Black Mirror, the anthology series created by Charlie Brooker, is many things. However, one reaction many viewers probably share in common, is perhaps: 'what the fuck is going on here?"... Charlie Brooker, and his cohort of writers and directors on the show, are absolutely mental.
First debuting on Channel 4 in 2011, Black Mirror is a Twilight Zone-esque TV series which showcases the near future, usually beginning with an introduction of a nifty technological gadgetry which slowly exposes the episodes' characters to its dire consequences. The British show had initially spawned two series's, and being a British show, an obligatory Christmas episode, before streaming giants Netflix bought the show for a mouth-watering $40 million.
Many (including this frog in the well) may have only started the series once it got the Netflix treatment, but it's great to come back to the two series before it got the mainstream popularity it is thriving in today.
With its UK-based setting, the two series' episodes tend to have muted backdrops, think BBC's Sherlock, and are pretty somber in nature (subsequent seasons tends to have different tones with each episode). It may not have the production value or star power afforded by Neflix but the first seven Black Mirror episodes here, ranked from worst to best, have some bonkers concepts in its infancy.
7. The Entire History of You
Director: Brian Welsh
Writer: Jesse Armstrong
Cast: Toby Kebbell (Kong: Skull Island), Jodie Whittaker (Doctor Who)
Remember when Google Glasses was almost a thing? The ability to record stuff from your very eyes does sound interesting, the ability to record EVERYTHING can open up a boatload of worms. "The Entire History of You" sees Toby Kebbell suspecting something going on with his wife (Jodie Whittaker), and as he scours through every fine detail in last night's dinner, his suspicions only gets worse off with every reveal. However, once you're on board with what's going on, the ending becomes hardly surprising.
6. The Waldo Moment
Director: Bryn Higgins
Writer: Charlie Brooker
Cast: Daniel Rigby (Eric and Ernie), Chloe Pirrie (The Crown), Jason Flemyng (Snatch)
A caricature of a candidate who "tells it as it is" and ends up garnering huge public support... is frighteningly familiar, even more so as this the final episode of season 2 was released more than three years before a certain somebody became the the most powerful person on Earth. Though the current political landscape may have diminished the implausibility of a usual Black Mirror episode, the storyline can barely hold your attention beyond the half way mark, and it ends up limping its way to the finish line. Also, Jason Flemyng is great in whatever role he's in.
5. White Bear
Director: Carl Tibbetts
Writer: Charlie Brooker
Cast: Lenora Crichlow (Sugar Rush), Tuppence Middleton (Sense8), Michael Smiley (Free Fire)
This episode, about an amnesic women who sees herself pursued by onlookers and masked figures alike, could have found itself rooted to the bottom to this list, if not for the absolutely shocking twist in the end that will shock even M. Night Shyamalan himself , which transforms the usual Facebook replies you see on crimes into reality. Albeit that, everything that came before it felt repetitive and generic, as Lenona Crichlow's character is repeatedly dumped into an inescapable situation before being rescued, time and time again, at the last moment. It's intriguing at first, but the tension (and constant screaming) wears you down rather quickly.
4. Fifteen Million Merits
Director: Euros Lyn
Writer: Charlie Brooker
Cast: Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out), Jessica Brown Findlay (Downtown Abbey)
The draw of each Black Mirror episode is that it'll throw audience into bizarre dystopian futures without explanation, albeit running in parallel with the trends of today, with the second episode being one of the series' most ambitious. This time, adults pedal on exercise bikes to earn 'merits' to go about living, such as eating and even skipping ads, with the supposed endgame being on a talent show which is a riff on X-Factor, complete with a discount Simon Cowell (Rupert Everett). The production design is futuristic yet grounded in reality, and there is so much to take in from Daniel Kaluuya's starring performance as Bing. I wonder what is he up to now...
3. The National Anthem
Director: Otto Bathurst
Writer: Charlie Brooker
Cast: Rory Kinnear (Skyfall), Lindsay Duncan (Gifted), Alex Macqueen (Peaky Blinders)
I wouldn't describe the plot of the very first episode, as people tend to turn off at the mere murmur of the synopsis, but they'll be missing out on an underrated episode that provides a massive gut punch for those uninitiated of the Black Mirror hallmarks. It provides a great social commentary on how social media, can alter public perceptions in an instant, and ultimately what the higher ups choose to do. For an episode that debuted seven years ago, it is still scarily relevant today.
2. White Christmas
Director: Carl Tibbetts
Writer: Charlie Brooker
Cast: Jon Hamm (Baby Driver), Rafe Spall (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom)
Starring a Brit and an American (who are both great), this 2014 Christmas special feels like a handover from Black Mirror's British beginnings into its eventual American home with Netflix (though subsequent seasons still feature episodes set in the UK). With two strangers living together in a winter outpost on Christmas Day, the episode is split into bite-sized portions with its own technological gimmick, which if done right could be individual episodes by themselves, but the third act really brings everything together with the same brand of unsettling yet shocking revelations we've gotten used to for the past two seasons.
1. Be Right Back
Director: Owen Harris
Writer: Charlie Brooker
Cast: Hayley Atwell (Captain America: The First Avenger), Domnhall Gleeson (About Time)
Most of the episodes in the first two seasons all end up filling viewers with dread as the credits roll, but this season two opener probably had most people clamouring for the tissue boxes instead. When a widow (Atwell) signs up for a service that creates a virtual version of your loved one, it's turns into a at times joyous, at times disturbing, but rather real look at a way one deals with grief, with both Atwell and Gleeson delivering believable performances with plenty of raw emotions throughout, as with their hearty chemistry, even if one of them is playing a naive android. In Black Mirror's early days, Be Right Back was an indication that Black Mirror's storylines didn't need the shock value or the horrors of technology to capture our attention.
