[MUST WATCH] My top 4 most haunting episodes of 'Black Mirror'
- Keira Vo
- Jul 9, 2019
- 4 min read
Updated: Nov 1, 2020
Netflix's Black Mirror is more than a manner to look at it. Every episode, every season got the fans go crazy and cringe at their best after watching. Me too! I'll almost certainly can't pick the 4 most haunting episodes out of 23 episodes up to date. The good news is, I try my best and distinguish the "most haunting" episodes from the "most favorite" ones. Anyway, here are some of the most haunting episodes of the Black Mirror series to be prioritized in your list.
1. The Entire History of You - Storage of memory
The film's background is set in the near future, where people can "revisit" their memories with an implant near the brain. Unlike many episodes of Black Mirror, The Entire History of You does not have too many shocking circumstances. It brings more about a feeling of sadness and torment. A multi-utility device accidentally becomes a binding rope, making it impossible for people to forget unhappy things and move on.
Because this is Black Mirror, so we can wonder to what extent the characters would go with it and what harm this "memory storage" technology would cause? The truth is, this type of fictional technology is not 'unrealistic' - it is not too far away for people in the near future to share their memories all over the web. But the way Black Mirror describes such a future is convincing and extremely impressive. If we also have beads behind the ears like Liam, can we make sure that we won't become paranoid and obsessed like him?
2. Nosedive - Social Rating System
In this episode, people live for the ratings. Two people meet in the elevator, greet each other, get out of the elevator, and then score each other, from 1 to 5. The rating system is something reminds us of what Uber has for drivers, but here, the whole society operates based those scores.
For example, once you have a low score, you will lose your priority when using the services. It is more difficult to buy a house because the seller requires you to have an average of more than 4 stars. You cannot hitch a ride because the driver can get access to your profile. Your score keeps getting lower and lower, and so on.
Eventually, you have to find a way to improve your score, rank higher, win everyone's hearts, become a "friendly lady" with the strategy of artificiality, and immerse yourself in the stress of losing rating.
The main character in one scene bites a small piece of cookie, place it next to the coffee cup, take a picture and post online for everyone to like. Just to increase the score, even though she didn't enjoy the cookie at all. Do you feel the same?
3. White Christmas - Realizing "Block"
White Christmas is rated by the experts as the best episode of the Black Mirror with an IMDb score of 9.1.
This special episode is up to 1 hour and 13 minutes in length, featuring Joe Potter and Matt Trent, two men who worked together in a wild and cold place. On Christmas Day, both decided to spend time with the other person and open up about their lives. The seemingly discrete and unrelated stories throughout the episode revealed a horrifying secret about Joe and Matt. In the past, Joe was a "dating supervisor", but unfortunately the customer died.
What happened next is not so good for him. When his wife found out the truth, she "blocked" him and since then he could no longer "see" her. "See" here literally means "see". His wife is still alive, yes. He can meet her, yes. But he can't "see" her.
Remember when the TV is off signal and you have those black and white lines run across the screen? Now combine that with the censorship you know and a female figure. That's what Joe see when he meet his wife. Nothing but a women figure censored using annoying texture.
As for Matt, he used to live a miserable life when he knew that his fiancé had cheated and "blocked" him. The truth drove him nut and eventually, he did crazy things that led to the deaths of innocent people.
The most frightening feeling isn't the loss of freedom, it's the feeling of being free but no one knows your existence.
4. White Bear - Role-playing or Insensitivity?
The main character of White Bear - Victoria wakes up in a strange room and doesn't remember anything about herself. She realizes that most humans, if not all, were manipulated by a signal broadcast on televisions and mobile phones, turning them into passive people who only know what they see. Only Victoria and some others are unaffected by the signal, heading to a place called White Bear to destroy the transmitter.
This is one of the most shocking episodes of the Black Mirror, when what the audience witnesses turns out to be untrue. The end of the episode also leaves behind many moral lessons, when the villains and justice performers have almost no difference.
From another point of view, the woman actually did not kill anyone. She was just kind of a tool, a character, a puppet to encourage people to become increasingly involved in the role of immersive pleasures, "virtual reality". They enjoy seeing the girl suffer and be punished. They feel excited. They want to feel the feeling of satisfaction.
It reflects the insensitivity in the present day. The game's creators are the ones who understand that characteristic of the people who should be taken advantage of, making them more and more into the game. At the end of the episode is the scene of a re-organisation of the scene at the beginning, starting a new pastime with the role-playing.
Comments