Black Mirror Season 3

Black Mirror Season 3

It took us nearly a year to nibble through Black Mirror Season 3. Not that it's bad (quite the contrary) but the lack of continuity means there's little drive to binge watch. This is, however, the season that Black Mirror has truly found its vibe, I think. The mix was there in earlier seasons, and some of these episodes were fantastic, but Season 3's episodes are on the whole amongst the best, and it definitely features the best so far. Nosedive is a terrifying exploration of the notion of social ranking. I couldn't actually watch it to the end, not because of the subject matter, but because these spirals of destruction are something I cannot stand in fiction, it makes me viscerally angry. Playtest is decent, more creepy than science-fictiony. Shut Up and Dance is perhaps the most disappointing of the lot, the story of a horrible blackmail, but a bit too on the nose. And then there's San Junipero, an absolute masterpiece of science-fiction about the use of VR and singularity. If you watch only one Black Mirror episode ever, it should be this one. Men Against Fire is good, exploring the future of war. And finally Hated in the Nation delves into the potential of hacked technology to do massive societal and terrorist damage. This (lon) episode is the one I recommend for people who don't really get what Black Mirror is about. Thrilling and really interesting. Out of six episodes there's only one dud, and even that dud isn't that bad. Truly brilliant.