Netflix series black mirror

[The Catcher In The Rye]

My top 5 heading into the new season:

Be Right Back
White Christmas
San Junipero
White Bear
Shut Up and Dance

Definitely those five— I think in that order but I haven’t rewatched recently enough to firmly differentiate.

I barely remember season 5 so I can’t do a full bottom 5.

Bottom 2:

Crocodile
Metalhead


Gonna watch the first two tonight with some folks and rewatch some older episodes on my own, eager to see how these 5 compare!

Upon completion of the sixth season, I have a new list of best and worst episodes.

Top 5:
Be Right Back
White Christmas
San Junipero
White Bear
Shut Up and Dance

Bottom 4:
Demon 79
Crocodile
Metalhead
Mazey Day

Holy shit, this season got a lot worse as it went on and the start wasn't great.

Season 6 rankings:

1. Joan Is Awful- Funnier than many comedies, a little cliche but the best this season has to offer. It's a real Black Mirror episode examining the impact of technology on humanity and it offers something to actually think about. 7/10
2. Loch Henry- Decent episode, best twist of the season. With no futurism or real technology angle, this was the best of the three non-traditional episodes. 5.5/10
3. Beyond the Sea- This was the only other episode with a meaningful twist, though I didn't buy it. And the ending felt incomplete, hopefully there was a post-credits scene I missed but there wasn't much resolution.
   Spoiler

   We should have been able to see Cliff's reaction-- Are we to believe that he just took a seat? David's actions were irrational but I can accept that he was mentally broken.
   And the technology didn't make sense for 1969! If that could be done in 1969, the modern timeline should be much further along-- I'm not sure San Junipero would have even happened. I have to rewatch that to be sure but I think this technology would be a better alternative for disabled people than what is offered years later in San Junipero.
   Spoiler

   I'm also not sure why the humans are in space as opposed to their replicas in the first place???
   Subpar but an interesting concept and a real Black Mirror episode. There are elements of greatness with questionable execution. I could imagine this episode as a 9/10 or 10/10. The only one of the final three even worth discussing other than for how bad they were. 6.5/10
4. Demon 79- How was this a Black Mirror episode? I thought all the episodes were supposed to be in one universe but this couldn't have happened in 1979 if the other episodes followed. Just coming off of Yellowjackets, I'm really burnt out on supernatural shit displacing more interesting interactions between humans. 2.5/10
5. Mazey Day- Good lord, this was some stupid shit. Again, not a Black Mirror episode. What was even the point? Demon 79 was a classic by comparison. 0.2/10

If the creator of the series is tired of making Black Mirror episodes, he should just start making something else. I don't think what he delivered this season was Black Mirror.

 

[The Catcher In The Rye]

Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker explains 'Red Mirror' label

The final episode, Demon 79, included an intriguing intro.

www.radiotimes.com

Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker explains 'Red Mirror' label​

The final episode, Demon 79, included an intriguing intro​

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With Black Mirror season 6 finally arriving, fans have been left curious about a tidbit in the fifth and final episode, Demon 79.​

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The episode is one of the more bizarre of the season, following main character Nida (Anjana Vasan) who's told by charismatic demon Gaap (Paapa Essiedu) that she has to murder three people or face the end of the world.​

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At the start of the episode, and indeed in the trailer for Black Mirror season 6, Demon 79 is described as being presented by "Red Mirror", an apparent new label marking this episode out from others.​

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Charlie Brooker has explained that this is because of the slight shift in focus - where previous episodes have always centred on tech, this one has no notable technology at its centre-point.​

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Brooker said: "Demon 79 opens with a 'Red Mirror presents' title sequence, marking it out as 'different-from-yet-adjacent-to' Black Mirror. This is because, typically, Black Mirror has focused on tech dystopias or media satire, whereas this story has a stronger supernatural element, harking back to 1970s horror. The episode is almost unclassifiable."​

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Chatting to RadioTimes.com and other press about the decision, Brooker said we could "possibly" see more episodes under the label.​

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"It depends what people make of it and how it gets received and this that and the other," he added.​

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"It was really really useful as a sort of refresh - a reset. When Black Mirror started, it was 2011 and at the time, there weren’t many shows that looked like it or there weren’t many shows where someone looked at a smartphone frankly, let alone obsessed over one and sat there staring at it until it ruined them. It felt like there’s quite a few shows with dystopian sci-fi technical themes.​

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"So, partly what I was doing, I was setting myself a task of ‘What if I think of some storylines that aren’t to do with technology and are to do with horror or set in the past?’ It was partly doing that and then through doing that, we got an episode – Demon 79, which is set in 1979 and is almost like a companion piece to Black Mirror.​

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"Hopefully, psychologically, it still feels like a Black Mirror episode. What that also did was, the process of thinking of things in that way, then unlocked things like Beyond The Sea where when I’d first thought of that idea, I thought of it as a near-future story that would’ve been set in 2045 or whenever. But as soon as you think ‘Well, what if I set it in the past?’, it becomes a different story and the characters in it are behaving differently. So it was just very interesting. Again, it’s a longwinded answer but the answer is maybe.”​

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As he previously explained, Brooker has embraced more horror in season 6 and is hoping to subvert everyone's expectations.​

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Speaking at a Q&A and preview of Black Mirror season 6 episode Beyond the Sea at BFI Southbank, the writer said: “This season I started out doing some with a very different take – a Red Mirror film, and almost like a crime and horror-led sister label, so to speak. And in doing that, I thought, ‘I’ll shake up what I think a Black Mirror episode is’.”​

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When asked whether it's fair to say that this upcoming season has more horror than previously, Brooker said: “This season overall, we’ve also got probably one of our most overtly comic ones that we’ve ever done, which is Joan Is Awful. But certainly, there’s quite a lot of horror."​

---------------------------------------------------

At least the show is aware that this wasn't really Black Mirror. If Brooker wants to continue in this direction, I hope he does create another franchise like Red Mirror.

Seems like Black Mirror was already over and this was more the launch-- or test-- of something new.

"Almost like a companion piece to Black Mirror." Almost like the audience was conned into watching something else.

 

[The Catcher In The Rye]

Remember this show is all confirmed to supposedly be in one universe...

Black Mirror Shared Universe Confirmed - Here Is What It Looks Like

Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker has confirmed that all episodes of the show take place within the same universe. We figure out how.

www.denofgeek.com

And this continues into season 6, with Steamberry offering Joan is Awful, Loch Henry and Sea of Tranquility:

The first mention of Sea of Tranquility comes in the first ever episode of Black Mirror, 2011's "The National Anthem." In that episode, Prime Minister Michael Callow is blackmailed into performing an unsavory deed on a pig on live television as a means of saving a member of the royal family from being killed in a kidnapping plot. Before he is forced to carry that out by episode's end, attempts are made to cheat with one plan being an adult film star will act as Callow with a visual effects artist putting Callow's image on his head to sell the illusion. ​

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Enter, a minor character named Noel, a visual effects artist from an FX house called Blue Eye. According to another character in the episode "he won an Emmy for his effects work on that HBO moon western thing," which Noel then reminds him is none other than "Sea of Tranquility." That's about where it begins and ends, as no other references to Sea of Tranquility are found in the first two seasons of Black Mirror. Now, enter Netflix.​

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Season three of Black Mirror, produced and released by Netflix, is quick to bring Sea of Tranquility back into the fold, one of countless Easter eggs seen in the show's American-produced episodes. In episode 3.01, "Nosedive," Bryce Dallas Howard's Lacie is in need of a ride and does her best to secure one from some Sea of Tranquility fans. The group is on their way to "Tranquility Con," dressed in costume with their fellow "Tranq Heads." ​

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We get a bigger idea of what the fake Black Mirror TV show is like here, as Lacie looks it up online to fake beign a fan. As seen on the page, Sea of Tranquility is described as "Japanese sci fi fantasy anime series" followiong: "Lt. Duster and his crew battle against the evil intergalactic empire putting their evil rules across the universe destroying and enslaving everything in their path. LT Duster is a former omega pilot who defected from the cruel intergalactic empire." This marks the only time Sea of Tranquility is referred to as an animated project. ​

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The next reference to Sea of Tranquility is news that the series is being "rebooted," with references to new episodes of the show seen in Black Mirror season 5 episodes "Smithereens" and "Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too." With this week's new season of Black Mirror, even more references to Sea of Tranquility can be found. ​

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The Black Mirror episode "Joan Is Awful" has the most overt reference, with Joan and her fiancé scrolling past Sea of Tranquility on the Streamberry app. A description for it can be found there too, reading: "HBO's seminal sci-fi western returns fo a climactic tenth series. Follow our intrepid crew as the manifest destiny far beyond safety of the Inner Worlds.." Sea of Tranquility then gets another reference in episode 4, "Mazey Day," when an actor named Justin Camley, said to star in the series, is found dead in his home.​

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So in short, Sea of Tranquility is whatever the writers of Black Mirror want it to be. It's a cheeky reference to TV and television fandoms that they can deploy without really committing to making fun of something specifically. It's also of note that yes, a book named Sea of Tranquility exists, from Emily St. John Mandel, but is not connected to Black Mirror at all.​

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https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/news/netflix-black-mirror-sea-of-tranquility-explained/

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In Mazey Day, Sea of Tranquility star Justin Camley is found dead in his home. The series is on the Steamberry menu in Joan Is Awful and even mentioned in the very first episode of the Black Mirror.

So Mazey Day is supposedly a part of the same timeline as every other episode.

I introduce all of this to say, simply:

Spoiler

Werewolves? Really???

 

[Stix-N-Stonz]

Not m favorite season.

 

[The Catcher In The Rye]

Spoiler

I did a Twitter search for “Black Mirror werewolf”:

 

[bubba2k5]

Thought I’d be the only one that hated this season. Joan is awful was good, but the rest. And Maezy Day was by far the worse black mirror episode ever.

 

[RoomService]

Thought I’d be the only one that hated this season. Joan is awful was good, but the rest. And Maezy Day was by far the worse black mirror episode ever.

Shit is wet garbage!

 

[REDLINE]

This shitty season was ass cheeks and they need to release seasons 7, 8 and 9 tomorrow to make up for this shit.

But then again they’d probably be shitty too.

 

[The Catcher In The Rye]

‘Black Mirror’ Season 6, Episodes 3-5 Recap

Joanna and Van discuss the final three episodes from the new season

www.theringer.com

This is a great review-- Interesting discussion of the third episode and an, IMO, AMAZING breakdown of episode 5 as a metaphor. Doesn't make it my favorite episode but it does make me appreciate it a bit more.

 

[Costanza]

So if I haven't watched this before, should I start at season 1

It's an anthology like The Twilight Zone. (Which I'm going to watch some of for the first time soon.)

So the order doesn't matter...

I'd recommend you start with season 6 so you can experience the contemporary conversation on it, then you can go back and start from the beginning.

Did you try it?

 

[blackbull1970]

Black Mirror
Season 7
6 New Episodes Coming In 2025
Including A Sequel to “USS Callister”

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USS Callister
Black Mirror
December 29, 2017

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[Costanza]

Black Mirror
Season 7
6 New Episodes Coming In 2025
Including A Sequel to “USS Callister”

They need to stick to announcing this shit six months in advance.

What the fuck does "New episodes coming in 2025" do for anybody?

I'm less satisfied now than I was two minutes ago-- More shit to wait for.

 

[playahaitian]

Charlie Brooker on Predicting the Future, ‘Black Mirror’ Season 7 and His “USS Callister” Sequel

The AI-focused episode "Joan Is Awful" wasn't the first time the writer/creator saw the writing on the wall with his Netflix show, but it was the timeliest: "I feel like I'm living in a simulation," he recalls.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

 

[phanatic]

So if I haven't watched this before, should I start at season 1

Yes. Don't just watch, absorb it. This is a modern day Twilight Zone that addresses sociological issues. It's a deep ass show.

 

[phanatic]

My top 5 heading into the new season:

Be Right Back
White Christmas
San Junipero
White Bear
Shut Up and Dance

Definitely those five— I think in that order but I haven’t rewatched recently enough to firmly differentiate.

I barely remember season 5 so I can’t do a full bottom 5.

Bottom 2:

Crocodile
Metalhead


Gonna watch the first two tonight with some folks and rewatch some older episodes on my own, eager to see how these 5 compare!

You put Metalhead at the bottom? Really? I thought it showed the lengths that good people would go through.