Black Mirror - Season 5

So, season 5... I'm not sure what happened to this series - it used to be so good. Season 5 wasn't bad, as such, but it was so bland that it became boring. This used to be a tight, shocking, punchy, avant-garde series, but now it's been reduced to weak tea.

It's not just that the extended running time of one hour has diluted the content, it's that the content itself has become rather tame and plodding this (short) season. I think it's time to call it quits!

 

I haven't seen it yet but I liked the first two seasons most. I also liked "Nosedive" (Season 3) very much because it shows what people are doing to be liked by people they have actually nothing in common with. But there's envy on some level. Also the fact that this is close to reality (not only because of the Chinese rating system) makes it really scary.

 

I thought the episodes were well done. I thought the first one was a little too bizarre for my taste, but it makes the point very well.
The second with the little twist to match the shocking, if predictable ending also had a strong message.
However, I don't feel any interest in watching either one again.

That leaves the 3rd one. I loved it & thought Miley was a perfect choice. I sensed a bit of her own frustration of being locked into a character a la Hannah Montana, so it works very well. It was a sad commentary on the state of the music industry as well. Considering we have touring holograms like Roy Orbison & Ronnie James Dio, one could almost see Disney bringing back a Hannah Montana hologram as an anniversary tour in a few years.
I don't think something like the Ashley Too companion is too far off either.

Thankfully we don't have the ability to bring ideas out of a comatose persons mind & exploit them yet.

 

I'm excited to watch the third episode, if only for the Nine Inch Nails songs reworked as Hannah Montana ones.

 

I thought this season was more or less garbage compared to the show's previous peaks, and that the first episode (Striking Vipers) was probably the best, if only because it (basically) worked as a full story. The second one was compelling enough, but a little ham-fisted toward the end, and maybe even a little retroactive, especially for a show that used to be ahead of the curve.

The third episode was kind of all over the place (in my opinion) and it ultimately felt more like a dark Disney Channel movie or something. And while I know the show isn't exactly supposed to be realistic, did I really witness a scene where some doofus lets a teenage girl into a mansion because he thinks she works for the rat inspection department (let alone for an unscheduled appointment)? I know it will sound like nitpicking, but the clumsiness of that entire sequence was kind of shocking to me, as if Charlie Brooker gave the creative reigns to one of his kids or something.

I like the idea of this show too much to wish it would end, but definitely think they could stand to hire some fresh talent behind the scenes. There are so many people out there who would make for strong guest writers. Given the stand-alone nature of each episode, I'm surprised it hasn't been pursued.

I hope you like "Head Like a Hole."

 

The premise of the initial episode I thought was intriguing, but the
casting and execution I wasn't crazy about. The second installment
I really enjoyed. But the Miley Cyrus episode was the knock-out punch.
That was one of the best hours of entertainment I've seen in a long, long
time. Loved it!!
But....three episodes??!!

 

I'm still enjoying the series.

 

We enjoyed the previous ones, so we will be checking the new one out.

 

I just watched it . It was great. I thought the girl looked familiar. Until the credits I didn't know it was miley cyrus.

 

Just watched the first one and I don't care for it as much as the previous seasons. Was just OK but will watch the rest.

 

Just watched the second and it was much better than the first. Now I am looking forward to episode 3, just hoping there will be more than 3 episodes maybe they will release some more later. Aren't they working on another interactive episode?

 

I really liked the first episode. It was well put together and asked a lot of bizarre questions for the viewer to answer.

Think about how the episode was bracketed by bar scenes, as the wife gets her "play day" once a year now. Recall, in the first scene they were pretending that they never met. That's good writing on a meta level. When he confessed to his wife what was going on in the game, this gave her the chance to confess her one-night-stand bar fantasy (or, at least in making a bargain she was able to live that side of her out once a year).

I admit that I thought the look and feel of being inside the game was cheesy at first. It soon became evident, however, that inside the game was just a vehicle for something deeper. It turned it on it's head.

The second episode was cool, but it didn't appear to have a deeper subtext other than "technology kills." I feel that just painted a picture of a 21st Century Schizoid Man. Big deal. We're all heading that direction.

 

I started with ep 3. And I want an Ashley Two. I thought it was a well done really cute ep.

 

just marathoned them, first one was good but no real twists and turns, and could've been done in 45 mins probably. second one needed something more too....whatever made black mirror so fascinating is gone and its become a little ordinary (still good but...you know). mileys ep was entertaining if ridiculous.....especially the ease of which things happened towards the end.

 

I guess I'm in the minority in that I thought the Miley episode was terrible. A lot of potential wasted. It couldn't decide if it wanted to be funny or not. I thought she did a great job but it really fell apart at the end.

 

I thought Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too was the worst episode of the entire series.

 

Yeah, kind of a middling season. These could have all been episodes in the new Twilight Zone series. And that's not a compliment.

 

Sad to say this but this probably was the weakest Black Mirror season so far.

E1: Pro: The late-thirties family life and couple ennui was presented in a suble, relatable and realistic way. Con: The whole thing about the videogame and bromance was laughable and made no psychological sense, so the message about technological dependance (if there was one intended) didn't really hit the mark. One of my least favorite Black Mirror episode.

E2: Pro: Great acting by Andrew Scott and Topher Grace. The main character was a perfect anti-hero, who ended up being more human and empathic than expected. The way the tech company is shown to be always ahead of the police in the investigation was a fine narrative device. CON: The moral at the end of the story is a tad simplistic.

E3: Pro: The music and Miley Cirus being a dystopian version of herself. The pastiche of the typical Disney kid movie seemed to bother many viewers, but I thought it was intended as such, as a critique of a movie format/genre that put some kids lives and careers in the hands of unscrupulous producers and parents. CON: Some silliness.

 

How did it not make "psychological sense?"

 

SPOILER ALERT FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT SEEN THE EPISODE

Although I understand why Danny would be attracted by Roxette, why is Karl so much into Lance? In real life, he never shows any sign whatsoever of feeling attracted to a male human being. He clearly is into women. At some point I thought Karl was looking for something deeper than going from one inconsequential fling to another (like Mariella) and that somehow, he was fulfilling this need using the game as a proxy, because it would be socially unacceptable to engage sexually with a long-time friend. But he clearly feels no romantic or sexual attraction to Danny when they confront in real life at the end.

Or was Karl a repressed homosexual all along and up to the end? But then, there is nothing in the episode that suggest that in the world they live in, homosexuality is socially frown-upon and that Karl would have to hide in the closet.

Of course, maybe it's just me missing something...

 

Episode 1 would have made a decent "Love, American Style" vignette...had sexual fluidity been a palatable topic for network TV in 1970. It's not what I've come to expect from "Black Mirror," though.

Episode 2 started off promisingly enough - I thought, "Oh, good, a British one, this'll be done WELL!" Well...I admit I'm not familiar with Andrew Scott's oeuvre, but so far I've only seen him play the dangerously unbalanced Moriarty. Just a bit too much suspension of disbelief is required at every plot turn. I was going to binge all three and decided on an overnight palate-cleanse before moving onward.

Episode 3 was the best, and probably the only one I'll revisit down the road...but we've seen the

Spoiler

sentient-being-trapped-in-a-virtual-environment device twice before in this series, in "White Christmas" and again in "Black Museum." Three times if you count the crew of the "U.S.S. Callister."

Time for some new ideas.

 

I agree with your broader thesis, but the only thing I can think of that might make sense in this relationship dynamic is a line spoken by Karl about how it felt to have sex as a woman from a man's perspective. In fact, he couldn't put it into words at all, making it seem like a completely mind blowing experience. However, if that were the only hook, then I presume he could have had the same experience with any other male character...

 

New technology always seems to get linked to porn in the beginning somehow so to me the first episode was very plausible. That type of thing would/will be huge when it happens. The second episode was good but pretty safe. The Miley Cyrus one didn't work for me at all. An unknown actress would have been fine but Miley is far too recognizable & annoying for me to buy her on a Black Mirror episode. The best was the first episode.

 

This season was not only short but disappointing. If we had gotten three brilliant episodes maybe that would have made up for it.

 

There was no shortage of weak episodes in previous seasons. The new one is more or less on par with what came before.