Black Mirror Season 5 (1 Viewer)

[mattCR]

Black Mirror Season 5 released today on Netflix. Only 3 Episodes (plus Bandersnatch which was released earlier) but very strong start so far..

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

Woo hoo! Time to get paranoid!

 

[mattCR]

These are pretty incredible; I enjoyed all three.. I know people get unhappy with a 3 episode season. But I would take 3 great episodes over more that were mediocre. These were really well done science fiction.

 

[Greg.K]

I enjoyed the season, but they are starting to retread some of the tech what-ifs a bit too much. The little forehead VR doohickey/mind transfer device has been done to death. And overall it felt too much like "Black Mirror Lite".

I thought "Smithereens" was the strongest episode and it didn't have any technology that doesn't exist today, just a great commentary on the ways social media companies have impacted and infiltrated people's lives.

"Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too" is growing on me. Kind of meta, as a critique of the way packaged stars like Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana are treated, but also with every Disney movie & sitcom trope they could shove in there. And that it's Miley Cyrus playing Ashley O. An occasional episode like this that doesn't take itself too seriously is fine. And the

Spoiler

unlocked Ashley Too doll

was fun.

"Striking Vipers" was a decent examination of what virtual relationships can mean and raises some interesting questions, but I feel like the biggest plot hole is that if that level of VR tech is commonplace enough to be in a game like that, most everyone would have already be using it to virtually get it on long before. There are society-changing implications to it.

 

[mattCR]

I thought "Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too" was such a great commentary on why acts that are just "positive all the time" give people a false sense of reality. I thought making every single one of Ashley O's songs only slight covers/alters of Nine Inch Nails numbers - just the reverse - was such a fantastic conflict that it was a way to tip the audience to the conflict... and of course, she ended the episode with Nine Inch Nails without the "upbeat edits".

Smithereens is the one that had a few moments that were legitimately things I thought were creative and terrifying..

Spoiler

The moment the CEO admits they had done focus testing to find ways to make sure the alerts were addictive, the dopamine levels it would push in the brain for large images, quick tags, etc. I heard that, and I my first thought was that I bet something exactly like that is actually going on..

Which is part of where Black Mirror shines, combining science fiction with science realtiy

 

[ScottH]

Just watched the Striking Vipers episode and thought it was absolutely awful. Possibly the worst episode of the series.

 

[Scott McGillivray]

Like others have said, it is pretty solid TV, but just does not measure up to the brilliance we have seen in previous seasons. They ranged from "ok" to "good" but never, "WOW!". (How is that for a rating system? Haha)

 

[The Drifter]

I've been a fan of the BM series for years; excellent sci-fi anthology series that is very insightful, topical, and disturbing. S05 was a solid season, but it's too bad there were only three episodes.

-Striking Vipers: Extremely unsettling episode. I kind of understand the point the show was trying to make - and, do agree sometimes people get so wrapped up with "relationships" they form on the computer - to the detriment of their own IRL relationships.

Being a mild video game fan back in the '90's, the SG game did remind me somewhat of the iconic games Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, etc.

-Smithereens: Good commentary on how addictive I-phones, the Internet, and social media are. It was interesting how the grieving, disturbed man (who kidnapped the employee of the huge company) did admit that it was his fault the car accident happened (which killed his fiance) - not the company's. However, he was still looking for someone to blame...

TG was almost unrecognizable as the bearded, hippie-like CEO in this episode - LOL.

-Rachel, Jack, and Ashley Too: Superb, gripping episode. Not a fan of Miley Cyrus' music (or any other girl-pop music for that matter), but you can't deny the huge fanbase these "artists" have.

The Ashley Too robot/doll was interesting; and, I think Ashley's music & by extension this robot were commentary on how people can sometimes relate more to these types of things (music, "virtual friends", etc.) than they can to "real life".

Growing up in the '80's, I was much more of a fan of the music Rachel's metal/goth sister Jack was listening to, i.e. The Pixies, etc. It was funny how she referred to this music as "Vintage" - wow, that made me feel old - LOL.

My favorite scene in the episode was at the very end when the bar band was playing: Ashley had completely changed her "good girl" persona and become a metal-head, and then she & her band (which included Jack on guitar) sung an incredibly well-done cover of Nine Inch Nails' iconic classic Head Like a Hole - one of my all time favorite songs...from the '80's or any other era. Nice!

 

[ScottH]

I've now watched all 3 episodes and would probably rank them bottom 3 of the series. Thought the Miley Cyrus episode had potential but didn't like the direction it took. This show needs some new writers.