Black Mirror, from Netflix, has returned with a sixth season that is disconcerting for its narrative experiments. Its first three episodes are a careful combination between the fear of technology and the loss of privacy. Common themes in production. For his part, the last two fall squarely into the horror genre. The fifth even bears the label Red Mirror, which indicates that it explores the fields of supernatural narratives, moving away from science fiction production. A new point in the plot innovation of the anthology.
But it’s not the first time Black Mirror surprises with his perspective on controversial and uncomfortable topics. Premiered in 2011, Charlie Brooker’s work is a cynical reflection on the future, a pioneer in bringing dystopia to familiar grounds. From subtle criticism of control systems to fear of the use of artificial intelligence. each chapter of Black Mirror It has been an often terrifying perspective on contemporary evil and its dangerous reaches.
we leave you a list of the best episodes of the series, including several from the last season. A journey through concern for the future, technology as an enemy and the uncertainty of modern life. A way of delving into the collective fears that, little by little, has become an elementary pillar for understanding current popular culture.
The National Anthemthe first episode of Black Mirror
In 2011, Black Mirror it premiered discreetly on the british channel Channel 4 with a season of three chapters. But it was the first of them that puzzled and impacted on such a level that it made the unknown series an immediate success. The National Anthem It is one of the best stories of the production. Also, the one that marked his style and tone from then on.
The script delves into a twisted and mocking tale of power, mass manipulation, and public shame. When a member of the British royal family is kidnapped, the Prime Minister michael callow (Rory Kinnear) must face an unprecedented decision. The captors have only one request: the only way to save the hostage’s life is for the head of government to have sex with a pig and broadcast it live.
Of course, it is a dark parody that shows the public trial box in a crazy act, but apparently necessary. Gradually, callow You will see that not only do you have no choice but to agree to the request, but also that you will not do so solely to prevent a murder. Also because the pressure of public opinion will become unbearable. Black Mirror poses a terrifying turn of the will of the masses that turns this extraordinary chapter into a cornerstone of modern television.
Men Against Fire
Black Mirror has a subversive way of exploring the social and cultural foibles of our time. For this reason, chapter five of season three is one of the hardest and most brilliant in the anthology. The plot relates to a possible future in which soldiers are sent to exterminate especially dangerous mutant creatures. The orders are clear: no one must be left alive. There is no room for pity or mercy, the destruction must be complete.
That objective gives soldiers an unprecedented freedom that turns them into brutalized mechanisms of violence. Getting to exceed the most primary moral limits under the assumption of a purpose of protection. Something that causes the soldier Stripe (Malachi Kirby) questions the true justification behind such acts, which leads him to doubt his preparation and ability on the battlefield.
the chapter of Black Mirror reaches its most heartbreaking point when a plot twist reveals that war propaganda has, in fact, reached a chilling level of sophistication. Each combatant carries a neural implant that changes and distorts their perception of the environment. Therefore, the supposed monsters are nothing more than people from marginalized groups. The brutal revelation transforms the plot into a well-considered and better-narrated anti-war plea.
Be Right Back
This narration, which is especially valid today, is the first of the second season. Its plot explores the limits of artificial intelligence and its interaction with the human being. martha (Hayley Atwell) is grieving hard after the sudden death of her boyfriend Ash (Domhnall Gleeson). Searching for solace, he finds a service, based on electronic interaction, capable of digitally reproducing Ash’s personality based on their online activity and shared messages.
The result is an AI version of the deceased, which learns quickly until it becomes indistinguishable from the real thing. Which makes it an electronic spectrum of the true Ash and makes martha begin to question the sense of reality. What gets worse when the plot explores pain and its palliatives as ways of humanizing technology. One of the hardest and most distressing points of this chapter of Black Mirror.
nosedive
With a script by the creator of the series and direction by Joe Wright, the first episode of the third season of Black Mirror discusses the loss of privacy and identity in the modern world. The story takes place in the distant future, where an app allows people to rate each other using a numerical scale. Your professional, social and even personal success depends on the average result of that classification. The score determines the status of each individual in society and how they will be treated based on their acceptance and popularity.
This circumstance causes lacie (Bryce Dallas Howard) becomes obsessed with improving his score. Something that she does not achieve and that, in fact, leads her to touch the terrifying limits of uprooting in a society structured around the scrutiny of others. A creepy perspective on social media and its influence on self-perception and building self-esteem.
San Juniperothe most beloved of Black Mirror
The fourth episode of the third season brings a change of tone to the series that leads it to explore a melancholic and romantic dystopia that is surprising for its sensitivity. The plot narrates a night in the city of San Junipero, an ideal town within a simulated reality in which people can choose a younger version of themselves thanks to an avatar.
In this context, yorkie (Mackenzie Davis) and Kelly (Gugu Mabtha-Raw) fall in love. A circumstance that will become more complicated due to the double vision of their existence in the digital world and in reality, in which both are old.
Finally, the couple ends up passing away, but they manage to live an electronic eternity in an impossible world. A rare take on technology beyond the dark spots where Black Mirror usually deepens.
Shut Up and Dance
The third chapter of the third season tells one of the toughest stories of Black Mirror. In it, the violation of intimate spaces and hypercommunication as a weapon are analyzed.
kenny (Alex Lawther) begins to be blackmailed by a hacker, who threatens him to post a video of him masturbating. To avoid it, he must commit a series of criminal acts without apparent sense. However, he will soon discover that he is part of a mechanism of situations linked together for a single reason. Each person who commits a crime has a terrible past that he seeks to hide at all costs.
Within this circle, the protagonist meets a middle-aged man (Jerome Flynn) with whom he will be forced to commit a robbery. Which will lead to a murder and, finally, to the total destruction of both of their lives. The underlying message of this story of Black Mirror is that technology is an interconnected network of critical information that can be used against any user.
lake henrythe big surprise of the last season of Black Mirror
The second episode of the last season of Black Mirror includes the terrible secret that unites the inhabitants of a small town, but it is not only an exploration of technological documentation. It is also a terrifying journey through the exploration of the truth and its consequences. What builds a tense scene on every ordinary face may be the mask behind which a monstrous revelation is hidden.
Also, the episode makes a direct mockery of Netflix and its collection of short stories. true crime. When David McCardle (Samuel Blenkin) begins to follow the lead that links a series of homicides, he will find that his life as he knows it will come crashing down. It will become a complex network of half-truths and deceptions supported by an increasingly complex version of the truth. In the end, irony meets terror in a brilliant conclusion to this story of Black Mirror.
beyond the sea
The third episode of the long-awaited final season of Black Mirror takes place in an alternate reality of the year 1969, in which the space race managed to exceed its limits and explore deep space. In these circumstances, astronauts must split their lives into two dimensions. One dedicated to the cosmic mission and another as part of a simulated reality with their families.
Each member of the great project of interstellar travel has the possibility of transferring their consciousness to a robot created in their image and likeness. So that they can be part of the domestic dynamics at the same time that they deepen their knowledge of the universe.
This experience is what unites cliff (Aaron Paul) yeah David (Josh Harnett) on a six-year journey. But the peaceful journey of both is distorted when the second’s family is murdered on Earth. Causing the relationship between the two to be disrupted and become an unhealthy perception of love and mourning. Gradually, what begins as a story of subtle betrayals, turns into a terrifying look at the limits of intimacy, privacy, and violence.