Amph FAO U.S. Netflixers: Black Mirror

Everybody at Channel 4 probably looks like this right now.

 

There’s not really any bad episodes.

 

The secret weapon is Charlie Brooker. He’s a talent, to be sure, and has been doing it for over a decade now. He can create something like Black Mirror, and then Also create Cunk on Britain.



And that’s only scratching the surface of his talents.

 

Oh, I very much disagree with that. The Waldo Moment is one of the worst hours of television I have ever seen. Season two as a whole is a step down; nothing as good as even The National Anthem, the weakest of season one.

 

Funny because Waldo, Men against Fire and Metalhead are the only episodes I’ve only watched a single time.

 

You didn’t like Metalhead? It was one of my favourites from season 4 if I recall.

 

I liked it. Just haven’t revisited it.

 

Well, I haven't seen Men Against Fire or Metalhead, but I doubt they'll be as bad as Waldo. Waldo's the only episode I'd really call bad, I guess, but the scripts are pretty dodgy for Be Right Back & White Bear and those are kind of saved by really great lead performances. Both of those episodes are really brilliant for about half their running time and then they slowly fall apart. White Christmas and the first two in season three have all been great though, so the show's definitely back on top at this point.

Also interesting that you mention revisiting the episodes. I've watched all of them except Waldo and Playtest twice as well. And I did like White Bear better the second time, though I liked Be Right Back less the second time. So that's interesting. Playtest I love, but it really got under my skin and, honestly, it was just such a punishing experience that I really just don't want to subject myself to it again. Great, really intense episode, but I just don't want to sit through it again at the moment. I think it would be even worse a second time, honestly, knowing for sure what's happening as you watch it.

 

Yeah, I love White Bear. Comparing to season one, I’d say it’s better than Fifteen Million Credits. But I am in the vin school of thought, no bad ones, really.

 

Yeah, me too.

 

Well, White Bear's first fifteen minutes are so fantastic that you kind of know the actual solution to the mystery isn't going to be as good as the mystery itself. That happens a lot with mysteries and things like Lost or The X-Files or even the original TZ itself. You're kind of invested for all the big "WHAAAATTTT?" moments and then when they finally wrap things up, it's usually not as fun as getting there.

That said, the big reveal of what's actually going on in White Bear is even worse than most. It's a fun episode, but it's predicated on the notion of subjecting a sociopath to emotional torture and that's not really a thing you can do. Even if she doesn't remember who she is, she still doesn't have normal human emotions. It's like she watched a young girl be tortured to death; now she's going to start freaking out because HAHA now people are taking pictures of you with their phones! I think we're supposed to actually believe that she feels guilt and horror when she finds out what she's actually done. Just no. She wouldn't.

Now if you want to make the argument that all of that breakdown she has at the end is all an act, like she's still playing for sympathy, then that's an interesting idea. Not the intention of the episode, certainly, but an interesting idea.

 

You don’t know how much of the mind gets wiped or what reprogramming happens, so...

 

https://deadline.com/2019/03/bander...adventure-lawsuit-dismissal-claim-1202580752/

 

Fair enough. I will admit to not understanding exactly how the little blue-tooth headset removes her memories.

That said, if the technology is actually able to effectively "cure" sociopaths by allowing them to feel human emotion and understand morality, I would think we would need to be using it to do that as opposed to just using it in order to torture them.

That said, the point of the show is that every technology has a good use, but people are terrible so we will perpetually choose to use it for the worst use, so fair enough.

And I mean, I'm not arguing that White Bear is awful. I still gave it three-and-a-half out of four stars.

 

Yes. Off the top of my head, you don’t get to people aren’t always terrible until San Junipero.

 

The climax of Nosedive felt genuinely redemptive by the standards of the show and it was two people in jail cells screaming profanities at each other. That's the only episode so far that's left me smiling at the end.

 

As a serious question from someone who just wrote a scathing 0 star review of The Waldo Moment, does anyone in this thread find Waldo funny? Like set aside the whole thing about him becoming a political player. Just viewing him as a cartoon character that is beloved as a comedic character, is he actually funny? Can you think of any moments you found particularly funny?

 

I liked his butthole.

 

It’s been some time since I watched it, I don’t remember if he was funny or not. But from what I do recall, the point wasn’t him being funny, but him being a crass ********, and despite that people loved him.

 

I just rewatched it after seeing his post. Yes, he’s less funny and more crass, juvenile and over the top.

 

Yeah, you definitely get to see his post.