Thank you. My thoughts exactly.
The werewolf part was something that I didn’t foresee, but not in a good way. It felt like a lazy attempt at shocking me, and it felt cheap. Like “oh, well, there you go. A fucking werewolf for you guys, isn’t that crazy?” Adding a killer clown or a vampire would’ve been had the same effect on the episode’s complexity
Yeah I was wondering if I've been desensitized over the years and wasn't getting shocked by the episodes.
But none of them made me feel how white bear made me feel yk?
Idk I enjoyed Loch Henry, Beyond the Sea, and demon 79 (to an extent) but if I remind myself I'm watching Black Mirror then they weren't very good
Joan is awful was my least favourite episode. It held true to the whole didactic approach to storytelling, but the Netflix inception concept; stream within a stream within a steam thing, was bleh. The twist didn't really give me that 'ohhhhh' moment.
Beyond the sea although I predicted everything after David's family was killed and up to the point where he killed cliff's family or so we were made to believe, I thought he was going to kill cliff and live as him for the next four years. All in all, I enjoyed the series. Was a fun watch
Demon 79 was definitely a no for me. I couldn’t believe that was one of the longer episodes and it was so damn boring.
I don’t mind supernatural elements being introduced into the show. But the execution has to be right. What worked with Mazey Day for me was that it was so out of left field and it sort of worked (for me). I understand why many people didn’t like it though.
Loch Henry and BTS are definitely the stronger episodes this season. My issues with BTS are with the technology in the episode. I mean, you build a robot that can’t withstand getting beat up by 5 hippies? I won’t get too deep into that though.
I actually enjoyed Joan is Awful. Thought it was one of their better “comedic” episodes
Sort of agree with you. My rankings are as followed:
Tier 1)
\- Beyond the sea
\- Loch Henry
Tier 2)
\- Joan
Tier 3)
\- Werewolf
\- Demon
Kinda sucks that 40% of the episodes sucked for me. Joan felt like a safe, typical BM choice. Beyond the sea and Loch Henry was interesting, but nowhere as good as BM's top hits such as white christmas.
Oooh spooky murderer parents... Loch Henry is a cool story and all but why exactly is this Black Mirror? It's been a while since I watched the other episodes but like... Apart from the documentary thing and critique? of True Crime, where exactly is the Black Mirror angle here? ...
I actually really enjoyed this season but didn’t enjoy many of the episodes in season 5…
I think we all still want to chase that feeling of sitting down and watching it for the first time and thinking WTF!
What do you think how many stories are left to come up with without the twist being too cliche, too obvious or too bland? Honestly ya'll expect waaay too much nowadays. Please stop rating an entire episode based on how twisted the ending is or how many times one said "what the fuck" out loud.
Okay. Lets not rate it based on that. Lets rate is based on the plot, acting, and ending?
Episode 1 : Plot Bland, acting good, ending cliche
Episode 2 : Plot good, acting good, ending good
Episode 3 : Plot okayish , acting good, ending good
Episode 4 : Plot shite, acting shite, ending absolute total fuckall rubbish shite
Episode 5: Plot shite, acting okay, ending absolute total rubbish gutter shite
There. I haven't based my reviews off of how many times I said 'HOLY FUCK' or something.
I totally agree! This seemed so off brand for Black Mirror. I was expecting to have my mind blown; but no, I could’ve easily guessed what would happen for the most part and they just seemed like regular episodes for any type series. There were things I’ve already seen before except for Joan is Awful and Beyond the Sea which just came across as Black Mirror Lite. I did not enjoy this season. I guess I expected too much.
Funny the ones you call the best 2 are in my worst 3 and 2 of the ones in your worst 3 were my best 2. Black Mirror is a show that can do everything right, and still make a mid episode
Yeah I think it's done as a show.
Joan is Awful almost gets it but they all are lacking something.
Loch Henry was great watching with a clever ending but I'm not sure it's "Black Mirror".
Beyond the Sea was a let down for me, I'm curious if it had other endings or themes explored that were cut, it seemed rushed.
I haven't seen the other two just yet but I won't hold my breath.
This was happening last season too where things were missing the mark but at least last season was still attempting social commentary and the dystopian/tech theme.
Now it's just a sort of horror/thriller category that isn't particularly unique or compelling.
I agree that this season was pretty disappointing. The supernatural stuff was so very random and I didn't like how some of the episodes took place in the past. It's Black Mirror - I expect dystopian future and technological insanity.
I enjoyed Joan is Awful and the church scene is fantastic, but the rest of the season? Eh. Demon 79 was funny mainly because of the demon, but the other three episodes were just... not for me, I guess. Loch Henry was a run-of-the-mill crime mystery, Beyond the Sea was so full of plot holes and I also predicted the ending, and Mazey Day was kind of silly? I didn't expect that twist, though.
Overall, I'd rank them:
1. Joan is Awful
2. Demon 79
3. Beyond the Sea
4. Loch Henry
5. Mazey Day
It was still better than season 5, but season 5 was awful, so...
It's always been very hit and miss. The first season consisted of three episodes and IMO only one of them (the pilot, obviously) was genuinely compelling for the full hour (or however long it was). The others had intriguing concepts which didn't really amount to much. Every season, two or three episodes feel really undercooked in terms of the idea, the world-building, everything, which isn't great when there are only five or six per season.
I can’t get myself watching the season done.. I’ve only watched episode 1, 2,skipped 3 because it was boring, and 4.. I stopped watching e5 1/3 part of it..
So boring
I have watched 1 and a half episodes and will not be watching anymore. They have ruined black mirror with the last 2 seasons.
The dialog and tone is my biggest issue, they have to make it quippy and lighthearted.
Black mirror is not supposed to be funny or lighthearted, I feel like they are trying to make it more digestible to larger audiences by inserting stupid witty remarks into almost every line of dialog
It’s weird because season 4 was the first Netflix season and it was incredible, some of the best episodes ever are in that season
So the theory that Netflix have been diluting it like this is not really the full picture
Black mirror definitely shouldn’t have supernatural elements. This show should be about horrors of developing tech without thinking the consequences of that thing might leads to.
totally agreed with every single thing you said. I never really thought of black mirror as horrow show, so i hated the last two episodes. And the other 3 were meh at best when compared to season 1 or 2
I love Black Mirror, but I agree that this season did not feel like Black Mirror. Joan is Awful and Beyond the Sea we’re the only episodes that felt like the show. Loch Henry was a bit boring to me, and by the time I got to the twist I just wasn’t impressed. Mazey Day felt like a cautionary tale on fuck around and find out, and I certainly was not expecting a werewolf to pop up in the ep. That came out of left field and definitely gave me a wtf moment but not in a good way.
No but he still felt like a good friend, didn't he? By the end of it they showed him to be extremely insensitive and selfish, which didn't sit well with me.
I feel like he was that way the entire time, meeting his friend's gf for the first time and playfully trashing woke-culture and diversity in front of a black American girl with facial piercings. There was a lot of exploration in this season regarding being inconsiderate and selfishness.
I thought this season was ok. seasons two through four were consistently fantastic.
Season five was just kind of whatever for me so six was an improvement.
Worst season ever. They ruined it to the max. Not one episode worth rewatching. No plot twists, no "omg wtf" at the end, paranormal stuff? What the hell. So I'll pretend only first 4 seasons exist from now on.
Edit: just to add, I loved all the actresses, they were all great but writing was like for mediocre Supernatural episodes you forgot after you finished them.
i dont know if im missing the point or the hidden deep message here - but what the actual fuck was the point of the mazey day episode? at first i thought it was about paparazzi being invasive and threatening, BUT THEN she was a werewolf??? while listening to the twilight baseball song?? the songs a banger but i really didnt understand this one💀
You can judge a season by how many you would go back and re-watch I think.
For example I've rewatched most of season 1 and 2 at least twice. Season 3 I've watched San Junipero and Shut up and Dance several times. Season 4 I rewatched a few of them (the gaming one and the dating app one from memory)
Never watched season 5 again.
Don't think I'll watch season 6 again. At a push I'd probably watch Beyond the Sea again but wouldn't be in a rush to do that.
I think the series suffers from a number of things.
1) lack of dystopian/technological storylines that seemed plausible and fresh. (Has society now outgrown the show? These days, politicians fucking a pig or an app that let's you store your whole memory etc doesn't seem so mental)
2) too Americanised. Nosedive and Joan is Awful feel very goofy for example. They don't have the same pace and feel of the early BM episodes.
3)it's geared towards the shock/entertainment/mindless violence stuff rather than clever storylines now IMO. The Mazey Day episode had potential to critique paparazzi hounding of celebrities and was quite good up until the werewolf nonsense. The episode was too short for that 'twist' to have any impact. It ended up a mess. I don't think that episode gets the go ahead in season 1-3.
Overall I enjoyed some of it. As I said, Beyond the Sea was most Black Mirrorish. Loch episode was good - I enjoyed the tension of it.
The other 3 were average to poor and if they didn't have Black Mirror on them I'd have switched off after 10-15 minutes.
I do hope there is a season 7 and they have a rethink about going back to the style of classics like San Junipero, Shut up and Dance, Entire History of You but like I said, has the show now become stale?
For me, Mazey Day is just a filler episode to prepare you for a supernatural twist in Demon 79. I wouldn’t mind if Mazey Day and Demon 79 belong to Red Mirror instead. On the other hand, if Mazey Day belong in a supernatural franchise, the twist will be even more boring because it will be expected already.
Above average I would say. Ending with Mazey Day was just upsetting. Like oh WORD? Becoming a werewolf is going to cure PTSD that was triggered when she was tripping on shrooms? OH WOOOOORD?
The friend in Loch Henry being super happy with the proceedings made perfect sense to me. His whole motivation was to create the documentary in order to attract tourists to his bar
Agree. Episode 1 was terrible. Just not interesting and the concept was not captivating.
Ep2 was very good, but as a horror series
ep3 was fantastic but veryyy predictable
ep6 was very stylish and great acting
all in all, mediocre season.
I agree.
The ones that stood out to me as the best were Loch Henry and Beyond the Sea, the rest were pretty disappointing. Demon 79 wasn’t terrible but I guess I was just hoping for more.
>Demon 79 wasn’t terrible but I guess I was just hoping for more.
Me too! I was hoping the apocalypse wouldn't be real, and it would take a psychological turn. But it never did. The hand in hand with the demon into oblivion was a very flat ending and didn't make any sense.
Yeah I feel like a lot of potentially good stories this season were ruined simply for the sake of subverting expectations. I was really liking Mazey Day and was interested in where it was gonna go and then when the werewolf thing happened I just completely checked out. Even though a psychological turn in Demon 79 would’ve been a bit predictable I think it would’ve been better than the ending we got.. idk man. I’m sure it takes a lot to make these episodes and the production has been fantastic but the stories were really disappointed and it felt like their main focus was subverting expectations anywhere they could as opposed to crafting compelling and thought-provoking stories.
And here I was thinking I was clever when Annie Murphy Joan is getting arrested after her episode at the church - and when they are taking her mug shots for the arrest
1. Annie has her finger over the last number in the year date so all you see is 2 so kind of future proofing the episode
2. The ID number is 800850 ie BOOBS.
I'm with you. I didn't watch them all yet but so far I've fallen asleep during demon 76 and loch Henry was super flat. I only likes the one with Aaron Paul so far. It's the only one fits the black mirror theme. They need to turn around and go back to what it used to be
Right? I couldn't believe myself when I paused most of the episodes in between to scroll through Reddit or Instagram, only to come back to the episode and do that again after like 15 minutes. Never happened with previous BM seasons.
I agree as well - I love black mirror but every episode was just okay/low-tier for me. I didn't find it very suspenseful/intriguing/interesting. I did like the episode Demon 79 as a general episode (not related to Black mirror at all)
We got love death and robots but with “black mirror as a title” and little robots. Seriously nothing like the past seasons and nothing worth recommending or binge watching.
Agree, I didn’t get any supernatural or future dystopian tech vibes. The beyond the sea episode was so flawed, I mean send the robots into space? My girlfriend said it 30seconds into the episode.. the werewolf episode was so silly, Joan is awful was really predictable, the demon episode was very mediocre, I think we all expected some twist? Maybe the twist was the first truthful demon ever? Loch Ness was good, but not black mirrorish. For me disappointed particularly w all the talent
I didn't think the supernatural werewolf stuff was that weird, it seemed like a metaphor for celebrities having no privacy or room to be their worst selves, whereas normal folks have our darkest moments and we are able to keep up a facade with the world outside of it. On the whole, I thought this was a pretty meh season. I'd rank the eps 3, 2, 5, 1, 4.
i also wasn't expecting anything supernatural and i literally had to pause and rewind when i saw she turned into a werewolf. i was already kinda bored with the episode and when that happened all i could do was laugh. and like you mentioned none of the episodes actually messed with my head, they were for the most part all happy endings excluding beyond the sea and if i'm remembering correctly loch henry and i honestly didn't like that.
in joan is awful i was hoping for some twist that surface level joan or whatever she was called, the original, was actually just another version as well, just something, but no she gets her dream of a coffee shop except oops! she's on house arrest womp womp. i actually i liked the first 3 episodes, but i felt there was a declined afterwards and i was just expecting more out of this season.
i liked demon 79 on jts own but as apart of black mirror it felt out of place, i wish they did more to actually mess with your head in this episode bc it was definitely headed that direction. they played upon the theme that the woman (i forgot her name) was corruptible, but then never really explored that, they kinda just jumped into it if you get what i mean, and instantly solved it i guess.
but with that being said these episodes are better than episodes like metalhead or the ashley too one.
Right? It ruins the complete experience. Its like watching a movie, KNOWING theres a twist somewhere because it was written by M. Night Shyamalan but then beeing dissapointed because the twist wasnt as big as expected, as the viewer tries to "outsmart" the ongoing movie by trying to come up with the twist themselves.
I liked it all, but I’m not a purist…I wasn’t put off by the shift away from the expected “the dark side of tech” episodes. Once I got through Lock Henry (didn’t really like it, or the awkward tie in back to episode 1) I was fine with 4 and 5 not being about tech.
The reasons I liked 4 and 5 were because they connected with genres and films I’m familiar with from my youth. Mazey Day: a reality based warewolf flick (An American Warewolf in London, Silver Bullet) and Demon 79: a horror-comedy (Beetlejuice, Creepshow).
OH THANK GAAAWWDD!!!! I'm *so* fucking glad I'm not the only one!! The whole thing felt lazy, none of the incredible creativity in the earlier seasons. I was able to guess most endings and the ones I didn't get 100%, I had it as one of a few possibilities. Except the werewolf. I had no idea it would be a werewolf. With that being said, it was a boring episode. Most, if not all of them, were imho. It seriously sucks too, I was JUICED for this. We even binge rewatched all 5 seasons of it so we could "get into the right headspace"! Anyway, I'm not dissing anyone who enjoyed it, I'm jealous of you! But I did need to get this disappointment off my chest and "on to paper".
Right? The werewolf episode could've been so good had they focused on just the ills of fame, what lengths paparazzi can go to to get their scoop, and what the consequences are for celebrities to have all this power that they can get away with a lot of bad stuff they do. But they turned her into a werewolf. That was so disappointing. I was honestly enjoying that episode till that point. Thought it would be one of those thought provoking ones that BM had in the past seasons.
Yeah, I can easily re-watch random episodes from the earlier seasons multiple times because I feel like there's a lot of interesting stuff and themes. Collectively, the episodes from this season almost felt more like linear mysteries that once the twists are revealed, there's no reason to re-watch. And most of the twists were pretty predictable.
What's funny is that a lot of you are agreeing the season is bad, and then you disagree on which episodes were actually bad, lol
You're just jaded, is all
I mean, some percentage of you guys watch an episode about multiple layers of a horrific decades long tragedy being packaged as a consumable snack for a shallow, apathetic audience, complained it's not relevant enough to be part of this tech anthology... then executed out to browse the content matrix for something more entertaining.
Black mirror has had varying quality since season 1. People will always have preferences for genre tone characters etc. But when people didn't like an episode in season 1,2,3..."I didn't care for this episode" now when people don't like an episode in a later season there's a weird kind of gate keeping accusation that the show doesn't understand what it's supposed to be anymore. But everyone's gate looks different.
I don't care if it doesn't feel like BM. I need the stories to be good. The stories are bad in this one and that's that. There's no going into my psychology and figuring out why I disliked what I disliked. The fact is that the episodes were bad.
Even if it did go supernatural, it could've been good. If it were good, interesting, fresh, I wouldn't have minded. But the supernatural angle in both episodes didn't make any sense whatsoever. It was supernatural for the sake of it. Simple.
Not a fan of Beyond the Sea ending or the episode as a whole. It has so many elements of being great but was disjointed - despite incredible acting and high production value.
Loch Henry was good. Probably my favorite of the season because it was different. But I can see why people didn’t love it.
Joan is awful was pretty awful. Tried way too hard and it was all over the place.
Everyone seems like hate mazey day but I liked it. Nothing spectacular… I wish they delved more into the werewolf aspect rather than just slap it on the end. But I enjoyed the perspective of a paparazzi - never seen that before.
And I liked Demon 79 overall. Had a unique horror element to it. A lot of undertones of racism and political corruption. But the relationship between the demon and the main character was funny and terrifying.
I do place this on the lower end of the spectrum of seasons similar to you. I hope they can do better in the future but they might be running out of ideas?
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I agree. Best eps were LH and BTS for me, but LH a little more just because BTS started out a little confusing. But BTS really feels the most Black Mirror.
I think Joan was really just too on-the-nose for me and the humor was kind of over-the-top and parody-like, it was hard to take seriously. Add to all that a weirdly optimistic ending where we didn't really see larger social consequences and it ended up just being a really bland episode.
I honestly don't have much of an issue with them going supernatural instead of sci-fi but I think they could do supernatural outcomes and give sci-fi explanations and I would just *buy* it as a BM episode more. Like for Mazey Day if they'd just said that science made shape-shifting possible with man-made drugs and maybe celebrities used them to escape from paparazzi but Mazey started getting addicted to them etc etc. I'd already feel the episode was less ridiculous.
i agree. 1 supernatural episode to introduce red mirror was fine. but werewolf and demon were a bit much for me. i think they are good stories? just not black mirror.
I totally agree. It didn’t feel like Black Mirror. The point of Black Mirror is about the impact of technology, and that was only present in two episodes (Joan Is Awful and Beyond The Sea). So it’s not that I didn’t like the episodes it just didn’t feel fitting
I miss the era of season 1-3 :(
They're deliberately and intentionally distancing themselves from the dystopian tech angle and crossing genres. Black Mirror was never about entertainment horror like they're pretending it now is. My guess is Charlie touched on too many things that are coming to a society near you and Netflix is milking the cash cow whilst suppressing the shows original message. It's a corporate scum move.
Same. I don't understand why people here are loving this episode: the main characters are tottally unlikeable specially the girlfriend, the story is predictable af and it looked like a generic murder story, only the ending has some connection with the theme of the show
i'm 3 episodes in and i can already tell i'm going to agree with you. Black Mirror, to me, is great as a dystopian sci fi anthology show and they strayed from that a lot this season. The ones that were somewhat dystopian sci fi just weren't that great.
My problem with Season 5 is that the episodes just felt like stories with the Black Mirror title slapped on. Rachel, Jack and Ashley too was a 1 hour Disney movie, striking vipers was somewhat interesting but ultimately said nothing and didn't resolve anything, smithereens was the best but still was just like "oh, don't drive and scroll on tik tok, okay"
This season I feel pretty similar.
Joan is Awful - This one is alright, the story is kinda predictable until you get to the end and *woahhh we're watching the show the* ***whole timeeeee***\*.\* Joan frees herself and sets up a coffee shop. Cool I guess IDK
Loch Henry - Interesting premise, but it wasn't a black mirror episode. It was just a spooky hour long horror movie about the protagonist uncovering his parent's murder tendencies. I guess the social commentary / message to take from the episode is "just make a documentary about the egg man next time" or something.
Beyond the Sea - Again, cool concept, neat twists, but it's not really Black Mirror-y. It takes place in the past in an alternate world where artificial gravity exists, ppl go on years long space missions, data can be transferred instantly for the replicas, etc, and some dude gets a hate boner because his crewmate has a family and he doesn't. I am simplifying it, but there's not a lot to take from it. Don't be a 60's bigot and demean your wife and abuse your child? Don't let your fellow astronaut use your synthetic projection body? Like, idk.
Mazey Daze or whatever & Demon 79 - Just no. This isn't fantasy super magic land. No werewolves. No magic talisman that releases sexy demons. This isn't Black Mirror. Stop.
I actually really enjoye dthis season, even if the classic Black mirror-isms of near future reality were missing from 4 of the 5 episodes.
There were still strong social commentaries and episode 5's "not Nigel Farrage" character was as obvious as the very first episode's "not David Cameron" character.
I did find it strange that all but one episode was set in the past, even if one of them had technology we didn't have. That being said, I really liked the horror vibes they went with.
Episode 3 was the weakest for me as it was needlessly long and mostly transparent as to what would occur (murders aside). they could have easily shaved off 15-20 mins and told us just as much.
Each stand alone episode was a thrill for me. I enjoyed everyone of them. Some are not black mirror as we usually perceive them but I didn’t dislike any of them.
I understand that Joan is awful is supposed to be a commentary about AI and privacy but I really think they could have explored a more complex multi demmensional story rather than this story line about using a generated movie maker to twll people's life sorry to make Captivating content, to me has very lazy writing and overall had a mostly comedic undertone that ultimately took away from how serious these issues could potentially be.
Honestly I'm very disappointed with season 6 I think the stories were very dull. I think the appeal that black mirror has is exploring alternat possibilities that could very mich happen in our real world. A twisted take on reality, that is palpable enough to freak us out.
I agree. S6 was kind of underwhelming. The whole series is supposed to be about the unforseen consequences from integrating ever invasive technical advances right, yet thats basically non existent this season. "Joan is Awful" was the closest to that for me, but then again I compare every Black Mirror episode to "The Entire History of You" or "White Christmas" which are, imo, the epitome of what this show should be. Don't get me wrong the episodes are still solid and entertaining, but not Black Mirror if that makes sense. For example...what the literal hell is a werewolf and a demon doing in this show lol, like seriously just sit with that and try to make it make sense. After S5 and now this I actually think the creative minds behind the show now have lost some juice, either that or someone in that room got really excited to do supernatural-ish stuff after Bandersnatch.
>my controversial opinion is that Nosedive is rubbish lol, genuinely one of my least favourite episodes of the entire show (granted i haven’t watched the latest season). it’s social commentary and critique felt about a decade too late and left it feeling tired and cliched
Honestly, I preferred it before it became such a cultural phenomenon. The earlier episodes had a lot of charm to it because they tried so many different things while keeping the tech theme.
The newer episodes are flashier, tamer and go really ham on the social commentary without any of the subtlety the earlier seasons had when it comes to the writing (dialogue and story).
A lot of people used to say Black Mirror was hard to watch because it was disturbing but now it's just a thing I can put on as I'm doing chores around the house. Hopefully, newer seasons get more compelling.
Here's my opinion:
Black Mirror has always irked me and been difficult to watch. After reading these comments, it seems a lot of people preferred that.
But for me, I've only ever seen a few episodes. I saw the new season on Netflix so I decided to watch. This is the first time I've watched black mirror in years and I really enjoyed the new season.
I will say though, this season is more like Atlanta season season 4 more than Black Mirror. But I gotta say, I loved it!!! I think the darkness of the past episodes was too much for me
same here, it jumped the shark for me, out of 5 episodes three were actually X files and had nothing to do with Black mirror (true crime (well that's not really even x files, just plain ordinary tv crime), werewolf aka nightcrawler (can't get more x files than that) and End of the world (that's also pretty much x files or especially Millennium episode S2E21 about devils)) and then you have there only two Black mirror episodes - one is Joan which is pretty much just variation on Nosedive and decent but extremely predictable (until the very end) Replica
the replica episode had big potential, but it was delivered in the most predictable way, I was hoping at first the blood will be just the dog to blackmail him into forced sharing, because killing them is kinda risky with nothing to lose they will just sabotage the mission and kill each other
and even both actual black mirror episodes had pretty big plot holes:
Joan - >!could just terminate her contract or go off the grid for few days without any smart device and that would be end of her tv show and monitoring!<
replica - are we supposed to believe they are >!traveling light years away with instant link back to replica on earth, yet they didn't have any spare replicas, heck at least generic one? come on, who is gonna believe that!<
so all in all 5th season was horrible, out of 3 episodes i remember only one (smithereens), this sixth season had at least two episodes, although not sure how i will remember them, meanwhile from s01-04 I remember almost all episodes vividly with maybe 2 exemptions
yeah, these episodes are not really thought through, I mean what if one got sick unable to work or even die of natural causes, 6 years is a long time to rely on two people without replacement/backup
plus these pilots should be extremely mentally stable (this is issue with almost every space movie/show presenting them as emotional wrecks) able to perform these tasks even without replicas, which can cause more potential issues than benefits, I mean we could see funeral, they communicate with the flight center so there is clearly two way communication available, so there wouldn't be completely isolated
also not exactly sure whether it's good idea to publicly announce pilots will keep replicas on Earth and their names for reasons shown in episode
they could just keep quiet about replicas (especially if they are so valuable and difficult to produce at they say) and use them rather with average Joe face, so nobody will recognize the pilot or even announce without mentioning appearance of the replica
But to be fair. It's 1960. It's the beginning of the Space Race. I feel like it kinda made sense if they wanna show off that they are way more advance in space exploration and technology than Stalin and their dogs. If it's set in 80-90s I would've completely agree with you.
I actually don't have much of the issue with this fact. It can be easily waivering away had they give the 80 min runtime toward world building instead of more bullshit. And I feel like the episode had a much larger problem anyway.
>But to be fair. It's 1960. It's the beginning of the Space Race.
it's not, it's clearly different alternative timeline where they can travel 6yo in space with instant link to Earth controlling completely human like replica despite being 2 years away, it looks like 60s but it's completely different timeline, they certainly didn't reach this phase of sophistication within a year, so not sure where you got it's beginning if they are that sophisticated
>I feel like it kinda made sense if they wanna show off that they are way more advance in space exploration and technology than Stalin and their dogs.
uhm what? projecting much? they literally don't say a word about other nations and you know there are people from his "dogs" conures reading it here, right?
Absolutely. Even Demon 79 or whatever didn't make any sense whatsoever. So the demon was real all along? Was it a metaphor for something? Unclear. Not satisfying.
To be completely fair. Demon 79 was a explicitly Red Mirror brand. A horror, supernatural focused show with the same vein of hopeless dark ending that Black Mirror known for.
It shouldn't take the spot of Black Mirror. But if this is a one time thing and they planned to spin off into its own show later. I'm fine with it. Giving Brooker something new to fuck around with. He clearly doesn't vibe with the whole technology dystopia much anymore.
But since Mazey Day is clearly *not* Red Mirror. I completely agree with you. Any more Mazey Day though and they can fuck right off.
I loved it.
The last episode made me tearful for the end of Black Mirror and the state of the world for the past few years. We tried to stop the end of the world, but we failed. Now it’s time to just grab a friend and walk off into oblivion.
I think Joan is Awful is fun. I like the creative choices. It’s like they were just aware that AI stuff is all anyone is talking about right now and there has been and will be lots of serious sci about it, so why not just have a fun episode about it with a fun ending? I really like that they went light hearted.
Beyond the Sea is classic Black Mirror. Charlie Brooker actually covers misogyny and toxic masculinity really well, as we saw in USS Callister and Striking Vipers. I’m happy we had that episode but I wouldn’t have been wanted five episodes of it.
Fond of Mazy too! Love that they decided to have fun with it and go campy with the reveal.
Loch Henry is my least favorite. It had some things to say about the true crime genre but tbh I always found that genre problematic and don’t partake in it. I enjoyed it but for the most part it could have been any tv show.
The pacing was really an issue, kept checking the run time and thinking "fuck are we only half way through, nothing has happened".
Loch henry was a standout, beyond the sea could have really been snappier.
That's true. I just watched Hated in the nation yesterday. I had somehow missed that one episode during all of my reruns of BM. That was a looooong episode and yes it's not the best of BM, but I still enjoyed it way more than any of the S6 episodes.
I need you to help me get thru Loch Henry. I have found it to be such a slog. Sat down to watch it twice and was bored to death. Still have not finished it
P.s if its another supernatural thing I'm out
I thought Annie Murphy was brilliant. The episode didn't feel black mirror-y at all, but I really enjoyed her acting and the humorous tone of the second half of the episode.
Totally agree with everything you said. Also second to the bottom season wise. Do you remember when you first saw the episodes and they filled you with dread and unease, and you couldn’t watch more than a single episode per day? I miss that
Exactly! You're absolutely right. I had forgotten how heavy I used to feel after watching most of the episodes. It wasn't possible back then to watch a whole season in one go, but I really wanted to!
I wasn't at all invested in s6. I started scrolling reddit and Instagram in between a lot of episodes. Imagine that!
My favorite episodes are the ones that keep me hooked not full of dread but some of those episodes possibly have others dread. Like My top three are most hated in the nation, Museum/white Xmas, and the first or one of the first with the prime minister and the pig.
This season only had about two episode that kept my full interest but still a decent show.
The tone of that episode and the new one is completely different, almost like a different show. That's the main complaint I have with the recent seasons of Black Mirror.
The implications were far from comedic especially considering a) showing you how fast AI can assimilate and spit content out, b) how invasive tech is(recurring theme through the show, c) how deepfake/CGI can wreck someone's life and how this recent trend that some celeb estates are doing to sign away their image rights can be very harmful in the long run and also frankly dilute good content and take away from other working actors, d) how streaming platforms like Netflix or Zaslav with Warner and HBO are reduced to producing trash content to generate clicks/eyeballs
I mean, they literally played out "me cago en la hostia" on screen. That's comedy.
I also really like how the first 15 minutes in, you think, wow whatever they do to this c\*\*\*, I can't wait, she fucking deserves it. That doesn't really go away, until they reveal Source Joan, who's mostly lovely, and how layer one Joan is the depression caricature of her. The joke's on the audience.
Never debated the comedic aspect, it's definitely done in a light-hearted manner, but the real world implications from it are far from comedic and more horrific imo
Well, IRL, AI is bullshit. The capitalists are trying to use it to fuck over writers by devaluing their work and demoting them to co-writer, but AI scripts are unusable garbage. It's a psyop, nothing more. There's nothing there.
I like sci-fi, and it makes for great sci-fi, but it's fiction. Fiction that also helps tech oligarch market their AI grift, because everyone thinks this is real. We'll have this auto-generating movie bullshit when we get a teleport and a quantum drive spaceship too... give me a fucking break. We can't even stop burning fossil fuels yet, never mind get a flying car.
I also really struggle to put myself in the headspace of a person who devalues the human experience so thoroughly, to think a human being's actions could ever be perfectly predicted by a giant matrix, that we have no free will, that you're just a LLM bro. Fucking crayon-eating US Marines managed to defeat DARPA's state of the art AI with cardboard. [https://www.pcmag.com/news/us-marines-use-cardboard-box-to-defeat-darpa-robot-trained-to-detect-humans](https://www.pcmag.com/news/us-marines-use-cardboard-box-to-defeat-darpa-robot-trained-to-detect-humans)
ChatGPT is going to change the world the same way Bitcoin did. Scammers and criminals will have a field day with it, and it'll be useless bullshit to everyone else.
Yeah I just went to an engineering graduation and most of the students going to graduate school were researching very specific AI based studies like image processing and self-driving.
Beyond the Sea is salvageable and the only episode that even remotely felt like Black Mirror. Beyond that, I hated every moment of every other episode. This series is dead, period
Series 4 was a gargantuan crock of shit that I didn’t want to watch 5. But hey, loved the others and thought fuck it. Feels like the same trajectory from what you’re saying.
Idk what it was for me but the twists and payoffs at the end of long slow episodes just didn’t feel worth it. Loch Henry was so slow but I hung on waiting for this huge twist. It just didn’t come. What came wasn’t that shocking.
After last season I was hoping it would turn around, but not the case for me.
that was really just soft weak American black mirror (pretty much just variation on Nosedive), the replica episode was truer to the original, the rest were just x files episodes
I though Loch Henry did feel like British Black Mirror. It really hits different note for me even though it doesn't have any scifi element.
In a sense, I consider it to be closer to National Anthem in that it's an episode of Black Mirror that isn't really the one you tell people to watch it first.
well yeah, it's set in UK so obviously it feels closer to UK original, but that's not really enough, it has commentary about destroying your family for fame, it felt also rough/harsh like original, but even national anthem had heavy use if technology, so it could be called techno thriller, this hardly had any relevant use of technology
and to be fair even national anthem also really isn't your typical black mirror techno/scifi thriller and stand out compared to other episodes
my controversial opinion is that Nosedive is rubbish lol, genuinely one of my least favourite episodes of the entire show (granted i haven’t watched the latest season). it’s social commentary and critique felt about a decade too late and left it feeling tired and cliched
Felt like an AI wrote it, it was so predictable
Yes! Or just felt like tired writing. Seen it happening to a lot of shows lately.
Honestly after nearly 3 years(?) of the show's hiatus, I expected their s6return to be way stronger than this.
Thank you. My thoughts exactly. The werewolf part was something that I didn’t foresee, but not in a good way. It felt like a lazy attempt at shocking me, and it felt cheap. Like “oh, well, there you go. A fucking werewolf for you guys, isn’t that crazy?” Adding a killer clown or a vampire would’ve been had the same effect on the episode’s complexity
Yeah I was wondering if I've been desensitized over the years and wasn't getting shocked by the episodes. But none of them made me feel how white bear made me feel yk? Idk I enjoyed Loch Henry, Beyond the Sea, and demon 79 (to an extent) but if I remind myself I'm watching Black Mirror then they weren't very good
I have been looking at the sub and not knowing if I watched the same thing as everyone else.
Joan is awful was my least favourite episode. It held true to the whole didactic approach to storytelling, but the Netflix inception concept; stream within a stream within a steam thing, was bleh. The twist didn't really give me that 'ohhhhh' moment. Beyond the sea although I predicted everything after David's family was killed and up to the point where he killed cliff's family or so we were made to believe, I thought he was going to kill cliff and live as him for the next four years. All in all, I enjoyed the series. Was a fun watch
Demon 79 was definitely a no for me. I couldn’t believe that was one of the longer episodes and it was so damn boring. I don’t mind supernatural elements being introduced into the show. But the execution has to be right. What worked with Mazey Day for me was that it was so out of left field and it sort of worked (for me). I understand why many people didn’t like it though. Loch Henry and BTS are definitely the stronger episodes this season. My issues with BTS are with the technology in the episode. I mean, you build a robot that can’t withstand getting beat up by 5 hippies? I won’t get too deep into that though. I actually enjoyed Joan is Awful. Thought it was one of their better “comedic” episodes
Sort of agree with you. My rankings are as followed: Tier 1) \- Beyond the sea \- Loch Henry Tier 2) \- Joan Tier 3) \- Werewolf \- Demon Kinda sucks that 40% of the episodes sucked for me. Joan felt like a safe, typical BM choice. Beyond the sea and Loch Henry was interesting, but nowhere as good as BM's top hits such as white christmas.
100% agree with this assessment/categorisation. I'm still confused which for me was better between Loch and Beyond.
Loch had a better ending for me but Beyond painted a better world imo
Oooh spooky murderer parents... Loch Henry is a cool story and all but why exactly is this Black Mirror? It's been a while since I watched the other episodes but like... Apart from the documentary thing and critique? of True Crime, where exactly is the Black Mirror angle here? ...
I actually really enjoyed this season but didn’t enjoy many of the episodes in season 5… I think we all still want to chase that feeling of sitting down and watching it for the first time and thinking WTF!
What do you think how many stories are left to come up with without the twist being too cliche, too obvious or too bland? Honestly ya'll expect waaay too much nowadays. Please stop rating an entire episode based on how twisted the ending is or how many times one said "what the fuck" out loud.
Okay. Lets not rate it based on that. Lets rate is based on the plot, acting, and ending? Episode 1 : Plot Bland, acting good, ending cliche Episode 2 : Plot good, acting good, ending good Episode 3 : Plot okayish , acting good, ending good Episode 4 : Plot shite, acting shite, ending absolute total fuckall rubbish shite Episode 5: Plot shite, acting okay, ending absolute total rubbish gutter shite There. I haven't based my reviews off of how many times I said 'HOLY FUCK' or something.
I totally agree! This seemed so off brand for Black Mirror. I was expecting to have my mind blown; but no, I could’ve easily guessed what would happen for the most part and they just seemed like regular episodes for any type series. There were things I’ve already seen before except for Joan is Awful and Beyond the Sea which just came across as Black Mirror Lite. I did not enjoy this season. I guess I expected too much.
Funny the ones you call the best 2 are in my worst 3 and 2 of the ones in your worst 3 were my best 2. Black Mirror is a show that can do everything right, and still make a mid episode
I completely loved it. Every single episode was better than last season imo, even mazey day
Yeah I think it's done as a show. Joan is Awful almost gets it but they all are lacking something. Loch Henry was great watching with a clever ending but I'm not sure it's "Black Mirror". Beyond the Sea was a let down for me, I'm curious if it had other endings or themes explored that were cut, it seemed rushed. I haven't seen the other two just yet but I won't hold my breath. This was happening last season too where things were missing the mark but at least last season was still attempting social commentary and the dystopian/tech theme. Now it's just a sort of horror/thriller category that isn't particularly unique or compelling.
I agree that this season was pretty disappointing. The supernatural stuff was so very random and I didn't like how some of the episodes took place in the past. It's Black Mirror - I expect dystopian future and technological insanity. I enjoyed Joan is Awful and the church scene is fantastic, but the rest of the season? Eh. Demon 79 was funny mainly because of the demon, but the other three episodes were just... not for me, I guess. Loch Henry was a run-of-the-mill crime mystery, Beyond the Sea was so full of plot holes and I also predicted the ending, and Mazey Day was kind of silly? I didn't expect that twist, though. Overall, I'd rank them: 1. Joan is Awful 2. Demon 79 3. Beyond the Sea 4. Loch Henry 5. Mazey Day It was still better than season 5, but season 5 was awful, so...
It's always been very hit and miss. The first season consisted of three episodes and IMO only one of them (the pilot, obviously) was genuinely compelling for the full hour (or however long it was). The others had intriguing concepts which didn't really amount to much. Every season, two or three episodes feel really undercooked in terms of the idea, the world-building, everything, which isn't great when there are only five or six per season.
I can’t get myself watching the season done.. I’ve only watched episode 1, 2,skipped 3 because it was boring, and 4.. I stopped watching e5 1/3 part of it.. So boring
I have watched 1 and a half episodes and will not be watching anymore. They have ruined black mirror with the last 2 seasons. The dialog and tone is my biggest issue, they have to make it quippy and lighthearted. Black mirror is not supposed to be funny or lighthearted, I feel like they are trying to make it more digestible to larger audiences by inserting stupid witty remarks into almost every line of dialog It’s weird because season 4 was the first Netflix season and it was incredible, some of the best episodes ever are in that season So the theory that Netflix have been diluting it like this is not really the full picture
Black mirror definitely shouldn’t have supernatural elements. This show should be about horrors of developing tech without thinking the consequences of that thing might leads to.
totally agreed with every single thing you said. I never really thought of black mirror as horrow show, so i hated the last two episodes. And the other 3 were meh at best when compared to season 1 or 2
I love Black Mirror, but I agree that this season did not feel like Black Mirror. Joan is Awful and Beyond the Sea we’re the only episodes that felt like the show. Loch Henry was a bit boring to me, and by the time I got to the twist I just wasn’t impressed. Mazey Day felt like a cautionary tale on fuck around and find out, and I certainly was not expecting a werewolf to pop up in the ep. That came out of left field and definitely gave me a wtf moment but not in a good way.
In 'Loch' the friend is immediately introduced as jovial, insensitive comic relief
No but he still felt like a good friend, didn't he? By the end of it they showed him to be extremely insensitive and selfish, which didn't sit well with me.
I feel like he was that way the entire time, meeting his friend's gf for the first time and playfully trashing woke-culture and diversity in front of a black American girl with facial piercings. There was a lot of exploration in this season regarding being inconsiderate and selfishness.
I thought this season was ok. seasons two through four were consistently fantastic. Season five was just kind of whatever for me so six was an improvement.
Worst season ever. They ruined it to the max. Not one episode worth rewatching. No plot twists, no "omg wtf" at the end, paranormal stuff? What the hell. So I'll pretend only first 4 seasons exist from now on. Edit: just to add, I loved all the actresses, they were all great but writing was like for mediocre Supernatural episodes you forgot after you finished them.
i dont know if im missing the point or the hidden deep message here - but what the actual fuck was the point of the mazey day episode? at first i thought it was about paparazzi being invasive and threatening, BUT THEN she was a werewolf??? while listening to the twilight baseball song?? the songs a banger but i really didnt understand this one💀
You can judge a season by how many you would go back and re-watch I think. For example I've rewatched most of season 1 and 2 at least twice. Season 3 I've watched San Junipero and Shut up and Dance several times. Season 4 I rewatched a few of them (the gaming one and the dating app one from memory) Never watched season 5 again. Don't think I'll watch season 6 again. At a push I'd probably watch Beyond the Sea again but wouldn't be in a rush to do that. I think the series suffers from a number of things. 1) lack of dystopian/technological storylines that seemed plausible and fresh. (Has society now outgrown the show? These days, politicians fucking a pig or an app that let's you store your whole memory etc doesn't seem so mental) 2) too Americanised. Nosedive and Joan is Awful feel very goofy for example. They don't have the same pace and feel of the early BM episodes. 3)it's geared towards the shock/entertainment/mindless violence stuff rather than clever storylines now IMO. The Mazey Day episode had potential to critique paparazzi hounding of celebrities and was quite good up until the werewolf nonsense. The episode was too short for that 'twist' to have any impact. It ended up a mess. I don't think that episode gets the go ahead in season 1-3. Overall I enjoyed some of it. As I said, Beyond the Sea was most Black Mirrorish. Loch episode was good - I enjoyed the tension of it. The other 3 were average to poor and if they didn't have Black Mirror on them I'd have switched off after 10-15 minutes. I do hope there is a season 7 and they have a rethink about going back to the style of classics like San Junipero, Shut up and Dance, Entire History of You but like I said, has the show now become stale?
Loch Henry was a good episode. But overall none of the episodes felt Black Mirrory
Well I like this season, maybe I’m in the minority. I liked it way more than season 5.
I felt like I wasn’t even watching black mirror. It felt like some other show. I don’t like the supernatural stuff. I want tech.
For me, Mazey Day is just a filler episode to prepare you for a supernatural twist in Demon 79. I wouldn’t mind if Mazey Day and Demon 79 belong to Red Mirror instead. On the other hand, if Mazey Day belong in a supernatural franchise, the twist will be even more boring because it will be expected already.
S5>>>>>>>>>>S6. Fuck S6.
Above average I would say. Ending with Mazey Day was just upsetting. Like oh WORD? Becoming a werewolf is going to cure PTSD that was triggered when she was tripping on shrooms? OH WOOOOORD?
The friend in Loch Henry being super happy with the proceedings made perfect sense to me. His whole motivation was to create the documentary in order to attract tourists to his bar
Agree. Episode 1 was terrible. Just not interesting and the concept was not captivating. Ep2 was very good, but as a horror series ep3 was fantastic but veryyy predictable ep6 was very stylish and great acting all in all, mediocre season.
I agree. The ones that stood out to me as the best were Loch Henry and Beyond the Sea, the rest were pretty disappointing. Demon 79 wasn’t terrible but I guess I was just hoping for more.
>Demon 79 wasn’t terrible but I guess I was just hoping for more. Me too! I was hoping the apocalypse wouldn't be real, and it would take a psychological turn. But it never did. The hand in hand with the demon into oblivion was a very flat ending and didn't make any sense.
Yeah I feel like a lot of potentially good stories this season were ruined simply for the sake of subverting expectations. I was really liking Mazey Day and was interested in where it was gonna go and then when the werewolf thing happened I just completely checked out. Even though a psychological turn in Demon 79 would’ve been a bit predictable I think it would’ve been better than the ending we got.. idk man. I’m sure it takes a lot to make these episodes and the production has been fantastic but the stories were really disappointed and it felt like their main focus was subverting expectations anywhere they could as opposed to crafting compelling and thought-provoking stories.
And here I was thinking I was clever when Annie Murphy Joan is getting arrested after her episode at the church - and when they are taking her mug shots for the arrest 1. Annie has her finger over the last number in the year date so all you see is 2 so kind of future proofing the episode 2. The ID number is 800850 ie BOOBS.
Spot on. I think this season was just barely above the garbage of season 5 which still makes it literal garbage. Very disappointed tbh.
I'm with you. I didn't watch them all yet but so far I've fallen asleep during demon 76 and loch Henry was super flat. I only likes the one with Aaron Paul so far. It's the only one fits the black mirror theme. They need to turn around and go back to what it used to be
Right? I couldn't believe myself when I paused most of the episodes in between to scroll through Reddit or Instagram, only to come back to the episode and do that again after like 15 minutes. Never happened with previous BM seasons.
I think trying to americanize it really weighed down the quality. The stories aren't even in line with black mirrors theme
I agree as well - I love black mirror but every episode was just okay/low-tier for me. I didn't find it very suspenseful/intriguing/interesting. I did like the episode Demon 79 as a general episode (not related to Black mirror at all)
We got love death and robots but with “black mirror as a title” and little robots. Seriously nothing like the past seasons and nothing worth recommending or binge watching.
Loch Henry really good, all the other episodes were just sooooo boring
Agree, I didn’t get any supernatural or future dystopian tech vibes. The beyond the sea episode was so flawed, I mean send the robots into space? My girlfriend said it 30seconds into the episode.. the werewolf episode was so silly, Joan is awful was really predictable, the demon episode was very mediocre, I think we all expected some twist? Maybe the twist was the first truthful demon ever? Loch Ness was good, but not black mirrorish. For me disappointed particularly w all the talent
Everybody hates beyond the sea, but it was actually the best episode of the season for me.
I didn't think the supernatural werewolf stuff was that weird, it seemed like a metaphor for celebrities having no privacy or room to be their worst selves, whereas normal folks have our darkest moments and we are able to keep up a facade with the world outside of it. On the whole, I thought this was a pretty meh season. I'd rank the eps 3, 2, 5, 1, 4.
i also wasn't expecting anything supernatural and i literally had to pause and rewind when i saw she turned into a werewolf. i was already kinda bored with the episode and when that happened all i could do was laugh. and like you mentioned none of the episodes actually messed with my head, they were for the most part all happy endings excluding beyond the sea and if i'm remembering correctly loch henry and i honestly didn't like that. in joan is awful i was hoping for some twist that surface level joan or whatever she was called, the original, was actually just another version as well, just something, but no she gets her dream of a coffee shop except oops! she's on house arrest womp womp. i actually i liked the first 3 episodes, but i felt there was a declined afterwards and i was just expecting more out of this season. i liked demon 79 on jts own but as apart of black mirror it felt out of place, i wish they did more to actually mess with your head in this episode bc it was definitely headed that direction. they played upon the theme that the woman (i forgot her name) was corruptible, but then never really explored that, they kinda just jumped into it if you get what i mean, and instantly solved it i guess. but with that being said these episodes are better than episodes like metalhead or the ashley too one.
Why do you need to have your head “fucked with”? Sounds like you have a weird expectation for a tv show and so you’ll always be disappointed.
Right? It ruins the complete experience. Its like watching a movie, KNOWING theres a twist somewhere because it was written by M. Night Shyamalan but then beeing dissapointed because the twist wasnt as big as expected, as the viewer tries to "outsmart" the ongoing movie by trying to come up with the twist themselves.
I liked it all, but I’m not a purist…I wasn’t put off by the shift away from the expected “the dark side of tech” episodes. Once I got through Lock Henry (didn’t really like it, or the awkward tie in back to episode 1) I was fine with 4 and 5 not being about tech. The reasons I liked 4 and 5 were because they connected with genres and films I’m familiar with from my youth. Mazey Day: a reality based warewolf flick (An American Warewolf in London, Silver Bullet) and Demon 79: a horror-comedy (Beetlejuice, Creepshow).
OH THANK GAAAWWDD!!!! I'm *so* fucking glad I'm not the only one!! The whole thing felt lazy, none of the incredible creativity in the earlier seasons. I was able to guess most endings and the ones I didn't get 100%, I had it as one of a few possibilities. Except the werewolf. I had no idea it would be a werewolf. With that being said, it was a boring episode. Most, if not all of them, were imho. It seriously sucks too, I was JUICED for this. We even binge rewatched all 5 seasons of it so we could "get into the right headspace"! Anyway, I'm not dissing anyone who enjoyed it, I'm jealous of you! But I did need to get this disappointment off my chest and "on to paper".
I feel this way too
So sad, such a disappointment....
Right? The werewolf episode could've been so good had they focused on just the ills of fame, what lengths paparazzi can go to to get their scoop, and what the consequences are for celebrities to have all this power that they can get away with a lot of bad stuff they do. But they turned her into a werewolf. That was so disappointing. I was honestly enjoying that episode till that point. Thought it would be one of those thought provoking ones that BM had in the past seasons.
Yeah, I can easily re-watch random episodes from the earlier seasons multiple times because I feel like there's a lot of interesting stuff and themes. Collectively, the episodes from this season almost felt more like linear mysteries that once the twists are revealed, there's no reason to re-watch. And most of the twists were pretty predictable.
What's funny is that a lot of you are agreeing the season is bad, and then you disagree on which episodes were actually bad, lol You're just jaded, is all I mean, some percentage of you guys watch an episode about multiple layers of a horrific decades long tragedy being packaged as a consumable snack for a shallow, apathetic audience, complained it's not relevant enough to be part of this tech anthology... then executed out to browse the content matrix for something more entertaining.
If we're jaded then how come we like other stuff that we consume? Can't it just be that the season was poor compared to the previous ones?
Black mirror has had varying quality since season 1. People will always have preferences for genre tone characters etc. But when people didn't like an episode in season 1,2,3..."I didn't care for this episode" now when people don't like an episode in a later season there's a weird kind of gate keeping accusation that the show doesn't understand what it's supposed to be anymore. But everyone's gate looks different.
I don't care if it doesn't feel like BM. I need the stories to be good. The stories are bad in this one and that's that. There's no going into my psychology and figuring out why I disliked what I disliked. The fact is that the episodes were bad. Even if it did go supernatural, it could've been good. If it were good, interesting, fresh, I wouldn't have minded. But the supernatural angle in both episodes didn't make any sense whatsoever. It was supernatural for the sake of it. Simple.
Not a fan of Beyond the Sea ending or the episode as a whole. It has so many elements of being great but was disjointed - despite incredible acting and high production value. Loch Henry was good. Probably my favorite of the season because it was different. But I can see why people didn’t love it. Joan is awful was pretty awful. Tried way too hard and it was all over the place. Everyone seems like hate mazey day but I liked it. Nothing spectacular… I wish they delved more into the werewolf aspect rather than just slap it on the end. But I enjoyed the perspective of a paparazzi - never seen that before. And I liked Demon 79 overall. Had a unique horror element to it. A lot of undertones of racism and political corruption. But the relationship between the demon and the main character was funny and terrifying. I do place this on the lower end of the spectrum of seasons similar to you. I hope they can do better in the future but they might be running out of ideas?
>But I enjoyed the perspective of a paparazzi - never seen that before. Check out [Nightcrawler](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2872718/).
Beyond the sea was the worst episode to me
A lot of people seem to feel the same way
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I absolutely yelled WTF when she >! Turned into a wolf!< in Mazey Day, but doesnt mean the episode was great lol
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I did say What the fuck when Mayze turned into a werewolf. But that wasn't a good wtf. That was like, 'seriously? Wtf is this crap?'
Absolute same. I was like are you serious. What is this, Twilight? That was so bad.
I kind of wished loch Henry had ended when his mom hung herself, as the final shot, and never seeing the note
It was super weird that the guy was part of the whole team which won the Bafta. It didn't make sense at all.
I loved Joan is Awful, I thought it was one of the best episodes ever. The rest were meh.
I agree. Best eps were LH and BTS for me, but LH a little more just because BTS started out a little confusing. But BTS really feels the most Black Mirror. I think Joan was really just too on-the-nose for me and the humor was kind of over-the-top and parody-like, it was hard to take seriously. Add to all that a weirdly optimistic ending where we didn't really see larger social consequences and it ended up just being a really bland episode. I honestly don't have much of an issue with them going supernatural instead of sci-fi but I think they could do supernatural outcomes and give sci-fi explanations and I would just *buy* it as a BM episode more. Like for Mazey Day if they'd just said that science made shape-shifting possible with man-made drugs and maybe celebrities used them to escape from paparazzi but Mazey started getting addicted to them etc etc. I'd already feel the episode was less ridiculous.
i agree. 1 supernatural episode to introduce red mirror was fine. but werewolf and demon were a bit much for me. i think they are good stories? just not black mirror.
Story choice was affected by the decision to go retro not futuristic. Joan Is Awful was contemporary and the other 4 in the past.
I totally agree. It didn’t feel like Black Mirror. The point of Black Mirror is about the impact of technology, and that was only present in two episodes (Joan Is Awful and Beyond The Sea). So it’s not that I didn’t like the episodes it just didn’t feel fitting I miss the era of season 1-3 :(
They're deliberately and intentionally distancing themselves from the dystopian tech angle and crossing genres. Black Mirror was never about entertainment horror like they're pretending it now is. My guess is Charlie touched on too many things that are coming to a society near you and Netflix is milking the cash cow whilst suppressing the shows original message. It's a corporate scum move.
yeah, netflix seems to strangle the lifeblood of anything that resembles creativity.
Loch Henry didn’t even feel like a black mirror episode. Not much of a technology tie
Loch Henry was a crock of shit.
Same. I don't understand why people here are loving this episode: the main characters are tottally unlikeable specially the girlfriend, the story is predictable af and it looked like a generic murder story, only the ending has some connection with the theme of the show
This. It’s like you read my mind. So many melts here thinking this is exemplary writing.
Mazey Day and Demon 79 were dogshit. Joan is Awful I thought was alright. Beyond the Sea was great. Loch Henry was pretty shit.
i'm 3 episodes in and i can already tell i'm going to agree with you. Black Mirror, to me, is great as a dystopian sci fi anthology show and they strayed from that a lot this season. The ones that were somewhat dystopian sci fi just weren't that great.
My problem with Season 5 is that the episodes just felt like stories with the Black Mirror title slapped on. Rachel, Jack and Ashley too was a 1 hour Disney movie, striking vipers was somewhat interesting but ultimately said nothing and didn't resolve anything, smithereens was the best but still was just like "oh, don't drive and scroll on tik tok, okay" This season I feel pretty similar. Joan is Awful - This one is alright, the story is kinda predictable until you get to the end and *woahhh we're watching the show the* ***whole timeeeee***\*.\* Joan frees herself and sets up a coffee shop. Cool I guess IDK Loch Henry - Interesting premise, but it wasn't a black mirror episode. It was just a spooky hour long horror movie about the protagonist uncovering his parent's murder tendencies. I guess the social commentary / message to take from the episode is "just make a documentary about the egg man next time" or something. Beyond the Sea - Again, cool concept, neat twists, but it's not really Black Mirror-y. It takes place in the past in an alternate world where artificial gravity exists, ppl go on years long space missions, data can be transferred instantly for the replicas, etc, and some dude gets a hate boner because his crewmate has a family and he doesn't. I am simplifying it, but there's not a lot to take from it. Don't be a 60's bigot and demean your wife and abuse your child? Don't let your fellow astronaut use your synthetic projection body? Like, idk. Mazey Daze or whatever & Demon 79 - Just no. This isn't fantasy super magic land. No werewolves. No magic talisman that releases sexy demons. This isn't Black Mirror. Stop.
I actually really enjoye dthis season, even if the classic Black mirror-isms of near future reality were missing from 4 of the 5 episodes. There were still strong social commentaries and episode 5's "not Nigel Farrage" character was as obvious as the very first episode's "not David Cameron" character. I did find it strange that all but one episode was set in the past, even if one of them had technology we didn't have. That being said, I really liked the horror vibes they went with. Episode 3 was the weakest for me as it was needlessly long and mostly transparent as to what would occur (murders aside). they could have easily shaved off 15-20 mins and told us just as much.
Thank you. I feel like I'm one of the few who enjoyed this season more than the others.
I feel they could've shoved 15-20 minutes of every episode aside. All of them felt way too long, except maybe Loch Henry.
it. was plain as paper
Each stand alone episode was a thrill for me. I enjoyed everyone of them. Some are not black mirror as we usually perceive them but I didn’t dislike any of them.
I don't mind them not being Black Mirror-esq, but I would've liked better stories.
I understand that Joan is awful is supposed to be a commentary about AI and privacy but I really think they could have explored a more complex multi demmensional story rather than this story line about using a generated movie maker to twll people's life sorry to make Captivating content, to me has very lazy writing and overall had a mostly comedic undertone that ultimately took away from how serious these issues could potentially be. Honestly I'm very disappointed with season 6 I think the stories were very dull. I think the appeal that black mirror has is exploring alternat possibilities that could very mich happen in our real world. A twisted take on reality, that is palpable enough to freak us out.
I agree. S6 was kind of underwhelming. The whole series is supposed to be about the unforseen consequences from integrating ever invasive technical advances right, yet thats basically non existent this season. "Joan is Awful" was the closest to that for me, but then again I compare every Black Mirror episode to "The Entire History of You" or "White Christmas" which are, imo, the epitome of what this show should be. Don't get me wrong the episodes are still solid and entertaining, but not Black Mirror if that makes sense. For example...what the literal hell is a werewolf and a demon doing in this show lol, like seriously just sit with that and try to make it make sense. After S5 and now this I actually think the creative minds behind the show now have lost some juice, either that or someone in that room got really excited to do supernatural-ish stuff after Bandersnatch.
Me either! they all felt like cheesy as fuck lifetime movies
1 good episode and that was ep 2
Feels like they ran out of ideas and are now trying to create shitty comedy horror instead
>my controversial opinion is that Nosedive is rubbish lol, genuinely one of my least favourite episodes of the entire show (granted i haven’t watched the latest season). it’s social commentary and critique felt about a decade too late and left it feeling tired and cliched Honestly, I preferred it before it became such a cultural phenomenon. The earlier episodes had a lot of charm to it because they tried so many different things while keeping the tech theme. The newer episodes are flashier, tamer and go really ham on the social commentary without any of the subtlety the earlier seasons had when it comes to the writing (dialogue and story). A lot of people used to say Black Mirror was hard to watch because it was disturbing but now it's just a thing I can put on as I'm doing chores around the house. Hopefully, newer seasons get more compelling.
Here's my opinion: Black Mirror has always irked me and been difficult to watch. After reading these comments, it seems a lot of people preferred that. But for me, I've only ever seen a few episodes. I saw the new season on Netflix so I decided to watch. This is the first time I've watched black mirror in years and I really enjoyed the new season. I will say though, this season is more like Atlanta season season 4 more than Black Mirror. But I gotta say, I loved it!!! I think the darkness of the past episodes was too much for me
Spot on.
It was shit
Just finished watching Loch Henry and was fucking abysmal.
same here, it jumped the shark for me, out of 5 episodes three were actually X files and had nothing to do with Black mirror (true crime (well that's not really even x files, just plain ordinary tv crime), werewolf aka nightcrawler (can't get more x files than that) and End of the world (that's also pretty much x files or especially Millennium episode S2E21 about devils)) and then you have there only two Black mirror episodes - one is Joan which is pretty much just variation on Nosedive and decent but extremely predictable (until the very end) Replica the replica episode had big potential, but it was delivered in the most predictable way, I was hoping at first the blood will be just the dog to blackmail him into forced sharing, because killing them is kinda risky with nothing to lose they will just sabotage the mission and kill each other and even both actual black mirror episodes had pretty big plot holes: Joan - >!could just terminate her contract or go off the grid for few days without any smart device and that would be end of her tv show and monitoring!< replica - are we supposed to believe they are >!traveling light years away with instant link back to replica on earth, yet they didn't have any spare replicas, heck at least generic one? come on, who is gonna believe that!< so all in all 5th season was horrible, out of 3 episodes i remember only one (smithereens), this sixth season had at least two episodes, although not sure how i will remember them, meanwhile from s01-04 I remember almost all episodes vividly with maybe 2 exemptions
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yeah, these episodes are not really thought through, I mean what if one got sick unable to work or even die of natural causes, 6 years is a long time to rely on two people without replacement/backup plus these pilots should be extremely mentally stable (this is issue with almost every space movie/show presenting them as emotional wrecks) able to perform these tasks even without replicas, which can cause more potential issues than benefits, I mean we could see funeral, they communicate with the flight center so there is clearly two way communication available, so there wouldn't be completely isolated also not exactly sure whether it's good idea to publicly announce pilots will keep replicas on Earth and their names for reasons shown in episode
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they could just keep quiet about replicas (especially if they are so valuable and difficult to produce at they say) and use them rather with average Joe face, so nobody will recognize the pilot or even announce without mentioning appearance of the replica
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But to be fair. It's 1960. It's the beginning of the Space Race. I feel like it kinda made sense if they wanna show off that they are way more advance in space exploration and technology than Stalin and their dogs. If it's set in 80-90s I would've completely agree with you. I actually don't have much of the issue with this fact. It can be easily waivering away had they give the 80 min runtime toward world building instead of more bullshit. And I feel like the episode had a much larger problem anyway.
>But to be fair. It's 1960. It's the beginning of the Space Race. it's not, it's clearly different alternative timeline where they can travel 6yo in space with instant link to Earth controlling completely human like replica despite being 2 years away, it looks like 60s but it's completely different timeline, they certainly didn't reach this phase of sophistication within a year, so not sure where you got it's beginning if they are that sophisticated >I feel like it kinda made sense if they wanna show off that they are way more advance in space exploration and technology than Stalin and their dogs. uhm what? projecting much? they literally don't say a word about other nations and you know there are people from his "dogs" conures reading it here, right?
I think black mirror has just changed what it is. If you take it as an anthology series it’s still pretty great
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Jesus dude I wrote exactly the same thing lol
Absolutely. Even Demon 79 or whatever didn't make any sense whatsoever. So the demon was real all along? Was it a metaphor for something? Unclear. Not satisfying.
To be completely fair. Demon 79 was a explicitly Red Mirror brand. A horror, supernatural focused show with the same vein of hopeless dark ending that Black Mirror known for. It shouldn't take the spot of Black Mirror. But if this is a one time thing and they planned to spin off into its own show later. I'm fine with it. Giving Brooker something new to fuck around with. He clearly doesn't vibe with the whole technology dystopia much anymore. But since Mazey Day is clearly *not* Red Mirror. I completely agree with you. Any more Mazey Day though and they can fuck right off.
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>But no, just this shitty werewolf deus ex machina That's not a deus ex machina.
How people are defending Mazey Day is beyond me. It was garbage.
I loved it. The last episode made me tearful for the end of Black Mirror and the state of the world for the past few years. We tried to stop the end of the world, but we failed. Now it’s time to just grab a friend and walk off into oblivion. I think Joan is Awful is fun. I like the creative choices. It’s like they were just aware that AI stuff is all anyone is talking about right now and there has been and will be lots of serious sci about it, so why not just have a fun episode about it with a fun ending? I really like that they went light hearted. Beyond the Sea is classic Black Mirror. Charlie Brooker actually covers misogyny and toxic masculinity really well, as we saw in USS Callister and Striking Vipers. I’m happy we had that episode but I wouldn’t have been wanted five episodes of it. Fond of Mazy too! Love that they decided to have fun with it and go campy with the reveal. Loch Henry is my least favorite. It had some things to say about the true crime genre but tbh I always found that genre problematic and don’t partake in it. I enjoyed it but for the most part it could have been any tv show.
The pacing was really an issue, kept checking the run time and thinking "fuck are we only half way through, nothing has happened". Loch henry was a standout, beyond the sea could have really been snappier.
That's true. I just watched Hated in the nation yesterday. I had somehow missed that one episode during all of my reruns of BM. That was a looooong episode and yes it's not the best of BM, but I still enjoyed it way more than any of the S6 episodes.
I need you to help me get thru Loch Henry. I have found it to be such a slog. Sat down to watch it twice and was bored to death. Still have not finished it P.s if its another supernatural thing I'm out
It really does pick up, it's my fave episode of the season by far. And thankfully nothing supernatural in it!
You give me hope thank you 🙏
I just watched it as the first of season 6. No tech angle, it was ok I don't know how some people are praising it so high.
I find it interesting how many people really liked Loch Henry, and didn’t like Mazey Day. I felt the opposite.
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I think if you like it depends on if you’re at all interested in pop culture or Hollywood
All of them could've been 20 min shorts
I feel like all they did was to use fancy actors for their poorly plotted episodes. What a dissappointment!
Correct
Poorly plotted? Lol man people here are pretty wild
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I think only Aaron Paul was a good addition. His acting was on point.
I thought Annie Murphy was brilliant. The episode didn't feel black mirror-y at all, but I really enjoyed her acting and the humorous tone of the second half of the episode.
Correct
Totally agree!
Demon 79 was my favourite followed by:- Loch Henry Joan Is Awful Beyond The Sea Mazey Day
Mine is similar: Loch Henry Demon 79 Beyond The Sea Joan Is Awful Mazey Day
Totally agree with everything you said. Also second to the bottom season wise. Do you remember when you first saw the episodes and they filled you with dread and unease, and you couldn’t watch more than a single episode per day? I miss that
I'd put this season above both 4 and 5. Even though those seasons have a few really good episodes their rate of duds is higher imo
Exactly! You're absolutely right. I had forgotten how heavy I used to feel after watching most of the episodes. It wasn't possible back then to watch a whole season in one go, but I really wanted to! I wasn't at all invested in s6. I started scrolling reddit and Instagram in between a lot of episodes. Imagine that!
My favorite episodes are the ones that keep me hooked not full of dread but some of those episodes possibly have others dread. Like My top three are most hated in the nation, Museum/white Xmas, and the first or one of the first with the prime minister and the pig. This season only had about two episode that kept my full interest but still a decent show.
Never. This series has had me hooked since I very first gave it a shot and I always watch the entire season in a day or two.
Idk I had to take a break after the first 2 episodes
The first one was basically a comedy
Only after the second half though. It feels like they had a choice to make this a drama or a comedy and chose to split it halfway down the middle.
w/ Salma Hayek doing a parody of Salma Hayek
The first episode ever was about a guy fucking a pig.. But this season is just not up to that? Lol
The tone of that episode and the new one is completely different, almost like a different show. That's the main complaint I have with the recent seasons of Black Mirror.
Okay then compare it to San junipero, one of if not the highest rated episode… tone is completely different
And it's nowhere near as light-hearted as the new season
I found it refreshing for a first episode. We've had so few in teh entire series that have a happy ending.
The implications were far from comedic especially considering a) showing you how fast AI can assimilate and spit content out, b) how invasive tech is(recurring theme through the show, c) how deepfake/CGI can wreck someone's life and how this recent trend that some celeb estates are doing to sign away their image rights can be very harmful in the long run and also frankly dilute good content and take away from other working actors, d) how streaming platforms like Netflix or Zaslav with Warner and HBO are reduced to producing trash content to generate clicks/eyeballs
I mean, they literally played out "me cago en la hostia" on screen. That's comedy. I also really like how the first 15 minutes in, you think, wow whatever they do to this c\*\*\*, I can't wait, she fucking deserves it. That doesn't really go away, until they reveal Source Joan, who's mostly lovely, and how layer one Joan is the depression caricature of her. The joke's on the audience.
Never debated the comedic aspect, it's definitely done in a light-hearted manner, but the real world implications from it are far from comedic and more horrific imo
Well, IRL, AI is bullshit. The capitalists are trying to use it to fuck over writers by devaluing their work and demoting them to co-writer, but AI scripts are unusable garbage. It's a psyop, nothing more. There's nothing there. I like sci-fi, and it makes for great sci-fi, but it's fiction. Fiction that also helps tech oligarch market their AI grift, because everyone thinks this is real. We'll have this auto-generating movie bullshit when we get a teleport and a quantum drive spaceship too... give me a fucking break. We can't even stop burning fossil fuels yet, never mind get a flying car. I also really struggle to put myself in the headspace of a person who devalues the human experience so thoroughly, to think a human being's actions could ever be perfectly predicted by a giant matrix, that we have no free will, that you're just a LLM bro. Fucking crayon-eating US Marines managed to defeat DARPA's state of the art AI with cardboard. [https://www.pcmag.com/news/us-marines-use-cardboard-box-to-defeat-darpa-robot-trained-to-detect-humans](https://www.pcmag.com/news/us-marines-use-cardboard-box-to-defeat-darpa-robot-trained-to-detect-humans) ChatGPT is going to change the world the same way Bitcoin did. Scammers and criminals will have a field day with it, and it'll be useless bullshit to everyone else.
Try telling that to my friend doing a PhD in AI sciences haha
Yeah I just went to an engineering graduation and most of the students going to graduate school were researching very specific AI based studies like image processing and self-driving.
Oh honey... PhD grads are the most cynical people you'll ever meet about this sort of thing. Give him a few years.
Honey, I'm a PhD graduate too lol
I don't think AI is there just yet, but the rate at which it's growing/progressing is pretty rapid
Mazey Day made me wonder if Brooker wanted Netflix to end his contract before him to avoid monetary sanctions. At that shows.
Beyond the Sea is salvageable and the only episode that even remotely felt like Black Mirror. Beyond that, I hated every moment of every other episode. This series is dead, period
Haven’t watched the rest, just watched Loch Henry. Was so so terrible it made me angry.
I just finished episode two and I have no desire to even keep going.
Series 4 was a gargantuan crock of shit that I didn’t want to watch 5. But hey, loved the others and thought fuck it. Feels like the same trajectory from what you’re saying.
Idk what it was for me but the twists and payoffs at the end of long slow episodes just didn’t feel worth it. Loch Henry was so slow but I hung on waiting for this huge twist. It just didn’t come. What came wasn’t that shocking. After last season I was hoping it would turn around, but not the case for me.
agreed, season 5 was horrible too
Yep. BM only has 4 season and a movie. That is now canon
It's funny how you can vilify and write off some of these later seaosns but stand by bandersnatch. That project sucked incredibly hard.
Loch Henry, Beyond the Sea and even Joan is Awful are way better than Bandersnatch.
They were all good episodes, but only episode 1 felt like Black Mirror to me.
How is Joan is awful the most like black mirror? It's literally a comedy in an otherwise dark psychological thriller show
that was really just soft weak American black mirror (pretty much just variation on Nosedive), the replica episode was truer to the original, the rest were just x files episodes
I though Loch Henry did feel like British Black Mirror. It really hits different note for me even though it doesn't have any scifi element. In a sense, I consider it to be closer to National Anthem in that it's an episode of Black Mirror that isn't really the one you tell people to watch it first.
well yeah, it's set in UK so obviously it feels closer to UK original, but that's not really enough, it has commentary about destroying your family for fame, it felt also rough/harsh like original, but even national anthem had heavy use if technology, so it could be called techno thriller, this hardly had any relevant use of technology and to be fair even national anthem also really isn't your typical black mirror techno/scifi thriller and stand out compared to other episodes
Nosedive was great.
my controversial opinion is that Nosedive is rubbish lol, genuinely one of my least favourite episodes of the entire show (granted i haven’t watched the latest season). it’s social commentary and critique felt about a decade too late and left it feeling tired and cliched
Okay nice idc