# Black Mirror (boxed spoilers)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-mirror-boxed-spoilers/606517>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [December 17, 2011, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-mirror-boxed-spoilers/606517 "2011-12-17T12:14:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-mirror-boxed-spoilers/606517/1 "2011-12-17T12:14:41Z")

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[Black Mirror](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Mirror_(TV_series)) is Charlie Brooker’s latest project, airing on Channel 4 in the UK and it’s some of the most amazing television I’ve watched all year.

Each of the three episodes is it’s own, independent mini-black comedy that’s full of darkness and pathos. Currently, the first two have aired, the first involving:

the Prime Minister receiving a ransom request that the kidnapped princess will be killed unless he has sex with a pig live on television in 8 hours.

It’s one of the most accurate portrayals of the new social media landscape that we currently live in as well as a fascinating study on how people react under extreme pressure.

The second episode is

a dark satire on pushing gamification to it’s logical extreme and a bread-and-circuses totalitarian government that uses idol style competitions and virtual goods to mollify the masses

If there’s one criticism, it’s that I feel like both ambitiously paint themselves into a corner and then kind of deflate, escaping through an anti-climax. Still, the mood it sets and the ideas it plumbs were deeply affecting. I can’t wait until the 3rd one airs.

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**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-mirror-boxed-spoilers/606517/2 "2011-12-17T13:39:55Z")

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I do like the way Charlie Brooker’s mind works and I’m enjoying the episodes so far.  
At a high level I’m not sure he is putting forward any startlingly new ideas, but he is doing it with some style and certainly the second episode is a neat contemplation on the age-old dystopian nightmares.  
It is scary how close we are to that reality.