Film Review: Black Mirror Series Four, Redux
1st
March 2024, 22:47
It's time to continue with the review of Black Mirror Series Four!
We have the next few episodes lined up here, and trust me, these are great. And fear not, I'm gonna tell you why as we proceed on through this review. Suffice to say, Black Mirror Series Four really ups its game midway through this offering, and the latter three episodes reflect brave and refreshing choices.
At the end of the entire episode, we see that this is about a dating app, but in a more meta context.
Georgina Campbell as Amy. Charming, beautiful, with a very healthy sex drive and great sense of humor.
George Blagden as Lenny. A hunk with a penchant for exhaling loudly. Just a little character quirk that annoys Amy no end.
Gwyneth Keyworth as Nicola. Supreme sourpuss, with all the charm of a blunt battle axe. The actress does a pretty decent job of making her unlikeable.
I mean, even the houses the participants stay in, look like little doll houses!
The design of the little devices that participants have to carry around. They're just flat circular palm-sized things, which matches the logo of the system - two interlocking circles! Pretty apt.
The recurring theme of the rocks skipping an exact number of times. SOmething I only picked up on at the second viewing, a hint that this is a computer simulation.
The twist at the end - that it's a simulation - was so cleverly done. And we see exactly how the 99.8% figure was achieved.
It's a little weird that the participants seem to have literally nothing else to do than wait for their next partner. Then again, perhaps this is a clue that the whole thing was a simulation.
On to the next episode: Metalhead!
Were you expecting more? Too bad, then, this is all there is. Honestly, what else do you need?!
We have the next few episodes lined up here, and trust me, these are great. And fear not, I'm gonna tell you why as we proceed on through this review. Suffice to say, Black Mirror Series Four really ups its game midway through this offering, and the latter three episodes reflect brave and refreshing choices.
The Premise
In an alternate reality where a dating system promises a 99.8% compatibility rate, two participants brave all odds to stay together despite the system deciding otherwise.At the end of the entire episode, we see that this is about a dating app, but in a more meta context.
The Characters
Joe Cole as Frank. Didn't I see this guy in Peaky Blinders? Whatever, he's good here as an everyman with self-deprecating wit.Georgina Campbell as Amy. Charming, beautiful, with a very healthy sex drive and great sense of humor.
George Blagden as Lenny. A hunk with a penchant for exhaling loudly. Just a little character quirk that annoys Amy no end.
Gwyneth Keyworth as Nicola. Supreme sourpuss, with all the charm of a blunt battle axe. The actress does a pretty decent job of making her unlikeable.
The Mood
Everything seems beautiful and glamorous in this episode, a sure sign that something is not quite right. It's all just so... neat.I mean, even the houses the participants stay in, look like little doll houses!
What I liked
Whenever Amy and Frank are together in the same scene, even as a shy awkward couple or a pair of daring co-conspirators, the chemistry is amazing. I can totally buy them as star-crossed lovers. That is some great dialogue right there, and the two of them just carry it so well.The design of the little devices that participants have to carry around. They're just flat circular palm-sized things, which matches the logo of the system - two interlocking circles! Pretty apt.
The recurring theme of the rocks skipping an exact number of times. SOmething I only picked up on at the second viewing, a hint that this is a computer simulation.
The twist at the end - that it's a simulation - was so cleverly done. And we see exactly how the 99.8% figure was achieved.
What I didn't
The episode title. These seem to get increasingly nonsensical in Series Four. Like, what the heck does "Hang the DJ" even mean?! It's just the refrain of the song they play at the end.It's a little weird that the participants seem to have literally nothing else to do than wait for their next partner. Then again, perhaps this is a clue that the whole thing was a simulation.
Conclusion
This episode was not bleak, and even ended on an uplifting note. The twist, however, was very Black Mirror and I approve heartily.My Rating
9 / 10On to the next episode: Metalhead!
The Premise
We follow the trials and tribulations of a middle-aged woman named Bella, who is being hunted by - get this - a robotic dog.Were you expecting more? Too bad, then, this is all there is. Honestly, what else do you need?!
The Characters
Maxine Peake does a fantastic job as Bella. Plucky, tenacious and compassionate. I was rooting for her to survive, but this is Black Mirror, after all. That being the case, this was a heroine I could really get behind.Clint Dyer as Tony. The weary black dude who gets killed in the first few minutes.
Jake Davies as Clarke. Jumpy fella. Comes across as someone who wants to do the right thing but has to be persuaded by deal-sweeteners.
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Holy shit, the Dogs are terrifying. Just the fact that they look like large iron roaches already made my skin crawl. Add the penchant for wanton violence and, well, dogged persistence, make them an extremely scary threat. Not to mention that part of their arsenal includes tracking devices embedded in shrapnel bombs, and short-range bullets! Their silence and obvious intelligence, as well as the inherent wrongness about the way they move, serve to make them intensely creepy in addition to being dangerous.
Not just their weapons - the little devices they have in their "paws" that enable them to commandeer vehicles and hack into houses. The plot points really revolved around those too!
The scanning from the dog's point of view is grainy, monochrome and nightmarish. Nice work!
I really liked the way Bella outsmarts the AI of the Dog hunting her and even takes the fight to the Dog. This gave me shades of Sarah Connor in Terminator.
Bella's tearful farewells on the comms are really poignant. They bring up an extended cast whom we never hear from (much) but add to the backstory.
But hey, I enjoyed it. The monochrome really reminded me fondly of Sin City.
Next one is a fun one... Black Museum.
Leticia Wright as Nish. Wright recently played Shuri in Black Panther and Wakanda Forever. Here, she plays much the same character - plucky, snarky, good with tech. However, she also adds a more emotional bent to her character, and she's great to watch in the final quarter of the episode.
Daniel Lapaine as Dawson. Guy starts out as a well-meaning doctor who falls prey to the unintended side effects of tech. The actor did a pretty believable job of portraying, with his limited screen time, a healer-turned-psycho. Can I just say the actor's name is oddly apt? Lapaine. Heh heh.
This shot of him lying in a coma with a hard-on just seems very representative of what Black Mirror is as a whole - technology that is touted to improve our lives, turns out to have nasty side effects due to human beings being flawed and using it in terrible ways..
Emily Vere Nicoll as Dawson's concerned and long-suffering girlfriend, Madge. She really doesn't have much to do except look concerned, look repulsed and appear naked. I'm kind of sorry for the actress, to be honest.
Aldis Hodge plays Jack, the single father who faithfully raises his kid after the death of the kid's mother. He does come across as a man admirable in his consistency towards Carrie.
However, there's a limit to how much he can sacrifice and Black Mirror has a way of finding that limit. In particular, having Carrie's consciousness uploaded to his brain, where he has to hear her constantly, and lose his privacy twenty-four seven.
Alexandra Roach delivers a compellingly tragic performance as Carrie Lamasse. This one gave me mixed feelings. On one hand, I sympathized with the horror of her situation, especially when almost none of it is her fault exactly. On the other hand, I can't help but feel that if Carrie had just learned to be a little less noisy and less of an annoying backseat driver, it might not have come to this.
Yasha Jackson camps it up as bitchy new wife Emily. Sleek, sexy and venomous. She's not a nice person, but put in a situation though no fault of her own, and doesn't handle it at all well. Who would, really?
Babs Olusanmokun as Clayton Leigh. Stoic family man. Though I feel like the part near the end where he just drools and stares off into space is his best acting.
Amanda Warren as Clayton's wife Angelica. She does this nice emotional bit with Clayton during a prison visit - very heartrending. After that, the actress is basically reduced to cameos.
The little flashbacks and stories span between mood whiplashes. Sometimes it's all nice and breezy in the day, and then flashes to a nightmare of blood and violence. A lot of it can be claustrophobic especially since a couple stories revolve around someone's consciousness being trapped in either a confined space or an inanimate object (or inside a living person but with no agency).
And of course, there's TCKR, the company being featured in San Junipero. They feature pretty strongly here, too.
Nish charging up her electric car using solar power is a fun nod to Nosedive.
Who wrote Rolo's dialogue? Whoever they are, they deserve an award.
The part where Nish whispers "Happy Birthday" to her dad is really heartwarming, not that it has anything to do with the overall plot.
The first mini-story was great. Started out as useful tech, segued into the applications for sex, and turned out to have tragic consequences.
I especially love the second mini-story where Jack loses his privacy and Carrie loses her agency. This is very characteristic of Black Mirror. In particular, Carrie's utterly horrible fate is to be trapped in an inanimate object, being able to only say "Monkey loves you" and "Money needs a hug".
That final mini-story now... that takes the proverbial cake. But it would have been a lot less flavorful without the earlier two stories giving it context.
This is vintage Black Mirror, all right. Extra emphasis on human beings being scum. Love it!
However, Series Four really picked up its game with the latter half with Hang The DJ and Metalhead. And it had a hell of a strong finish with Black Museum. An improvement on Series Three, for sure. This just keeps getting better.
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See also
Jake Davies as Clarke. Jumpy fella. Comes across as someone who wants to do the right thing but has to be persuaded by deal-sweeteners.
The Mood
Dark, man, it's dark. Visuals aside, this is probably the most depressing Black Mirror episode ever, period. All hope goes out the window. Humanity is doomed.What I liked
The fact that this episode was filmed entirely in monochrome. Think about it - dogs are color blind.<
Holy shit, the Dogs are terrifying. Just the fact that they look like large iron roaches already made my skin crawl. Add the penchant for wanton violence and, well, dogged persistence, make them an extremely scary threat. Not to mention that part of their arsenal includes tracking devices embedded in shrapnel bombs, and short-range bullets! Their silence and obvious intelligence, as well as the inherent wrongness about the way they move, serve to make them intensely creepy in addition to being dangerous.
Not just their weapons - the little devices they have in their "paws" that enable them to commandeer vehicles and hack into houses. The plot points really revolved around those too!
The scanning from the dog's point of view is grainy, monochrome and nightmarish. Nice work!
I really liked the way Bella outsmarts the AI of the Dog hunting her and even takes the fight to the Dog. This gave me shades of Sarah Connor in Terminator.
Bella's tearful farewells on the comms are really poignant. They bring up an extended cast whom we never hear from (much) but add to the backstory.
What I didn't
If I had to quibble, this was thematically one of the worst fits in the Black Mirror universe. I mean, normally we see hints of advanced technology and humans screwing it up due to being human. This one was outright apocalyptic. Doesn't make it less fun, but I watch Black Mirror for certain things, y'know? There wasn't any of it here.Conclusion
Not too heavy on the social commentary. There is basically one main character in here. If you're looking for an action-survival hour, this episode ain't too bad at all. However, if what you really want is some urban drama revolving around tech, maybe not so much.But hey, I enjoyed it. The monochrome really reminded me fondly of Sin City.
My Rating
9 / 10Next one is a fun one... Black Museum.
The Premise
The titular Black Museum is a place where tech arctifacts and the horror stories that come with them, are displayed. Rolo Haynes is the proprietor, and he narrates some of these stories with a shocking twist at the end. Think of this episode as an episode of mini-episodes.The Characters
Douglas Hodge is the narrator and antagonist Rolo Haynes. Where do I begin? This guy knocked it out of the park as the loathesome opportunistic sleazebag Haynes, what with the griping about human rights and off-color commentary. Can't give him all the credit, of course, the writing played a big part, but he carried it so well.Leticia Wright as Nish. Wright recently played Shuri in Black Panther and Wakanda Forever. Here, she plays much the same character - plucky, snarky, good with tech. However, she also adds a more emotional bent to her character, and she's great to watch in the final quarter of the episode.
Daniel Lapaine as Dawson. Guy starts out as a well-meaning doctor who falls prey to the unintended side effects of tech. The actor did a pretty believable job of portraying, with his limited screen time, a healer-turned-psycho. Can I just say the actor's name is oddly apt? Lapaine. Heh heh.
This shot of him lying in a coma with a hard-on just seems very representative of what Black Mirror is as a whole - technology that is touted to improve our lives, turns out to have nasty side effects due to human beings being flawed and using it in terrible ways..
Emily Vere Nicoll as Dawson's concerned and long-suffering girlfriend, Madge. She really doesn't have much to do except look concerned, look repulsed and appear naked. I'm kind of sorry for the actress, to be honest.
Aldis Hodge plays Jack, the single father who faithfully raises his kid after the death of the kid's mother. He does come across as a man admirable in his consistency towards Carrie.
However, there's a limit to how much he can sacrifice and Black Mirror has a way of finding that limit. In particular, having Carrie's consciousness uploaded to his brain, where he has to hear her constantly, and lose his privacy twenty-four seven.
Alexandra Roach delivers a compellingly tragic performance as Carrie Lamasse. This one gave me mixed feelings. On one hand, I sympathized with the horror of her situation, especially when almost none of it is her fault exactly. On the other hand, I can't help but feel that if Carrie had just learned to be a little less noisy and less of an annoying backseat driver, it might not have come to this.
Yasha Jackson camps it up as bitchy new wife Emily. Sleek, sexy and venomous. She's not a nice person, but put in a situation though no fault of her own, and doesn't handle it at all well. Who would, really?
Babs Olusanmokun as Clayton Leigh. Stoic family man. Though I feel like the part near the end where he just drools and stares off into space is his best acting.
Amanda Warren as Clayton's wife Angelica. She does this nice emotional bit with Clayton during a prison visit - very heartrending. After that, the actress is basically reduced to cameos.
The Mood
It begins as a sunny day in some desert, but soon gets into the confines of the titular Black Museum.The little flashbacks and stories span between mood whiplashes. Sometimes it's all nice and breezy in the day, and then flashes to a nightmare of blood and violence. A lot of it can be claustrophobic especially since a couple stories revolve around someone's consciousness being trapped in either a confined space or an inanimate object (or inside a living person but with no agency).
What I liked
All the little Easter Eggs that appear in this episode that harken back to previous episodes. Black Mirror has always had them, but this episode seems to have Easter Eggs to every single episode in Black Mirror ever, up to this point. We have news tickers referencing multiple previous episodes and displays in the museum doing the same (mugshots, exhibits, etc). The names of the mice are Hector and Kenny, two of the main characters in Shut Up And Dance. And near the end, we see a sly reference to the episode Be Right Back, when it's revealed that the name of the nearby gas station is BRB Connect!And of course, there's TCKR, the company being featured in San Junipero. They feature pretty strongly here, too.
Nish charging up her electric car using solar power is a fun nod to Nosedive.
Who wrote Rolo's dialogue? Whoever they are, they deserve an award.
Eventually, he dick-pukes a little baby paste up her wazoo which takes hold. Before you know it, out pops a boy. Boom. They're a family unit.
The part where Nish whispers "Happy Birthday" to her dad is really heartwarming, not that it has anything to do with the overall plot.
The first mini-story was great. Started out as useful tech, segued into the applications for sex, and turned out to have tragic consequences.
I especially love the second mini-story where Jack loses his privacy and Carrie loses her agency. This is very characteristic of Black Mirror. In particular, Carrie's utterly horrible fate is to be trapped in an inanimate object, being able to only say "Monkey loves you" and "Money needs a hug".
That final mini-story now... that takes the proverbial cake. But it would have been a lot less flavorful without the earlier two stories giving it context.
What I didn't
Clayton Leigh is a little too calm when being executed. Granted, I don't know exactly how inmates on death row typically act, but it feels like it shouldn't be that stoic.Conclusion
Black Museum has just about everything you could want in a Black Mirror episode - swearing and violence, human beings being dicks to each other and abusing technology in the worst ways possible, call-backs to previous episodes, nasty twists at the end (and because there are different stories in this one, -multiple- different nasty twists). I really enjoyed this one.This is vintage Black Mirror, all right. Extra emphasis on human beings being scum. Love it!
My Rating
9.5 / 10Final thoughts on Black Mirror Series Four
The first half of Series Four was decent, with Crocodile being one of my least favorite episodes while still managing to be watchable.However, Series Four really picked up its game with the latter half with Hang The DJ and Metalhead. And it had a hell of a strong finish with Black Museum. An improvement on Series Three, for sure. This just keeps getting better.
Monkey loves you,
