Black Mirror Season 4 Discussion

[Pistachiyo]

Hey! So I was wondering if anyone watches Black Mirror here. If so, what was your favorite and least favorite from the season? My favorites would have to be black museum and Hang the DJ. My least favorites are Metalhead and ArkAngel.

Arkangel was predictable in every way. I knew where it was going the moment it started and it seemed like something anyone could come up with as a plot. It was still enjoyable but I wasn't shocked.


Metalhead did not fit into the theme of Black Mirror at all I feel like. The whole point of Black Mirror is to show what happens when we take technology too far and the effects it has on us personally. I literally just watched a woman get chased by a robotdog while screaming for an hour. It was tense at times but I was more distracted by the fact that I had no idea what was going on due to lack of background information. And then when we find out the reason for all this was to get a bear I was likeeeeeeee............... OKK?

[BaskingShark]

Yesss! Love this show so much, just gonna disclaim that I love every episode I’ve seen so far (I’ll be honest I haven’t seen ArkAngel, I’m watching that one today though). Anyway if I had to rank them, which just hurts cos I did like all of them then I’d have to say:

USS Callister – Cool story, a lot darker than I thought It was going to be and just all round a really great episode. There wasn't really anything that I didn't like about it, which shocked me because I really didn't think it would be my fave, but I just couldn't stop watching once it had started

Hang the DJ – This one could probably be my fav too, they haven’t really done a technology like this before so that was interesting. I thought that the main actors were really great, and the whole story was just really sweet, maybe some people thought it was a little fairytale like but I think that’s nice every once in a while. I knew that this one was apparently trying so emulate San Junipero a little, according to the creators, so I was a little worried it would feel repetitive, but it definitely didn’t.

Metalhead – Haha I think I’m the only person who actually liked this episode, I can totally see where you and everyone else is coming from, but I gotta be honest, I bloody loved it! It was very fast paced and I found the lack of info added to the tension, it didn’t have any interest in explaining background, it was just straight in with a snapshot into a day or so of a single person’s life facing a hyper intelligent A.I. . Life can be messy at times and sometimes you don’t get all or any answers or a satisfying ending, and that’s kind of how I interpreted it? That it was more of a fly-on-the-wall type because we were only following one person. The actresses was great and the ending where she sees the other tracker is just heart-breaking, and when the camera pans across the landscape and we see and the other dogs, and we find out that they were trying to get a teddy all along (I think it meant that a young child was the one who was dying and they were trying to make his passing easier? I’m not sure if that’s right, but that’s the impression I got), it’s just twisting the emotional knife. Gahhhhhh I loved the episode un-apologetically (Plus it had Golden Brown by The Stranglers in which always helps)! That being said it was a very different tone and story from most black mirror, so I can definitely see how it wasn’t to everyone’s taste and is most people’s least favourite episode of the season. Even so I’m giving them props for trying something new cos there’s already people on twitter complaining that this season was repetitive of other episodes . I liked that it was different, but I wouldn’t what there to be other episodes that were like Metalhead, one was enough I think.

Black Museum – Really sort of hurts that this is so low down because I thought it was amazing, the twist was a really good one, I really didn’t see it coming. It made me feel happy, sort-of? I don’t know, that’s what I loved about it; I almost didn’t know how to feel when it was over. The only thing I wasn’t too keen on was the first mini-story with the doctor, the actor was almost too good, he proper creeped me out and it took me two attempts to finish it.

Crocodile – Again I feel really bad putting this at the end, but I did think the bathtub scene was a little over the top. But I thought the tech was quite cool and the ending with the guinea pig really got to me, so tragic!

Like I said I haven’t watch ArkAngel yet, but I’ve heard some pretty conflicting stuff. As you’ve said some people thought it was very predictable, and I’ve seen other say it was great? Still looking forward to it though!

Wow that got long, I just really like talking about it, but that’s what I love about Black Mirror, because it does something completely different every time, people have such differing opinions on what they liked about it, God I just really love this show!

[han_han]

That ending to Black Museum blew my mind! Really did enjoy this season but I don't think any of them are my new favourites? I think I might have expected too much from this season after buzzing off Season 3 for weeks.

[Izabella]

I liked every episode besides Metalhead which I didn't even finish. I thought it was boring, predictable and I can't stand anything black and white. My favourites were Hang the DJ and Black Museum.

It was a good season but I still prefer Seasons 2 and 3 tbh, those hit me harder emotionally. I feel like the concept of uploading your consciousness online has already been explored so USS Callister and Black Museum didn't hit me as hard

[Pistachiyo]

That ending to Black Museum blew my mind! Really did enjoy this season but I don't think any of them are my new favourites? I think I might have expected too much from this season after buzzing off Season 3 for weeks.

Saame. White christmas will always be the best in my mind. shut up and dance had a great shock factor I literally felt gross for days. None of the episodes from this season did that for me...

[BaskingShark]

That ending to Black Museum blew my mind! Really did enjoy this season but I don't think any of them are my new favourites? I think I might have expected too much from this season after buzzing off Season 3 for weeks.

Saame. White christmas will always be the best in my mind. shut up and dance had a great shock factor I literally felt gross for days. None of the episodes from this season did that for me...

Omg White Christmas Totally blew my mind, seriously that episode messed me up in the head!

Also opinions on season 1? I wasn't too keen on National Anthem, a good introductory episode but in my opinion one of the weaker ones, but Fifteen Million Merits and The Entire History of You are some of my favourites

[Cheryl Blossom]

To be fair Charlie Brooker did say that this season was meant to be less bleak

http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/black-mirr ... e-brooker/

[Pistachiyo]

I think I figured out why ArkAngel fell flat for me. The path they chose to take the second half of the episode was a trope thats been used millions of times. Mom stalks daughter, gets into her bussiness, daughter finds out, runs away from home/ rebels even more. They should have focused more on how the implant would blur out anything that would cause her stress. Like have it be active for a significant chunk of her life and maybe have her grandpa have a stroke when she's around 10 (or even right before college) and thats when the mom turns the implant off. But, by then it would be too late because she's been so sheltered that she doesn't know how to function in the real world and show the effects it had on her. Or build up the scene where she slaps her mom or pricks her own finger but take it to the extreme and make her a psychopath child/adult.. idk I would have been more interested that way.

[jacqet]

pretty sure black museum was a way for the writers to squeeze in great stories that couldn't be developed into a full length episode. this season of black mirror was quite disappointing tbh. the plotlines for arkangel and crocodile were unfortunately very predictable. uss callister was also quite a bore to start the season with, with its slow build up. i actually really liked metalhead. very alfred hitchcock in terms of directing style, which i thought was done very cleverly.

[princessoctopus]

I think I figured out why ArkAngel fell flat for me. The path they chose to take the second half of the episode was a trope thats been used millions of times. Mom stalks daughter, gets into her bussiness, daughter finds out, runs away from home/ rebels even more. They should have focused more on how the implant would blur out anything that would cause her stress. Like have it be active for a significant chunk of her life and maybe have her grandpa have a stroke when she's around 10 (or even right before college) and thats when the mom turns the implant off. But, by then it would be too late because she's been so sheltered that she doesn't know how to function in the real world and show the effects it had on her. Or build up the scene where she slaps her mom or pricks her own finger but take it to the extreme and make her a psychopath child/adult.. idk I would have been more interested that way.

I thought it would have been better if, at the end when the daughter is fighting with the mum and hitting her with the tablet, she would cause the technology to malfunction and therefore it would leave her with the filter permanently on with no way of getting rid of it.

[Hodgepodge]

I think I figured out why ArkAngel fell flat for me. The path they chose to take the second half of the episode was a trope thats been used millions of times. Mom stalks daughter, gets into her bussiness, daughter finds out, runs away from home/ rebels even more. They should have focused more on how the implant would blur out anything that would cause her stress. Like have it be active for a significant chunk of her life and maybe have her grandpa have a stroke when she's around 10 (or even right before college) and thats when the mom turns the implant off. But, by then it would be too late because she's been so sheltered that she doesn't know how to function in the real world and show the effects it had on her. Or build up the scene where she slaps her mom or pricks her own finger but take it to the extreme and make her a psychopath child/adult.. idk I would have been more interested that way.

I thought it would have been better if, at the end when the daughter is fighting with the mum and hitting her with the tablet, she would cause the technology to malfunction and therefore it would leave her with the filter permanently on with no way of getting rid of it.

THIS!!! This is exactly how I hoped it ended. Such a better story that way IMO

[LaurieShelby]

I love the show but this season I only enjoyed hang the dj, and it reminds me of san junipero which is also one of my favourites