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‘Black Mirror’ Finds Terror, and Soul, in the Machine

nytimes.com

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Re: ‘Black Mirror’ Finds Terror, and Soul, in the Machine

#41

Post by danso »

JoeSloth wrote: post #16
Cyph0n wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought the first three episodes were brilliant. The rest are also good - San Junipero is quite enjoyable - but the last episode was somewhat underwhelming for me. S3 is probably not as good as the rest of the series, but it's much better than anything else currently on TV, except for Westworld of course.

I thought the last episode was great, although maybe slightly long. It was a good example of how a seemingly good piece of technology can be disastrous if a back door is put into it. Also it was a decent nod to Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds"

I think my problem with it was how plot-driven the last episode ("Hated in the Nation") was. It ended in a way as if it mattered whether the cops catch the bad guy. I love cop shows, but the procedural bits here took time from all the interesting tech concepts that had been brought up. Another reviewer described it as feeling like an episode of X-Files, which I think is an apt way to describe it: Good, but not the kind of good that Black Mirror is uniquely positioned to deliver.

Re: ‘Black Mirror’ Finds Terror, and Soul, in the Machine

#42

Post by ukyrgf »

I was a fan before it came to US Netflix, and was thrilled to get home and watch it on Friday. Unfortunately, that first episode was painful to watch, but I realized why when the closing credits didn't have Charlie Brooker as the writer. It seemed to follow Netflix's obsession with quantity of hours of content rather than quality. The idea of a social rating system is interesting, but to drag it out for over an hour was so boring that I nearly wrote off the whole season. The prior Christmas special was like 3 episodes in one and it was only 10 minutes longer. Fortunately the rest were on par, but the series feels slightly tarnished to me now. Why the fuck were Radhika Jones and Mike Schur in charge of the one episode all of Netflix's users would have autoplay on their home screen instead of the series's creators?

Re: ‘Black Mirror’ Finds Terror, and Soul, in the Machine

#43

Post by stouset »

TwoBit wrote: post #40
danso wrote: post #4

I've only watched 3 of the episodes (Playtest, Shut Up and Dance, and Hated in the Nation)...I've heard the other 3 episodes were better, but the 3 that I have watched seemed subpar compared to the previous 2 seasons. Not terrible as far as overall TV goes, but after the plot thrills were over, they just didn't leave the same queasiness-about-possible-future-dystopia that "White Bear", "White Christmas", "Entire Hist…

I don't see episode 3 being sub par. It's classic Black Mirror.

Yeah, just saw this one and it's very reminiscent of the very first episode. Incredible.

Re: ‘Black Mirror’ Finds Terror, and Soul, in the Machine

#44

Post by acconrad »

danso wrote: post #4

I've only watched 3 of the episodes (Playtest, Shut Up and Dance, and Hated in the Nation)...I've heard the other 3 episodes were better, but the 3 that I have watched seemed subpar compared to the previous 2 seasons. Not terrible as far as overall TV goes, but after the plot thrills were over, they just didn't leave the same queasiness-about-possible-future-dystopia that "White Bear", "White Christmas", "Entire Hist…

San Junipero was nice in that it was the only episode in the season that wasn't completely dystopian, I won't give it away any more than that.

Personally, Shut Up and Dance was my favorite episode, as it was on the level of White Bear as being so insanely messed up. Also one of my favorite albums is OK Computer by Radiohead, so when Exit Music (For a Film) played, just wow.

Re: ‘Black Mirror’ Finds Terror, and Soul, in the Machine

#45

Post by wingerlang »

nabla9 wrote: post #37
danso wrote: post #4

I've only watched 3 of the episodes (Playtest, Shut Up and Dance, and Hated in the Nation)...I've heard the other 3 episodes were better, but the 3 that I have watched seemed subpar compared to the previous 2 seasons. Not terrible as far as overall TV goes, but after the plot thrills were over, they just didn't leave the same queasiness-about-possible-future-dystopia that "White Bear", "White Christmas", "Entire Hist…

Season 3 is not as hard-hitting as previous seasons, but it's still brilliant and thought provoking science fiction. Production value is better and stories can sometimes have happy endings. Definitely more mellow for larger audience.

So far I am enjoying season 3 the most, one of the main reasons is the obvious higher production value. The first two seasons had that low-budget cheesy feel to them, which I find slightly distracting.

I think the episodes so far (1-4) are more hard hitting than the rest of them (playtest + shut up and dance, especially), but it might be because they are more recent in my mind.

Re: ‘Black Mirror’ Finds Terror, and Soul, in the Machine

#46

Post by asah »

danso wrote: post #4

I've only watched 3 of the episodes (Playtest, Shut Up and Dance, and Hated in the Nation)...I've heard the other 3 episodes were better, but the 3 that I have watched seemed subpar compared to the previous 2 seasons. Not terrible as far as overall TV goes, but after the plot thrills were over, they just didn't leave the same queasiness-about-possible-future-dystopia that "White Bear", "White Christmas", "Entire Hist…

San Junipero was one of the more moving TV episodes I've seen in a long time.

Re: ‘Black Mirror’ Finds Terror, and Soul, in the Machine

#47

Post by colemonster »

saurik wrote: post #17

For people who like Black Mirror, I highly recommend the YouTube Red series from College Humor, Bad Internet. In the exact same genre, the episodes have nothing to do with each other, so I'll link to my favorite episode, "Amazon Foresight": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQwK3jaQGKY

In a similar vein: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJklHwoYgBQ (Adult Swim's "Smart Pipe" Infomercial)

Re: ‘Black Mirror’ Finds Terror, and Soul, in the Machine

#49

Post by rjblackman »

ukyrgf wrote: post #42

I was a fan before it came to US Netflix, and was thrilled to get home and watch it on Friday. Unfortunately, that first episode was painful to watch, but I realized why when the closing credits didn't have Charlie Brooker as the writer. It seemed to follow Netflix's obsession with quantity of hours of content rather than quality. The idea of a social rating system is interesting, but to drag it out for over an hour…

the season gets better, I think the first one was the worst I have seen so far.

Re: ‘Black Mirror’ Finds Terror, and Soul, in the Machine

#50

Post by vorg »

danso wrote: post #41
JoeSloth wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought the last episode was great, although maybe slightly long. It was a good example of how a seemingly good piece of technology can be disastrous if a back door is put into it. Also it was a decent nod to Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds"

I think my problem with it was how plot-driven the last episode ("Hated in the Nation") was. It ended in a way as if it mattered whether the cops catch the bad guy. I love cop shows, but the procedural bits here took time from all the interesting tech concepts that had been brought up. Another reviewer described it as feeling like an episode of X-Files, which I think is an apt way to describe it: Good, but not the ki…

I understood "Hated in the Nation" to be taking the piss out of the standard cop show format, with their happy endings, flashbacks from the debriefing, master villain, etc.
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