The season premiere, at least, is up right now. Watching it at the moment.
Thoughts on Episode 1, “Nosedive”;
[SPOILER] The artiface of the whole “your entire livelihood is based on your social media rating” thing stretches the bonds of believability a little for me. To an extent, this felt like a retread of stuff the show already covered in “Fifteen Million Merits”, with the eye implants being borrowed from “The Complete History of You”, and I don’t really think Lacie’s fall from grace was handled all that well. In these kind of sci-fi morality plays/Greek tragedies, you expect that the person whose fall is being chronicled has suffered some sort of irredeemable sin or tragic flaw that leads directly to their demise. Lacie is more a victim of circumstance rather than someone who deserves what they’re getting - if anything, Naomi is the one who should be getting hers in the end.
I liked the character of the old truck driver who doesn’t give a shit anymore, and the final scene with Lacie and the other guy in the prison at least made me smile. Polish(?)-dubbed Home Improvement on the in-car video was a bit random to the point where I wonder if it’s intended as an Easter Egg, like someone who worked on this episode was involved with that show. [/SPOILER]
Yeah, episode 1 was meh, but I just finished episode 2 and that’s messed up. In a good way. I really liked it and might even watch it again because I don’t think I picked up quite where the poor guy really goes off the rails. You’ll know what I mean when you watch it. Said in a way not to spoil it.
In other Black Mirror news, Jodie Foster is going to direct an episode of the next season
Episode 2, “Playtest”;
[SPOILER] This was a much better episode. Cooper is a much better foil for this kind of story - even though you sympathize with him, he’s still kind of a shallow dick who you want to see get his comeuppance.
The two tropes that drive the plot - “A game that draws on your deepest fears and gets too real” and “VR where you’re never quite sure what’s real and what’s not” - have both been used many times in sci-fi, but this managed to take them in a fresh direction. I like how the progression of his went from the superficial, like spiders and his high school bully, to the primal - physical pain, his issues with his parents, loss of identity. In the end, it’s his own mistake - turning on his phone in the test room - that does him in. He really should’ve called mom. [/SPOILER]
I finished episode 4 last night after watching 1-3 over the past few days.
No major spoilers
Ep. 1 I thought Bryce Dallas Howard was perfect for the part and she did a great job. The episode took a while to get going I thought but the build up was necessary to the story and once I’d seen the whole thing, I understood why they went that way. I was a little disappointed by her big speech at the wedding but all in all, a satisfying story. Seemed to be an all American cast and set in the U.S., a first for the series IIRC.
Ep. 2 I didn’t like it as much as some did. OK, not one of the better ones in the series, IMHO.
EP. 3 Dark and disturbing, this one was one of the better ones. Depressing and the tech seemed possible now.
Ep. 4 My favorite of this season, I didn’t have a clue where it was going (or coming from) until it was revealed. A fairly happy ending for a BM episode. Again, American accents but I know that one lead actress is British.
On to 5 and maybe 6 tonight.