Charlie Brooker's BLACK MIRROR

I think I'd agree with that ranking too. Loved Hang The DJ, great leads and a happy ending for once! Metalhead was disappointing, especially that crap end shot.

Good series again and now I've finished it I'm glad Inside No. 9 is back!
 
I thought they were all good, but none of them were quite great.

1. Archangel - I agree this was the most run-of-the-mill Black Mirror story, but I also thought in some ways it was the most complete and realistic in a ' a version of this is probably going to genuinely be a thing in the near future' kind of way. The only one that gave me multiple "OH SHIT" moments.

2. USS Callister - Just great fun really (in as much as this show can be). I wasn't familiar with Michaela Cole before this but she was definitely a standout. I almost wish they'd swapped her with the main woman. I also felt like they made Jesse Plemons' character a little *too* gullible in the end.

3. Hang The DJ - Yeah, this would probably be more impressive if we hadn't already seen San Junipiero, but it was very sweet and the leads had excellent chemistry.

4. Metalhead - Definitely benefited from being quite short and bare bones - and from Maxine Peake being predictably amazing. The Teddy Bear reveal at the end was a bit :manson: though.

5. Black Museum - Some interesting ideas, and I'll be forever haunted by MONKEY NEEDS A HUG, but it didn't really hang together and I saw the twist coming a mile away.

6. Crocodile - Great performances but I felt like this was by far the most poorly written and filled with obvious plot holes. Also, I'm afraid I LOL'd pretty hard at the Guinea Pig reveal, which I presume wasn't the desired reaction.
 
I also re-watched Nosedive after and it really holds up. Bryce Dallas Howard's speech at the wedding at the end is incredible. I've never rated her in movies.
 
1. Black Museum - I loved this and didn't see the twist coming until about 10 seconds before it arrived. I agree with VOR - 'monkey needs a hug' was haunting. It was the first time I'd ever really felt anything about any of the 'alternative consciousness' stories (see my thoughts on USS Callister)
2. Crocodile - Andrea Riseborough's performance is outstanding, but it's incredibly bleak. (I do not think her face is forgettable - I think she's like a chameleon and looks utterly different in everything she ever does)
3. Arkangel - this seems to have had a bad rap from most people. I really enjoyed this and thought the premise was the closest to reality. I also thought Rosemarie Dewitt was excellent and the foreshadowing of the ending earlier on was clever.
4. Hang The DJ - really liked this (for me my 2-4 are interchangeable almost) and was rooting for them throughout. I actually liked the ending more than the ending of San Junipero. Simple and effective.
5. USS Callister - I guess this was the most original and in some ways the cleverest... But I struggled to care about the characters in the computer world when they were still happily having their own lives in the real world. I was like 'so what?'...
6. Metalhead - the only miss for me. Far too minimal for me (he considered doing this with zero dialogue - I'm glad he kept some at least). I just wanted to know a BIT more to care about the characters a bit more. I'd probably have kept one of the guys alive for a bit longer so that we could get more dialogue too.
 
VoR said:
I also re-watched Nosedive after and it really holds up. Bryce Dallas Howard's speech at the wedding at the end is incredible. I've never rated her in movies.
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Exactly this. Never rated her before but she's outstanding in Nosesdive. It's one of my favourites of all time.
 
01. USS Callister - strong likeable cast and th most fun.
02. Hang the DJ - works because of how adorable the two leads are together.
03. Crocodile - ridiculously nihilistic to the point that it feels like a parody.
04. Black Museum - went on a bit too long but the shorter stories work, they probably need to do the shorter length for more episodes.
05. Arkangel - silly and preachy but I really enjoyed the grown up daughter’s performance.
06. Metalhead - it’s ok but should have been like 15 minutes.
 
USS Calister was obviously the most enjoyable, I was willing to forgive the slightly tenuous storyline for what a joyous campy romp it was. I seem to be alone in thinking Arkangel was the best of the bunch. It seemed the most rooted in reality, and in that way the most relatable/realistic, some of the others were very far fetched and/or repeating concepts already explored in previous series. Metalhead was great cinematically, but at no point did I understand why or what was happening. (Can someone actually explain why they broke into that remote warehouse full of murderous robo dogs, apparently it was explained but went over my head)

By any other measure a great series, but at times it felt like the big budgets often masked a basic lack of plot. Nothing came remotely close to San Junipero, or for that matter (Arkangel withstanding) any of the season 3 episodes.

The lowest ebb was when the scottish woman killed the baby as she was a witness, but TWIST, baby was BLIND! But second TWIST, didn't kill the guinea pig!!! I actually thought it was a pretty decent episode till then.

Anyway, my anti-Phoenix Rank is

01: Arkangel
02: USS Callister
...
03: Crocodile
04: Hang the DJ (Good acting, but confusing concept, and seemed like a much, much weaker, feelgood episode compared to the eighties lesbian romp)
..........
05.Metalhead

........


06. Black Museum (act 2 was great, and could've carried a whole episode, but act 1 was dreadful, and act 2 was a word I can't think of that is worse than dreadful)
 
[QUOTE="Lucille]Can someone actually explain why they broke into that remote warehouse full of murderous robo dogs, apparently it was explained but went over my head)[/QUOTE]

It was a box of stuffed teddy bears.
 
I was hoping the Robodogs would turn out to be the future of Amazon drones.
 
I personally LOVED Metalhead. I thought it was creepy, tense, and Maxine Peak was just WONDERFUL. But I am quite biased as it was David Slade, who I'm a big fan off. Didn't they break in to retrieve a replica of a missing teddy bear for a dying child?

01. USS Callister
02. Metalhead
03. Crocodile
04. Hang the DJ
05. Black Museum
06. Arkangel
 
Count me into Metalhead. That it didn't really explain anything is neither here or there. It's a garish snapshot from a very wrong vision of the near future. We can only hope no-one deems bloodthirsty robot dogs something worth investing in.
 
Yeah metalheads was written after seeing those Boston Dynamics robots. I really enjoyed it, I love a dystpoian future where survival is bleak.
 
big ron said:
Yeah metalheads was written after seeing those Boston Dynamics robots. I really enjoyed it, I love a dystpoian future where survival is bleak.
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OH GOD

IMG_9795.jpg
 
I've seen this highly meme-able pic on gay Twitter a few times lately. No idea why I'm posting.

DTDVsC1W0AAghmx.jpg:large
 
I have only just caught up with series 1 & 2 (saw 3 last year). OMFG White Bear. Easily the standout.

Christmas special thingy to do and then on to series 4...
 
Kate said:
I have only just caught up with series 1 & 2 (saw 3 last year). OMFG White Bear. Easily the standout.

Christmas special thingy to do and then on to series 4...
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So late to the party. The party being a bleak nihilist one in a grey room where you have to torture your mum in a room full of paedophiles.
 
I've just re-watched season 4. In a way, it's much more consistent than series three, but with fewer standouts. Series three was much more up and down (e.g. Men Against Fire is terrible)

Ranking:

1. USS Callister. Fun. I'd rank it my second favourite ever.
2. Black Museum. Something for everyone. Rolo Haynes was great.
3. Hang the DJ. A little disappointing that they'd effectively tried to re-do San Junipero, but if that hasn't existed it would have been a marvel.
4. Crocodile. So fucking bleak. The bleakest episode they've ever done and it made me want more.
5. Metalhead. Disappointed in myself that i have to put it second to last, but there are too many unanswered questions.
6. Arcangel. The plot presented itself so obviously from the start. It was well acted, but too much "ah, just get to the bit where it all fucks up"
 
The Bandersnatch trailer dropped this morning, looks very retro, and is apparently a 'choose your own adventure' format.
 
There's a lot of very Black Mirror themes running through that trailer. I assume he's run out of fresh genre. Although that doesn't worry me, so long as the plot is dark and fantastical.
 
Ron Jr has been watching some sort of Minecraft choose your own on Netflix and he loves it, so I assume it will be the same tech used on Black Mirror.
 
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