Black Mirror

***Black Mirror*** is a British cyberpunk-oriented science fiction anthology series by Charlie Brooker.
It was originally broadcast on Channel 4 from 2011 to 2014, and it became a Netflix exclusive in 2016.

## Why It Rocks

1. Each episode deals with technology and how it affects society.
2. The episodes are standalone, meaning you can watch them in any order you like.
3. Genre fluidity: the show experiments with different genres such as horror (*Playtest*), military science-fiction (*Men Against Fire*), political drama (*The Waldo Moment*) and romantic comedy (*Hang the DJ*), meaning there's something for everyone.
4. Amazing acting, sets, and cinematography.
5. The twists are absolutely shocking.
6. Despite being science fiction, some episodes can really happen in real life, such as the episode "Shut Up and Dance".
7. There's even a film called *Black Mirror: Bandersnatch* which is a "choose your own adventure" movie, a unique take on the movie medium.
8. The way it's filmed can also be inventive: in "Nosedive" it's all in pastel colours, and in "Metalhead" it's entirely black and white.
9. The creators also responded to criticism positively, one person mocked the show by saying "Next on *Black Mirror*, what if phones, but too much?", which evolved into the twist in *Playtest* and a fictional Internet article in *Hated in the Nation*.
10. Many great episodes, like the *National Anthem*, *Fifteen Million Merits*, *The Entire History of You*, *Be Right Back*, *White Bear*, *White Christmas*, *Hated in the Nation*, *San Junipero*, *Nosedive*, *USS Callister*, *Metalhead* and *Hang the DJ*.

## Bad Qualities

1. The episode *Men Against Fire* had a predictable plot twist.
2. The early episodes have quite a low emphasis on technology.
3. Some mediocre episodes like *The Waldo Moment*, *Playtest* (depending on your view), S*hut up and Dance* (depending on your view), the aforementioned *Men Against Fire*, *Crocodile*, *Arkangel*, *Black Museum*, and the entire fifth season: *Striking Vipers*, *Smithereens* and *Rachel, Jack and Ashley* too. (However, the cinematography, sets and acting were still good).
4. Season 5 is considered the weakest season in the show and had only three episodes. Furthermore, it feels completely inferior to the other *Black Mirror* seasons.
	* *Striking Vipers* is a blatant rip off of the film *Brokeback Mountain*, the only difference is that the episode is science fiction, and the men were African Americans. Furthermore, the premise is boring as it was already used in other media like *Ready Player One* and *Sword Art Online*. In fact, the poster (and episode itself) also rip off the film *Moonlight*, possibly trying to cash in the success of the movie.
	* *Smithereens* also has a boring premise. Furthermore, it was also mainly inspired by an incident when the writer, Charlie Brooker hired an Uber and the driver got away just to get water, and the plot mainly focuses on the same incident.
	* *Rachel, Jack and Ashley too* is the most inferior to all the other episodes and was a very poor way to end the show, until it eventually got another season.
5. Overuse of eye implants.
6. Season 6, while much better than season 5, was still largely seen as not as good as other prior seasons.

## Trivia

* The name "black mirror" comes from the reflection visible on a screen that's turned off. Every episode has a character staring into the "black mirror".
* According to the BBFC classification, *Black Mirror: Bandersnatch* has a combined run time of 5 hours 12 minutes, despite the average choice path being 90 minutes.
* Some things in the series have become a reality, such as China's (or as M.R.R. likes to call it, Coronavirusland´s) "social credit system".