Adult Content Warning

This community may contain adult content that is not suitable for minors. By closing this dialog box or continuing to navigate this site, you certify that you are 18 years of age and consent to view adult content.

Black Mirror

Discussion in 'TV Shows' started by Mrquickfoot, Dec 12, 2013.

  1. Mrquickfoot

    Mrquickfoot
    Expand Collapse
    Village Idiot

    Reputation:
    0
    Joined:
    Nov 4, 2009
    Messages:
    11
    <a class="postlink" href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2085059/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2085059/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1</a>

    Just found out about this show (6 episodes). Pretty unlike anything I've seen from a TV show and probably the best show I've watched all year. Highly recommend watching this.

    It is on Direct TV if you have it or can be found by less than legal methods that I'm sure you know about.

    I got through the first 4 last night, and plan on watching the other 2 tonight.

    If you don't want to take my word for it you can read Andy Greenwald from grantland's article on it:

    <a class="postlink" href="http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/10117453/the-remarkable-black-mirror" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/101 ... ack-mirror</a>

    Also there are some recaps :

    <a class="postlink" href="http://www.grantland.com/search?query=black+mirror" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.grantland.com/search?query=black+mirror</a>
     
  2. Kubla Kahn

    Kubla Kahn
    Expand Collapse
    Emotionally Jaded

    Reputation:
    729
    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2009
    Messages:
    11,523
    I don't even know if or when the series will be back on next. This show is awesome. I've seen four of them and they've all been amazing. I wrote about this series already in the other thread. All of them involve a semi/close to future plot and deal with humans interactions with technology and social media.

    Since it is an anthology they don't really connect and you could watch any of them in any order. I'd suggest starting with "The Entire History of You." It tells the story of a future where everything you see is recorded by a device implanted in your head called The Grain. Like one of the article linked above describes it, it's what google glasses will eventually morph into. The story revolves around a young lawyer and the consequences of this technology on his professional and personal life. Some raw fucking emotions on display.

    My second favorite so far has been "White Bear." Which follows a young woman who mysteriously wakes up with no memory and is being followed around by the whole population recording her on their cell phones. It has a pretty good Red Serling-esque twist at the end.

    "15 million merits" is also pretty good. A kind of dystopian future where most of society's power is derived from people pedaling stationary bikes (science doesn't hold up on this end but it's not what the plots about). You earn credits "merits" by how much you pedal. It really deals with how our society treats people's work lives and our obsession with celebrity (and some of the pitfalls of that). Really good stuff.


    It should be watched now.
     
  3. bean

    bean
    Expand Collapse
    Experienced Idiot

    Reputation:
    2
    Joined:
    Oct 20, 2009
    Messages:
    141
    I started watching this shortly after posted in the recommended thread. This is what good science fiction should be.
     
  4. DefFlava

    DefFlava
    Expand Collapse
    Village Idiot

    Reputation:
    0
    Joined:
    Mar 11, 2010
    Messages:
    11
    Brilliant and criminally underseen. Only Episode I didn't think was brilliant was the last one "The Waldo Effect" or something like that
     
  5. Kampf Trinker

    Kampf Trinker
    Expand Collapse
    Emotionally Jaded

    Reputation:
    324
    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2009
    Messages:
    4,690
    Location:
    Minnesota
    My only complaint about this show is that there is so few episodes per season. I'm not sure why there is so few, if it's a writing issue or if it's an expense issue since they have a different cast and set design each time. In either case, if it's necessary to keep the quality up I can live with it. Kubla gave a really good run down so I'll just throw in another recommendation. 99% of the shit I watch on tv I couldn't care less if I had missed it, but this is one of the rare exceptions.
     
  6. iczorro

    iczorro
    Expand Collapse
    Emotionally Jaded

    Reputation:
    107
    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2009
    Messages:
    3,541
    Location:
    The Island
    I've never heard of or read about this show anywhere but here. I downloaded them all based on this thread. Holy shit, worth it. A modern/futuristic version of Twilight Zone, focused on the effects of technology. It's... fucking stellar.
     
  7. Kampf Trinker

    Kampf Trinker
    Expand Collapse
    Emotionally Jaded

    Reputation:
    324
    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2009
    Messages:
    4,690
    Location:
    Minnesota
    The bad news is there isn't any season 3 in sight yet. However, Black Mirror is doing a christmas special that's going to air on the 16th. It's 90 minutes long, so at least there's that considering it's only one episode.

    I love this show, but god damn does production move glacially.

    Apparently the show is also on netflix now so those of you who haven't seen it - get on that shit. You'll be glad you did.
     
  8. Nettdata

    Nettdata
    Expand Collapse
    Mr. Toast

    Reputation:
    2,986
    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2006
    Messages:
    26,506
    Why I have never heard of this show before?
     
  9. Crown Royal

    Crown Royal
    Expand Collapse
    Just call me Topher

    Reputation:
    975
    Joined:
    Oct 31, 2009
    Messages:
    23,041
    Location:
    London, Ontario
    It's awesome. Rod Serling meets the digital age and like Sherlock it's only three episodes per season.

    Robert Downey Jr. is currently lobbying HARD to get the episode The Entire History of You made into a movie.
     
  10. Nettdata

    Nettdata
    Expand Collapse
    Mr. Toast

    Reputation:
    2,986
    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2006
    Messages:
    26,506
    I guess I know what I'm doing tonight.
     
  11. Kampf Trinker

    Kampf Trinker
    Expand Collapse
    Emotionally Jaded

    Reputation:
    324
    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2009
    Messages:
    4,690
    Location:
    Minnesota
    Anybody else catch the White Christmas episode yet? I thought it was just ok. It didn't quite live up to the quality of the first two seasons. It follows two characters and 3 semi-linked stories revolving around the same technology. The technology is a bit like the grain from the entire history of you. It was fairly entertaining, but the series has definitely done better.
     
  12. Kubla Kahn

    Kubla Kahn
    Expand Collapse
    Emotionally Jaded

    Reputation:
    729
    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2009
    Messages:
    11,523

    It's not on Netflix is it? I was watching an episode the other night but didn't see anything new. It does suck that it's only 3 episodes a season and season 3 is still nowhere in sight. The Waldo Incident was the only one Ive not seen until the other day. It was alright but not great. It was a tad predictable. I really didn't like the end credit epilogue scenes. The episode did a great job of setting up the cartoons voice actor's emotional struggle and the end scenes with him kind of muddled the final impact for me. I think it could have been stronger if they just left it semi ambiguous to his fate, that he ultimately chose, and not show him months/years later. Also it was kind of hard for me not to chuckle at the fact that the main political character was played by the actor that plays the idiot brother of Catleyn Stark on Game of Thrones.

    The cult following of this show has been growing though. You'll think at some point the scales will tip and there will be enough demand to speed up production of the next season(s).
     
  13. Kubla Kahn

    Kubla Kahn
    Expand Collapse
    Emotionally Jaded

    Reputation:
    729
    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2009
    Messages:
    11,523
    I thought it was good, definitely in the top half of the now seven total episodes. The grain like technology did end up being repetitive since they used the same themes as well as that episode. Though there were enough twist and rising tension through out. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought Jon Hamm's Mystery Method segment was probably the best. I will say the neuro copy tech didn't make much sense for the application Jon Hamm's original example (making a copy for Robb Stark's banging hot wife for her house).
     
  14. guernica

    guernica
    Expand Collapse
    Emotionally Jaded

    Reputation:
    7
    Joined:
    Oct 21, 2009
    Messages:
    829
    Location:
    Sydney, Australia
    Outstanding show. Thanks for the tip! White Bear hit me hard, in good ways.
     
  15. Trakiel

    Trakiel
    Expand Collapse
    Call me Caitlyn. Got any cake?

    Reputation:
    245
    Joined:
    Nov 3, 2009
    Messages:
    3,167
    Location:
    St. Paul, MN
    I watched the 1st episode of this show on Saturday night at a friend's and I thought it was stupid. I was willing to suspend my disbelief over the whole premise* and hope there was going to be a payoff but at the end of the episode was wondering what the point was.

    *I’m really sick of the ridiculous and utterly absurd contrivances that shows and movies expect us to swallow in order to make the plot work. In this case, I’m expected to believe that a single individual was able to overpower a royal’s security and kidnap a royal - leaving no trace or evidence of his identity - and then create and upload a youtube video with apparently such l33t h@ck3r 5killz that the source was impossible to trace. All within the scope of a few hours. I’m also expected to believe that this individual has the government under surveillance such that the plot to use the stand in was immediately discovered and also set up a false location with a mannequin. Then, as if that wasn’t already absurd enough, he severs his own finger which apparently looks enough like the royal’s that nobody questions its authenticity, and is able to get that finger to the media through some fast untraceable means that’s so mysterious nobody bothers to investigate.

    Maybe I'll try watching some of the other episodes instead.
     
  16. Kampf Trinker

    Kampf Trinker
    Expand Collapse
    Emotionally Jaded

    Reputation:
    324
    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2009
    Messages:
    4,690
    Location:
    Minnesota
    I would recommend the Entire History of You. The technology in that episode is actually foreseeable and it's one of the better episodes in the series.

    I wouldn't judge the show off the pilot as it's one of the weaker showings. I found it more entertaining than you did, but it left me wondering what all the buzz surrounding this show was about. If you're one of those people who have trouble suspending your disbelief then this isn't the show for you, but it has more to do with the impact social media has our society than 'here's what the future will look like.'

    I'm two episodes into season 3 and it is fucking great. I think the first episode is the best of the series so far. It's about the compulsion for shallow validation, and how it's being ever more encouraged, featuring a culture where everyday people are judged the same way as google reviews of a local restaurant. The second is less relevant, and more of a sci-fi head trip, but enjoyable none the less.

    I've complained about the slow production process, but I don't care anymore. The quality is well worth it. Just keep doing what they're doing.
     
  17. Crown Royal

    Crown Royal
    Expand Collapse
    Just call me Topher

    Reputation:
    975
    Joined:
    Oct 31, 2009
    Messages:
    23,041
    Location:
    London, Ontario
    Robert Downey is trying to turn The History Of You into a feature movie.
     
  18. Kubla Kahn

    Kubla Kahn
    Expand Collapse
    Emotionally Jaded

    Reputation:
    729
    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2009
    Messages:
    11,523

    Should have read this thread first. The pig fucker episode is the most outragous and Ive always suggested the second episode first.
     
  19. Nettdata

    Nettdata
    Expand Collapse
    Mr. Toast

    Reputation:
    2,986
    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2006
    Messages:
    26,506
  20. Kubla Kahn

    Kubla Kahn
    Expand Collapse
    Emotionally Jaded

    Reputation:
    729
    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2009
    Messages:
    11,523
    Wrong, yes. Surprisng? Well not for a guy running a porngraphic site like this.

    Just finished the first episode Nose Dive. Damn good with a good little twist right at the end. I hadnt been keeping up on the show, Netflix picked it up and there are 6 episodes this season. Missed that entirely.