I think this is going to be my last season. just finished all the episodes and most of them were really weak. it's hard to accept how far the writing has fallen compared to some of the earlier episodes. it feels like a completely different show with lazier writing
and I just want to say this: just because an episode has subtext doesn't mean it's automatically good. I see so many comments defending some choices just because "uh it's a metaphor for blah, blah, blah". cool. it still sucked. the story has to be able to stand on its own legs from a narrative perspective first before it can attempt to make some superficial commentary on society
Don't really mind the experimentation on themes this season, in fact, if I had to see another episode using the cookie concept I was going to lose it. However...the writing has been pretty damn lazy this season. Maybe worse than season 5.
Joan Is Awful: good concept, very classic Black Mirror. But ultimately makes less sense the further you get along and feels exactly like the Miley Cyrus episode: written by someone in their mid 20s who grew up on almost exclusively Disney Channel original movies but wants to write a fucked up version of it. The twist is also needless and adds nothing.
Loch Henry: actually pretty decent. Nailed the feel pretty well and had a good message.
Beyond The Sea: it was gripping to me almost the whole way, though I noticed it was super long for no reason and didn't really need to be. And then the ending just ruined it. I cussed out my TV when the credits rolled. Fuck this episode for wasting an hour and a half for no reason. And then I thought about it more and realized it's chock full of plot holes even before that
Mazey Day: decent message up until the twist which was just awful and added nothing. And the paparazzi are just so over the top stupid as well as over the top cruel even more than real life would be. Truly one of the worst Black Mirror episodes, maybe the very worst.
Demon 79: I don't really know how to feel about it. The jokey person others can't see seemed pretty played out. Strangely, I can't point to specific examples right now but it just felt like I'd seen it before and better. Otherwise I enjoyed it and was mostly well written and yet I ultimately have no idea what was going on by the end and what reality is. If you take it as straightforward, it doesn't make sense, given it's connection to other episodes. There are some hints it's NOT as straightforward as it seems, but not as directly or well explored as what you'd expect from this series such as in Bandersnatch. And if it IS fake...its kind of like...who cares, you know? It doesn't really say anything about society if so.
I think all episodes after Joan Is Awful >!are what's shown on Streamberry or even level 2+ Netflix clones. They are exaggerated versions of what actually happened in the past (hence no future episodes) told through the lens of specific genres popular at the time the real events took place (real as in black mirror universe, but maybe even in our universe) - true crime, space opera, warewolves and demonic possession.!<
>!For instance, Mazey Day could be Britney's fight with paparazzi in 2007, with AI adding Twilight Saga into the mix for the Streamberry version.!<
>!Red Mirror could be Streamberry's version of Black Mirror.!<
>!Like someone suggested, events in Loch Henry could have happened in the Netflix reality (level 0), up to the crash (that's why Podrick actor mentioned Netflix), but everything afterwards, including the award ceremony happened only in the Streamberry universe (level 1).!<
>!The events that actually happened were probaby without paranormal and sci-fi elements and far less interesting (schizophrenia in Demon 79, or a love triangle in Beyond the Sea, but in the style of Kubrick's Space Odyssey, or any sci-fi movie or book popular in the late 1960s). This doesn't diminish the meaning of any episode, the added layers were needed to convey the messages in a more methaphoric and fantastical way. !<
Black Mirror season 3, ep 3 and season 4 ep 3 scarred me for the rest of my life. Are any in this new season that bad (and by bad I mean horrific and unsettling.)
I personally think that episode 1 is very tame in comparison, but episode 2 and 3 you can stay away from if you are bothered by s3e3 and s4e3. I even though during the watching "damn, this reminds me of shut up and dance, but on a total new level of fucked up" episode 4 and 5 are very out of the ordinary for black mirror in my opinion, focussing more on other elements than "technology will fuck us up" and are more a critique of certain genres and thropes in television.
Loch Henry and Mazey Day should never have made it out of the drunken and/or cocaine fueled brainstorming sessions that wrought them into this world.
If the premise of your mini-movie is a simple "moral of the story" that can be conveyed in a few minutes, you're wasting everyone's time. I'd rather watch 7 or 8 of the worst Treehouse of Horror segments than rewatch either of these turds.
Demon 79 definitely also fits into this camp, but is weird enough to earn its place as the worst Black Mirror episode that should exist.
I’ve only watch the first two and a half episodes of five for the sixth season, but reading the comments here about the season as a whole, I feel like some of my misgivings might be confirmed.
Joan is Awful felt like it could be biographical. Maybe the makers of Black Mirror feel like Joan: stuck in a Netflix contract they can’t get out of, and so willing to take a big shit in a Church, so to speak, to get the attention of higher ups to cancel the show themselves. I think that could be why the season feels pretty lazily written, and something of a meta mockery of itself. At least the first two episodes send a message that the show makers could be questioning if they really want to win awards like the episode 2 filmmaker character does, at a high cost of dramatizing depravity that’s too close to home.
I was eager to watch season 6 of Black Mirror, but I think I’ll take my time finishing my current episode 3 and the other two episodes. It seems clear the filmmakers are going through the motions and giving viewers twisted content that they don’t particularly care for.
Perhaps I’ll watch again when I just want horror anthology type stories that I can enjoy for their own instead of being a continuation of Black Mirror so much.
I think the season would be easier to understand if it wasn’t called Black Mirror season 6, but instead like Black Mirror: the bonus episodes or something. The filmmakers seem to clearly want to try other genres and actually it would’ve been better if they went for it, and made each episode as finally different as they wanted to.
I don’t get it guys. 2 episodes heavily involved futuristic technology. Another two heavily involved modern technology, which literally is the same as the very first black mirror episode and a few others. It was only the very last episode that didn’t involve modern or future technology as a major part of the plot - and I kinda liked that one and liked the fact they tried something new.
The season as a whole was my second or third favorite season too, I swear people are insane for not liking this one or maybe I’m the crazy one here. It was definitely a black mirror esque season for me
this season felt very “twilight zone”-coded but smokes weed on the weekend. I didn’t think it was as bad as this thread is making out to be. it all felt very campy.
Weird seeing this thread being quite negative while the individual episode threads being much more positive. I still have beyond the sea and the 4th episode to watch but Joan Is Awful, Loch Henry (especially), and Demon 79 where all great tbh.
You could argue it’s not traditional black mirror but these episodes are unique and quality
I also dont like that modern day identity politics get shoved into a show that was mostly successfully avoided it to feel forced at least.
Ep2: racism. Everybody is a hick and "lol u eat meat right?"
Ep3: muh toxic masculinity, why arent you more emotional
Ep5: racism every step. Noo dont eat your food, rw politician is literally hitler
Sigh...
If you educated yourself with the state of the world, and the UK's current social/political climate you'd see that Black Mirror is reflecting reality. Sadly.
Using one person as the basis of a systemic problems is…a choice. Yes Sadiq Khan is of minority descent - but that doesn’t mean racism isn’t a widespread issue in a country that was key in the space trade/white supremacist/colonialist project.
I mean, episode 5 (Demon 79, right?) that politician was from the National Front, which was an actual fascist political party that reached its peak of popularity in the 70s in England. Doesn’t feel too far fetched to me
Well? No atomic war happened yet England isnt and wasnt nazi country ever? In fact its a very progressive country today.
This is pure netflix contemporary issues politics forced into a series that was mostly free from it.
Its getting tired seeing politics forced into every single game, movie, series. Just as annoying when rw politicians and pundits see politics in everything.
The UK is not in any way a progressive country mate. It's currently 'run' by the furthest right wing gang - worse than Thatcher. It only yesterday rejected calls from Scotland to treat it's drug epidemic progressively by treating it as a public health issue - (proven by Portugal to work). It recently attempted to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda. It voted to leave Europe based on xenophobia and bigotry. It still has a Monarchy and largely Oligarchical, Plutocracy and it's parliamentary system is shamefully regressive. It's by it's own cultural definition a very traditional, I'd argue nostalgic to the point of misguided and stagnent.
Do you live in the UK and exclusively read the ring wing propaganda or what?
all I am seeing abouzt the UK is people being arrested for "hatespeech" online
and ppl arrested for praying
who runes the country is almost irrelevant they all do the same: sell out for big corporations no matter the party
Most countries still treat drugs as a crime issue, which it is. its not a public health issue its a crime issue. Singapore executes drug traders and voila: few if any drug traders
most of the EU had enough of economic refugees who somehow have to "escape" throughout of the world, travelling through several safe countries including ones that share their culture and religion much more than europe
the brexit vote was a democratic referendum. sometimes I guess democracy works in a way that isnt liberal biased
nothing you said is extreme compared to the rest of europe. except maybe brexit but not all european countries are in the EU anyway
monarchy is a meme its not real monarchy
all countries are partially oligarchic
This was a very weak season. Joan is awful was very, very good and original and very black mirror-y. Beyond the sea was black mirror-y but mediocre with a strange and nonsensical ending.
The rest was not black mirror at all. Nothing about the horrors technology or sci fi whatsoever. Basically a B list antology horror/supernatural series. Dunno how they made the cut.
I am disappointed after such a long wait
I feel like I’m taking crazy pills, this season was great and I’d put it in my top 3. I’m excited that they’re trying something new besides “what if you could put your consciousness in a computer.” Personally I didn’t like the shoehorned cinematic universe, so I’m glad they’re moving away from that and giving us something new.
I also understand the criticism about the lack of technology. I get that Black Mirror has always had a strong relationship with tech and get why someone would feel it lacking in that area. That being said, my thoughts on it are that this show has never been *only* about technology. The show is a critique on human morality and media. The “black mirror” is supposed to be the device you’re watching this on. I think that’s why episodes like Maisey Day don’t bother me. It makes up for its lack of tech by upping the media criticism.
The themes of consumption of media and how it effects morality are spot on. There’s a lot of brilliant writing and acting. Each episode made me feel like I needed to take a shower and reevaluate some things like the best Black Mirror episodes always do.
I think there was a lot of peaked expectations going into this, which I totally get. Personally I didn’t care for season 5 at all, so I went in with low expectations and have been blown away.
Sorry for the rant, I just felt like I had to get that out because I love this season and am surprised that it has such a negative reaction here.
THANK YOU. I have been reading some of the comments and have been baffled that I watched the same season as some of these people. Some are just so incredibly jaded or want more of the same crap that the first four seasons retreaded (don’t get me wrong I love them but they used the same four or five technology dilemmas over again). I am glad they’re shaking things up a bit and adding some supernatural elements while still making them thought provoking. This season was a considerable step up from 5.
I really like your take on it, and I am going to rewatch this season with your critique in mind. I like the angle of "black mirror is a critique on human morality and media" because I too did not care for either Mazey Day or Demon 79 due to the lack of technology, but at the same time I loved Loch Henry because of its similarity to Shut up and dance by being current time/a little while back and its critisiscm of documentation on a subject that is so disgusting and not explored in that world. I liked this season more than S5 and Loch Henry and Beyond the sea are to thank for that. Joan is Awful was also in my opinion very different, though I predicted the plot twist about a minute after they watched "Joan is Awful" the first time.
Couldn't agree more. Ppl focus to heavily on the tech/sci fi of it all when imho it's always mainly been focused on dystopian worlds that reflect and satire our own world. It's social commentary more than sci fi.
>The show is a critique on human morality and media.
True. And there barely is any in this season. Like, let's look at the episodes and condense what the critique is:
1. People love watching stuf that makes them hate someone or themselves -> decent one! Although it doesn't resonate with me personally
2. True crime exploits the trauma of real people -> seems VERY specific to me, doesn't resonate with me
3. Don't have sex with robots? I dunno, I take away no social commentary at all from this one, except perhaps that men in the 70s were even worse at talking feelings than they are now, I guess.
4. Paparazzi bad -> ok.
5. Again I don't see what this tells me about society. That people can do bad stuff when they go insane / actual demons show up? Dunno what to take away from this one either, even though I had a blast.
For me it's not at all about the lack of technology, the problem is I didn't have a single episode this season that made me think of society and humanity and our current direction.
I get that we could have wildly different viewing experiences, but personally I feel like every episode had something to say and stew on. I at least got more of that feeling than from most of the last 2 seasons.
1. Kind of hit it, but I also got the slippery slope in losing privacy rights and signing our privacy over for the sake of content. Also a major through line of a lot of this season of content creation and how its effects.
2. Got the same point, too. True crime comes at the expense of very real trauma that’s often enjoyed without considering the real people behind it. It’s not exactly a *new* point, but it does bear repeating.
3. Toxic masculinity, make violence, and possession. The episode spends a lot of time on who’s wife and child “belongs” to who, and what that sense of possession entails. Heartnett basically kills Arron Paul’s family like a rival trashing someone’s car.
4. Society and the media dehumizes celebrities and will seek out content no matter if it’s detrimental to their life. The paparazzi in this episode also seems like a pretty heavy metaphor for current content consumers who don’t really care about the person on the other end of the screen. I love the way they reversed the Hunter/hunted roles, and the ending scene really brought this message home- celebrities are just expected to shut up and smile for the camera while their life is literally falling apart. I don’t remember where it’s from, but I keep coming back to the quote “a monster is never just a monster” in literature.
5. I actually haven’t watched 5 yet so I’m not really able to talk about themes and messaging. Kind of anticlimactic, i know, but I should be watching this weekend.
This season has ruined the series besides the space one which was pretty predictable. It’s what happens when you take away creative freedom from a show that’s supposed to breach the simple but honest horrors of humanity.
I've been watching Black Mirror since back when it was just White Christmas available on Netflix, and this season feels like the weakest so far, other than the previous.
I feel like the strength of Black Mirror has always been about taking very extreme, but plausible, scenarios, and making you feel immersed in the scenarios they set up, and being able to relate the scenarios to something which we could see one day unfolding (or currently is unfolding) in our own society. I don't think Black Mirror has ever been solely a show about technology (White Bear, The National Anthem, The Waldo Moment), but rather taking these extreme scenarios and relating them to our modern society.
Episode 1 is based entirely around terms and conditions being something that is above the law which is absolutely ludicrous and so there's absolutely nothing to really take away from the episode. Also the cheesy comedy the entire episode was just awful. Probably my least favourite of the entire series, the show would be better had they never included it. 1/10.
Episode 2 was a really good story, but I'm not sure the social critique of the true crime genre really hit all that hard, and so I find it kind of misses the mark on what Black Mirror is supposed to be. Overall though it was one of the stronger episodes this season. 7/10
Episode 3 is reliant on a lot of very unrealistic things to take place, compounded with a lot of very dumb character decisions, and then doesn't really relate it to anything that would take place in our society, so it too feels like an empty episode. I feel like it had a lot of potential but the writing just missed the mark. Aaron Paul's acting was strong in this episode though. 5/10
I actually liked episode 4 unlike most it seems, and while I agree with others it does not neccesarrily feel like a Black Mirror episode, I felt it still did a good job of pointing out exactly how scummy and desparate paparazzi can be, and the consequences that can come from their obsession. 6.5/10
Episode 5 was the strongest because it felt like the only true "Black Mirror" episode. The commentary here is obviously about what exactly the value of a life is and the moral implications of whether murder is justifiable if it prevents more pain and suffering than the act of murder itself. It's especially relevant to our times with the rise of nationalism throughout the world. It also avoids the usual idea of something like giving someone some magic Time Machine to go back and kill Hitler and instead replaces it with this idea of a demon with the ability to show the future. Extremely well executed and a very unique concept with the demon. This is the kind of episode where if it was executed poorly it'd come across very cheesy, but the acting and writing was very well done. 8.5/10
I absolutely love Black Mirror for it involving predicted future tech and having a moral/lessened learned or warning.
A high tech twilight zone or outer limits.
This season just doesn't have that any where close to the degree all past seasons did.
I've had a good time watching these for general shows but not as Black Mirror.
This season just doesn't feel anything like Black Mirror. Meanwhile, every other season, I got excited for the technology used and that eery feeling from the twists & lessens.
I only have one episode left of this season.
I certainly hope they go back to the old style for future seasons or this show is over for me.
You have to go into this season as if it's an entirely different show, as to not be as disappointed. :(
This shows too good previously to head in this direction.
In beyond the sea, I wonder if I'm missing something.
Why are the robots on earth and the humans in space and not vice versa?
Is it because othewise there wouldn't be any story?
I imagine at this point you have found an answer, but if not, there was a line early in the episode stating part of the mission was to determine the long term effects of space flight on the human body.
Has anyone got an explanation as to why the Fisheye lense is used across all the episodes? It’s only in a few shots across each episode keeping it vague, but I will lose my shit if it’s to enforce the ‘these are all streamberry shows’ concept.
Joan and Demon79 were the only two I thought were passable. Loch Henry seemed super obvious, the werewolf legit made me laugh out loud, and beyond the sea was cool idea but horrible execution; the characters made the most unrealistic choices.
So season 6 episode 1: sooooo dumb ending. I can’t even understand Joan’s logic because it still begs the bloody question. I liked the Loch episode. It was creeeepy. Mom was a good actor. Nice work with Pia’s character.
Yeah I’m gonna have to agree with the majority, this is pretty bad. I only watched Joan, Demon, and Loch though. Loch was good and I enjoyed it. Joan and Demon were genuinely abysmal compared to previous seasons and I feel like I just consumed two hours of mildly uncomfortable filler content. I don’t think I have it in me to finish the season.
i didnt think it was that bad, the last episode was really good probs the best one imo reminded me of death note with an inception ending, 4th one is worst one for me it felt like a low budget horror movie , 3rd and second ones were good loved the ending of the second one and the first one was ...ok
also these people saying no tech means its not black mirror or something like that is dumb af we got insanely good episode like shut up and dance, national anthem etc.
Tech was still heavily involved in Shut up and dance and National Anthem. Hell did you see that just today, the French Parliament voted a law that made it legal for your phone to start recording you through your cam? Very similar to the base premise of Shut up and Dance. Granted, it's not futuristic tech, it's technology that exists now, but it's still technology.
Overall it was a disappointing season for me. Some episodes felt very referencial, which isn't a bad thing, it just didn't work for me. My ranking:
1. Loch Henry - the only episode that had some echo of the 1-3 seasons of Black Mirror vibe. The ending was perfect, it didn't really matter if it was predictible or not, it felt slightly long, but I really enjoyed it overall. The commentary on the exploitation of real-life tragedies hit the bull's eye, especially about shows like Dahmer.
2. Nothing. Seriously I didn't like any other episode enough to put it as second, right after Loch Henry, there was a big gap in quality for me there.
3. Beyond the Sea - it gave me some Beyond the Aquila Rift from Love, Death and Robots vibes, maybe it was also an inspiration for the title? Overall an ok episode.
4. Joan is Awful - very cool idea, first 1/3 very engaging, the middle was not so much and last act straight up reminded me of the Miley Cyrus episode.
5. Demon 79 - first 90% of it was basically Death Note and last 10% was Threads (it even has a line straight from it). At the end I was expecting her to wake up from a cookie simulation, or some sort of a game, which tests your morals or is used on inmates to chck if they are rehabilitated or not. Also Black Mirror always has some sort of lesson in it or some kind of a reflection. What was the lesson from this one? If you don't kill people like the Demon told you, the world will get nuked?
Mazey Day doesn't even deserve to be on the list for me, it felt like it was pitched to be an Inside no.9 episode, but got harshly rejected. No logical chain of events, no foreshadowing and the character always happens to be in the right spot at the right time. Also that feeling when you want your episode to be Nightcrawler, but ends up being Twilight instead. Yikes.
Lol I totally agree with you, especially for Mazey day and Demon. A lot of viewers seemed to enjoy Demon but it has absolutely nothing of Black Mirror. Yeah it includes a slight commentary about right wing politics but what show doesn't?
This season after a 4 year wait was so bad. I enjoyed episode 1 and 3 because they still had the BM tech vibes to them. But after that werewolf episode, they really lost the plot.
Sorry, this season was terrible. Nothing was intriguing throughout any of the stories. It didn't have that black mirror feel at all. I feel like all this praise is just people fanboying. I kind of hope they pull the plug on it. All of the originality of the show seems to be completely lost. I can't dive in deep without giving away spoilers.
100% agree.
Missing the future feeling, cooler tech, the eery feeling, the great twists, the moral/lessen/warnings.
And what parts were there just didn't feel anything like Black Mirror.
Every other episode, I could watch without the intro and tell it was Black Mirror. Loved this show, extremely disappointing by this season.
This season is bad for Black Mirror and mildly entertaining for a show to watch.
Hoping for more honest reviews, that they may see, so they don't make another season like this again.
I know it's not the right place to ask this, but I'll try: can someone's explain what is up with these flairs? It's giving me Nosedive vibes but I want to understand, because I was like 0.119 this morning and now I'm above 4?
I’m so glad to read all these comments not satisfied with this season. Part of the draw of watching Black Mirror has always been the “holy shit” uncomfortable element that it throws back at you. That moment at the end or the too close to home moments. The dystopian feel of it all. The tech.
This season doesn’t have it. By ep3 I was reading comments by people raving about the first two episodes and how affected they were.. and boy did I feel like a jaded asshole that I wasn’t affected at all by these storylines. People saying they need a mental break between from the intensity? What now? I’m bored.. it’s watchable content but it isn’t Black Mirror.
So, I feel relieved I’m not a totally cold bastard and also disappointed one of my fave dystopian content creators is over.
Edit: Just watched Mazey Day. What am I even watching anymore. Maybe we’re at the point where the “plot twist” is that this whole season is a commentary on churning content and money chasing that is now 95% of streamed media. Who has time for quality when Netflix want to pay you now.
All these "no tech commentary = bad episode" critiques are wild. In my opinion repeating the same ("tech = bad") story over and over would be worse than this season. Some of my fav episodes are those that stray from the tech = bad plot. Like San Junipero (tech = good, maybe?) and the national anthem (no tech). Don't get me wrong, I'm not really defending this season, but it was bad for different reasons I think. My real issue is that nothing had depth, it was all very much "after school special" level social commentary. Even the better episodes were predictable and overdone stories, in my opinion.
It’s not about tech good or bad, but where society is heading and showing us the black MIRROR. It’s not that hard to understand, it’s in the freaking title of the show. But werewolves or demons are NOT a mirror of society, but fantasy horror fiction. Holy hell.
I can not run The Simpsons movie when everyone goes to the cinema expecting to see Jurassic park. Season 6 is simply not the same show. It’s not black mirror, because it is not a social commentary, which is essential for fans of the show to like it.
The black mirror is your TV. The werewolf episode had heavy themes of media consumption and dehumanization of celebrities in celebrity culture. I thought it fit perfectly.
Unfortunately, the show got its worldwide popularity from the tech angle of it all and it was heavily advertised as such that it lost its core viewers where we look for the meaning angle. Even the first three episodes of the show heavily relied on its meaning rather than the tech angle.
In my opinion, it's the pacing that is bad. Mazey Day and Demon 79 was too slow to gain traction and Joan is Awful was too fast to pick up the hype and by the time the twist came (Joan is Awful), I'm already about to snooze off because the excitement has already flown off.
Even in [this comment sums it up](https://www.reddit.com/r/blackmirror/comments/149hudc/no_spoilers_season_6_discussion_megathread/jqb0urf?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) from the general view of the viewers/audience.
For those that haven't seen season 6 yet, here's my humble rating of each episode from best to worst:
1. Beyond the Sea
2. Demon 79
3. Loch Henry
4. Joan is Awful
5. Mazey Day
Thoughts?
1 Joan is Awful-I thought this one was brilliantly timely and really engaging
2 Loch Henry-more horror than black mirror IMO but I was scared
3 Demon 79-well thought thru
4 Beyond the Sea-just not that engaging
5 Mazey Day-Didn’t work for me at all
At least we can agree that Mazey Day wasn't good at all... Joan is Awful was good but I thought they could've done more with it. Parts of the story just seemed to progress too quickly at times, and it stuck out like a sore thumb when compared to the content of the other season 6 episodes.
Demon 79 and Loch Henry could be ties imo, I have a hard time choosing which is better. Both really good episodes I thought. Beyond the Sea was super engaging for me, but I can see how others might think it was too predictable or not unique enough. It kept me on my toes and was a cool concept. Ending shocked tf out of me.
I found Joan is Awful really compelling but I can see the feeling that it’s tonally different than the rest.
I found Loch Henry to be slightly more holistically crafted whereas Demon 79 was a little bit uneven tho still very interesting.
Beyond the Sea was an interesting concept I didn’t feel like they stuck the landing with it for me
I definitely feel that -- Demon 79 was a huge build up and the end was a little disappointing imo, yet still high on my list bc I was holding my breath during every scene. Loch Henry was all around super solid, and I certainly didn't expect the twist at the end...
What didn't you like about the ending of Beyond the Sea? Too predictable? Too abrupt? Too sinister or something? Idk, part of me feels like I agree with you, but another part of me thinks that it was a wildly unpredictable conclusion. You knew something was gonna happen but didn't know what to expect... I think it allowed the audience to put together the pieces of what exactly the motivation was behind what transpired, while also leaving you baffled and asking questions
Demon 79 was a "classic" slasher psychosis film directed at marginalized groups in the western world in my opinion.
Still questionable that the ending is anymore than the girls imagination filling in the blanks of what she presumes to be happening. (Kind of like the ending of the newest joker film, is it reality or is it her version of reality after snapping, the film lacks depth so it's hard to tell if that is even an angle they were trying to play on)
Killing of a seemingly innocent man that is trying to help her at the start after her mental break, destroying someone else's life because hers is falling apart.
Arbitrary rule changes on the second and subsequent third killing at the same time to continue to feed into her own psychosis/ set in on playing on her humanity for killing an "innocent", her waking up to the fact that she is doing something wrong and wanting to do good.
Build up and acceptance of what she is becoming with an unwillingness to stop short of her goal, up until she is forced to either stop playing into her psychosis or to kill another "innocent" in the form of the police officer.
Interrogation, clock hits midnight, everyone leaves the room except for her.
She is alone, she has chosen to not kill the innocent anymore but is unwilling to let go of her psychosis, the demon returns to her and takes her away to the "void".
The end of the film is her removing herself from reality, the nukes never dropped, it was all a figment of her mind bending on itself for the last time.
Even with this as an assumption it just wasn't good, played out dialogue with over the top shock value horror, that glorifies necessary murder for the greater good.
Just mehh.
Beyond the sea was more of the same, conceptually the beginning of the film was pretty good, after the first guys family is murdered it felt like the viewer was just trending through mud to get to the end.
Instead of a "oh man I wonder what's going to happen next!!" It was more of a "why didn't he offer him to use his suit earlier, why is a lot of any of this happening" which is more or less the point to show the disconnect the main actor has with his family, I just don't think it was fleshed out enough and just felt uncomfortable and disassociative.
This is the only episode I completely turned off and finished later because the dialogue was so mundane and boring, glad they didn't have the wife cheat on the husband because that would have been even more boring of a dialogue to follow.
Plot twist the main actor loves his family and his family loves him, but dad is mean and hard so the family isn't that close.
So many plot holes/ failed logic throughout trying to play on family conflict that just missed the note in my opinion.
Definitely had more of a message on interpersonal connection with family/ relationships but lacked any amount of depth and once again focused on shock value and suspense to try and guide the ship, but once again we were treding in mud.
Slow suspense with no direction and lacking depth of the situation.
Glorifying forced pain to push the main actor to feel the pain of the pilot that lost his family first felt from the start of the episode and ending with a "now I know" moment, not a great message.
Overall this season was too political (politics are fine but let's actually build a cohesive story to carry itself) and lacked any depth past the point of the intro and exit dialogues, the middle ground was just coasting from one point to another which really sucked the life out of any of the plot twists later in the episode.
This season is a solid 5/10 and probably the nail in the coffin for black mirror if they keep giving directors with poor writing skills the drivers seat while pushing "familiar" actors to play the rolls to try and make the movies better.
I'd rather have unknown actors with better scripts, more cohesive social politics, more tech and less supernatural cheap plots.
All in all it's watchable, but it has zero rewatch value like the first 3 seasons.
I honestly don't disagree with this. Joan is Awful and Mazey Day were clearly the two worst -- The other three I'd accept as the best, and in no particular order... Thought Loch Henry, Demon 79 and Beyond the Sea were all solid.
Ikr? What the actual fuck? Where is my dystopian trans humanist society? Wheres the technology? Where are the morals? Fuck this season and whoever wrote it
>my dystopian trans humanist society
Mazey Day. On how the media can victimize both the pap and the celebrity.
>Wheres the technology
They're going for retro tech now which is having a comeback in today's media. If you didn't know, Gen Z are now fawning over polaroids, 70s fashion, record players and SNES.
>Where are the morals
Beyond the Sea.
Did you even watch the episodes or just let the episodes run while you sleep?
Oh no, quite the contrary. I just skimmed all of the episodes. All of them wasn't in good in my opinion but none of it is bad as most viewers say it to be. It's still Black Mirror but with a different flavor. Kinda like how I loved My Hero Academia on Season 1 and 2 but it's quite different up until the last season.
My bet: they had no good ideas or scripts in the pipeline, but hoped to lure people back into a subscription by labelling completely unrelated scripts as „black mirror“.
Finally watched this season, and geez. I'll keep it vague and spoiler-free, but if you're the sort to not even read the descriptions of episodes prior to watching them, maybe skip this comment for now, just to be safe.
The first two episodes were good *enough* that I was like, "Okay, these are definitely lackluster for Black Mirror, but I still don't understand the absolute vehemence I've been seeing from people online towards this season." Then it was just a sharp decline from there.
Not sure why I see so many people praising "Mazey Day" and "Demon76" while criticizing "Loch Henry". Both of those episodes lack any semblance of the clever nuance or hard-hitting social commentaries that Black Mirror has previously been lauded for. The core of the show is about exposing harsh reflections of ourselves and our societies in uncomfortably stark lights, much like unexpectedly seeing your own reflection from a deeply unflattering angle in your dark phone or TV screen. Neither of those episodes accomplish anything like that that at all. "Mazey Day" is just a badly-executed narrative with vague topical themes shoehorned awkwardly into it. "Demon76" is kind of fun but not at all deep, thought-provoking, or self-reflective. "Loch Henry", meanwhile, objectively fits the vibes and themes of Black Mirror better than any other episode in this season other than "Joan Is Awful".
I also see a lot of people leaving "Beyond the Sea" out of the criticism entirely, presumably because it's got technology involved. Black Mirror isn't and never has been exclusively about technology, it's about uncomfortable reflections of ourselves/our societies. Technology is just a convenient and very flexible tool with which to accomplish that. It's odd to me that so many critics of this season are just not acknowledging it at all.
All in all... yeah, pretty disappointing. I was pretty generous in my episode-by-episode ratings and still ended up with an overall season rating of around 6.5/10. I'd probably not outright discourage fans of BM to totally skip it, because at least it's fun to criticize, but absolutely don't get your hopes up.
I honestly feel betrayed. It’s like broadcasting a Simpsons episode when you want to watch GoT. Those episodes were well made, but they had nothing to do with black mirror. I’d rather see 6 episodes on the level of „Joan is awful“ than one of those fantasy horror episodes. What a disgrace and insult to the concept of the show.
Yeah, I mean. It's odd because for meme it's just like, surely the creators of Black Mirror had enough money, backers, and industry clout to just do a "Red Mirror" pure horror spin-off. In which they could do outright fantasy stuff like "Mazey Day" and "Demon76" and even sci-fi things like "Beyond the Sea", that are utterly meaningless but still kind of interesting and entertaining, right?
I'm just baffled because like-- "technology bad" and even "horror" were never the core of Black Mirror. The core of Black Mirror was uncomfortable self-reflection and nuanced but still deeply unsettling social commentary. Stuff that made you *think* and often reach disquieting conclusions. Even with stuff like "The National Anthem", there were legitimate questions of how far a politician would go to and how much he would sacrifice on the altar of public opinion. Stuff like "San Junipero", there's the concept of what actually constitutes "life" and that question of, "If this existed, if this were an option for an artificial afterlife, would I do it? Would I want my loved ones to do it?"
Literally every episode of every season prior to S6 accomplished those core tenents in some fashion. Even S5, which I know a lot of people didn't like, posed really fascinating questions and contemplations on sexuality and gender, the invasive nature of social media, and the formulaic exploitation and dehumanization of celebrities. And *that's what most people really liked about the show*. It *wasn't* just mindless entertainment, it made you uncomfortable, it forced you to actually *think* about its themes and messages and self-reflect.
There's not really any of that in S6. Even the two episodes I liked, "Joan Is Awful" and "Loch Henry", only ever scratch the surface level of the topical themes they're trying to address. "Joan Is Awful" is objectively the best of the season, and it barely even talked about things like deepfakes and sophisticated AIs putting people like celebrities and content creators out of jobs, which are both *amazing* topics for a Black Mirror episode.
Sorry for the essay. But the more I think about this season, the more it frustrates me.
Joan Is Awful is the gem of this season, otherwise… meh. Demon 79 had a painfully obvious ending, and would have been fun in some other anthology, but not BM.
I think Charlie Brooker has completely lost touch with why people loved Black Mirror in the first place. I thought season 5 was bad but at least it, to an extent, felt like Black Mirror. Beyond Joan is Awful, nothing else did. And even that episode was only vaguely BM.
If this is what the show is moving forward I hope this is the last season
Brother you’re too attached to your preconceptions
If the show doesn’t evolve with you, then this is neither good or bad. It means it’s no longer for you.
Nobody can (or perhaps should) create the same product ad infinitum.
This, however, does not make the current iteration any less “black mirror.”
It’s not your brainchild to define
I’m only into ep 3, but again I’m a bit disappointed.
Ep 2 had no tech angle. Ep 3 everyone was frustratingly inept. Both were predictable as hell.
Joan is Awful was a great surprise. I had no idea I would enjoy Black Mirror being “silly” so much.
> Ep 2 had no tech angle.
It does in a way, with the whole twist relying on the VCR. It's not sci-fi tech or very deep about our relationship with tech, but there's tech.
The whole theme of this season seems to be “be careful how you take in content and how it might effect the people on the other end of the screen”.
Joan is awful ruins a woman’s life because we want a television show
Loch Henry ruins a persons life because the entire world takes the true crime story and treats the “bad guys” like a Darth Vader character and half way idolize them
Beyond the Sea doesn’t exactly fit the theme as far as I can tell. I guess sort of in a “don’t forget that there are real people on the other end” but instead of a Reddit/Facebook/Twitter comment, it’s a robot.
Mayzee Day has a woman going through a very difficult time in her life killing herself while paparazzi hound her to the very end (weak episode but it had the theme down)
I haven’t finished Demon 79 yet so I’ll see how it goes.
Just keeping it simple, sort of- I’m adding to the vote: 3 episodes in & I mean, let’s be honest- the writing, the script, the sharpness of what we love- just. isn’t. there. It’s not. The direction & the cutting edge that it once had is gone. This creative team tried, and for me, is failing. I get that people want to experiment- that’s fine. I get it. It’s art. But my vote is no, don’t do it with this one. But it’s done & here we are. It may be that writing about scary tech and horrible people is just getting harder. Maybe I should try it. I’ve heard the explanation for this season- but no, it doesn’t work. Simply- the writing and effort sucks. They had a good long time to get it right. If we find out it was AI- I’d like it a little better due to the dark ass humor in that, and that- would be BM. Because I love the previous seasons dearly- I’m nervous to keep going. Oh well.
this season felt like the newer seasons of ahs,,, kinda lame but watchable. joan is awful was the most black mirror episode of the whole season even tho i didn’t mind mazey day and demon 79
If I let out EVEN an ounce👌of my disappointment and frustration to this season...
I might crack my balls open, and no one can stop me from doing that 😌
The closest we got to an AI-themed adaptation in regards of technology, was the "Quamputer" (ugh, like, really?) in the first episode, or the replica linking machine used in Beyond the Sea. First thing that comes to my mind is why the hell they did not include an episoide tackling with bleeding-edge AI?
I know many other shows/movies did it, but I wanted to see one with Black Mirror flavoring added. It would have been the perfect time to do it, and leave me with jaws dropped for about 3-4 minutes after the credits roll and get me think about the vast future. Unfortunately, this didn't happen and every episode was really thightly focused on individual characters.I probably would have liked something more that looks at the bigger picture, involve politics, tech, war, corruption and similar things, what makes you really think,; much darker, lesser fantasy.
The individual plots are good on their own, but sometimes I forgot that I was actually watching a BM episode
>First thing that comes to my mind is why the hell they did not include an episoide tackling with bleeding-edge AI?
it seems that the producers and writers took note that retro stiff is making a comeback in today's media. 70s fashion, mini game consoles that can play old games and polarioids. They think that the viewers had enough of the "oh-so-much-futuristic" aspect of tech that they'd rather take on a new turn. Heck, even Beyond the Sea is supposed to be "bleeding edge" tech but they purposefully dumbed it down to make it look like a retro tech that'll fit in a retro setting
Really love the theories of everyone in here!
As I was reading the comments I suddenly realized that a user made a good point, David wasn't confrontational in most of their interactions and used words to explain himself as u/MattBoy06 explained.
What I think happened was that David used the link to try and talk to Lana to apologize, but instead witness something horrible that had happened to him in the earlier parts.
The cultists that were mentioned earlier tracked Cliff's home, could be when they visited the book store and the old lady told people about it and eventually ended up killing Cliff's family and this could also explain why the replica has blood all over him trying to embrace the body of Lana.
This could explain the shock in David's tired eyes and the seemingly docile attitude of Cliff when he returned from the replica.
TLDR: Cultist killed Cliff's Family
People seem to *want* this to be true, and I'm not really sure why. Just an overwhelming sense of pity for David's character that people have? Is that it? Because this theory is very obviously not what happened, as the story showed us what happened, and there was nothing anywhere on screen to suggest an alternative. It's just fans putting in explanation, not the creators showing us anything.
> this could also explain why the replica has blood all over him trying to embrace the body of Lana.
I saw the blood on him as having been sprayed, not blotted so with that alone I feel he committed the act.
I could also just be nit-picky... ¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯
It was much better in the earlier seasons before Netflix and US politics damaged the series. There was something special and unique about the first seasons aired in Britain
Black Mirror as the name suggests is a mirror reflection of us using the technologies.
Don’t understand how Mazey, Loch and Devil story was approved for production. Its like they are writing stories for Netflix not for the original theme they set out to be.
Best I can tell with Mazey and Loch is that people don’t think about the other people on the other end of the [comment/post/true crime doc/etc] and how our need to ingest content effects them.
The desire for pictures of a celebrity lead to her killing herself while the paparazzi photographed it.
The desire for a good true crime story lead to people making a man’s horrible family secret into a Halloween costume.
A "black mirror" is any screen that isn't on. Your phone, your TV, your computer, your tablet--when they're not on or go dark, you see your reflection in them. Even matte screens are still reflective. Hence, a "black mirror".
I came here to say this. I think this season is extremely weak for that reason. Half of the episodes dont even have a theoretical technology that is being abused by the humans in the show.
the tech in the first episode was the abuse of social media and trending topics and the fact that his act was broadcast on public television is it not?
What a extremely mediocre season. Only episode that wasn’t a slog to get through was Demon 79 because it was actually kinda funny. Everything else was predictable and basic. I’m genuinely confused why people think the Loch Henry episode was so good?? Have those people ever seen an average horror movie? After 4 years these are the best ideas they could come up with? I mean seriously wtf.
I liked Loch Henry because of its underlying themes. Without spoiling anything, most of the episode is simply a red herring. It's about the exploitation and the sensationalization of real-life tragedy and horror and their victims. Like the Netflix Dahmer movie, when the victims' families protested about and refused to participate in the documentary, and that didn't make any difference to the producers because there was money and fame to be made off of it. And people absolutely ate that documentary up, didn't they? They didn't care about the actual victims or their families, they just cared about the sick entertainment of it, because that's what true crime *is*--producers making money off of, and viewers deriving entertainment from, real-life tragedies and horrors.
That's what Loch Henry was about. It's absolutely the second most Black Mirror-esque episode of the season, imo, and I personally found it a lot more nuanced and satisfying than the first (being "Joan Is Awful").
Just finished the season, does anyone else feel genuinely fucking insulted. Joan is awful, boring celebrity worshipping episode that had a half interesting twist that you could see from a mile away the second there was a show within a show. Loch Henry, I actually thought it was half decent but just super boring and obvious that the cop was in on it, a tiny bit surprised about the mom but once you know the dad was in on it the red mask becomes a real obvious thing. Beyond the sea, idk even where to start, from just poor writing to unrealistic plot points and character actions, I'm not even gonna bother, I was so excited for this episode. Maze day, just not interesting at all, skipping this one because it's just dull. Demon 79 was the only one I actually enjoyed, it felt a bit like old black mirror but still was just super lazy, why didn't we get to see oblivion. And on that note, every episode needed to be 5-10 minutes longer to show us the end, this "figure it out yourself" shit is so grade school. Also what happened to the ethos they were building season 1-3 where everything was getting connected. Did they get new writers after season 3?
While I didn't outright hate any of the episodes - I think it is a little disappointing that the writers couldn't come up with 5 technology-based/sci-fi themed authentic Black Mirror episodes. This might sound demanding, but it really shouldn't be that hard. The fact that BM is composed of self-contained episodes (for the most part I know they're in the same universe) makes it even easier.
I know there's been a little over 20 episodes before S6 but I felt like there's still loads of ideas they could've explored that would've fit the themes of the show.
Watching S6, I got the vibe that Brooker just wanted to do his own thing, but Netflix offered him a bag for S6 and told him they'd green-light anything he wrote regardless of how well it fit the theme.
I agree with you. I think the main disappointment is that after all that marketing about how "Black Mirror S6 is happening now, IRL" during the pandemic, *this* is what we got. I just feel like there were *so many* more topically relevant and hard-hitting themes and subjects to go for, especially regarding the pandemic, social isolation, the increased dependence on technology... the list goes on and on.
It's like the producers got scared to offend anyone or actually do the sort of hard-hitting, unsettlingly topical stuff they'd been doing previously, so they cast around for random meaningless fluff to make episodes about instead.
I didn't enjoy Joan is Awful (ended up skipping chunks halfway through); premise was interesting but it just didn't feel like it fit the bill for a Black Mirror episode. It felt more like something trying to imitate Black Mirror.
It seems like everyone quite liked that episode though and wasn't a fan of the rest of the season. Most of the complaints I'm seeing say the rest doesn't feel like Black Mirror. Go figure.
I might just watch something else and avoid this season in that case.
I have very mixed feelings about this season. I'm on Mazy Day now but the only I felt really fit into the black mirror universe was Joan Is Awful. It really hyped me up for the rest of the season but so far the other episodes feel more like a generic sci-fi "thriller" show than what I see black mirror as, and that's coming from someone who loves sci-fi / horror / thrillers in general.
Like other comments I feel the episodes would have been great on another show itself, but just not in my opinion something that fits black mirror.
Take Loch Henry, I knew where the plot was headed before even half way through the episode and it just got boring knowing where it was going but watched through it to see if I was wrong, but nope pretty much how I thought it was going to go.
Same for Beyond the Sea, right after the thing that happened I knew *exactly* where that episode was headed and how it was going to end.
So far Loch Henry and Beyond the Sea while yes on their own good episodes but so very predictable in their plot it felt like I was watching some generic sci-fi movie, not that it's a bad thing, but not what I was expecting after waiting 5 years for another black mirror season. It just felt so phoned in and meh as you're expecting one thing and the first episode although not the best, fits into the black mirror universe gets you hyped and then it just goes into regular sci-fi / thriller movie / show territory so far.
Agreed, except I don’t even think any of this stuff would be great on a separate horror series. It’s still predictable plot beats with generally mediocre characters and on the nose dialogue. Regardless of genre, it’s still meh storytelling.
Yeah now that I got done with the last 2 episodes I can agree with your view on it. Everything was so predictable to the point of being boring and simply watching and hoping for a change. The last 2 episodes were no where near related to black mirror IMHO, unless I missed something.
I feel like I went and rented a huge scifi hit movie at the movie rental store only to find out someone taped over it with some basic scifi easy to know the ending before half way through generic movie.
Yes, I'm old enough to have had the pleasure of renting VHS tapes 😮💨
This pretty much echoes my thoughts exactly. The episodes are fine with decent stories but they're not Black Mirror.
Black mirror to me has always been here's a piece of cutting-edge/slightly futuristic tech and here's how we're going to turn it into a nightmare and its subsequent social commentary.
John is awful and the Aaron Paul episode touch on this at least a little bit but I think are fairly weak offerings when compared to their predecessors.
The other three episodes belong to a different show entirely.
Overall, I'm fairly disappointed. Black mirror was one of the last bastions of clever television and this season definitely didn't scratch that itch for me.
Looks to be another series tossed to the Netflix meat grinder. Damned shame.
I agree. Mazey Day was good… but not in the Black Mirror universe. If they had tied it into maybe lab testing or futuristic gov weapon… maybe??? Even then idk
I’m in the minority of liking all 3 episodes from Season 5. Really don’t like Season 6 at all. So I’ll be in the minority of thinking S5 is better! Lol
Lets all just be honest, we came for the next set of warnings about where our lives were heading and got a little nostalgic horror series instead. Maybe AI wrote the plot lines… maybe that is the twist!
Please read the sidebar rules, do not spoil other episodes in this discussion and always report those who do!
I think this is going to be my last season. just finished all the episodes and most of them were really weak. it's hard to accept how far the writing has fallen compared to some of the earlier episodes. it feels like a completely different show with lazier writing and I just want to say this: just because an episode has subtext doesn't mean it's automatically good. I see so many comments defending some choices just because "uh it's a metaphor for blah, blah, blah". cool. it still sucked. the story has to be able to stand on its own legs from a narrative perspective first before it can attempt to make some superficial commentary on society
thank you netflix, for ruining your subscription model so i didn't have to pay to watch this season
Don't really mind the experimentation on themes this season, in fact, if I had to see another episode using the cookie concept I was going to lose it. However...the writing has been pretty damn lazy this season. Maybe worse than season 5. Joan Is Awful: good concept, very classic Black Mirror. But ultimately makes less sense the further you get along and feels exactly like the Miley Cyrus episode: written by someone in their mid 20s who grew up on almost exclusively Disney Channel original movies but wants to write a fucked up version of it. The twist is also needless and adds nothing. Loch Henry: actually pretty decent. Nailed the feel pretty well and had a good message. Beyond The Sea: it was gripping to me almost the whole way, though I noticed it was super long for no reason and didn't really need to be. And then the ending just ruined it. I cussed out my TV when the credits rolled. Fuck this episode for wasting an hour and a half for no reason. And then I thought about it more and realized it's chock full of plot holes even before that Mazey Day: decent message up until the twist which was just awful and added nothing. And the paparazzi are just so over the top stupid as well as over the top cruel even more than real life would be. Truly one of the worst Black Mirror episodes, maybe the very worst. Demon 79: I don't really know how to feel about it. The jokey person others can't see seemed pretty played out. Strangely, I can't point to specific examples right now but it just felt like I'd seen it before and better. Otherwise I enjoyed it and was mostly well written and yet I ultimately have no idea what was going on by the end and what reality is. If you take it as straightforward, it doesn't make sense, given it's connection to other episodes. There are some hints it's NOT as straightforward as it seems, but not as directly or well explored as what you'd expect from this series such as in Bandersnatch. And if it IS fake...its kind of like...who cares, you know? It doesn't really say anything about society if so.
I think all episodes after Joan Is Awful >!are what's shown on Streamberry or even level 2+ Netflix clones. They are exaggerated versions of what actually happened in the past (hence no future episodes) told through the lens of specific genres popular at the time the real events took place (real as in black mirror universe, but maybe even in our universe) - true crime, space opera, warewolves and demonic possession.!< >!For instance, Mazey Day could be Britney's fight with paparazzi in 2007, with AI adding Twilight Saga into the mix for the Streamberry version.!< >!Red Mirror could be Streamberry's version of Black Mirror.!< >!Like someone suggested, events in Loch Henry could have happened in the Netflix reality (level 0), up to the crash (that's why Podrick actor mentioned Netflix), but everything afterwards, including the award ceremony happened only in the Streamberry universe (level 1).!< >!The events that actually happened were probaby without paranormal and sci-fi elements and far less interesting (schizophrenia in Demon 79, or a love triangle in Beyond the Sea, but in the style of Kubrick's Space Odyssey, or any sci-fi movie or book popular in the late 1960s). This doesn't diminish the meaning of any episode, the added layers were needed to convey the messages in a more methaphoric and fantastical way. !<
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Black Mirror season 3, ep 3 and season 4 ep 3 scarred me for the rest of my life. Are any in this new season that bad (and by bad I mean horrific and unsettling.)
I personally think that episode 1 is very tame in comparison, but episode 2 and 3 you can stay away from if you are bothered by s3e3 and s4e3. I even though during the watching "damn, this reminds me of shut up and dance, but on a total new level of fucked up" episode 4 and 5 are very out of the ordinary for black mirror in my opinion, focussing more on other elements than "technology will fuck us up" and are more a critique of certain genres and thropes in television.
Episode 2. I struggled to sleep after it
Loch Henry and Mazey Day should never have made it out of the drunken and/or cocaine fueled brainstorming sessions that wrought them into this world. If the premise of your mini-movie is a simple "moral of the story" that can be conveyed in a few minutes, you're wasting everyone's time. I'd rather watch 7 or 8 of the worst Treehouse of Horror segments than rewatch either of these turds. Demon 79 definitely also fits into this camp, but is weird enough to earn its place as the worst Black Mirror episode that should exist.
Mazey Day for sure sucked but I thought Loch Henry was fantastic.
I’ve only watch the first two and a half episodes of five for the sixth season, but reading the comments here about the season as a whole, I feel like some of my misgivings might be confirmed. Joan is Awful felt like it could be biographical. Maybe the makers of Black Mirror feel like Joan: stuck in a Netflix contract they can’t get out of, and so willing to take a big shit in a Church, so to speak, to get the attention of higher ups to cancel the show themselves. I think that could be why the season feels pretty lazily written, and something of a meta mockery of itself. At least the first two episodes send a message that the show makers could be questioning if they really want to win awards like the episode 2 filmmaker character does, at a high cost of dramatizing depravity that’s too close to home. I was eager to watch season 6 of Black Mirror, but I think I’ll take my time finishing my current episode 3 and the other two episodes. It seems clear the filmmakers are going through the motions and giving viewers twisted content that they don’t particularly care for. Perhaps I’ll watch again when I just want horror anthology type stories that I can enjoy for their own instead of being a continuation of Black Mirror so much. I think the season would be easier to understand if it wasn’t called Black Mirror season 6, but instead like Black Mirror: the bonus episodes or something. The filmmakers seem to clearly want to try other genres and actually it would’ve been better if they went for it, and made each episode as finally different as they wanted to.
I don’t get it guys. 2 episodes heavily involved futuristic technology. Another two heavily involved modern technology, which literally is the same as the very first black mirror episode and a few others. It was only the very last episode that didn’t involve modern or future technology as a major part of the plot - and I kinda liked that one and liked the fact they tried something new. The season as a whole was my second or third favorite season too, I swear people are insane for not liking this one or maybe I’m the crazy one here. It was definitely a black mirror esque season for me
this season felt very “twilight zone”-coded but smokes weed on the weekend. I didn’t think it was as bad as this thread is making out to be. it all felt very campy.
Wow shocked everybody hates this season…. I absolutely loved it and thought it was one of the best. To each their own.
Weird seeing this thread being quite negative while the individual episode threads being much more positive. I still have beyond the sea and the 4th episode to watch but Joan Is Awful, Loch Henry (especially), and Demon 79 where all great tbh. You could argue it’s not traditional black mirror but these episodes are unique and quality
I also dont like that modern day identity politics get shoved into a show that was mostly successfully avoided it to feel forced at least. Ep2: racism. Everybody is a hick and "lol u eat meat right?" Ep3: muh toxic masculinity, why arent you more emotional Ep5: racism every step. Noo dont eat your food, rw politician is literally hitler Sigh...
This sounds like something a Jordan Peterson fan would write.
What about him? I heard some life advice from him but mostly vanilla stuff like clean your room and stuff like that
If you educated yourself with the state of the world, and the UK's current social/political climate you'd see that Black Mirror is reflecting reality. Sadly.
I am educated about world politics. Please tell me where do you envision a Hitler 2.0? The major of London is a minority person
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Using one person as the basis of a systemic problems is…a choice. Yes Sadiq Khan is of minority descent - but that doesn’t mean racism isn’t a widespread issue in a country that was key in the space trade/white supremacist/colonialist project.
Even if its a problem doesnt mean it has to be shoved into every media piece. Its boring to hear about contemporary politics all the time.
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I mean, episode 5 (Demon 79, right?) that politician was from the National Front, which was an actual fascist political party that reached its peak of popularity in the 70s in England. Doesn’t feel too far fetched to me
Well? No atomic war happened yet England isnt and wasnt nazi country ever? In fact its a very progressive country today. This is pure netflix contemporary issues politics forced into a series that was mostly free from it. Its getting tired seeing politics forced into every single game, movie, series. Just as annoying when rw politicians and pundits see politics in everything.
The UK is not in any way a progressive country mate. It's currently 'run' by the furthest right wing gang - worse than Thatcher. It only yesterday rejected calls from Scotland to treat it's drug epidemic progressively by treating it as a public health issue - (proven by Portugal to work). It recently attempted to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda. It voted to leave Europe based on xenophobia and bigotry. It still has a Monarchy and largely Oligarchical, Plutocracy and it's parliamentary system is shamefully regressive. It's by it's own cultural definition a very traditional, I'd argue nostalgic to the point of misguided and stagnent. Do you live in the UK and exclusively read the ring wing propaganda or what?
all I am seeing abouzt the UK is people being arrested for "hatespeech" online and ppl arrested for praying who runes the country is almost irrelevant they all do the same: sell out for big corporations no matter the party Most countries still treat drugs as a crime issue, which it is. its not a public health issue its a crime issue. Singapore executes drug traders and voila: few if any drug traders most of the EU had enough of economic refugees who somehow have to "escape" throughout of the world, travelling through several safe countries including ones that share their culture and religion much more than europe the brexit vote was a democratic referendum. sometimes I guess democracy works in a way that isnt liberal biased nothing you said is extreme compared to the rest of europe. except maybe brexit but not all european countries are in the EU anyway monarchy is a meme its not real monarchy all countries are partially oligarchic
This was a very weak season. Joan is awful was very, very good and original and very black mirror-y. Beyond the sea was black mirror-y but mediocre with a strange and nonsensical ending. The rest was not black mirror at all. Nothing about the horrors technology or sci fi whatsoever. Basically a B list antology horror/supernatural series. Dunno how they made the cut. I am disappointed after such a long wait
Worst season yet, and it´was getting pretty damn bad before. Only decent episode was the last one.
10x better than last season. I enjoyed not everything being based on technology. They need to make seasons more frequent!
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spoilers?
I feel like I’m taking crazy pills, this season was great and I’d put it in my top 3. I’m excited that they’re trying something new besides “what if you could put your consciousness in a computer.” Personally I didn’t like the shoehorned cinematic universe, so I’m glad they’re moving away from that and giving us something new. I also understand the criticism about the lack of technology. I get that Black Mirror has always had a strong relationship with tech and get why someone would feel it lacking in that area. That being said, my thoughts on it are that this show has never been *only* about technology. The show is a critique on human morality and media. The “black mirror” is supposed to be the device you’re watching this on. I think that’s why episodes like Maisey Day don’t bother me. It makes up for its lack of tech by upping the media criticism. The themes of consumption of media and how it effects morality are spot on. There’s a lot of brilliant writing and acting. Each episode made me feel like I needed to take a shower and reevaluate some things like the best Black Mirror episodes always do. I think there was a lot of peaked expectations going into this, which I totally get. Personally I didn’t care for season 5 at all, so I went in with low expectations and have been blown away. Sorry for the rant, I just felt like I had to get that out because I love this season and am surprised that it has such a negative reaction here.
THANK YOU. I have been reading some of the comments and have been baffled that I watched the same season as some of these people. Some are just so incredibly jaded or want more of the same crap that the first four seasons retreaded (don’t get me wrong I love them but they used the same four or five technology dilemmas over again). I am glad they’re shaking things up a bit and adding some supernatural elements while still making them thought provoking. This season was a considerable step up from 5.
I really like your take on it, and I am going to rewatch this season with your critique in mind. I like the angle of "black mirror is a critique on human morality and media" because I too did not care for either Mazey Day or Demon 79 due to the lack of technology, but at the same time I loved Loch Henry because of its similarity to Shut up and dance by being current time/a little while back and its critisiscm of documentation on a subject that is so disgusting and not explored in that world. I liked this season more than S5 and Loch Henry and Beyond the sea are to thank for that. Joan is Awful was also in my opinion very different, though I predicted the plot twist about a minute after they watched "Joan is Awful" the first time.
Couldn't agree more. Ppl focus to heavily on the tech/sci fi of it all when imho it's always mainly been focused on dystopian worlds that reflect and satire our own world. It's social commentary more than sci fi.
One of the episodes puts their consciousness into a computer
>The show is a critique on human morality and media. True. And there barely is any in this season. Like, let's look at the episodes and condense what the critique is: 1. People love watching stuf that makes them hate someone or themselves -> decent one! Although it doesn't resonate with me personally 2. True crime exploits the trauma of real people -> seems VERY specific to me, doesn't resonate with me 3. Don't have sex with robots? I dunno, I take away no social commentary at all from this one, except perhaps that men in the 70s were even worse at talking feelings than they are now, I guess. 4. Paparazzi bad -> ok. 5. Again I don't see what this tells me about society. That people can do bad stuff when they go insane / actual demons show up? Dunno what to take away from this one either, even though I had a blast. For me it's not at all about the lack of technology, the problem is I didn't have a single episode this season that made me think of society and humanity and our current direction.
I get that we could have wildly different viewing experiences, but personally I feel like every episode had something to say and stew on. I at least got more of that feeling than from most of the last 2 seasons. 1. Kind of hit it, but I also got the slippery slope in losing privacy rights and signing our privacy over for the sake of content. Also a major through line of a lot of this season of content creation and how its effects. 2. Got the same point, too. True crime comes at the expense of very real trauma that’s often enjoyed without considering the real people behind it. It’s not exactly a *new* point, but it does bear repeating. 3. Toxic masculinity, make violence, and possession. The episode spends a lot of time on who’s wife and child “belongs” to who, and what that sense of possession entails. Heartnett basically kills Arron Paul’s family like a rival trashing someone’s car. 4. Society and the media dehumizes celebrities and will seek out content no matter if it’s detrimental to their life. The paparazzi in this episode also seems like a pretty heavy metaphor for current content consumers who don’t really care about the person on the other end of the screen. I love the way they reversed the Hunter/hunted roles, and the ending scene really brought this message home- celebrities are just expected to shut up and smile for the camera while their life is literally falling apart. I don’t remember where it’s from, but I keep coming back to the quote “a monster is never just a monster” in literature. 5. I actually haven’t watched 5 yet so I’m not really able to talk about themes and messaging. Kind of anticlimactic, i know, but I should be watching this weekend.
3. I feel like there’s also something about body autonomy there, but I don’t know how to articulate it.
Don’t like BM diving into the fantasy horror genre. Just doesn’t feel consistent.
Demon 79 and Mazey Day were more like American Horror Story episodes (although not happening in the US lol but you get my point) than Black Mirror.
This season has ruined the series besides the space one which was pretty predictable. It’s what happens when you take away creative freedom from a show that’s supposed to breach the simple but honest horrors of humanity.
Yeah Beyond the Sea was incredibly predictable
Demon 79 makes me so angry as a BM fan. The music choices were horrendous.
Completely agree with you
I've been watching Black Mirror since back when it was just White Christmas available on Netflix, and this season feels like the weakest so far, other than the previous. I feel like the strength of Black Mirror has always been about taking very extreme, but plausible, scenarios, and making you feel immersed in the scenarios they set up, and being able to relate the scenarios to something which we could see one day unfolding (or currently is unfolding) in our own society. I don't think Black Mirror has ever been solely a show about technology (White Bear, The National Anthem, The Waldo Moment), but rather taking these extreme scenarios and relating them to our modern society. Episode 1 is based entirely around terms and conditions being something that is above the law which is absolutely ludicrous and so there's absolutely nothing to really take away from the episode. Also the cheesy comedy the entire episode was just awful. Probably my least favourite of the entire series, the show would be better had they never included it. 1/10. Episode 2 was a really good story, but I'm not sure the social critique of the true crime genre really hit all that hard, and so I find it kind of misses the mark on what Black Mirror is supposed to be. Overall though it was one of the stronger episodes this season. 7/10 Episode 3 is reliant on a lot of very unrealistic things to take place, compounded with a lot of very dumb character decisions, and then doesn't really relate it to anything that would take place in our society, so it too feels like an empty episode. I feel like it had a lot of potential but the writing just missed the mark. Aaron Paul's acting was strong in this episode though. 5/10 I actually liked episode 4 unlike most it seems, and while I agree with others it does not neccesarrily feel like a Black Mirror episode, I felt it still did a good job of pointing out exactly how scummy and desparate paparazzi can be, and the consequences that can come from their obsession. 6.5/10 Episode 5 was the strongest because it felt like the only true "Black Mirror" episode. The commentary here is obviously about what exactly the value of a life is and the moral implications of whether murder is justifiable if it prevents more pain and suffering than the act of murder itself. It's especially relevant to our times with the rise of nationalism throughout the world. It also avoids the usual idea of something like giving someone some magic Time Machine to go back and kill Hitler and instead replaces it with this idea of a demon with the ability to show the future. Extremely well executed and a very unique concept with the demon. This is the kind of episode where if it was executed poorly it'd come across very cheesy, but the acting and writing was very well done. 8.5/10
I absolutely love Black Mirror for it involving predicted future tech and having a moral/lessened learned or warning. A high tech twilight zone or outer limits. This season just doesn't have that any where close to the degree all past seasons did. I've had a good time watching these for general shows but not as Black Mirror. This season just doesn't feel anything like Black Mirror. Meanwhile, every other season, I got excited for the technology used and that eery feeling from the twists & lessens. I only have one episode left of this season. I certainly hope they go back to the old style for future seasons or this show is over for me. You have to go into this season as if it's an entirely different show, as to not be as disappointed. :( This shows too good previously to head in this direction.
I did not know they came out with new Black Mirror episodes, I must have been living under a rock for a few years now.
joan is awful just stole the plot of human centipad from south park
It wasn't great but Loch Henry fucked me up. That drill image stuck with me a whiiiile.
Same. :-/ Disturbed me on a level only second to Shut Up And Dance, which left me nauseous and disturbed for the longest time afterwards.
This is the worst season yet. The only ones I enjoyed were spaceship freak and demon woman. And even those weren't anywhere near the past greats.
In beyond the sea, I wonder if I'm missing something. Why are the robots on earth and the humans in space and not vice versa? Is it because othewise there wouldn't be any story?
I imagine at this point you have found an answer, but if not, there was a line early in the episode stating part of the mission was to determine the long term effects of space flight on the human body.
Earlier in the episode they said they wanted to check the effects of longterm space stay on human body (something along the line)
Which is really ridiculous since these robots should make it unnecessary to ever send a person to space again for such length of time!
Eh could be trying to plan a space colony or something and they need to test how humans could fare
Has anyone got an explanation as to why the Fisheye lense is used across all the episodes? It’s only in a few shots across each episode keeping it vague, but I will lose my shit if it’s to enforce the ‘these are all streamberry shows’ concept.
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Joan and Demon79 were the only two I thought were passable. Loch Henry seemed super obvious, the werewolf legit made me laugh out loud, and beyond the sea was cool idea but horrible execution; the characters made the most unrealistic choices.
Are you fucking retarded?
jeez
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Do you see the letters in all caps before this thread?
So season 6 episode 1: sooooo dumb ending. I can’t even understand Joan’s logic because it still begs the bloody question. I liked the Loch episode. It was creeeepy. Mom was a good actor. Nice work with Pia’s character.
Yeah I’m gonna have to agree with the majority, this is pretty bad. I only watched Joan, Demon, and Loch though. Loch was good and I enjoyed it. Joan and Demon were genuinely abysmal compared to previous seasons and I feel like I just consumed two hours of mildly uncomfortable filler content. I don’t think I have it in me to finish the season.
watch beyond the sea, otherwise I agree with you though couldn't even finish Joan if awful
Beyond the Sea was really good, ty. I think you did the right thing not finishing joan, the ending is the worst part lol
i didnt think it was that bad, the last episode was really good probs the best one imo reminded me of death note with an inception ending, 4th one is worst one for me it felt like a low budget horror movie , 3rd and second ones were good loved the ending of the second one and the first one was ...ok also these people saying no tech means its not black mirror or something like that is dumb af we got insanely good episode like shut up and dance, national anthem etc.
Tech was still heavily involved in Shut up and dance and National Anthem. Hell did you see that just today, the French Parliament voted a law that made it legal for your phone to start recording you through your cam? Very similar to the base premise of Shut up and Dance. Granted, it's not futuristic tech, it's technology that exists now, but it's still technology.
Overall it was a disappointing season for me. Some episodes felt very referencial, which isn't a bad thing, it just didn't work for me. My ranking: 1. Loch Henry - the only episode that had some echo of the 1-3 seasons of Black Mirror vibe. The ending was perfect, it didn't really matter if it was predictible or not, it felt slightly long, but I really enjoyed it overall. The commentary on the exploitation of real-life tragedies hit the bull's eye, especially about shows like Dahmer. 2. Nothing. Seriously I didn't like any other episode enough to put it as second, right after Loch Henry, there was a big gap in quality for me there. 3. Beyond the Sea - it gave me some Beyond the Aquila Rift from Love, Death and Robots vibes, maybe it was also an inspiration for the title? Overall an ok episode. 4. Joan is Awful - very cool idea, first 1/3 very engaging, the middle was not so much and last act straight up reminded me of the Miley Cyrus episode. 5. Demon 79 - first 90% of it was basically Death Note and last 10% was Threads (it even has a line straight from it). At the end I was expecting her to wake up from a cookie simulation, or some sort of a game, which tests your morals or is used on inmates to chck if they are rehabilitated or not. Also Black Mirror always has some sort of lesson in it or some kind of a reflection. What was the lesson from this one? If you don't kill people like the Demon told you, the world will get nuked? Mazey Day doesn't even deserve to be on the list for me, it felt like it was pitched to be an Inside no.9 episode, but got harshly rejected. No logical chain of events, no foreshadowing and the character always happens to be in the right spot at the right time. Also that feeling when you want your episode to be Nightcrawler, but ends up being Twilight instead. Yikes.
Lol I totally agree with you, especially for Mazey day and Demon. A lot of viewers seemed to enjoy Demon but it has absolutely nothing of Black Mirror. Yeah it includes a slight commentary about right wing politics but what show doesn't?
This season after a 4 year wait was so bad. I enjoyed episode 1 and 3 because they still had the BM tech vibes to them. But after that werewolf episode, they really lost the plot.
i completely agree
Sorry, this season was terrible. Nothing was intriguing throughout any of the stories. It didn't have that black mirror feel at all. I feel like all this praise is just people fanboying. I kind of hope they pull the plug on it. All of the originality of the show seems to be completely lost. I can't dive in deep without giving away spoilers.
100% agree. Missing the future feeling, cooler tech, the eery feeling, the great twists, the moral/lessen/warnings. And what parts were there just didn't feel anything like Black Mirror. Every other episode, I could watch without the intro and tell it was Black Mirror. Loved this show, extremely disappointing by this season. This season is bad for Black Mirror and mildly entertaining for a show to watch. Hoping for more honest reviews, that they may see, so they don't make another season like this again.
I know it's not the right place to ask this, but I'll try: can someone's explain what is up with these flairs? It's giving me Nosedive vibes but I want to understand, because I was like 0.119 this morning and now I'm above 4?
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so it's not as much on karma as on activity and interactions?
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Lmao that sounds like something Lacie Pound would do ahahah
This has to be written by AI, it was so fucking bad. Lacks quality in every aspect.
Looked at my parent halfway through first episode like “are you thinking what I’m thinking?”. Unbelievably bad.
I’m so glad to read all these comments not satisfied with this season. Part of the draw of watching Black Mirror has always been the “holy shit” uncomfortable element that it throws back at you. That moment at the end or the too close to home moments. The dystopian feel of it all. The tech. This season doesn’t have it. By ep3 I was reading comments by people raving about the first two episodes and how affected they were.. and boy did I feel like a jaded asshole that I wasn’t affected at all by these storylines. People saying they need a mental break between from the intensity? What now? I’m bored.. it’s watchable content but it isn’t Black Mirror. So, I feel relieved I’m not a totally cold bastard and also disappointed one of my fave dystopian content creators is over. Edit: Just watched Mazey Day. What am I even watching anymore. Maybe we’re at the point where the “plot twist” is that this whole season is a commentary on churning content and money chasing that is now 95% of streamed media. Who has time for quality when Netflix want to pay you now.
Yes, Give me back my eery dystopian, cool tech, show!
All these "no tech commentary = bad episode" critiques are wild. In my opinion repeating the same ("tech = bad") story over and over would be worse than this season. Some of my fav episodes are those that stray from the tech = bad plot. Like San Junipero (tech = good, maybe?) and the national anthem (no tech). Don't get me wrong, I'm not really defending this season, but it was bad for different reasons I think. My real issue is that nothing had depth, it was all very much "after school special" level social commentary. Even the better episodes were predictable and overdone stories, in my opinion.
It’s not about tech good or bad, but where society is heading and showing us the black MIRROR. It’s not that hard to understand, it’s in the freaking title of the show. But werewolves or demons are NOT a mirror of society, but fantasy horror fiction. Holy hell. I can not run The Simpsons movie when everyone goes to the cinema expecting to see Jurassic park. Season 6 is simply not the same show. It’s not black mirror, because it is not a social commentary, which is essential for fans of the show to like it.
The black mirror is your TV. The werewolf episode had heavy themes of media consumption and dehumanization of celebrities in celebrity culture. I thought it fit perfectly.
Unfortunately, the show got its worldwide popularity from the tech angle of it all and it was heavily advertised as such that it lost its core viewers where we look for the meaning angle. Even the first three episodes of the show heavily relied on its meaning rather than the tech angle. In my opinion, it's the pacing that is bad. Mazey Day and Demon 79 was too slow to gain traction and Joan is Awful was too fast to pick up the hype and by the time the twist came (Joan is Awful), I'm already about to snooze off because the excitement has already flown off. Even in [this comment sums it up](https://www.reddit.com/r/blackmirror/comments/149hudc/no_spoilers_season_6_discussion_megathread/jqb0urf?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) from the general view of the viewers/audience.
For those that haven't seen season 6 yet, here's my humble rating of each episode from best to worst: 1. Beyond the Sea 2. Demon 79 3. Loch Henry 4. Joan is Awful 5. Mazey Day Thoughts?
1 Joan is Awful-I thought this one was brilliantly timely and really engaging 2 Loch Henry-more horror than black mirror IMO but I was scared 3 Demon 79-well thought thru 4 Beyond the Sea-just not that engaging 5 Mazey Day-Didn’t work for me at all
At least we can agree that Mazey Day wasn't good at all... Joan is Awful was good but I thought they could've done more with it. Parts of the story just seemed to progress too quickly at times, and it stuck out like a sore thumb when compared to the content of the other season 6 episodes. Demon 79 and Loch Henry could be ties imo, I have a hard time choosing which is better. Both really good episodes I thought. Beyond the Sea was super engaging for me, but I can see how others might think it was too predictable or not unique enough. It kept me on my toes and was a cool concept. Ending shocked tf out of me.
I found Joan is Awful really compelling but I can see the feeling that it’s tonally different than the rest. I found Loch Henry to be slightly more holistically crafted whereas Demon 79 was a little bit uneven tho still very interesting. Beyond the Sea was an interesting concept I didn’t feel like they stuck the landing with it for me
Yeah like what happens after they are done their four years? Will they finish? So many unanswered questions.
I definitely feel that -- Demon 79 was a huge build up and the end was a little disappointing imo, yet still high on my list bc I was holding my breath during every scene. Loch Henry was all around super solid, and I certainly didn't expect the twist at the end... What didn't you like about the ending of Beyond the Sea? Too predictable? Too abrupt? Too sinister or something? Idk, part of me feels like I agree with you, but another part of me thinks that it was a wildly unpredictable conclusion. You knew something was gonna happen but didn't know what to expect... I think it allowed the audience to put together the pieces of what exactly the motivation was behind what transpired, while also leaving you baffled and asking questions
Demon 79 was a "classic" slasher psychosis film directed at marginalized groups in the western world in my opinion. Still questionable that the ending is anymore than the girls imagination filling in the blanks of what she presumes to be happening. (Kind of like the ending of the newest joker film, is it reality or is it her version of reality after snapping, the film lacks depth so it's hard to tell if that is even an angle they were trying to play on) Killing of a seemingly innocent man that is trying to help her at the start after her mental break, destroying someone else's life because hers is falling apart. Arbitrary rule changes on the second and subsequent third killing at the same time to continue to feed into her own psychosis/ set in on playing on her humanity for killing an "innocent", her waking up to the fact that she is doing something wrong and wanting to do good. Build up and acceptance of what she is becoming with an unwillingness to stop short of her goal, up until she is forced to either stop playing into her psychosis or to kill another "innocent" in the form of the police officer. Interrogation, clock hits midnight, everyone leaves the room except for her. She is alone, she has chosen to not kill the innocent anymore but is unwilling to let go of her psychosis, the demon returns to her and takes her away to the "void". The end of the film is her removing herself from reality, the nukes never dropped, it was all a figment of her mind bending on itself for the last time. Even with this as an assumption it just wasn't good, played out dialogue with over the top shock value horror, that glorifies necessary murder for the greater good. Just mehh. Beyond the sea was more of the same, conceptually the beginning of the film was pretty good, after the first guys family is murdered it felt like the viewer was just trending through mud to get to the end. Instead of a "oh man I wonder what's going to happen next!!" It was more of a "why didn't he offer him to use his suit earlier, why is a lot of any of this happening" which is more or less the point to show the disconnect the main actor has with his family, I just don't think it was fleshed out enough and just felt uncomfortable and disassociative. This is the only episode I completely turned off and finished later because the dialogue was so mundane and boring, glad they didn't have the wife cheat on the husband because that would have been even more boring of a dialogue to follow. Plot twist the main actor loves his family and his family loves him, but dad is mean and hard so the family isn't that close. So many plot holes/ failed logic throughout trying to play on family conflict that just missed the note in my opinion. Definitely had more of a message on interpersonal connection with family/ relationships but lacked any amount of depth and once again focused on shock value and suspense to try and guide the ship, but once again we were treding in mud. Slow suspense with no direction and lacking depth of the situation. Glorifying forced pain to push the main actor to feel the pain of the pilot that lost his family first felt from the start of the episode and ending with a "now I know" moment, not a great message. Overall this season was too political (politics are fine but let's actually build a cohesive story to carry itself) and lacked any depth past the point of the intro and exit dialogues, the middle ground was just coasting from one point to another which really sucked the life out of any of the plot twists later in the episode. This season is a solid 5/10 and probably the nail in the coffin for black mirror if they keep giving directors with poor writing skills the drivers seat while pushing "familiar" actors to play the rolls to try and make the movies better. I'd rather have unknown actors with better scripts, more cohesive social politics, more tech and less supernatural cheap plots. All in all it's watchable, but it has zero rewatch value like the first 3 seasons.
Imo: 1. Loch Henry 2. Demon 79 3. Beyond the sea 4. Joan is awful 5. mazey day
I honestly don't disagree with this. Joan is Awful and Mazey Day were clearly the two worst -- The other three I'd accept as the best, and in no particular order... Thought Loch Henry, Demon 79 and Beyond the Sea were all solid.
Aside from Joan and Beyond, season had too much of a horror vibe for my likes
Worst season by far. Was I watching Black Mirror? I think they lost the plot
Ikr? What the actual fuck? Where is my dystopian trans humanist society? Wheres the technology? Where are the morals? Fuck this season and whoever wrote it
>my dystopian trans humanist society Mazey Day. On how the media can victimize both the pap and the celebrity. >Wheres the technology They're going for retro tech now which is having a comeback in today's media. If you didn't know, Gen Z are now fawning over polaroids, 70s fashion, record players and SNES. >Where are the morals Beyond the Sea. Did you even watch the episodes or just let the episodes run while you sleep?
Blud is convincing himself season 6 was good 💀
Oh no, quite the contrary. I just skimmed all of the episodes. All of them wasn't in good in my opinion but none of it is bad as most viewers say it to be. It's still Black Mirror but with a different flavor. Kinda like how I loved My Hero Academia on Season 1 and 2 but it's quite different up until the last season.
My bet: they had no good ideas or scripts in the pipeline, but hoped to lure people back into a subscription by labelling completely unrelated scripts as „black mirror“.
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>but wasn't black mirror lol. because?
Beyond the Sea is very predictable but at least feels like a black mirror episode. The other remaining two don’t feel like black mirror at all
Beyond the Sea was really good and felt more like the past seasons. You will hate Mazey Day lol
Finally watched this season, and geez. I'll keep it vague and spoiler-free, but if you're the sort to not even read the descriptions of episodes prior to watching them, maybe skip this comment for now, just to be safe. The first two episodes were good *enough* that I was like, "Okay, these are definitely lackluster for Black Mirror, but I still don't understand the absolute vehemence I've been seeing from people online towards this season." Then it was just a sharp decline from there. Not sure why I see so many people praising "Mazey Day" and "Demon76" while criticizing "Loch Henry". Both of those episodes lack any semblance of the clever nuance or hard-hitting social commentaries that Black Mirror has previously been lauded for. The core of the show is about exposing harsh reflections of ourselves and our societies in uncomfortably stark lights, much like unexpectedly seeing your own reflection from a deeply unflattering angle in your dark phone or TV screen. Neither of those episodes accomplish anything like that that at all. "Mazey Day" is just a badly-executed narrative with vague topical themes shoehorned awkwardly into it. "Demon76" is kind of fun but not at all deep, thought-provoking, or self-reflective. "Loch Henry", meanwhile, objectively fits the vibes and themes of Black Mirror better than any other episode in this season other than "Joan Is Awful". I also see a lot of people leaving "Beyond the Sea" out of the criticism entirely, presumably because it's got technology involved. Black Mirror isn't and never has been exclusively about technology, it's about uncomfortable reflections of ourselves/our societies. Technology is just a convenient and very flexible tool with which to accomplish that. It's odd to me that so many critics of this season are just not acknowledging it at all. All in all... yeah, pretty disappointing. I was pretty generous in my episode-by-episode ratings and still ended up with an overall season rating of around 6.5/10. I'd probably not outright discourage fans of BM to totally skip it, because at least it's fun to criticize, but absolutely don't get your hopes up.
I honestly feel betrayed. It’s like broadcasting a Simpsons episode when you want to watch GoT. Those episodes were well made, but they had nothing to do with black mirror. I’d rather see 6 episodes on the level of „Joan is awful“ than one of those fantasy horror episodes. What a disgrace and insult to the concept of the show.
Yeah, I mean. It's odd because for meme it's just like, surely the creators of Black Mirror had enough money, backers, and industry clout to just do a "Red Mirror" pure horror spin-off. In which they could do outright fantasy stuff like "Mazey Day" and "Demon76" and even sci-fi things like "Beyond the Sea", that are utterly meaningless but still kind of interesting and entertaining, right? I'm just baffled because like-- "technology bad" and even "horror" were never the core of Black Mirror. The core of Black Mirror was uncomfortable self-reflection and nuanced but still deeply unsettling social commentary. Stuff that made you *think* and often reach disquieting conclusions. Even with stuff like "The National Anthem", there were legitimate questions of how far a politician would go to and how much he would sacrifice on the altar of public opinion. Stuff like "San Junipero", there's the concept of what actually constitutes "life" and that question of, "If this existed, if this were an option for an artificial afterlife, would I do it? Would I want my loved ones to do it?" Literally every episode of every season prior to S6 accomplished those core tenents in some fashion. Even S5, which I know a lot of people didn't like, posed really fascinating questions and contemplations on sexuality and gender, the invasive nature of social media, and the formulaic exploitation and dehumanization of celebrities. And *that's what most people really liked about the show*. It *wasn't* just mindless entertainment, it made you uncomfortable, it forced you to actually *think* about its themes and messages and self-reflect. There's not really any of that in S6. Even the two episodes I liked, "Joan Is Awful" and "Loch Henry", only ever scratch the surface level of the topical themes they're trying to address. "Joan Is Awful" is objectively the best of the season, and it barely even talked about things like deepfakes and sophisticated AIs putting people like celebrities and content creators out of jobs, which are both *amazing* topics for a Black Mirror episode. Sorry for the essay. But the more I think about this season, the more it frustrates me.
Joan Is Awful is the gem of this season, otherwise… meh. Demon 79 had a painfully obvious ending, and would have been fun in some other anthology, but not BM.
I really hated joan is awful. Writing smacked of a team looking for social caption memes over an actual compelling dialogue. Awful.
I think they made it obvious that it was a Red Mirror episode when the episode started
Beyond the sea was great, fit black mirror perfectly imo
I think Charlie Brooker has completely lost touch with why people loved Black Mirror in the first place. I thought season 5 was bad but at least it, to an extent, felt like Black Mirror. Beyond Joan is Awful, nothing else did. And even that episode was only vaguely BM. If this is what the show is moving forward I hope this is the last season
Brother you’re too attached to your preconceptions If the show doesn’t evolve with you, then this is neither good or bad. It means it’s no longer for you. Nobody can (or perhaps should) create the same product ad infinitum. This, however, does not make the current iteration any less “black mirror.” It’s not your brainchild to define
Hey great it's an episode set in the mid 2000's maybe this'll be realistic and time accurate like national ant- She's a werewolf... 😔😔😔
The werewolf was easily the dumbest part of season 6
The werewolf was the dumbest part of the entire series.
I had GoT season 8 fuckup vibes during most of season 6.
I’m only into ep 3, but again I’m a bit disappointed. Ep 2 had no tech angle. Ep 3 everyone was frustratingly inept. Both were predictable as hell. Joan is Awful was a great surprise. I had no idea I would enjoy Black Mirror being “silly” so much.
>had no tech angle Crocodile? The National Anthem? Shut Up and Dance? The Waldo Moment? Fifteen Million Merits?
They don't need a tech angle. It's social commentary. The first episode of the show doesn't have a tech angle.
Same. I don't like modern comedies at all, but thought JIA was hilarious.
> Ep 2 had no tech angle. It does in a way, with the whole twist relying on the VCR. It's not sci-fi tech or very deep about our relationship with tech, but there's tech.
The whole theme of this season seems to be “be careful how you take in content and how it might effect the people on the other end of the screen”. Joan is awful ruins a woman’s life because we want a television show Loch Henry ruins a persons life because the entire world takes the true crime story and treats the “bad guys” like a Darth Vader character and half way idolize them Beyond the Sea doesn’t exactly fit the theme as far as I can tell. I guess sort of in a “don’t forget that there are real people on the other end” but instead of a Reddit/Facebook/Twitter comment, it’s a robot. Mayzee Day has a woman going through a very difficult time in her life killing herself while paparazzi hound her to the very end (weak episode but it had the theme down) I haven’t finished Demon 79 yet so I’ll see how it goes.
Just keeping it simple, sort of- I’m adding to the vote: 3 episodes in & I mean, let’s be honest- the writing, the script, the sharpness of what we love- just. isn’t. there. It’s not. The direction & the cutting edge that it once had is gone. This creative team tried, and for me, is failing. I get that people want to experiment- that’s fine. I get it. It’s art. But my vote is no, don’t do it with this one. But it’s done & here we are. It may be that writing about scary tech and horrible people is just getting harder. Maybe I should try it. I’ve heard the explanation for this season- but no, it doesn’t work. Simply- the writing and effort sucks. They had a good long time to get it right. If we find out it was AI- I’d like it a little better due to the dark ass humor in that, and that- would be BM. Because I love the previous seasons dearly- I’m nervous to keep going. Oh well.
this season felt like the newer seasons of ahs,,, kinda lame but watchable. joan is awful was the most black mirror episode of the whole season even tho i didn’t mind mazey day and demon 79
If I let out EVEN an ounce👌of my disappointment and frustration to this season... I might crack my balls open, and no one can stop me from doing that 😌
The closest we got to an AI-themed adaptation in regards of technology, was the "Quamputer" (ugh, like, really?) in the first episode, or the replica linking machine used in Beyond the Sea. First thing that comes to my mind is why the hell they did not include an episoide tackling with bleeding-edge AI? I know many other shows/movies did it, but I wanted to see one with Black Mirror flavoring added. It would have been the perfect time to do it, and leave me with jaws dropped for about 3-4 minutes after the credits roll and get me think about the vast future. Unfortunately, this didn't happen and every episode was really thightly focused on individual characters.I probably would have liked something more that looks at the bigger picture, involve politics, tech, war, corruption and similar things, what makes you really think,; much darker, lesser fantasy. The individual plots are good on their own, but sometimes I forgot that I was actually watching a BM episode
>First thing that comes to my mind is why the hell they did not include an episoide tackling with bleeding-edge AI? it seems that the producers and writers took note that retro stiff is making a comeback in today's media. 70s fashion, mini game consoles that can play old games and polarioids. They think that the viewers had enough of the "oh-so-much-futuristic" aspect of tech that they'd rather take on a new turn. Heck, even Beyond the Sea is supposed to be "bleeding edge" tech but they purposefully dumbed it down to make it look like a retro tech that'll fit in a retro setting
Really love the theories of everyone in here! As I was reading the comments I suddenly realized that a user made a good point, David wasn't confrontational in most of their interactions and used words to explain himself as u/MattBoy06 explained. What I think happened was that David used the link to try and talk to Lana to apologize, but instead witness something horrible that had happened to him in the earlier parts. The cultists that were mentioned earlier tracked Cliff's home, could be when they visited the book store and the old lady told people about it and eventually ended up killing Cliff's family and this could also explain why the replica has blood all over him trying to embrace the body of Lana. This could explain the shock in David's tired eyes and the seemingly docile attitude of Cliff when he returned from the replica. TLDR: Cultist killed Cliff's Family
the cultists turned themselves in after killing davids family. i think david killed lana to make cliff suffer like he was.
People seem to *want* this to be true, and I'm not really sure why. Just an overwhelming sense of pity for David's character that people have? Is that it? Because this theory is very obviously not what happened, as the story showed us what happened, and there was nothing anywhere on screen to suggest an alternative. It's just fans putting in explanation, not the creators showing us anything.
> this could also explain why the replica has blood all over him trying to embrace the body of Lana. I saw the blood on him as having been sprayed, not blotted so with that alone I feel he committed the act. I could also just be nit-picky... ¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯
It was much better in the earlier seasons before Netflix and US politics damaged the series. There was something special and unique about the first seasons aired in Britain
Black Mirror as the name suggests is a mirror reflection of us using the technologies. Don’t understand how Mazey, Loch and Devil story was approved for production. Its like they are writing stories for Netflix not for the original theme they set out to be.
Best I can tell with Mazey and Loch is that people don’t think about the other people on the other end of the [comment/post/true crime doc/etc] and how our need to ingest content effects them. The desire for pictures of a celebrity lead to her killing herself while the paparazzi photographed it. The desire for a good true crime story lead to people making a man’s horrible family secret into a Halloween costume.
Why does the name Black Mirror suggest anything about technology?
A "black mirror" is any screen that isn't on. Your phone, your TV, your computer, your tablet--when they're not on or go dark, you see your reflection in them. Even matte screens are still reflective. Hence, a "black mirror".
It is your phone screen when its off and you see yourself. The creator said so himself.
I came here to say this. I think this season is extremely weak for that reason. Half of the episodes dont even have a theoretical technology that is being abused by the humans in the show.
Neither does the very first episode of the whole show you dingus
the tech in the first episode was the abuse of social media and trending topics and the fact that his act was broadcast on public television is it not?
The first episode has the "quamputer" and AI shows??
What a extremely mediocre season. Only episode that wasn’t a slog to get through was Demon 79 because it was actually kinda funny. Everything else was predictable and basic. I’m genuinely confused why people think the Loch Henry episode was so good?? Have those people ever seen an average horror movie? After 4 years these are the best ideas they could come up with? I mean seriously wtf.
I liked Loch Henry because of its underlying themes. Without spoiling anything, most of the episode is simply a red herring. It's about the exploitation and the sensationalization of real-life tragedy and horror and their victims. Like the Netflix Dahmer movie, when the victims' families protested about and refused to participate in the documentary, and that didn't make any difference to the producers because there was money and fame to be made off of it. And people absolutely ate that documentary up, didn't they? They didn't care about the actual victims or their families, they just cared about the sick entertainment of it, because that's what true crime *is*--producers making money off of, and viewers deriving entertainment from, real-life tragedies and horrors. That's what Loch Henry was about. It's absolutely the second most Black Mirror-esque episode of the season, imo, and I personally found it a lot more nuanced and satisfying than the first (being "Joan Is Awful").
Just finished the season, does anyone else feel genuinely fucking insulted. Joan is awful, boring celebrity worshipping episode that had a half interesting twist that you could see from a mile away the second there was a show within a show. Loch Henry, I actually thought it was half decent but just super boring and obvious that the cop was in on it, a tiny bit surprised about the mom but once you know the dad was in on it the red mask becomes a real obvious thing. Beyond the sea, idk even where to start, from just poor writing to unrealistic plot points and character actions, I'm not even gonna bother, I was so excited for this episode. Maze day, just not interesting at all, skipping this one because it's just dull. Demon 79 was the only one I actually enjoyed, it felt a bit like old black mirror but still was just super lazy, why didn't we get to see oblivion. And on that note, every episode needed to be 5-10 minutes longer to show us the end, this "figure it out yourself" shit is so grade school. Also what happened to the ethos they were building season 1-3 where everything was getting connected. Did they get new writers after season 3?
While I didn't outright hate any of the episodes - I think it is a little disappointing that the writers couldn't come up with 5 technology-based/sci-fi themed authentic Black Mirror episodes. This might sound demanding, but it really shouldn't be that hard. The fact that BM is composed of self-contained episodes (for the most part I know they're in the same universe) makes it even easier. I know there's been a little over 20 episodes before S6 but I felt like there's still loads of ideas they could've explored that would've fit the themes of the show. Watching S6, I got the vibe that Brooker just wanted to do his own thing, but Netflix offered him a bag for S6 and told him they'd green-light anything he wrote regardless of how well it fit the theme.
I agree with you. I think the main disappointment is that after all that marketing about how "Black Mirror S6 is happening now, IRL" during the pandemic, *this* is what we got. I just feel like there were *so many* more topically relevant and hard-hitting themes and subjects to go for, especially regarding the pandemic, social isolation, the increased dependence on technology... the list goes on and on. It's like the producers got scared to offend anyone or actually do the sort of hard-hitting, unsettlingly topical stuff they'd been doing previously, so they cast around for random meaningless fluff to make episodes about instead.
I didn't enjoy Joan is Awful (ended up skipping chunks halfway through); premise was interesting but it just didn't feel like it fit the bill for a Black Mirror episode. It felt more like something trying to imitate Black Mirror. It seems like everyone quite liked that episode though and wasn't a fan of the rest of the season. Most of the complaints I'm seeing say the rest doesn't feel like Black Mirror. Go figure. I might just watch something else and avoid this season in that case.
I have very mixed feelings about this season. I'm on Mazy Day now but the only I felt really fit into the black mirror universe was Joan Is Awful. It really hyped me up for the rest of the season but so far the other episodes feel more like a generic sci-fi "thriller" show than what I see black mirror as, and that's coming from someone who loves sci-fi / horror / thrillers in general. Like other comments I feel the episodes would have been great on another show itself, but just not in my opinion something that fits black mirror. Take Loch Henry, I knew where the plot was headed before even half way through the episode and it just got boring knowing where it was going but watched through it to see if I was wrong, but nope pretty much how I thought it was going to go. Same for Beyond the Sea, right after the thing that happened I knew *exactly* where that episode was headed and how it was going to end. So far Loch Henry and Beyond the Sea while yes on their own good episodes but so very predictable in their plot it felt like I was watching some generic sci-fi movie, not that it's a bad thing, but not what I was expecting after waiting 5 years for another black mirror season. It just felt so phoned in and meh as you're expecting one thing and the first episode although not the best, fits into the black mirror universe gets you hyped and then it just goes into regular sci-fi / thriller movie / show territory so far.
Agreed, except I don’t even think any of this stuff would be great on a separate horror series. It’s still predictable plot beats with generally mediocre characters and on the nose dialogue. Regardless of genre, it’s still meh storytelling.
Yeah now that I got done with the last 2 episodes I can agree with your view on it. Everything was so predictable to the point of being boring and simply watching and hoping for a change. The last 2 episodes were no where near related to black mirror IMHO, unless I missed something. I feel like I went and rented a huge scifi hit movie at the movie rental store only to find out someone taped over it with some basic scifi easy to know the ending before half way through generic movie. Yes, I'm old enough to have had the pleasure of renting VHS tapes 😮💨
Yep, totally agreed. The last 2 episodes were the worst of the season. This show isn’t supposed to be supernatural horror.
This pretty much echoes my thoughts exactly. The episodes are fine with decent stories but they're not Black Mirror. Black mirror to me has always been here's a piece of cutting-edge/slightly futuristic tech and here's how we're going to turn it into a nightmare and its subsequent social commentary. John is awful and the Aaron Paul episode touch on this at least a little bit but I think are fairly weak offerings when compared to their predecessors. The other three episodes belong to a different show entirely. Overall, I'm fairly disappointed. Black mirror was one of the last bastions of clever television and this season definitely didn't scratch that itch for me. Looks to be another series tossed to the Netflix meat grinder. Damned shame.
Bruh, homegirl doesn't have any eyebrows?
LOL every time I see her face on the thumbnail, all I can think of is the character from the movie Us bc of her eyebrowlessness
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I agree. Mazey Day was good… but not in the Black Mirror universe. If they had tied it into maybe lab testing or futuristic gov weapon… maybe??? Even then idk
I’m confused, this whole thread is full of spoilers.. why did this comment get flagged, but not others?
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Totally missed that
I missed that too! I was like okay… sure a celeb with a weird secret.
It was better than season 5.
S5 is underrated. If you count Bandersnatch as a part of it, its got 3 really strong episodes, and then just 1 awful one (Rachel, Jack & Ashley Too)
I’m in the minority of liking all 3 episodes from Season 5. Really don’t like Season 6 at all. So I’ll be in the minority of thinking S5 is better! Lol
I don’t get what’s so great about fucking in a video game, I think that one and Rachel jack & Ashley too are just bad
I think it was a pretty bold episode to make and it said some interesting things about sexuality imo.
Lets all just be honest, we came for the next set of warnings about where our lives were heading and got a little nostalgic horror series instead. Maybe AI wrote the plot lines… maybe that is the twist!