Review- Black Mirror Season 3
Unfortunately I didn't have time to see Doctor Strange before I wrote this so I won't cover it on the blog but I probably really enjoyed it. Regradless, this means I have another chance to talk about Black Mirror Season 3, this time in a real review. If you haven't seen the episodes yet, I'd recommend not reading this until you have because they're best enjoyed fully blind, although I will try to avoid any major spoilers as I run through them episode by episode. So let's dive into pretty much the most depressing series on TV once more!
Episode One: Nosedive
Director: Joe Wright (Atonement, Pan)
Genre: Social Satire/Tragicomedy
Technology addressed: Social Media (desire for online validation)
This was the episode I saw at the London Film Festival and you can read a more in depth look at that on the previous post I did on it. At the time, I said that if the rest of this season was anywhere near as good as this episode, I'd be delighted which is why I'm so surprised that personally, this episode is in the lower half of the season for me. This is still a superb episode and I think that the fact that it isn't the best speaks to how incredible the rest of the season was. Wright directs with skillful ease, the score haunts and Bryce Dallas Howard sells every second of her performance in an episode that somehow succeeds despite how heavy handed the message occasionally feels.
Episode Two: Playtest
Director: Dan Trachtenberg (10 Cloverfield Lane)
Genre: Haunted House horror film
Technology addressed: Virtual/Augmented Reality
You may remember Dan Trachtenberg as the director of one of the very best films of the year 10 Cloverfield Lane so I was excited to see how Trachtenberg would bring tension to the world of Black Mirror. It doesn't quite match up to Cloverfield but it's still a cracking episode of tension. It's the story of a man testing an augmented reality video game that uses your mind to scare you specifically. The episode twists and turns and constantly keeps you guessing. The episode is grounded by a believable performance from Wyatt Russell and Trachtenberg's experience as a director of tension shows in a simple but very enjoyable episode that reminds you that you really should call your mum more.
Episode Three: Shut Up and Dance
Director: James Watkins (The Woman in Black, Bastille Day)
Genre: Really depressing race to the bottom
Technology addressed: Viruses and the power of faceless masses
Now this is Black Mirror. It grabs you, shows you where the characters are going and makes you want to look away. As the events get worse and worse for characters, we start to realise that they're not getting out easily but when that final revelation hits... Let's put it this way, Charlie Brooker was not lying when he said that this is the bleakest episode of Black Mirror he's ever made. It's directed fantastically and with excellent restraint but it's the lead performance that sells the episode as Alex Lawther shows the breaking of a young man as his darkest secret is threatened with exposure. It's bleak but in the most brilliant ways.
Episode Four: San Junipero
Director: Owen Harris (Kill Your Friends, Be Right Back)
Genre: Coming of Age
Technology addressed: Simulations
I wouldn't say this is necessarily an example of what Black Mirror is but it's probably still the best episode of the show in my opinion. Without giving away too much, this episode is set in the 1980s, a weird setting for a show based on futuristic technology but it works. It focuses on one woman visiting the seaside town of San Junipero and meeting a woman who changes her view on the world for the better. It's a wonderful period piece episode that by the end still shows itself to be Black Mirror, helped by two superb performances. It's an incredible episode, one that is beautiful and never treats its audience like idiots and actually manages to be genuinely uplifting. This wouldn't be a good introduction to Black Mirror but it's probably my favourite episode of the show at this point.
Episode Five: Men Against Fire
Director: Jakob Verbruggen (Assorted episodes of House of Cards and The Fall)
Genre: War Film
Technology addressed: Military advances in warfare
Personally, this is the weakest episode of the series but it has the best twist of the whole season. Without spoiling much, it flips the events of the first half of the episode on their head. Anyone who has watched Brooker's other work like his yearly wipes will recognise what the twist references. The twist aside, this is an episode with strong performances, tension and not much more. Michael Kelly from House of Cards is perfectly cast as a creepy psychiatrist in the military and Malachi Kirby is great, showing the toll that war has on people. The ending was confusing for me initially but after thinking about it and reading up on it, it made sense. Men Against Fire isn't the greatest episode in the show at all but when the bad episode of a show looks like this, you know the show is great.
Episode Six: Hated in the Nation
Director: James Hawes (Assorted episodes of Mad Dogs and Russel T Davies era Doctor Who)
Genre: Neo noir detective story
Technology addressed: Replacements for nature and Social Media (the power of mob mentality)
Black Mirror goes feature length in the last episode of the season and it pays off. Many have said that this episode suffers a little from it's length as it perhaps isn't as tight as other episodes and I'd be inclined to agree. Despite this, it's a fantastic plot that genuinely had me gripped throughout the entire episode. When shit starts to hit the fan, it really hits and had me on the edge of my seat. Add in a great script from Brooker, wonderful performances from Fresh Meat's Faye Marsay and Trainspotting's Kelly Macdonald and visuals that accompany the bleak tone perfectly. I hope they don't experiment with the length of the episodes much more, trimming the fat here would be preferable, but for the show's second feature length episode, (yeah, you forget about White Christmas, didn't you?) you could do much worse. It also doesn't hurt that Macdonald's character gets the chance to spout some wonderful cynical one liners that feel ripped straight from Brooker's mouth.
Black Mirror is back and isn't just good, it's better than ever. Many feared that the additional budget, American influences and more of a hands off approach from Brooker would lead to a worse show. The focus of the show has changed somewhat as due to more episodes, more genres can be explored but I think the show has really come into its own with this freedom. It's slightly different but I really belive that's for the better, which is why I give the new season of Black Mirror a perfect score of
Episode One: Nosedive
Director: Joe Wright (Atonement, Pan)
Genre: Social Satire/Tragicomedy
Technology addressed: Social Media (desire for online validation)
This was the episode I saw at the London Film Festival and you can read a more in depth look at that on the previous post I did on it. At the time, I said that if the rest of this season was anywhere near as good as this episode, I'd be delighted which is why I'm so surprised that personally, this episode is in the lower half of the season for me. This is still a superb episode and I think that the fact that it isn't the best speaks to how incredible the rest of the season was. Wright directs with skillful ease, the score haunts and Bryce Dallas Howard sells every second of her performance in an episode that somehow succeeds despite how heavy handed the message occasionally feels.
Episode Two: Playtest
Director: Dan Trachtenberg (10 Cloverfield Lane)
Genre: Haunted House horror film
Technology addressed: Virtual/Augmented Reality
You may remember Dan Trachtenberg as the director of one of the very best films of the year 10 Cloverfield Lane so I was excited to see how Trachtenberg would bring tension to the world of Black Mirror. It doesn't quite match up to Cloverfield but it's still a cracking episode of tension. It's the story of a man testing an augmented reality video game that uses your mind to scare you specifically. The episode twists and turns and constantly keeps you guessing. The episode is grounded by a believable performance from Wyatt Russell and Trachtenberg's experience as a director of tension shows in a simple but very enjoyable episode that reminds you that you really should call your mum more.
Episode Three: Shut Up and Dance
Director: James Watkins (The Woman in Black, Bastille Day)
Genre: Really depressing race to the bottom
Technology addressed: Viruses and the power of faceless masses
Now this is Black Mirror. It grabs you, shows you where the characters are going and makes you want to look away. As the events get worse and worse for characters, we start to realise that they're not getting out easily but when that final revelation hits... Let's put it this way, Charlie Brooker was not lying when he said that this is the bleakest episode of Black Mirror he's ever made. It's directed fantastically and with excellent restraint but it's the lead performance that sells the episode as Alex Lawther shows the breaking of a young man as his darkest secret is threatened with exposure. It's bleak but in the most brilliant ways.
Episode Four: San Junipero
Director: Owen Harris (Kill Your Friends, Be Right Back)
Genre: Coming of Age
Technology addressed: Simulations
I wouldn't say this is necessarily an example of what Black Mirror is but it's probably still the best episode of the show in my opinion. Without giving away too much, this episode is set in the 1980s, a weird setting for a show based on futuristic technology but it works. It focuses on one woman visiting the seaside town of San Junipero and meeting a woman who changes her view on the world for the better. It's a wonderful period piece episode that by the end still shows itself to be Black Mirror, helped by two superb performances. It's an incredible episode, one that is beautiful and never treats its audience like idiots and actually manages to be genuinely uplifting. This wouldn't be a good introduction to Black Mirror but it's probably my favourite episode of the show at this point.
Episode Five: Men Against Fire
Director: Jakob Verbruggen (Assorted episodes of House of Cards and The Fall)
Genre: War Film
Technology addressed: Military advances in warfare
Personally, this is the weakest episode of the series but it has the best twist of the whole season. Without spoiling much, it flips the events of the first half of the episode on their head. Anyone who has watched Brooker's other work like his yearly wipes will recognise what the twist references. The twist aside, this is an episode with strong performances, tension and not much more. Michael Kelly from House of Cards is perfectly cast as a creepy psychiatrist in the military and Malachi Kirby is great, showing the toll that war has on people. The ending was confusing for me initially but after thinking about it and reading up on it, it made sense. Men Against Fire isn't the greatest episode in the show at all but when the bad episode of a show looks like this, you know the show is great.
Episode Six: Hated in the Nation
Director: James Hawes (Assorted episodes of Mad Dogs and Russel T Davies era Doctor Who)
Genre: Neo noir detective story
Technology addressed: Replacements for nature and Social Media (the power of mob mentality)
Black Mirror goes feature length in the last episode of the season and it pays off. Many have said that this episode suffers a little from it's length as it perhaps isn't as tight as other episodes and I'd be inclined to agree. Despite this, it's a fantastic plot that genuinely had me gripped throughout the entire episode. When shit starts to hit the fan, it really hits and had me on the edge of my seat. Add in a great script from Brooker, wonderful performances from Fresh Meat's Faye Marsay and Trainspotting's Kelly Macdonald and visuals that accompany the bleak tone perfectly. I hope they don't experiment with the length of the episodes much more, trimming the fat here would be preferable, but for the show's second feature length episode, (yeah, you forget about White Christmas, didn't you?) you could do much worse. It also doesn't hurt that Macdonald's character gets the chance to spout some wonderful cynical one liners that feel ripped straight from Brooker's mouth.
Black Mirror is back and isn't just good, it's better than ever. Many feared that the additional budget, American influences and more of a hands off approach from Brooker would lead to a worse show. The focus of the show has changed somewhat as due to more episodes, more genres can be explored but I think the show has really come into its own with this freedom. It's slightly different but I really belive that's for the better, which is why I give the new season of Black Mirror a perfect score of
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