“David, I loved “USS Callister”—it’s my favorite of all the new episodes. You’re smart to observe how it starts with this mopey cliché of a lonely coder, encouraging you to sympathize with him, and then flips it on its head, showing the darkness of his walled-in fantasy world. “
“It’s also interesting how the technology in the episode appears to nod back to “White Christmas” and its cookies.”
“Black Mirror seems as compelled by the idea of the carbon-copied soul as ever, but if it was surprisingly bullish about the concept in “San Junipero,” “USS Callister” reinforces the argument that humans are too frail to be trusted with such godlike powers—that they’re inevitably going to abuse them.”
“I was excited for “Arkangel,” which combines a potent premise—see what your kid is seeing!—with Jodie Foster, who directs, and Rosemarie DeWitt, who stars. But it feels like one of those lightbulb ideas of Charlie Brooker’s that sputters and dies in the execution, a bit like last season’s “Playtest.””
“Again, the technology nods back to “White Christmas,” in which people can blur out other humans they don’t want to see, and where convicted criminals like Jon Hamm’s character appear with a bright red aura to signal their potential danger to the community. “
“Far more interesting to me was the episode’s subtext about what kids already have access to. “
“When young Sara’s chip is turned off, a kid in her class shows her hardcore porn and execution videos on his iPad with disturbing nonchalance. “
“Later, in her first sexual encounter, Sara mimics the women she’s seen in pornography, horrifying her mother, who’s turned on the long-dormant Arkangel device to find out where her daughter is.”
“The impact of this kind of instant access to adult imagery is as novel as the implant is, and as unclear. But the episode seems more concerned with lining up a tidy parable about helicopter parenting than peeking into the prospects of the nearer-present.”
“While other Black Mirror episodes have become Insta-friendly dystopias, situated in pastel-colored paradises with picture-perfect details, “Arkangel” is notable for its humdrum aesthetic, more like the hometown a soldier returns to in “Men Against Fire.””
“If Black Mirror is set in one distinct universe, as Seasons 3 and 4 seem to suggest, the cities of the future remain fairly removed from each other, visually. “
“We’ll inevitably all disagree on which Black Mirror episode is the best, but the ones that seem to gratify fans the most tend to allow some goofiness into the premise.”
““USS Callister” was no less enthralling or psychologically rich for playing around with monsters and riffing on the ’60s format of the space series, and the joke buried at the end of “San Junipero” was a Belinda Carlisle song. But episodes like “White Bear” and “Shut Up and Dance” are unrelentingly bleak, and “Arkangel,” if less nightmarish, didn’t offer much in the way of consolation.”
“What did you make of it, David? And how do you interpret the ways in which the Black Mirror universe has taken shape?”