Black Mirror -- Season 4

[thatguy]

Joan is awful done. Enjoyed it. Clever writing. Felt like a Philip K Dick short story. 

--tg

[Drunk Monk]

JiA is the pick of this season’s litter. All downhill after that, although e3 & e5 are ok too. Curious to see what y’all think of the rest.

[thatguy]

Watched E2 & 3. 2 didn't feel black mirrory. Just a dark story with a twist. Like an old "Suspense" or "Shocking Tales" kind of story. The dark side of tech always seems to be an under theme in the series and that was missing here. 

I enjoyed E3. It also felt like "old sci fi", or maybe a Philip K Dick kind of story. I was certain it was going to end in a twisted way in one direction and it totally went in an unexpected direction. Um, where the heck was Mission Control in all of this?

--tg

[thatguy]

https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/s...43148.html

Black Mirror season 7 cast revealed in a cryptic computer message

The Netflix anthology series’ cast will star Paul Giamatti, Peter Capaldi and the crew of the USS Callister.
danny gallagher
Thu, Sep 19, 2024 at 1:33 PM PDT

Netflix

Get ready to question humanity’s control over the technology that surrounds us because another season of Netflix’s Black Mirror is in the works. Earlier today, the official Black Mirror X page revealed the cast of the new season coming next year along with some other interesting clues and Easter eggs.
The video features an old, flickering computer screen that appears to unload a complete data dump of the entire cast for season 7. Some of the names that jumped out at us includes Oscar nominee Paul Giamatti, Doctor Who star and Oscar winner Peter Capaldi (he won in 1995 with his live action short film Franz Kafka’s It’s a Wonderful Life), Awkwafina, Issa Rae, Tracee Ellis Ross and Rashida Jones.
The list also included some of the cast who played virtual crew members of the USS Callister from the iconic fourth season episode of the same name. The names from the USS Callister episode that appeared on the list include Cristin Milioti, Jimmi Simpson, Billy Magnussen, Milanka Brooks and Osy Ikhile.
We’ve known for a while now that series creator Charlie Brooker has been planning to revisit the crew of the USS Callister. The season 4 opening episode starred Jesse Plemmons as the chief technology officer named Robert of a top tier game studio and a big fan of a Star Trek-esque TV show called Space Fleet. By day, he gets pushed around and little credit for the company’s success from his colleagues and staff. He uses immersive virtual reality technology to play as Space Fleet Capt. Robert Daly away from work on a virtual starship and takes out his frustrations and anger on the crew in increasingly cruel and inhumane ways. The crew members were replicated in the game using his boss and staff members’ DNA that Robert obtained without their permission or knowledge. The crew revolt and escape to the open Internet while leaving a seething “Capt. Robert” stranded in the game.

https://twitter.com/blackmirror/status/1...8635362325

Of course, this wouldn’t be a true Black Mirror reveal if it didn’t contain some clues and hidden items in the teaser. The loading screen features the studio name Tuckersoft, a reference to the game studio in the interactive “Bandersnatch” movie. The cast names are listed in alphabetical order by first name but they’ve been broken into eight groups. There are some cryptic phrases between the scrolling group names like “Too soon?”, “A rose for a rose” and “Shields 58 percent.”
Could these be episode titles? The latter definitely sounds like a reference to the USS Callister and Brooker and company love symbolic episode titles taken from songs for their tech hell stories like “Shut Up and Dance” and “Hang the DJ.” The new Black Mirror episodes haven’t even landed yet and they’ve already screwing with our heads.

—tg

[Drunk Monk]

Oh man. Time to resubscribe…

[thatguy]

--tg

[Drunk Monk]

S7e1 Common People
Man, another major bummer of a tale. It was good - a brilliant spin on online subscriptions, service and the dark web but damn. Such a bummer. Very Black Mirror in its observations. Well told. Ah how I’ve missed this show. But this ep left me so bummed out.

[thatguy]

I enjoyed Hotel Reverie. I thought it was clever and engaging.

--tg

[Drunk Monk]

I’ll get there.
And for the record, I enjoyed Common People. It was clever and observant writing. It just filled me with existential dread and I get enough of that on my newsfeeds.

[Drunk Monk]

E2 was funner. It didn’t have the social and tech commentary of the previous ep but it took a sharp turn at the end which won me over. I still enjoy this show. 

I think that Hotel ep is next.

[Drunk Monk]

I enjoyed Hotel Reverie. I thought it was clever and engaging.

Agreed. That was a good one. At first i was like Awkwafina? Srsly? Then it felt like a holodeck story and ST: SNW already killed that this year. But then it went deeper and got very thought provoking (and so woke). 

I’m happy to see Streamberry become a constant in the Black Mirrorverse. It was in Joan is Awful which remains one of my all time favs of the show. Screw Netflix & Amazon Prime. I want my Streamberry!

[Drunk Monk]

Plaything is another sequel - this time it’s the choose your own story Bandersnatch. The Black Mirror-verse expands again. Ironically for Plaything is the acid trip. There was one path in Bandersnatch to an acid trip (I watched that several times taking different routes to get alternate stories) and I only got to the acid trip one once. It was my fav so I kept trying to get back but ultimately thought it was some device of the algorhythm that only allowed to see it once (or I just hallucinated it). That being said, the subway acid scene in Plaything is spot on. Enjoyed this ep. It went a lot of trippy places.

[Drunk Monk]

Eulogy - what a tearjerker. Giamatti in fine form, doing what he does best, a perfect role for him. It’s an ode to missed chances, to frustration, regret, and tragic misunderstandings. A simple tale, yet poignant and powerful - the road not taken. A beautifully crafted episode.

[Drunk Monk]

One more sequel ep for the finale, although this was a direct sequel, not conceptual. It’s what happens next with the USS Callister. Another clever ep, going boldly into the infinity galaxy, expanding the postulatives from the previous in an extra long ep (1.5 hours, the length of an old movie). Entertaining.

Overall this was a very strong season for BM. D00M recommended!