Black Mirror S4 |OT| This Is Fine - December 29th on Netflix

[Lady Murasaki]

Mine would be [no preference order inside de category]:


God tier:
White Christmas
San Junipero
Nosedive
USS Callister
Hated In The Nation

Great tier:
Be Right Back
National Anthem
15 Million Merits
Shut Up And Dance
Men Against Fire

Okay tier:
Hang The DJ
Crocodile
Playtest
Black Museum

Bad tier:
Arkangel
Waldo Moment
Metalhead
White Bear
Entire History Of You

 

[Lady Murasaki]

I do have some minor nitpicks about USS Callister

I wish they would have had the guy attempt to ask her out, instead of creepily putting her in his fantasy game
Dude didn't even try... I get the feeling before she found out all that bad stuff, she wouldn't have minded to at least have a coffee with the dude

And the fact he was not complete god (or Q) in his simulation, that he had to manually chase after the crew in his shuttle or what not was soms suspension of belief for sake of drama, but oh well

Click to shrink...

I thought the same thing while watching, but after I read an article with an interesting analysis: It said that Daly didn't really like Nanette - but the idea of having her and especially, her praise and affection. That's why he doesn't do anything and only gets angry when the CEO notices her. He was taking his 'item'.

It wasn't even sexual, just a question of power. A guy who created such mods could make one where he could live sexual fantasies with the cookies if he wanted to - the thing is he didn't [putting the genitals in games joke aside].

His behavior reminds me a lot of the antagonist of The Collector [Frederick Clegg], by John Fowles. The guy in this book [a socially inept young man who is also a butterfly collector] kidnaps his dream girl and doesn't do ANYTHING to her besides keeping her his hostage - just to have HER and occasionally use his power over her.

 

[Medalion]

He removed her face in the start, but then let her off the hook a couple or so times after every infraction... seemed a bit weird to me, but oh well.

 

[Vuze]

Hang the DJ was pretty terrible imo. Easily my personal low light so far and I've only got Black Museum
left. Metal head on the other hand I found absolutely fantastic in a terrifying way because I'm sure this is feasible today. The lack of any concrete details made it incredibly intriguing to watch and imagine your own back story as another user pointed it above. Really good stuff.

 

[okayfrog]

What's everyone's power-rankings for the series looking like? Here's mine:

Click to shrink...

Something like

GOD TIER
--

HIGH TIER
The Waldo Moment
The Entire History of You
Nosedive
San Junipero
Metalhead

MID TIER
Fifteen Million Merits
Be Right Back
White Bear
White Christmas
Shut Up and Dance
Hated in the Nation
USS Callister
Arkangel
Hang the DJ
Black Museum

LOW TIER
The National Anthem
Playtest
Men Against Fire

SHIT TIER
Crocodile

Kinda what I'm thinkin' atm. Maybe Crocodile isn't as bad as I thought it was at first, but boy oh boy did it feel incredibly boring and pointless.

I think I'm literally the only person who really liked The Waldo Moment. And I'm okay with that.

Click to shrink...

It's the best episode of the show.

 

[Septimus Prime]

So, if we are to assume all of the Black Mirror episodes take place in the same universe but different times, what do you think the timeline is?

I want to say the episode closest to right now is probably Shut Up And Dance or National Anthem, and the furthest in the future is probably either 15 Million Merits or Metalhead.

Present
Shut Up and Dance
National Anthem
|
|
Nosedive
Arkangel
Crocodile
|
Playtest
USS Callister
|
Be Right Back
San Junipero
|
Black Museum
|
Entire History of You
|
White Christmas
|
?
?
?
|
Metalhead
|
?
?
?
|
15 Million Merits
Far Future

Something like that, maybe?

 

[Sean C.]

USS Callister ended up feeling more like Star Trek than the few episodes of Star Trek: Discovery I watched.

 

[Medalion]

USS Callister ended up feeling more like Star Trek than the few episodes of Star Trek: Discovery I watched.

Click to shrink...

I get it's cool to hate on Discovery, but hyperbole at its best because it surface level mimicks the cheesiest aspects of the Original Series, is what makes it more Star Trek in a good sense? That can't be all there is to Star Trek.

 

[Shane]

Just finished Hang the DJ. Loved it.

 

[Sean C.]

I get it's cool to hate on Discovery, but hyperbole at its best because it surface level mimicks the cheesiest aspects of the Original Series, is what makes it more Star Trek in a good sense? That can't be all there is to Star Trek.

Click to shrink...

The TOS spoof elements aren't what I was referring to.

Spoiler: USS Callister

The closing bit, with Cole and the crew off to explore the "universe" they're in, was a great encapsulation of the spirit of Trek.

 

[Guppeth]

So, if we are to assume all of the Black Mirror episodes take place in the same universe but different times, what do you think the timeline is?

I want to say the episode closest to right now is probably Shut Up And Dance or National Anthem, and the furthest in the future is probably either 15 Million Merits or Metalhead.

Present
Shut Up and Dance
National Anthem
|
|
Nosedive
Arkangel
Crocodile
|
Playtest
USS Callister
|
Be Right Back
San Junipero
|
Black Museum
|
Entire History of You
|
White Christmas
|
?
?
?
|
Metalhead
|
?
?
?
|
15 Million Merits
Far Future

Something like that, maybe?

Click to shrink...

I mostly agree, but I'd move Metalhead a lot closer to the present. We could build solar powered killer drones right now, they're just angry Roombas.

 

[Septimus Prime]

I actually googled some timelines, and I seem to be way off, compared to their interpretations. In my defense, though, I'm basing my timeline off the tech, whereas they are using mostly Easter eggs that seem to connect the episodes.

 

[Guppeth]

I actually googled some timelines, and I seem to be way off, compared to their interpretations. In my defense, though, I'm basing my timeline off the tech, whereas they are using mostly Easter eggs that seem to connect the episodes.

Click to shrink...

Yeah there are Merits eggs in episodes that are definitely set earlier.

 

[PoppaBK]

So anyone watching the electric dreams sci fi anthology series on amazon?

 

[Speevy]

I just started watching this show. It's weirdly addictive. I don't think you can pin down which are the best episodes because as this thread indicates, one person's favorite is another person's worst.

My favorite ones are those that take a batshit crazy idea and just run with it.

 

[Mike Works]

So, if we are to assume all of the Black Mirror episodes take place in the same universe but different times, what do you think the timeline is?

I want to say the episode closest to right now is probably Shut Up And Dance or National Anthem, and the furthest in the future is probably either 15 Million Merits or Metalhead.

Present
Shut Up and Dance
National Anthem
|
|
Nosedive
Arkangel
Crocodile
|
Playtest
USS Callister
|
Be Right Back
San Junipero
|
Black Museum
|
Entire History of You
|
White Christmas
|
?
?
?
|
Metalhead
|
?
?
?
|
15 Million Merits
Far Future

Something like that, maybe?

Click to shrink...

Someone's reading a comic about 15 Million Merits in Black Museum, so either 15MM is fictitious in the BM universe, or it happened before Black Museum.

 

[HardRojo]

Someone's reading a comic about 15 Million Merits in Black Museum, so either 15MM is fictitious in the BM universe, or it happened before Black Museum.

Click to shrink...

You got the

Spoiler

Wraith Babes

stuff in Crocodile too, and then there's Black Museum which outright confirms a couple of other episodes taking place in the same universe I believe.

 

[CloudWolf]

I absolutely hate how blatant the references got this season. Black Mirror shouldn't all be set in the same universe, that fact alone brings a ton of problems with it.

 

[Ryuhza]

You got the

Spoiler

Wraith Babes

stuff in Crocodile too, and then there's Black Museum which outright confirms a couple of other episodes taking place in the same universe I believe.

Click to shrink...

I remember someone mentioning

Spoiler

an incident involving one of the Hot Shots judges

in Crocodile as well. Can't recall the specifics though.

 

[Rhaknar]

Hang The DJ is probably my favourite Black Mirror episode now. Season itself has been ok-ish at best so far tho. Callister was alright, especially since it deals with one of my biggest fears

Spoiler

clones

, as was Crocodile but Arkangel was one of the series worst episodes.

Watching Metalhead now.

 

[Purdy]

Hang the DJ
Black Museum
USS Callister
Metalhead
Arkangel (seemed too similar to one from previous series)
Crocodile (Absolutely terrible)

 

[Prine]

Good:
Black Museum

Average:
Metalhead
Crocodile
Hang the DJ

Shit:
USS Calisster

Spoiler

AI's are disposable, always will be, i couldn't help but feel like the whole thing was a contrived example of nerdom trying to justify equivalence with humans. AI are created with a button. If a player wants to fantasize about being a brutal god, he can its his world. GTA games allow you to be what you want, the joy is in being able to feel thrill of experiencing otherwise terrible and brutal acts of violence, if you choose to. No one should be physically punished for it.

ArkAngle

Spoiler

Shit, predictable ending, expected something deeper then beating up her mother

Overall a very disappointing season, worst one yet.

 

[Speevy]

I think the biggest problem this show has is the way it ends.

They always get the dark twist aspect, but the actual last images on screen are always a bit off.

 

[hotcyder]

I'm surprised no one was much of a fan of Crocodile - It might be my favourite episode this series (apart from maybe the Pain Addict story of Black Museum)

Guess that's the magic of a 6 episode series - even if there's one you don't like, five others might be your speed

 

[Quantum Leap]

Wouldn't be surprised if Hang the DJ made a bunch of people break up

 

[Wollan]

A very solid season. My order:
1) USS Callister ; Top notch directing and a cool twist on the whole Star Trek formula. Practically flawless.
2) Hang the DJ ; Great chemistry between the main actors. One of the very best Black Mirror episodes.
3) Metalhead ; Tense. Disturbing audiovisuals similarly to the season 3 finale & Under the Skin.
4) Black Museum ; Segment featuring doctor was something.
5) Crocodile
6) Arkangel

 

[The Vathlonian]

Good:

Shit:
USS Calisster

Spoiler

AI's are disposable, always will be, i couldn't help but feel like the whole thing was a contrived example of nerdom trying to justify equivalence with humans. AI are created with a button. If a player wants to fantasize about being a brutal god, he can its his world. GTA games allow you to be what you want, the joy is in being able to feel thrill of experiencing otherwise terrible and brutal acts of violence, if you choose to. No one should be physically punished for it.

Overall a very disappointing season, worst one yet.

Click to shrink...

Well,

Spoiler

I disagree with your views on AI, but this is a little more complicated than that. Those people were created with DNA.

 

[Deleted member 15447]

I found every episode of this series well below the quality of all before it.

It was still ok and worth watching but it just didn't have that same Black Mirror magic.

 

[Paperboywriter]

Just saw the star trek episode. I really really liked it. Prob one of my favourite episodes.

 

[Karish]

So weird seeing metalhead get good reviews. Completely skippable IMO

 

[Mifune]

So anyone watching the electric dreams sci fi anthology series on amazon?

Click to shrink...

Only watched the first episode, which was only okay. Shame there's not a thread for it, given the talent involved (Cranston, Ronald D. Moore).

 

[Quantum Leap]

So weird seeing metalhead get good reviews. Completely skippable IMO

Click to shrink...

We'll see your opinion when Boston Dynamics property goes rouge. I though it was a beautiful and sharp looking black and white episode in HDR.

 

[Feral]

I'm surprised no one was much of a fan of Crocodile - It might be my favourite episode this series (apart from maybe the Pain Addict story of Black Museum)

Click to shrink...

controversial episode, but quite a few people like it as well. I though it was the second-best of the season after Callister, it had more going for it than the rest of the bunch - I liked it more than four of last season's episodes as well. Can't say I was a fan of the first story of Black Museum (though the others were much worse, still), despite Douglas Hodge's amazing performance

 

[Fuu]

Just finished it. Excellent season as usual.

Black Mirror has reached a zenith that's similar to Zelda's, a series with releases that are so good that people can only realistically compare the new ones to previous entries, because if you compare it to everything else it always excels. It also makes viewers develop certain expectations and want the same type of high from every episode, which can only lead to disappointment. Regardless, even the "bad" Black Mirror episodes are still leagues ahead of the better episodes from most TV shows.

I hope Netflix keeps giving Charlie Brooker money to make more until he wants to stop. The fact it's an anthology TV show is valuable enough considering how hard that is to exist/work.

side note: I'm so glad I waited for my 4K TV to arrive before I watched this season.

 

[CrankyJay]

Just finished as well.

In order I'd rank them:

Hang the DJ
Metalhead
USS Callister
Arkangel
Black Museum
Crocodile - best cinematography though. Gorgeous episode. Where was this filmed?

 

[Zeus The Dino]

Yooo black museum is amazing
Everything i want from a black mirror episode

 

[Mifune]

Oh shit, Crocodile was nasty. I kinda loved it. Gorgeously shot and tense as hell. Bring John Hillcoat back!

 

[Guppeth]

I enjoyed Black Museum but I couldn't accept

Spoiler

the infinite torture keychains. If their consciousness is trapped in a repeating moment of agony then they won't experience time, so it won't feel like infinite torture.

And if it does feel like infinite torture, there's no victory for the girl. She released one copy of her dad but there are still hundreds out there screaming forever.

Crocodile - best cinematography though. Gorgeous episode. Where was this filmed?

Click to shrink...

Iceland.


edit: forgot to spoiler the spoilers, sorry.

edit edit: although the OP says mark spoilers until the 12th so I guess it didn't matter.

 

[Galkinator]

So I watched episode 5 - Metalhead yesterday, can anyone shed some light on the ending?

Spoiler

There were a lot of teddy bears in the box at the end while the dogs were searching the place. What's the meaning of that?
Overall, I'm not sure if I didn't "get" this episode, or that there is simply nothing to "get". I'm used to every episode of Black Mirror having some sort of a theme, twist or message but this episode felt like it was just a random post apocalyptic tv show with not much explanation.

 

[xrnzaaas]

Okay, done with the second part of the season. :)

Hang the DJ was a very enjoyable episode. It really helped that they picked good actors for the main two roles.
Metalhead didn't feel like a Black Mirror episode at all. Would've been a cool horror movie on its own I reckon.
Black Museum felt a lot like the Christmas episode. The stories and the ending were very good, but I'm not sure if I'm a fan of the Black Mirror Episodic Universe. ;)

 

[Guppeth]

So I watched episode 5 - Metalhead yesterday, can anyone shed some light on the ending?

Spoiler

There were a lot of teddy bears in the box at the end while the dogs were searching the place. What's the meaning of that?
Overall, I'm not sure if I didn't "get" this episode, or that there is simply nothing to "get". I'm used to every episode of Black Mirror having some sort of a theme, twist or message but this episode felt like it was just a random post apocalyptic tv show with not much explanation.

Click to shrink...

Spoiler: Metalhead

A sick child lost their teddy. They were looking for a replacement from the warehouse.

 

[Seesaw15]

Geez, finally got around to watching Archangel. Worse episode of tv I've seen in a while.Jodie Foster isn't the best director but even knowing that I was shocked by how badly everything was handled.

 

[Jombie]

I've been going through the episodes and some of the themes become really redundant to the point of self-satire. Some also feel dark for the sake of being dark, it particularly feels tacked on in season 4.

Also, in Arkangel,

Spoiler

how did the school nurse magically know Sara took a EC?

 

[CrankyJay]

So I watched episode 5 - Metalhead yesterday, can anyone shed some light on the ending?

Spoiler

There were a lot of teddy bears in the box at the end while the dogs were searching the place. What's the meaning of that?
ROverall, I'm not sure if I didn't "get" this episode, or that there is simply nothing to "get". I'm used to every episode of Black Mirror having some sort of a theme, twist or message but this episode felt like it was just a random post apocalyptic tv show with not much explanation.

Click to shrink...

It's humans showing humanity. Not every thing has to have a hidden meaning.

Some people will do anything for

Spoiler

children

 

[Deleted member 888]

I caught the first episode last night, that was amazing. Even with it borrowing a bit from older episodes, it was still a damn fun and creative episode.

 

[rzmunch]

Watched 4 episodes so far

Hang the DJ (it was pretty obvious but I really liked it) > USS Callister > Crocodile (It was worse than Arkangel till the plot twist at the end) > Arkangel

 

[ProfessorLobo]

I've been going through the episodes and some of the themes become really redundant to the point of self-satire. Some also feel dark for the sake of being dark, it particularly feels tacked on in season 4.

Also, in Arkangel,

Spoiler

how did the school nurse magically know Sara took a EC?

Click to shrink...

I was going to say this exact same thing. The "horror" of the first two seasons was an unsettling feeling that this could happen in the not too distant future. The horror of this season is "What if you could download one thousand consciousnesses into a dark box forever and ever omg no!"

I liked White Christmas but that episode probably started this trend with their cookie torture. Digitizing consciousness is just not that interesting to me, probably because I don't think it will ever happen.

 

[adrem007]

I've watched 4 episodes so far and they are all kinda meh, Callister is ok, Hang the dj is ok, but Arkangel and Crocodile are garbage.

 

[Iron]

Great tier:
White Christmas
Entire History Of You

Good tier:
National Anthem
15 Million Merits
Black Museum
White Bear
Shut Up And Dance
San Junipero
USS Callister
Arkangel
Waldo Moment

Okay tier:
Hated In The Nation
Be Right Back
Hang The DJ
Metalhead
Nosedive
Men Against Fire
Crocodile

Bad tier:
Playtest

 

[EnlightenedMint]

I'm watching Black Museum and the first two stories are things that Karl Pilkington pitched years ago on their podcast lol