen also tells you that a lot of what you saw was glossed over or filled in by a machine. I think if you applied the same scrutiny to the episode with the VR horror game or the killer bees episode, you'd find they are completely riddled with plot holes covered by the thin veneer of tech jargon. And that's fine.
As far as I can tell, the Techno-horror aspect of Loch Henry, is that even relatively simple technology that contains our memories, inevitably leads to a loss of our private ownership of our memories.
But how and if they actually developed that theme in any way eludes me
white bear might not be a rewatchable episode just because the majority of the plot is about the main character running away, but the main twist comes at the end and it really makes you think. I personally think it's the best twist and conveys the deepest and most appalling underlying message among all the Black Mirror episodes. It truly shows that "people are fucked up" and makes you think about our judgement on good or bad, and our action toward others who might "deserve it". the episode itself doesn't give many interesting characters or fun plots, but without the painful journey and the obnoxious hour long screaming, you can't truly appreciate the silence and shocking realization at the end, and reflect your own thoughts on what's justice.
This season was enjoyable, but it wasn’t black mirror.
I had high hopes when watching Mazey Day, It brought up what I think was an interesting topic, with the ethics of paparazzi.
The scene where the actress was defenselessly chained to the ground, unable to move from (what you assume is) drug abstinence, with paparazzi shamelessly taking pictures of her, was so disturbing to me.
But nope. We’re in twilight now, I guess
The only two episodes that fit the black mirror theme were Joan is Awful & Beyond the Sea- they had good plot twists 6 & explored tech dilemmas very well ie privacy, loneliness & robots as replicas. The other three had no purpose being in Black Mirror: Loch Henry was extremely predictable & odd, Mazeday said absolutely nothing whilst Demon 79 had a great storyline until the very end where you come to realise the episode had no meaning or message.
Just finished the season yesterday and been waiting on a good analysis on the show. your channel never disappoints! Keep it up
This is the commentary I was waiting for. Nice! ♥️
I felt beyond the sea was the only episode worth watching this season. Feels like the creator is holding back and doesn't want to offend big tech overlords.
I never considered black mirror to be about technology but more about (bad) people making bad decisions and suffering from the sometimes far worse consequences relative to what they've done
I felt like the only one that didn’t “fit” was mazey day… the final one felt really interesting because the whole time you’re wondering if she’s just snapped due to mistreatment or if this is real. I went the crazy person snapped route till the end and I was like well… hot damn.
Tought that too, but the first victims daughter is actually named Laura tough
Most of the latest series was great because it wasn't just the 'oh yeah this is a simulation/computer bad' schtick that had got very tired over the course of the show, Demon 79 was a particular highlight for me- I definitely think the series should go more in this direction!
I agree with your conclusion. Didn’t rly follow the overall theme of Black Mirror, but still unique story telling
Just here to say you consistently release some of the finest analysis and breakdown videos on this platform! Always stellar work from you 💯
Thanks Ethan!
Black mirror peaks when the episodes are about normal/everyday people put into certain situations which makes you think what you’d do if you were in that situation and had the technology available.
I thought episode 1 was a solid and entertaining black mirror episode. Enjoyed that one. Episode 3 is INCREDIBLE. Nothing else to say. And I unexpectedly really enjoyed episode 5
Great to see Black Mirror discussion but Demon 79 was amazing, easily one of the best seasons of Black Mirror, especially after the last few.
it doesnt feel like regular black mirror, but that makes sense as it was being branded as seperate from the season as "red mirror", very good and enjoyable story with many nods to older BM with a new structure and is more focused on human nature than tech ig
13:30 "the character could just stop bringing their phone with her and the problem would be solved".
But also 15:15 "Beyond the Sea was incredible" and sending out the humans instead of their replicas was totally fine and not breaking any immersion.
The whole premise rests on this never explained oversight, to send the actual human body which must be fed, must breath, must exercise, instead of a Robot which would be immune to radiation, could be operated 24/7 by different home office astronauts etc.
Edit: 16:06 no, it is made clear multiple times that the craft needs 2 people to operate, so killing Jessi to live as his replica on earth "for the rest of his days" (four years of the six year mission are left) wouldn't be many, as the human would die due to space craft failure.
Edit2: Last nitpick: You picked the wrong genre for Mazey Day. It is not "supernatural" horror, as paparazzi exist in the real world.
I agree this is a logical oversight in Beyond the Sea, but it’s also a test for humans being able to survive in space in 1969 and if it takes two people to man the ship, then if one replica fails the ship automatically crashes. I’ll assume the supernatural comment is a joke haha as it’s clearly the werewolf
@@JustanObservation Thx for your reply, you're right, of course. It is about the scenario and they did well with it.
I am so glad I found your channel during Succession. I adore your content.
My best most generous interpretation of Joan is Awful, is that much of the nonsensical parts were artifacts of the fiction that we eventually learn we were watching the entire time. The degree of accuracy in the sets and dialog, the silly degree to which they name dropped celebrities, and the utterly insane portrayal of the lawyers and the legal issues may have simply been Streamberry playing things up and making it more "entertaining" than the real life of the real Joan. Maybe real Joan actually signed a legit contract, maybe real Streamberry interviewed her friends and family for details, maybe (as is hinted at by the guy in the control room) her real house wasn't nearly that nice and the one we see in the show is made up. In other words, we could interpret all the the flaws as being flaws, intentional changes, and quirks of fictive layer 1 rather than real parts of Joan's story.
Does that make the episode better? Not really, since you don't have that context until the very end. But it's one way to look at it, and I wonder if that's what was intended.
I already realized this immediately after the twist and especially on rewatching part of it with my mom and yes it makes the episode better.
Love the channel, love the analysis, but for real White Bear was a banger
Right white bear was how I got so many ppl hooked 😅 that and nosedive
I thought Demon 79 was stellar!! I enjoyed most of the episodes on all the seasons but this along with Striking vipers and the one with pig , I can rewatch with others whom I’ve introduced the show to !!
Personally I don’t care about too much about the tech side. Yes it’s very interesting however I have found they can also make me engaging episodes without tech being the main focus, E.g I enjoyed Loch Henry. However I can understand that could be a different series as I know people love the tech side.
Despite Miley's episode not being as critical or deep as past BM episodes, most of my friends and family still thought it was pretty fun. I think the paratext of Miley's real-life career added a lot to it and made it more enjoyable for us.
It is a lot of fun. I really like it.
i hated it
You are wrong! His original statement was a modern “Twilight Zone “ ! So it always had different genres! 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯
The original seasons of BM worked because they posed questions left to the viewer to answer. The later seasons failed because they posed answers and insisted that the viewer accept them. They fundamentally misunderstood what made the originals special, and so they ended up producing schlocky Twilight Zone flavored poetic justice parables. Such a shame, but that's how all good television ends up: find something that intrigues, fire all the people who created it, hand it over to the interns and tell them to dial it up to 11.
while i definitely did *kind of* enjoy the episodes up until s3, NOTHING shocked me more than s3e3’s shut up and dance-my insides hurt and i felt like i had actually been betrayed by my sympathy for a main character. THAT’S when i actually started taking interest in the show. i could feel that horrible anxiety the whole way through, and the reveal abt the mc at the end made my head burn, because they had spent the whole time luring me into believing that he was fully the victim. the phone call from his mother at the end made me physically ill. i cant even imagine what it would be like to learn that someone you love, especially a member of immediate family, is that big of a monster.
I think I would have enjoyed the new paranormal episodes more if they weren't part of black mirror, I am very open to the idea of them branching off to do a "Red mirror" with paranormal stuff if they want and I'd still watch that. However like you've pointed out they feel like they don't belong among the other episodes which were always about the sideffects of technology.
I think the Demon 79 episode was very entertaining but it absolutely wasn't very thought provoking, I thought the Maze Day episode was just... bleh. These stories would be fine on their own, but my reaction to the werewolf stuff was just outright confusion as to how the hell this was supposed to be a black mirror episode.
Pre-Netflix era: perfect show; post-Netflix era: disaster
Great video! Agree with you on almost all points! Wish USS Callister got some love, but I admit Arkangel and Crocodile are not-so-guilty pleasures of mine, hehe. Glad you loved Beyond the Sea as much as I did.
Beyond the sea is my new favorite episode. The writing was amazing and the way they tapped into technology causing madness was so good I wish they did more with that rather than "ooo technology spooky" I wish they did more stuff set in the past cause they really struggle writing duologue for stuff set in the modern day
The lesson here is; Don't milk a dead horse
There is something I find interesting about the episode with Miley Cyrus. I heard a lot of people, mostly guys, share your sentiment that it was the worst episode of BM (and I can certainly see why it's not liked). But when I watched it, I did find some compelling themes about being a teenage girl and the "let's bash everything teen girls like", and how the story kind of celebrated that in a flawed way. Eh, maybe it's just me, but I would be curious to know if other women felt the same.
Broiler always said he was influenced by The Twilight Zone and Hammer horror stories, I think he just likes writing those kinds of stories. Loch Henry felt like an Inside Number 9 story to me. Brooker could write anything and I’d watch it 🤷🏻♂️
Man against fire came down to the main actors choice to stay in the fake reality vs Reality. it wasn't about how soon we knew what was going on.
The timing,just finished season 6 (skipping the paparazzi ep)! I personally find this season quite strong, providing variety of flavors that hasn't been in Black Mirror, while maintaining a center of bleakness.
I preferred it to Season 5 and will always watch anything Brooker makes but it feels a bit lost to me
True, I think it's experimental for sure. But the strong episodes made more impact on me in season 6 than season 5.
Beyond the Sea definitely was the best in terms of acting, storytelling, & top tier Black Mirror depressing with an ending shot to remember.
Loch Henry to me was also a great story. I find the mom's choice to broadcast her video evil, as it speaks to the nature of serial killer who want to be noticed for their deeds. The son ending up ruining his own life the way true crimes creators did to many victims, instead of sticking to the uplifting story that needed to be told felt like karma.
I think it was very on par with S4, that only had 2-3 strong episodes out of 6. This new season had 2-3 strong episodes out of 5.
I think almost every episode works on some level but most have logical flaws where you just have to suspend your disbelieve to some degree. But maybe that's a good thing because none of these scenarios should ever become a reality.
First season: What is the social and mental consequences of possible technological advances
New season: What if I can have gay sex with my friend in Street Fighter.
While I enjoyed season 6 as a whole, it didn't feel like 'Black Mirror' to me. Two episodes had tech stuff, two were supernatural and one was just horror. You could have easily put them in Cabinet of Curiosities, Love Death and Robots or some other anthology series and wouldn't have been able to tell the difference. Still good episodes for the most part, but wrong series to have them in.
I enjoyed lock Henry even if there was no tech involved , they could have made it more suspenseful, beyond the sea is the most disappointing the other episodes are mid
i really liked rachel, jack, and amy too. Its about the commodification of performance, thus the popstar theme. All three characters are required to perform specific identities, being restricted or socially reprimanded from breaking out of what is monetarily advantageous. The casting of miley, given hannah montana story and her own exploitation at the hands of disney, was brilliant. The disney-esque direction played well with the themes, highlighting the dissonance between commercial reality of celebrity/audiences and the squeaky clean presentation. It also makes a pretty good prediction of ai generated celebrity -- yet another form of exploitation for monetary gain. As well as how we do and will continue to restrict these ais for the same reason. Personally I think it's really tightly casted, directed, and written.
I can understand the decision of a popstar and a teenage girl, while ampt, are not relatable for many nor is the critique new. But I do think it added more to the conversation while being very well executed.
EXACTLYYYY
This commentary validated my thought of how meta season 6 became. Not sure if this is overreaching, but I kind of felt like Black Mirror was a Streamberry offering of its own, wherein you find a variety of show types (17:07) and you'll find something that'll be more or less a hit. When I saw the episodes in succession and realized they all felt incredibly different from each other (plus seeing that Demon79 was supposedly of a different 'production' as in the opening credits), I thought maybe it was intentional + having some of the ep titles mentioned in ep 1, too, was also some kind of validation for me. You mentioning the issue of passable episodes making for more releases (aka quantity over quality) is a very streaming service kind of direction nowadays.
Black Mirror was successful because it was an adult version of Goosebumps but these last couple seasons have seriously lacked in my opinion due to casting more popular actors. Stop that and keep the budget reasonable so we get more episodes per season.
Disagree about White Bear. The episode is phenomenal and one of my favorites
tbh i thought this season was rlly fun! it wasn’t like typical black mirror but as shorts themselves they’re fun & i liked them. i think joan is awful got a liitttle much with the meta stuff at times but other than that i had fun watching all of them, even mazy day
Thanks for mentioning “Human Centipad” haha I was thinking about that the whole episode. Haha
i must say i agree with all of your other points. well said about the struggle to rewatch a lot of eposodes
American episodes ruined the show imo... So many good ideas that could of been so much better with a uk setting... That's the roots that's where its always best imo
Yeah, the show went kinda Hollywood, didn’t it? Maybe that’s the problem.
@@sarahakin definitely, I liked the gritty small sized stories... Some of the USA ones have been great but others I think would of worked better jn a uk setting...
I love your videos ❤