Netflix's BLACK MIRROR

[SNIKT1950]

Couldn't find a thread for this here but Netflix's revival of BLACK MIRROR is simply outstanding.

I was already a huge fan of the original show (a mere seven episodes) but man, did they go all out with this revival/third season.

The first two episodes of Season 3 are great. Nosedive starring Bryce Dallas Howard is a genius commentary on where our society may be headed via social media while Playtest (directed by 10 Cloverfield Lane's Dan Trachtenberg) is a brilliantly nightmarish look at VR tech.

But its San Junipero (Episode 4) that absolutely blew my mind.

San Junipero (at 61 minutes) could have just been a film and it would have garnered as much attention as Ex-Machina or Her. Its a gorgeous love story set to the backdrop of mortality and existentialism. Mackenzie Davis is stellar. She continues to shine, here playing a character equally complex to her role in Halt and Catch Fire yet completely different. Gugu Mbatha Raw is awesome too. This is probably the best bit of television I've seen all year (if we're still for some reason calling NETFLIX shows "TV"). 10/10

If you're not watching this show you must check it out. It was already good years ago before it was on NETFLIX, but this new season is truly superb content.

 

[Lejuan]

Fantastic, I really enjoyed the original show

 

[batfan08]

I had trouble with San Junipero, because I don't think I had the right mindset for it. At the time, anyway.

Spoiler

It's a beautiful love story, I concur, but, ultimately, it just took me to a dark place thinking about the nature of identity and consciousness and whether or not they even existed in the sense that they were still the same, or just shadows; self-aware simulations of something that no longer exists. That's the brilliant part of the show, though, is that I feel like it wants you to think about these things. When Kelly talks about Robert, and how she wants to believe that he's with her daughter, but she believes that they're both just gone, it just hits you. What is all this? What makes us who we are? Are we the sum total of our memories and experiences, able to be transplanted in any ashcan for all eternity? Or, perhaps, did the real Kelly and Yorkie, in fact, join Robert and Kelly's daughter in nothingness, only to leave behind a happy and content pair of digital avatars imprinted with the belief that they are Kelly and Yorkie? Of course, the alternative, depending on how you view things, is that there is something more than a man-made digital paradise called San Junipero, and that, perhaps, Kelly got the best of both worlds, in the sense that the digital simulation that fell in love with Yorkie was able to spend eternity with her, while Kelly passed on with Robert and her daughter.

I do agree that it's an incredible episode. I'm super happy to see Black Mirror getting some love here, because I've been sitting on those thoughts for days, since watching it. It really is an amazing show and San Junipero is it at its best.

 

[SNIKT1950]

I had trouble with San Junipero, because I don't think I had the right mindset for it. At the time, anyway.

Spoiler

It's a beautiful love story, I concur, but, ultimately, it just took me to a dark place thinking about the nature of identity and consciousness and whether or not they even existed in the sense that they were still the same, or just shadows; self-aware simulations of something that no longer exists. That's the brilliant part of the show, though, is that I feel like it wants you to think about these things. When Kelly talks about Robert, and how she wants to believe that he's with her daughter, but she believes that they're both just gone, it just hits you. What is all this? What makes us who we are? Are we the sum total of our memories and experiences, able to be transplanted in any ashcan for all eternity? Or, perhaps, did the real Kelly and Yorkie, in fact, join Robert and Kelly's daughter in nothingness, only to leave behind a happy and content pair of digital avatars imprinted with the belief that they are Kelly and Yorkie? Of course, the alternative, depending on how you view things, is that there is something more than a man-made digital paradise called San Junipero, and that, perhaps, Kelly got the best of both worlds, in the sense that the digital simulation that fell in love with Yorkie was able to spend eternity with her, while Kelly passed on with Robert and her daughter.

I do agree that it's an incredible episode. I'm super happy to see Black Mirror getting some love here, because I've been sitting on those thoughts for days, since watching it. It really is an amazing show and San Junipero is it at its best.

I think

Spoiler

the real consciousness of both Yorkie and Kelly are living in San Junipero. The upbeat happy ending to the episode suggests that unlike most BM tales this one actually worked out. The notion that Yorkie's life was put on hold at 21 so she's just beginning to live now within the simulation is heartbreaking. I felt such joy for her [and cried my ass off lol]

The effect San Junipero had on me is one that very few things in media have. I too spent days afterwards thinking about mortality and wish fulfillment. Where will I be mentally at 80? Satisfied? Filled with regret? But above all, if San Junipero really existed, would I wanna live there?

Leave it to BLACK MIRROR to send its viewers into existential rumination for days after watching an episode.

 

[batfan08]

One thing's for sure: it was a much needed boost of hopefulness and love after the total downer that was "Shut Up And Dance." So far, the only one I've not yet watched Hated in the Nation (I watched like 30 minutes of it, but it was late and I wasn't really invested in it/half-paying attention while looking at my phone, so, I'm just going to watch the whole thing later.

 

[SNIKT1950]

Really hope this thread gets people to watch BM. Or at least San Junipero.

 

[Sweet Rabbit]

I've seen the first episode so far

 

[Johnny Utah]

Playtest scared the ****ing **** out of me. I loved San Junipero mainly because I love Mackenzie Davis. Halt and Catch Fire doesn't get enough attention.

 

[SNIKT1950]

Playtest scared the ****ing **** out of me. I loved San Junipero mainly because I love Mackenzie Davis. Halt and Catch Fire doesn't get enough attention.

Its such a great show. Glad we're getting a proper finale via Season 4.

Lee Pace and Mackenzie Davis are gold in HACF.

 

[Johnny Utah]

HACF and the soundtrack to the first season were my summer of 2014. Lee Pace as Joe MacMillan was the main reason I wanted a figure of Ronan.

 

[DFanatic]

Man, 4 great episodes so far. All 4 really made me stop and think about life. Right now, I'm here thinking about San Junipero and the implications that would have in the real world.

Spoiler

It really makes you stop to think about ourselves and our true meaning. What makes us, "us"? Can it be considered life if its my mind being uploaded to a simulation? How would one cope with immortality in a simulation where you are confined to same place forever. I wonder if that some point, you would suffer from an existential crises. I mean, people suffer from existential crises in the real world, I can only image having to face the consequence of being dead and living in a simulation. I sure some people would eventually suffer from psychological side effects. In fact, they even mention something along those lines with the Quagmire and how people would go there because things got boring and they need to experience new extremes. Even thought I always thought I would jump on the opportunity to live forever in a machine I must say, after having watched the episode, I now feel a bit trapped just thinking about it.

Really great writing and wonderfully acted.

 

[SNIKT1950]

Man, 4 great episodes so far. All 4 really made me stop and think about life. Right now, I'm here thinking about San Junipero and the implications that would have in the real world.

Spoiler

It really makes you stop to think about ourselves and our true meaning. What makes us, "us"? Can it be considered life if its my mind being uploaded to a simulation? How would one cope with immortality in a simulation where you are confined to same place forever. I wonder if that some point, you would suffer from an existential crises. I mean, people suffer from existential crises in the real world, I can only image having to face the consequence of being dead and living in a simulation. I sure some people would eventually suffer from psychological side effects. In fact, they even mention something along those lines with the Quagmire and how people would go there because things got boring and they need to experience new extremes. Even thought I always thought I would jump on the opportunity to live forever in a machine I must say, after having watched the episode, I now feel a bit trapped just thinking about it.

Really great writing and wonderfully acted.

You bring up a great point.

Spoiler

How long before the simulation gets boring? What if you don't wanna hit up the Quagmire?

Yorkie did mention that if you ever wanted out that you simply "checked out" which probably means the server deletes your consciousness.

All in all such a tough predicament for both the living and the dead. In Yorkie's case it was a no-brainer given that the simulation will allow her to live the life she never had.

Also, did you notice how perfectly fitting Belinda Carlisle's Heaven is a Place on Earth was for this story?

Ooh, baby, do you know what that's worth?

Ooh, heaven is a place on earth

They say in heaven, love comes first

We'll make heaven a place on earth…

Its ****ing perfection.

 

[Thainitty]

Do you have to watch the previous seasons for season 3 to make sense?

 

[SNIKT1950]

Do you have to watch the previous seasons for season 3 to make sense?

Nope.

 

[Thainitty]

Nope.

Cool! Thank you

 

[batfan08]

Cool! Thank you

You don't even have to watch the previous episode. It's an anthology series where every episode is its own, self-contained story.

 

[Sweet Rabbit]

I finished season 1

 

[SNIKT1950]

I finished season 1

My favorite episode that season was The Entire History of You. I love how it shows us the effect tech will eventually have on monogamy and infidelity. Toby Kebbell is awesome (as always).

But I think the most impacting episode of Season 1 is The National Anthem. What a grotesque scenario it presents. That one left me pretty beat up.

 

[Sweet Rabbit]

That one was pretty messed up

 

[DFanatic]

Ok, I just watched White Christmas and it's a real mind **** that one... WOW! Got find season one now.