The release of Black Mirror, a Netflix series that depicts uniquely disturbing stories revolving around technological advances, was awaited eagerly by fans who were excited to see what the writers and producers could do to give us the scariest twists and the most disturbing story lines, living up to those from previous episodes. And I’m happy to say it met and exceeded my expectations, having felt that they added even more depth to the series through the use of humour; experimenting with black and white film and creating a final episode that was multi-layered and ambitious.
The first episode of the series gave us comedic undertones, despite the storyline being about cloning people into a computerised world ran by the central character, Capt. Robert Daly. The episode follows the clones trapped in Daley’s digital playground, who taps into it to play whenever he’s not at work collecting DNA from his co-workers who have ‘wronged him’. Whilst Daley thinks he has the upmost power and control over his co-worker victims, making the women wear spandex suits and kiss him whenever he feels he deserves it (wait – doesn’t that sound like a lot of superhero films and comic books? Hmm…), the most recent captive, Cole, has other ideas of escape. This is not a typical superhero story, the ‘hero’, who’s clearly watched too much TV as a child, is only seen as heroic by himself. Whilst he has the game ‘on pause’ there’s lots of opportunities for eye-rolling and joking between characters subject to his virtual world. I feel as though this is one of the most enjoyable, cliché bashing, and might I say female empowering episodes on the series and I’d definitely recommend giving it a watch!
(Image: digitalspy.com)
The second episode that stood out for me was Metalhead, which was filmed completely in black and white. For quite the opposite reason that I enjoyed the ‘USS Callister’ so much, this episode contained next to no dialogue and was set in a very real and exposed setting, well as real as a Black Mirror universe can be. This episode was extremely fast paced and adrenaline inducing, playing on your phone or getting a cup of tea was a no go just for fear of missing something. With what seemed like a high risk break-in of a warehouse, one of the characters immediately meets his end by a ‘’dog’’, which instead of being fluffy and barking a bit, was a metal droid that had a gun and a severe lack of remorse or need to quit. Whilst chasing and stalking the main character throughout the episode, it gave me a scary insight into how ‘’you can run but you cant hide’’ was even more true with technology and reasoning with it isn’t even a possibility like with a person. Whilst it was a very chilling and relentless episode, it proved that sometimes you don’t need clever dialogue or colour to make an impact, and stripping those a way in themselves can make for an even creepier film.
(Image: screenrant.com)
As the title of the episode informed me, the final episode entitled ‘’Black Museum’’ centred around a girl who decides to visit a museum filled with technological pieces and artefacts, run by a fanatic who just loves to relay the stories of when these pieces were not collecting dust but when they were a part of peoples day to day lives. Now because it’s Black Mirror these digital pieces don’t include old MACs and the original Playstation, and the stories told by the museum owner expose the horrors that technological experiments and programmes can have on peoples lives and sanity. Not only does this episode allow viewers to see a few different Black Mirror-esque technologies, but it also allows for the story teller and the museum visitors to have their own storyline along side it, allowing for an interesting and multi-layered episode.
(Image: digitalspy.com)
I don’t have to say that I’m a massive Black Mirror fan for you to guess that I am! I’d highly recommend watching these and the other episodes that are on Netflix, if you haven’t already. Enjoy!