With Black Mirror Season 6 finally released on Netflix last week – after a four long wait – AlloCiné presents a list of the episodes that made the biggest impression on our retinas. Black Mirror always has something interesting to say, whether it’s a whistleblower’s stance on the excesses of society and technology, a dystopian genre, or a phase of introspection. A review of six iconic episodes.
“San Junipero”
The fourth episode of the third season, “San Junipero” stands out from all the rest of the series with a romantic character and a happy ending! In a resort town called San Junipero, shy York (Mackenzie Davis) meets outgoing Kelly (Gugu Mbatha-Raw). As soon as they meet, they immediately like each other. And after turning around for a while, they spend the night together.
York claims that this was his first time, and Kelly has been married once. But the next week, York can’t find Kelly anymore and searches everywhere. When he finally finds her, she admits that she is dying. This is where the twist of the episode comes in. San Junipero is a virtual reality program that elderly people can temporarily visit and “live” there after death if they wish. In the program, they can regain their youthful appearance at any time of their choice.
In real life Kelly decides to visit York. He is 21 to ninety. He had a car accident after visiting his parents, who violently rejected him. Yorkie now wants to be euthanized and live in San Junipero, but her very religious family is against it. So he is going to marry his nurse to make his wish come true. But Kelly offers to marry York and then allows him to be euthanized.
When they next meet, York asks Kelly to stay with him in San Junipero forever. But Kelly refuses because her husband and daughter are dead and their consciences are not uploaded into the system. After taking time to reflect, Kelly changes her mind and decides to euthanize herself to live with York. This is the first time Black Mirror has delivered such a charming and upbeat episode where technology poses no threat to the characters or humanity. Rather, it allows two souls to live together forever. ES
“USS Callister”
The first episode of the fourth season “USS Callister” is a strange object. It’s a parody of Star Trek and a tale of feminist emancipation. On the USS Callister, Captain Robert Daly (Jesse Plemons) and his crew shoot down an enemy ship. Daly hugs his two teammates to celebrate their victory.
In addition to being in real life, Robert is the co-founder of Callister, which produces the multiplayer game Infinity, in which users control a spaceship in simulated reality. His co-workers (the same crew) hate him, and we quickly learn that he’s an isolated guy and completely locked in on himself.
He suffers from a lack of recognition, which makes him angry with his coworkers. So he vents his frustrations with Infinity, an adventure game he created that uses all the Star Trek codes. He uses the DNA of his colleagues to create digital and sentient clones. And being their captain in the game, he can do what he wants with them and take revenge as he wants by mistreatment. But when he brings new recruit Nanette (Christine Milliot) into the game, he encourages the other clones to rebel against him.
The December 2017 episode of “USS Callister” sounds like a warning shot, while the MeToo movement is shaking the entire planet. The timing is amazingly perfect. It seems that Charlie Brooker and his co-writer William Bridges took measures for the rebellion that was about to take place. By telling a story of feminist emancipation and revenge, they marked a real turning point in the series. ES
“Free fall”
The first episode of Black Mirror’s third season, “Free”, is the first episode of the series to move to the bowels of Netflix. Scenery changes since we leave the UK for the US and budget changes too! But it was her story that stood out to us because it takes place in a world where people rate each other between one and five stars for each relationship, which has a significant impact on their socioeconomic status, economic.
We follow Lacey (Bryce Dallas Howard), a young woman obsessed with her class. He finds an opportunity to jump up his average and move into a luxurious residence after his popular childhood friend is chosen to be his servant. The pressure is on for Lacey, who will have to rise to the occasion in order to rise socially.
But on the day of the wedding, Lesi multiplies misfortunes and accidents. Each event lowers its score a little more. To the point that his childhood friend rescinds his invitation for fear of seeing his own remark by inviting someone so low. Desperate with rage, Les arrives at the wedding and has a real breakdown in public, which sees her grade drop below 1 and lands her in jail. After getting an implant that allows the points to be removed, she shares her cell with another man. They insult each other abundantly and cheerfully without fear of judgment.
Released in October 2016, “Chute libre” has a prophetic quality that we didn’t dare to imagine. What the episode tells us is set in the year 2020, when China implements its social credit system. Citizens and businesses celebrate there. Any misconduct is immediately sanctioned. Lowering the note, for example, has a ban on traveling by train or plane or buying real estate. This ability to predict has become a symbol of Black Mirror. ES
“shut up and dance”
The third episode of the third season, “Shut Up and Dance” is certainly one of the episodes of Black Mirror with the most terrifying stunt. The story follows Kenny, played by Alex Lowther (The End of the F***ing World), a young man who is threatened by an anonymous person with a compromising story in which he masturbates in front of pornographic videos.
He meets other people who have been hacked like him and who must follow incredible instructions if they hope to keep their private lives online. Despite the fear and risks, Ken is nearing the end of his long journey. Except the hackers were always going to leak the videos, and we learn to our horror that Kenny is a pedophile who watched child porn.
The strength of “Shut Up and Dance” is that it makes us sympathize with a seemingly afflicted person until the tragic staging of their true nature is revealed in the final act with a powerful staging that is filled with the music of Radiohead. At just under an hour, the episode turns out to be a great gripping thriller thanks to the writing of Charlie Brooker and Will Bridges and the nervous direction of James Watkins, who owes a great debt to Eden Lake. s
“Hang DJ”
The fourth episode of Black Mirror Season 4, “Hang the DJ,” places us in the near future, where romantic relationships are managed by “The System,” a company that uses artificial intelligence to find perfect matches. Frank (Joe Cole) and Amy (Georgina Campbell) experience this by using a virtual coach through a small interactive device that finds them partners.
Their first date goes great, but “the system” determines that their relationship will only last 12 hours. After the disappointment, Frank and Amy live a more or less satisfactory arranged relationship until they meet each other. Not wanting to know their due date, they live their romance to the fullest. But Frank breaks their agreement and their relationship suffers.
Until that famous day when “the system” finds their perfect match. Amy and Frank then decide to meet and rebel against the AI. Then we learn that it was their 1000th simulation of the app, and with 998 breakouts, their relationship success rate reached 99.8%.
Having spent most of the episode in the oppressive world of The Truman Show, Welcome to Gattaca or even The Lobster, “Hang the DJ” ends on a surprisingly upbeat and romantic note with Frank and Amy meeting for the first time. A bar full of refreshing alchemy. These emotional roller coasters make this episode, directed by Tim Van Patten (Rome, Sex and the City, Game of Thrones), a little nugget. s
“My Heart for Life”
The longest episode of Black Mirror season 6, “My Heart for Life” is the one that most crystallizes the new direction Charlie Brooker is taking for the series, which is no longer just about new futuristic technology.
It stays close to the themes that make Black Mirror Salt, but also offers intrigue that takes the audience to an alternate past with a very modern subtext. In an alternate version from 1969, two astronauts, Cliff (Aaron Paul) and David (Josh Hartnett), are able to wander between their space shuttle and the mainland, thanks to their consciousness being transferred into robotic doppelgangers who have stayed with their relatives. .
When a copy of David and his family are killed by the cult, Cliff suggests that he use his studies to escape his depression caused by his loneliness on the ship. But David’s obsessive jealousy and mental breakdowns lead him to kill Cliff’s family so that they are both left in the crucible to experience the same grief.
My Heart for Life is an episode that feels almost like a movie in its aesthetic and staging, inspired by incarceration, a traumatic time for many of us. The story touches our hearts and scares us with its tragic and destructive ending. s
Source: Allocine
Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.
