Creator Charlie Brooker brings us another delightfully terrifying and shocking season of Black Mirror to Netflix. The Emmy-winning series doesn’t hold back this season, and each episode transforms our collective discomfort with technology— and depicts how it slowly consumes and takes bits of our identity each day. One of the most talked about anthology series is back and I have 8 thoughts about season four, so let’s dive in to see how our 21st-century existence is staring back at us in that Black Mirror shall we?
The “Black Museum” episode has Shuri exploring new technology and I am excited about this!
Actress Letitia Wright soon to be known to the world as Shuri (T’Challa’s sister) in Marvel’s impending Black Panther. She learns a lot of new tech mind-altering devices thanks to a quirky old man who runs the place and has a series of anecdotes to tell about each mechanical device and the power it wields. “Black Museum” is set within a US roadside attraction; a crime museum showcasing high-tech misdeeds. Seeing Letitia play with super sophisticated artificial intelligence toys, got me hyped for what we will see on the big screen!
“Black Museum” Cast: Douglas Hodge (The Night Manager, Catastrophe), Letitia Wright (Humans, Ready Player One), Babs Olusanmokun (Roots, The Defenders)
Director: Colm McCarthy
Written By: Charlie Brooker
There was some Black trauma happening which was triggering.
Obviously, I don’t want to give anything away, but both “Black Museum”,”Crocodile”, and “Metalhead” deal with some pain and trauma of Black bodies. I do appreciate that Black Mirror is incredibly diverse and that the gamut runs wide of characters who experience, pain, torture, death etc are of all nationalities but it still triggers seeing a Black person going through trauma on screen. Perhaps because we see so much of it on the news in real life.
I really wasn’t feeling “Hang the DJ”
Black Mirror seems to have a bit of an obsession with relationships/dating and the use of technology. While I’m not completely opposed to this, I couldn’t help but feel “Hang the DJ” was just too predictable and cliché. This is a story in which the characters are using a sophisticated dating system, that maps out a series of relationships for you in advance. The idea of knowing how long your future relationship will last based off a social media dating profile just felt meh for me. The ending was pretty cute though.
“Hang the DJ” Cast: Georgina Campbell (Flowers, Broadchurch), Joe Cole (Peaky Blinders, Green Room), George Blagden (Versailles, Vikings)
Director: Tim Van Patten (The Sopranos, Game of Thrones)
Written By: Charlie Brooker
Keep a pillow or something to hold tight nearby because “Metalhead” will keep you on edge.
I’m pretty sure my blood pressure levels were elevated during the 45 minute run of the black and white episode of “Metalhead”. I never thought I would be so frightened of a cockroach-shaped android in all my life. This was one of the better episodes of the series that keeps your heart racing consistently until it ends.
“Metalhead” Cast: Maxine Peake (The Theory Of Everything, The Village), Jake Davies (The Missing, A Brilliant Young Mind), Clint Dyer (Hope Springs)
Director: David Slade (Hannibal, American Gods)
Written By: Charlie Brooker
I was shocked and appalled at what lengths the protagonist in “Crocodile” is willing to go to in order to cover her tracks. I’m still thinking about it.
Filmed in Iceland, this cold story both literally and metaphorically still brings chills down my spine after watching it. This is an episode about a new device that can access your raw impressions of events and Mia has something terrible in her past coming back to haunt her. The horrifying part of this story is, she’s willing to do anything to make sure no one knows about the past.
“Crocodile” Cast: Andrea Riseborough (Birdman, Bloodline), Andrew Gower (Outlander), Kiran Sonia Sawar (Murdered By My Father)
Director: John Hillcoat (Triple Nine, Lawless)
Written By: Charlie Brooker
If You’re A Star Trek Fan You Will Absolutely LOVE “USS Callister”!
This feature-length episode of Black Mirror is one of the strongest in terms of writing and story structure in this contemporary take on a virtual reality game of characters on a Starfleet ship called the USS Callister. Michaela Coel guest stars as one of the crew and was giving me life as an Uhura lookalike. Can we bring Coel to Star Trek Discovery please?
Cast: Jesse Plemons (Black Mass, Fargo), Cristin Milioti (The Wolf of Wall Street, Fargo), Jimmi Simpson (Westworld, House of Cards), Michaela Coel (Chewing Gum, Monsters: Dark Continent)
Director: Toby Haynes (Dr Who, Sherlock)
Written By: Charlie Brooker & William Bridges
I Liked How Experimental This Season Was
We got a feature-length episode with “USS Callister” and a black and white high intense drama with “Metalhead”. “Arkangel” also plays out like an indie movie set in a near-future America. With each episode filmed and led by different directors with their own sense of style, the stories each held their own identities, which was pretty intriguing to watch.
“Arkangel” Is Slow Drag, With A Sad Ending
Jodie Foster directs this drama about a mother and daughter, told over the course of several years as the daughter grows up. It’s a bit of a slow burn and little different from the other stories as far as pacing goes, but the ending ultimately left me sad for all characters involved.
Cast: Rosemarie Dewitt (La La Land, Mad Men), Brenna Harding (A Place to Call Home), Owen Teague (Bloodline)
Director: Jodie Foster
Written by: Charlie Brooker
Final thoughts:
Black Mirror season four has major hits with a couple of misses. It’s an intense season with more peaks than valleys. The series once again shows us how horrifying it can be when we depend on technology to consume our daily lives.
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