![]() ![]() Marking Black Mirror's first foray in the world of supernatural horror, 'Mazey Day' takes place in the early 2000s and follows Beetz' down-on-her-luck Bo. The one where: Paparazzi get more than they bargained for in the hunt for a high-stakes pic And, in a rare moment for the show, we get an ending that’s for once more hopeful than po-faced, and one which is completely earned thanks to the episode's terrific cast, smart structure, and perceptive themes. For all its subtext, 'USS Callister' is also hugely entertaining as a straight send-up of Star Trek, with some of the funniest moments seen in Black Mirror to date. Nowhere is that more evident than in 'USS Callister', in which Brooker exemplifies both the soaring heights and damaging depravities of the digital medium, where a social outcast can fetishize his own tyrannical fantasies just by logging online. Charlie Brooker was once a games journalist himself, after all, and his love-hate relationship with the medium remains as zealous as ever. The one where: Geek builds his own Enterprise and populates it with people he knows IRLįrom 'Playtest' to 'Bandersnatch', Black Mirror has always demonstrated an affinity for video games. Some might not enjoy the lack of gadgets or gizmos, mind. Vasan strikes the perfect balance of comedy and pathos with Nida, as she grows into her power, while Essiedu plays Gaap with a deliciously camp flair, aided, of course, by one of the most fabulously flamboyantly costumes Black Mirror has seen. You see, while the episode leans heavily into fantasy, distancing itself from Black Mirror's obsession with tech and branding itself a 'Red Mirror' production instead, it tackles real-world themes just the same. When Gaap, the demon, first sets her the task, Nida daydreams about hurting Vicky, her rude and racist co-worker who plans on voting for the anti-immigration movement National Front, or the local creep who's believed to have strangled his wife to death. Starring Anjana Vasan and Paapa Essiedu, 'Demon 79' centers on Nida, a young shoe shop clerk whose quiet life gets turned upside down when she accidentally frees a demon trapped inside an ancient talisman, and is instructed to kill three people by midnight or else the world will end. The one where: A meek-mannered woman gets drafted in to do the devil’s dirty work The only way it falls down for us is that the criticism of social media ends up feeling slightly hollow, especially given the twist in Chris' story. It’s definitely one of the more stripped-back episodes of the show, mostly taking place inside a car, but it’s all the better for it, leaning into its claustrophobia. In an attempt to get information to expose the damage the platform causes to people's lives from company CEO Billy Bauer (Topher Grace), he decides to kidnap one of their interns at gunpoint.Īs the episode unfolds, it becomes increasingly clear that Chris has faced a lot of trauma that he's linked with Smithereen in one of the most heartbreaking stories in the show's run. Much of this is to do with Andrew Scott’s fantastic performance as Chris, a rideshare driver with a vendetta against social media company Smithereen. While Black Mirror season 5 may not be the most memorable season of the show, 'Smithereens' was its most poignant episode. The one where: Andrew Scott kidnaps an intern of a social media company While it's a reasonable 56 minutes, Loch Henry’s super slow-burn pacing will prove somewhat of an endurance test for those after more thrills, but it's worth sticking around for the pay-off, and the tie-in with an earlier episode in its last few minutes. What's worse, is the couple used to make snuff videos, too, which adds a whole dark dimension to Davis's desire to be behind a camera – as the episode examines how creators mine deep, personal hurts for the sake of their art. ![]() While there, the pair uncover the Davis's parents were once involved with a string of disappearances and murders that plagued their sleepy town, and rendered it unvisitable by tourists. ![]() ![]() We're talking 'Shut Up and Dance' or 'Crocodile'-level depths of despair. It follows wannabe documentarian Davis (Samuel Blenkin), as he takes his fellow film-loving girlfriend Pia (Bodies Bodies Bodies' Myha'la Herrold) back home to Scotland to meet his mother and, well, make a movie. Loch Henry is up there with the bleakest Black Mirror episodes. The one where: A Scottish documentary filmmaker takes his girlfriend home for the weekend, and winds up uncovering some horrific truths about his parents ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |