Much has been written about Charlie Brooker's series Black Mirror which originally aired in 2011 on the British network Channel 4.
The series spans 5 seasons with 22 episodes, with Black Mirror season 6 in production, which can range from 40 minutes long to over 70 minutes in length. Although this is a series, the episodes are unrelated (apart from a few easter eggs).
What binds the episodes together is a dystopian view of the future which seems too close for comfort at times.
Fans of Black Mirror are passionate about their favourite episodes. Routinely ‘San Junipero‘ (Season 3, Episode 4), starring Mackenzie Davis from Halt & Catch Fire, comes up again and again as one of the ‘best‘.
Is Black Mirror Worth Watching?
Personally, I think it's one of the weaker instalments. However, I would say that ‘San Junipero‘ does offer an easy introduction to the whole Black Mirror concept. Certainly, it's more viewer-friendly than ‘The National Anthem‘ which is the very first episode of Black Mirror.
My favourite episode is ‘Nosedive‘ (Season 3, Episode 1) which features Bryce Dallas Howard as Lacie, a young woman living in a world where people are scored on a rating system just like a social media post.
If an individual's rating falls too low, they're shunned by wider society and access to travel, job promotions and many of life's basics are denied to them.
Other classic episode includes ‘USS Callister‘, which deals with a more traditional Sci-Fi scenario and ‘Black Museum‘ which ventures into concepts of crime and punishment, a recurring theme in the series.
Black Mirror is must-see television, it can be thought-provoking, dark, comic and incredibly sad at times.
