I had heard about Black Mirror, a show that is part twilight zone and part technological cautionary tale, from a couple friends who recommended some episodes for me to watch now that I’ve binged Stranger Things. It’s streaming on Netflix, so I figured there was nothing for me to lose.
I watched the first episode, and to be honest, I was a little turned off by the show. It felt more like satire with little technological caution, outside of the power of viral social media. Much of it could have been summarized in a 5 minute spoof with the same impact I think. What I did observe was the production quality of the show was actually surprisingly good.
So I gave it a chance.
I watched the next episode and it was a little bit technological, but more of a social satire to me. It was darker than the first episode in a couple ways, but overall, I was beginning to dig the “final reveal” groove that gave the show a comparison to the twilight zone.
I made up some nachos and pressed play on one of the episodes recommended to me, San Junipero. I was bored at first, then intrigued. Then all of a sudden, I was like holy damn shit did they really just do that? Not to spoil a damn thing here, but it was one of the most sci-fi stories told in the most un-sci-fi way. The acting was superb. The story was deep and had me thinking long afterward about the mind, body, and soul. Going in spoiler free was part of it, so I’ll leave you one of my rare spoiler free reviews.
Unlike many trash movies, this TV shows deserves to be watched spoiler free.
Almost every episode of this show is utterly brilliant. I think there are 2 episodes that are a little weak (I forget their names) but even those ones kept me entertained.
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The first episode with the pig was the weakest…mostly satire
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Agreed. But when that news about what David Cameron had done at university came out…
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Yeah, that really describes the experience of watching San Junipero. Black Mirror is so perfect for Netflix, it’s one of those shows you have to be in a “mood” to watch. And I love the pilot episode, but I agree that they should not have chosen that one to be the pilot
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Some british television is solid. Like Sherlock. Just got to give shows a chance to run and develop.
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Sherlock is such a good show! I love how they show text on screen. I rarely see movies or shows write text on screen without making it look terrible
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House of Cards does it pretty well at least, for the first season. With social media a part of culture, its becoming wider spread in tv and movies.
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Have you seen Every Frame of Painting? He did a video discussing the use of text on screen in tv/film. Really interesting series too.
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I haven’t but have to check it out.
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