I’ve watched episode 6, which is a feature-length (hour and a half) sequel to the season 4 Star Trek parody episode. Not bad.
Right, today’s the day, cool. We currently have, I think, 4 streaming channels and we still often can’t seem to find much we feel like watching. So this is good news.
We went back and watched the Calister episode from season 4 and then watched the season 7 sequel. I forgot how good that S4 episode was and this sequel is almost as good. Both together clock in at almost 3 hours.
Watching the Callister episode now. So good so far.
“Common People” was all sorts of horrifying. Besides the actual medical procedure, the premise is absolutely plausible; even inevitable.
Just watched both Callisters, along with the memory episode. Loving the new season so far.
I’ve watched three so far (Common People, Bete Noire, Hotel Reverie). I liked them all, but my definite favourite was Common People: pitch-black comedy at its finest! The other two were pretty typical Black Mirror variants.
And boring as fuck. Rehashing what they’ve done before. I ended up fast forwarding looking to see if it would go anywhere other than as expected. It didn’t.
Looking forward to the Callisto one. If I reacted like this to Common People which other ones should I give a chance?
When I was a kid, I watched a movie that I didn’t realize was supposed to be a comedy. I’m now old enough to recognize my mistake, and to note — regardless of whether I found it funny the first time around, or whether it succeeds in striking me as funny today — that comedy had been the intent, back then. So I’m really trying, with error-of-my-ways humility, here.
And I don’t see the comedy in this one.
Oh I see the attempt, especially at, again, trying to skewer the hand that feeds them with satire of streaming subscriptions, now costing more making what was expected into an upgrade and charging more to stay ad free, and really not having any choice …
The trying to do cute sly references to past shows.
They just were not at all funny. Obviously just MHO.
As said Common People was obvious step by step beat, you knew exactly where it was going. After the original setup I wasn’t very interested.
I liked the sting at the end of Bete Noire
Hotel Reverie was excellent, the best of the season
Playthings was all right, kind of a meh early Black Mirror
Eulogy was fine, but didn’t really grasp me.
US Callister 2 was a fun ride, very enjoyable.
Anyone else wonder if the Callister office being on the 13th floor is a homage to, well, The 13th Floor? The Thirteenth Floor - Wikipedia
At that: after all the setup in Bête Noire about how the computer plugging away in the background grants Do As You Please power — changing the language someone speaks, or putting a knife in their hands, easy as making cops fall down in worship or being proclaimed empress of the universe — we’re shown that the way to defeat such a foe is a blow to the head, because, oopsie, they’re too dumb to line up personal protection beforehand. And after all the setup in the Callister sequel about how the computer plugging away in the background grants Do As You Please power — moving her and other stuff around as if he’s telekinetic, and rearranging her body on a whim — we’re shown that the way to defeat such a foe is a blow to the head, because, oopsie, they’re too dumb to request personal protection beforehand.
Should they do a third episode that makes the same point?
They made a real game out of the throngs in Playthings: The new Netflix Black Mirror series has another Bandersnatch-like gaming crossover moment, but you might not even notice it | Eurogamer.net
Practically every Black Mirror episode after the first 7 episodes (say) is rehashing what has gone before, as far as I’m concerned. That doesn’t mean they can’t still be entertaining.
It was certainly the most like San Junipero (see the above comment regarding “rehashing”), so if that’s your favourite episode I could certainly see liking Hotel Reverie as well.
Not even top 3
White Bear
Joan is Awful
Shut Up and Dance
I watched the remaining 3 episodes. Eulogy was touching and Playthings was another typical Black Mirror horror episode. Callister 2 started off a little dull (lots of recapping the previous episode) but it pepped up once the story got moving.
Hotel Reverie reminded me of an older story called “Overdrawn at the Memory Bank”. Anybody else?
I only watched the Callister 2 episode from the new season.
I did catch that Nanette ( Cristin Milioti ) wound up in “San Junipero Hospital”. I know that was the name of the fictional 80s VR town but was that also the name of the hospital?
In any case, I liked the USS Callister Star Trek meets Free Guy / story line and think they could have probably just made a spin-off series just following their exploits in both the real and virtual worlds.
The problem with Black Mirror is that it’s a bit hit or miss as an anthology series. Some episodes like USS Callister, San Junipero, and a couple of others are pretty iconic and widely celebrated. For most of the rest, the twist/punchline is usually IT WAS VR ALL ALONG!
Basically after watching two seasons of Severance on Apple+, I’m thinking Black Mirror is going to need to up their “techno mind fuck” game.
I think the opposite. Severance, while intriguing, is deeply unrelatable to me because of the sheer weirdness of everything and all the hallucinatory dreamlike elements. Black Mirror, at its best, is effective when it presents scenarios that are highly believable and don’t seem that far off in the future. The first episode, remember - the Prime Minister and the pig - didn’t even feature any new technology at all. The best Black Mirror episodes ultimately are about the depths of human depravity, it’s usually just manifested through technology that’s designed in some heartless or sadistic way.