In case you had forgotten that we live in a technology-riddled wasteland almost certainly bound for doom,Black Mirroris here to remind you. From the seemingly misanthropic mind ofCharlie Brooker,Black Mirror– which made waves on American soil a few years ago once the Channel 4 series found its way onto Netflix – has quickly become the 21st century’s answer toThe Twilight Zone. But, to qualify it as such would be to shortchange the series, which swaps the original’s xenophobic fears of invasion for the newfound cult of misplaced hubris and updates the show’s technological anxieties for our modern world. Brooker has created a series that packs a serious wallop of immediacy and creeping paranoia.
Taking its name from the screens that increasingly rule our world, the series mines its scares both from tech that we know (smart phones, social media) and tech that has yet to be invented, planting its feet in the future while grounding its more outlandish ideas in gritty, human experience. Marked with a greyed-future pallor and unflinchingly dark tone,Black Mirrorcertainly isn’t a “pick-me-up” sort of sci-fi series, but it is one of our most creepily prescient.
23. The Waldo Moment
On the bright side, “The Waldo Moment” certainly provides the binge-Black Mirrorviewer a much-needed reprieve from the crushing darkness of the series. But the fun of the show’s foray into politics almost ends there. Joyless and never quite as clever as it fancies itself to be, there’s little about “The Waldo Moment” that makes a strong enough argument for its existence, despite the boost the outlandish political climate might have given it. Centering on a strange, political campaign that posits what would happen if an apolitical, brutally honest comedian (who also happened to be represented publicly as an animated blue bear named Waldo) attempted to run for elected office. Not quite sci-fi, more plainly dystopic, “The Waldo Moment” tracks the slow corruption of the political character, as he grows from tasteless leader to a mean-spirited despot that cashes in on his popularity to demand violent acts from his supporters. But by the time the episode bows, with Waldo as a strangely inflated political figure mimicking the movements of some sort of oppressive Reich, there’s little to do but laugh it off and head back to Twitter to see what new fresh hell our POTUS has wrought.
22. Men Against Fire
Despite all of its self-serious presentation, it’s awfully difficult to find the edge in “Men Against Fire.” Following a young soldier in a near-future dystopia meant to hunt down monsters called “cockroaches” for what appears to be the U.S. government, Brooker’s exercise in the war and combat genre lacks the visual flair or compelling choreography that marks the best of the style, while slowly uncovering what might have been a genuinely disturbing central secret. The protagonist, who’s characterized by little other than his own incredible desire to bone a beautiful girl conjured up in his mind’s eye, is so smooth-edged and impenetrable that there’s nothing much to hold on to, making the inevitable pain and personal meltdown he’s meant to go through before the episode is up seem more like a narrative imperative rather than emotionally stirring stuff. The strength of “Men Against Fire” lies almost entirely in it’s “gotcha” – an inquiry of racism and prejudice that seems unfortunately immediate, but it’s so strongly hedged in heavy-handed messaging and, frankly, hammy acting that anything worthwhile gets lost in some awfully melodramatic clutter.
21. Metalhead
It has to be said: no other episode ofBlack Mirrorfeels quite as pointless as “Metalhead,” an episode-long chase sequence featuring a particularly nasty bit of violent AI. At 40 minutes long, it’s likely the show’s shortest episode yet, but it drags anyway, somehow unhelped by its manic pacing and thumping score. Shot in black-and-white in an obvious attempt to spice up the actual events on screen, even the capable David Slade (Hannibal,American Gods) can’t make hay out of a script that’s already DOA.
20. Smithereens
There might be no better emblem ofBlack Mirror’scontinued diminishing returns thanSmithereens. Featuring predictably solid performances fromFleabag’sresident hot priestAndrew ScottandSnowfall’sDamson Idris, what begins as a high-tension hostage situation gone wrong devolves into a hollow cautionary tale that ultimately reads more like a PSA than an emotionally compelling story. Even the appearance of a woke, ZuckerbergianTopher Gracecan’t save the episodes’ clunker of an ending, an ultimate conclusion that isn’t so much shocking for its darkness but for its obviousness, a lame reach at sentimentality that makes plain the one-dimensional critique on display.
19. Shut Up and Dance
If you’ve seen “Shut Up and Dance,” you can commiserate: never before hasBlack Mirrordelivered such a compelling, masterfully handled introduction only to toss it all away with a few final moments. The episode traces a young man who, after having his computer hacked by a malicious tech overlord, is led on a series of increasingly difficult and dangerous tasks throughout the suburbs of England to prevent a video of him masturbating on his webcam from hitting the internet. Handled with a cruelly calibrated efficiency, “Shut Up and Dance” speeds along rain-soaked streets all the while ratcheting up the sadism and the suspense. But a final coda, that turns the episode not just into one of the series’ least plausible yet but also one of its shallowest, entirely deflates the cinematic sequences that preceded it. “Shut Up and Dance” certainly has its merits, but it’s also perhaps the most succinct example of just how wrongBlack Mirrorcan go.
18. Black Museum
After the success of Brooker’s three-episode compendium “White Christmas,” Season 4 attempted to recreate the multi-episode magic with an unsubtle (but intriguing) framing device: every devastatingly dark piece ofBlack Mirror’stechnology contained in one very real “Black Museum.” Unfortunately, the unimaginative window dressing is just the beginning, and despite a few bright spots (the hard-to-watch short on pain addiction is near-perfect camp), it lacks the cohesion and ingenuity of previous compendium episodes and lacks a strong enough identity to distinguish itself from the pack.
17. Hated in the Nation
It’s a bold move to make the final episode of your season feature-length, and while I’m not wholly convinced that “Hated in the Nation” earns its 90-minute runtime, it is a welcome change of pace that nonetheless delivers all of the elements ofBlack Mirrorwe’ve come to expect. Leaning heavily into itsX-Filesinfluence, the episode follows Karin Parke (afantasticKelly Macdonald), researching the sudden death of a political figure who’d recently come under malicious social media attack, only to uncover a slow-growing hashtag – #DeathTo – that seems to be literally killing people, as vindictive social media users take to Twitter and Facebook to “vote” for the person they decide, en masse, deserves to die that week. The whole plot is rather convoluted, involving new, insect-like technology developed by the government after the bee population numbers began to threaten our entire agricultural system, but for all its outlandishness, “Hated in the Nation” certainly manages to be terrifying in its vision of swift, unchecked punishment in the new republic of social media.
16. Crocodile
For what it’s worth, “Crocodile” has one of the strongest openings of the entire series. A couple speeds along an icy Iceland road dancing to Goldfrapp, but their reverie is interrupted by the sudden impact of a lone pedestrian on the frigid freeway. It’s a terrifying prospect, andJohn Hillcoat(Triple Nine, Lawless) captures senses of guilt and dread to an impressive degree. But by the time the episode introduces its central technology (a device that can access your raw impressions of events), the inevitable conclusion looms so large as to make the rest of the episode feel like it’s just marking time. That is, until its final moments, when it doubles down on its darkness and quickly transforms from an episode with nightmarish potential to one that’s all-too ready to be lampooned.
15. Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too
If you’ve ever wondered whatBlack Mirrormight look like if it was reskinned as an episode ofHannah Montana,Rachel, Jack and Ashley Toois about as close as you’re going to get. Zeitgeisty and familiar at once (rememberS1m0ne?),Miley Cyrus’Black Mirrorbow is an odd tonal mix of Brooker’s trademark cheerlessness, pop world cynicism and Disney channel quips that coalesces into an episode that’s compulsively watchable, if not strictly good. A dual narrative exploring the increasingly sinister life of vacuum-sealed pop star Ashley O. (Cyrus) and a young fan (Angourie Rice) who’s gifted a mini-robot version of the pop star (the titular Ashley Too), the episode is a well-trod look at how we commodify and merchandise celebrities.Rachel, Jack and Ashley Toomight be nothing new, but it still feels like a breath of fresh air.
14. Bandersnatch
On the day of the surprise drop of Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, Netflix’s answer to long-running rumors about a “choose your own adventure”-style episode of the show, questions flew. In a world where games and books like this have existed for years, how “groundbreaking” could this formula really be? Would giving viewers endless choice potentially ruin the experience of those who resolutely choose the most boring narrative option? And, inevitably, is this the end of traditional narrative television as we know it? As it turns out, answering those questions often turned out to be more nuanced and challenging than the episode itself, which works pretty impeccably as a gameable oddity, but not particularly well as an episode of television – and even less so as an episode ofBlack Mirror. As a gorgeously shot choose-your-own-adventure game, Brooker and theBandersnatchcreative crew deeply understand that the charm of the experience is in providing users choices that are both massive and inconsequential: the ability to pick both your breakfast cerealanda person to hurtle down from a balcony makes it feel visceral and detailed; while its meta-story bent feels decidedly fresh. Still, asAdam Chitwood notes in his full review of the episode, the end result is a story that, for all its options, provides no solid satisfying outcome. It’s a wishy-washy approach to a show that’s previously built its charm on cruel twists and harsh outcomes, that feels at its best like a stylishly reskinned PC artifact, and at its worst, a betrayal of the show’s original ethos.
