Spoilers, obviously! I just wanted to talk about it a little bit
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I mean I’m not complaining all episodes minus the one with the paparazzi’s kept me super hooked but this season seemed to be more about horror scenarios
Photography and videography are a kind of technology. It’s ubiquitous now, but still quite new.
The concept of recording every detail of your life in photorealistic quality (as opposed to, say, writing it down) is relatively new too. I thought this season did a good job of exploring the effect that sort of technology has on us. Do things get unearthed that should have stayed secret? When is searching for the truth at the expense of someone’s privacy justified? How would the Loch and Mazey Day stories differ if they were set in the 1500s?
I was pretty happy with this season, they do seem like they are playing around for a spin-off and I’m into it. Demon 79 was delightful. I guess my least favourite was Beyond the Sea, but for a really petty reason. A long term space voyage that requires two people to operate and they didn’t stick more than two people up there?! Contingency plans are good!
I really wanted to like Beyond the Sea, but I feel like most of the plot of that episode could have been avoided if they had just sent the replicas into space instead. I think I must have missed the part where they explained why they couldn’t do that or something…
Oh no, that’s even more frustrating!
I feel at the core of Black Mirror is subverting the viewers’ expectations and while initially it was very rooted in technology I’m cool with it straying beyond. And while Twilight Zone is probably its closest living relative (yes, there are others - outer limits, tales from the crypt, amazing stories, darkroom, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Night Gallery, etc) I don’t feel like the twisty ending is as much a part of the series as the ability to provoke the viewer to relate to the subject matter differently - subverting our own thoughts on something. Evocative and subversive. And if that is the tenet for Black Mirror I think this season is a success. Like those other series, staying on theme can run the well dry after some time. Also things become formulaic and stagnant. I’m cool with letting them flex. They’ve earned my goodwill for several more seasons before I complain.
I’m really disappointed with this season of Black Mirror. I probably over hyped it. My rankings are:
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- Demon 79 (I fell asleep on this one…)
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- Mazey Day
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- Loch Henry
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- Joan is Awful
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- Beyond the Sea
Demon 79: I don’t have a lot to say, since I fell asleep on this one. The retail fantasies were pretty funny iirc. I never got to see the demon
Mazey Day: It was fine, but the whole werewolf thing bugged me. Seemed too “V/H/S” to me. I was really expecting there to be a pack of “rabbid” paparazzi, like comically rabbid.
Loch Henry: this was a great episode, but again didn’t feel like it belonged in Black Mirror. It could have been its own horror film. But I get if someone pitched a good idea and they couldn’t pass it up. Seems like streamberry was shoehorned in just to make it fit with BM.
Joan is Awful: probably the most faithful episode to the series. It’s good, I don’t have any issues with it, necessarily. Given the nature of it, nothing seems out of place.
Beyond the Sea: This is my favorite episode of the season despite the awful ending and corny hillbilly zealots. There was so much potential in this one, they could have ended it any other way and it would have been better. The ending was just pure shock factor and I have been racking my brain trying to think of a motive besides “If you won’t let me have your family, then you can’t have them either.” Which is just annoying to consider.
Hartnett could have left Paul out in space while he stole his replica and transferred himself into it, after which he would just stay inside his replica until he died in space. This feels so unnerving just thinking about it…
Hartnett could have been adopted into Paul’s family, and they could have coexisted like that until the mission ended, after which he would become the “cool uncle.” Of course, he would have had to change his ways, which would have been part of the growing to be better process.
Or Harnett and Paul could have come to an agreement between themselves and Paul’s wife to continue sharing Paul’s replica, and Hartnett would see to Paul’s wife’s emotional and physical needs, while Paul continues to be the rock in the family. This would be a kinda weird, but still happy ending. But black mirror isn’t a stranger to this kind of ending lol.
What do you guys think?
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That episode kept me guessing the entire time, because I did want a more cliche ending (kept waiting for Paul to wake up dead). I like the direction it went, Hartnett was tortured and had to watch unspeakable things and lost all that he cared about, that he would become infatuated with the first warm-blooded woman he got close to was not unrealistic at all, if anything he could have been more obsessed. When Paul was mad he threw all that he had in the guy’s face, destroyed Hartnett even more. I did not expect the ending but the surprise made it better. The story felt like old pulp sci fi.
The only thing I struggled with in that one was how uninvolved NASA or whatever was with their astronauts and the replicas, like there’s no way they’d be left alone to do whatever the way they were.
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Same on the disappointment. I liked Joan is Awful, Beyond the Sea, and Demon 79. Loch Henry and Mazey Say didn’t really do much for me. I wouldn’t say any of it was bad, but it feels like the series is reaching its end. Maybe that’s the reason for the Red Mirror branding on Demon 79?
I think the Black Mirror-ness of Loch Henry is unusually hard to spot, but it is there, albeit not as relatable to the viewer.
Young, tech-savvy film school grads try to make a generic true crime documentary but get wrapped up in the horror themselves, despite the main crime happening decades ago.
Might be more relatable if we were all documentarians. Or maybe we aren’t watching enough true crime meta.
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I also really enjoyed Mazey Day especially because it felt like my expectations were being subverted The reveal really surprised me.
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