Anthologies have become increasingly popular recently with the emergence of shows such as "American Horror Story," "Fargo," and of course "Black Mirror." "Black Mirror" tends to be the anthology that people most talk about though, with good reason. The show takes ideas of how modern technology affects us, and how it can possibly affect us in the future and runs with them to create science fiction stories that range from horrifying, to exciting or cheerful. To some, it is the "modern day 'Twilight Zone,' "as they both have a mix of science fiction, horror, and drama. Since it is an anthology, every episode focuses on different people and different technologies and it explains how the advancement of technology could come back to haunt us. Its satirical and future dystopian elements are difficult to dislike, especially for someone who is interested in how busted society can be such as myself.
Even if you are not into how busted society is, there are still episodes for you within the anthology such as the episode, "San Junipero," which is one of the few "happy ending" episodes. With all this being said, here are my strongly recommended, top seven Black Mirror episodes.
7. "Playtest" (Season 3, Episode 2)
In my opinion, this is definitely the scariest episode of the anthology. It starts off with an American thrill-seeker trying to keep his mind off his father's death by traveling the world. During his travels, he avoids his mother's calls due to his difficulty connecting to her after his father's death. In London, he realizes that his credit card number has been stolen, so he is stuck there. In an effort to make money, he goes to a video game company that has advertised payment in exchange for testing their new video game technology which is basically advanced virtual reality. The game that goes along with the technology is a horror video game that projects your fears into virtual reality. At first, the fears that are projected are small phobias such as spiders and a school bully. However, the game takes a turn for the worst when the projections become darker as the test goes on.
As mentioned before, what makes "Black Mirror" so good is how connections are made to technology that we have right now and "Playtest" does exactly this with their advanced virtual reality game. This episode shows what could happen if we go too far with virtual reality. Is it realistic as of right now? Probably not. Am I being too philosophical and "deep?" As an over-thinker, I probably am. However, it gives you something to think about in terms of how advancements in technology, such virtual reality games, are not always good for us. Or, if anything, it could just send you the message that you should call your parents once in a while.
6. "Shut up and Dance" (Season 3, Episode 3)
Truthfully, this episode is ranked in my top seven mostly because of how twisted and demented it is. The twist at the end is enough for it to be at the top of anyone's ranking of "Black Mirror" episodes. In the episode, a teenage boy downloads an anti-malware program to protect his computer from malware that his sister accidentally got onto his laptop. Not that weird so far, but it gets strange very fast after this. The program allows a hacker to view the teenager through his laptop camera and catches him doing something embarrassing which the hacker then uses to blackmail the teenager. The hacker threatens to send the embarrassing footage to everyone in his contacts unless he does everything the hacker tells him to do. The hacker makes the teenager do tasks such as riding his bike 45 minutes to pick up a cake, delivering the cake to another man, and even rob a bank.
Throughout the episode, the teenager's embarrassing act is never said outright until the end, of course. When it is revealed, you truly get a sense of how dark "Black Mirror" can be. Dark themes and plots such as this are usually hit or miss, but this anthology is definitely mostly hit and this episode is one of those hits. This episode does not carry any lesson or warning about the advancements of technology in it, but maybe one lesson that can be learned is to cover your laptop's camera lens if you do not want anyone to see what you are doing.
5. "Crocodile" (Season 4, Episode 3)
This episode starts off with a bang when a couple in Iceland accidentally run over and kill a biker on the countryside. The couple get rid of the body by throwing it in water and "forget" about the incident. Years later, when the couple are broken up, the death of the biker comes back to haunt the woman of the couple when the ex-boyfriend tells the woman he is thinking of turning himself in to clear his conscience.
The woman, who has earned a "normal" domestic lifestyle with a husband and a child, will do anything to keep this lifestyle so she decides to kill the ex-boyfriend in an effort to cover her tracks. This murder causes a downward spiral for the woman. It goes from bad to worse to worst, especially when an insurance claims adjuster uses a device to read her mind while all she can think about is the murders she has committed.
Although this episode provides an extremely exaggerated illustration, it shows the lengths that people will go to in order to maintain their "perfect" lifestyles. We may not commit murders, but we would do a great amount. Also in the episode is the technology that allows people to look at memories through a screen. I could not write about this that much without "spoiling" the episode for people who have not seen it but what I can say is that this technology is proven to be good under the circumstances of the episode, but it can also be bad in other situations such as when we tell little white lies which can get projected on a screen for the person you just lied to. Yes, permission must be given to be hooked up to this technology to see your thoughts, but if you refuse to show your thoughts after telling a lie, wouldn't this seem suspicious?
4. "Black Museum" (Season 4, Episode 6)
"Black Museum" is arguably the most interesting episode of the anthology as it contains three stories into one. It also shows some of the origins of the sci-fi technology that recurs throughout the anthology. A young woman is traveling in the desert and comes upon "Rolo Haynes's Black Museum." This museum is full of memorabilia, mostly sci-fi technology, that has been used for crimes. Rolo Haynes, the founder and owner of the museum, shows the young woman around and describes the stories of three different exhibits. The first exhibit being an implant that allowed the person with the implant to feel physical sensations of others. The next exhibit is a teddy bear that contains a woman's mind/thoughts. The last is the hologram of a convicted murderer on display where he can he electrocuted every time a lever is pulled. Not really your average dinosaur skeleton-museum, is it?
The description of this episode is so thin here is because there is simply too much to tell as it is three stories within one. You just have to see the episode to gain the appreciation for it. There are many interesting philosophical concepts and moral issues present such as, if a loved one was in a coma, would you preserve them by putting their mind/thoughts into someone or something else? Struggles with addiction are also included as well as themes of revenge. There is too much in this episode to describe the genius of it in a paragraph or two so as I said earlier, you simply have to watch it to understand.
3. "Hang the DJ" (Season 4, Episode 4)
What puts this episode in the top 3 is how relevant it is to today's society. Because of dating apps such as Tinder and Bumble, we are able to pick and choose (or pick and "swipe") random people who we are interested in based off of a few pictures and a bio to give them a "like" to let them know we are interested. However, what if this process was reversed? In this episode, "The System" matches people to have a romantic relationship and it even determines how long this relationship will last. The temporary matches are leading up to a "perfect match" that will come when all of the prior relationships "The System" generates are finished.
The main characters in the episode are Frank and Amy who are each other's first matches in "The System." They have 12 hours for their relationship which they do not mind at first because of their trust in "The System." After their relationship, they move onto other matches that "The System" makes for them and they soon realize that they were happier together than with their other meaningless relationships. Besides this problem of being stuck in other relationships, the biggest issue is that "The System" will not pair them up as the "perfect match."
As mentioned before, this episode is clearly taking shots at dating apps such as Tinder. It is also taking shots at apps that tell us the "match percentage" of us to another person. Questions are asked such as "how much should we trust this technology?" There is a struggle between a "System" matching us with our perfect match and us matching with people naturally. A possible theme for this episode is that natural human chemistry trumps the chemistry between people constructed by technology that is determined through a few bio questions and pictures.
2. "Nosedive" (Season 3, Episode 1)
Ever wondered what life would be like if our socioeconomic status was determined by ratings we received from others? No? I didn't think so, but it is an interesting concept as displayed in "Nosedive." In the episode, everyone carries around a smart-phone that is used to rate others from 0-5 based on social interactions with them. Everyone's life is basically determined by these ratings. There is a specific focus on Lacie Pound, who has a 4.2 rating and lives a good life. If she reaches a 4.5, she is eligible for a discount on a luxury apartment. The episode follows Lacie and her quest to achieve a 4.5 which goes to extreme lengths just to impress people so they give her a good rating.
This episode is second in my ranking because of the powerful message it sends. It examines and illustrates the ways technology and social status affect how we live our lives. We all want people to like us and we all want to have a good image in the mind of others. In fact, the image other people have of us determines a great amount of our lives already. Maybe not the ability to buy a luxury apartment for a discount price, but it does affect very obvious things such as the amount of friends we have and also more intricate things such as the jobs we are able to get. To explain further, sometimes you need connections to get a certain job that you want. If your image is negative to possible connections, then you are not getting that job you want.
1. "White Christmas" (Season 2, Episode 4)
While Christmas is supposed to be a cheerful and spirited time, this episode is not supposed to be that. However, there is a reason it is number one in my ranking and that is because of how well the story is told and the themes in it. The episode starts off with two men in a remote outpost on a snowy Christmas Day. It is not clear why the two men are there but it is revealed that they have been there for five years. Finally, the men talk about why they are there and stories of their past. In the interest of not spoiling anything, I cannot say much more about the episode other than dark events happened that caused the men to get to their isolated outpost.
What makes this episode the best, in my opinion, are the themes within it as mentioned earlier. As with most "Black Mirror" episodes, the theme is centered around how technology can be harmful to us and it is depicted in this story multiple times in terms of multiple technologies. One example from the episode is how people can be "blocked" from other people's lives if they choose. When this happens, the person who is blocked is a censored blob and not audible to the blocker.
This can be connected to how people block or become blocked on social media which is an interesting connection that the episode makes. I realize that for the number one ranking, this description and analysis is very short, but it is another episode that you just have to see to understand it and when you do, I am sure it will be at the top of your ranking as well.
