Black Mirror Series 1 (2011)

Black Mirror Series 1 (2011)

Episode 1: The National Anthem
You don't see this kind of television program on American networks, not even cable networks like HBO or Showtime. But then, I suppose the American President is not quite at the whim of the people the way the British Prime Minister is. Without going into too much detail and ruining a good "what if?" story, the British PM is forced to do something unspeakable to save the life of the kidnapped Princess. In America, a term which I am using to illicit the notion that we are a unified country, the President could not be put in such a situation as there is no royal family - well duh, but also because since Ronald Reagan the President has been saying that he will never deal with terrorists, and to prove this statement has sent hundreds of thousands of men and women all around the world to kill people and be killed by people. If this story were to take place in America, hmmm, contemplating using Amerika now, the President would send Navy SEALs to hunt down the person responsible, and if the Princess-stand-in were killed as a result of not performing the ransom act, the President would thump his chest and say that terrorists are horrible even while the SEALs were blowing up an abandoned tenement building that the kidnapper had held up in. There is no scenario where the Amerikan President (great, now I've probably tripped a spider and am going to be on a watch list) does not end up by announcing that someone has died and that we must come together as a people on this solemn occassion and be prepared to kill or be killed, cue the Army Brass Band, pan to the Amerikan flag and the Presidential seal of an angry eagle clutching an M-16 and fade to black.

Episode 2: 15 Million Merits
Oh man. I don't even have anything to say for this one because it hits so close to the mark. Well, I have gone from feeling slightly anxious about something not related to my watching habits to feeling gloomy. Yay televsion, you really know how to move a guy along.
This episode is set in a future that takes the internet and online life to a not unreasonable crossroads with entertainment, particularly reality shows. Throw in a bit of Max Headroom, the part where you can't turn off the programming (though modified a bit to fit this story) and you've got this episode. The morale of this episode is that everyone sucks and no one is genuine. No one can stand up to the might of the crowd and when stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea, everyone will always choose the devil.
There were only two ways for this to end, the way I wanted it to so that I wouldn't hate myself and everyone else, and the way I knew it would end. Most episodic television is built on a rather simple structure. You watch a few episodes and you generally know how they will all go. Don't believe me? Watch any American-made broadcast network television show that is episodic. Watch any British-made program. Watch any French-made program. You get the idea. Black Mirrors has the structure of setting up a simple morality play wrapped in the absurd/possible future/whatever, build this up for three acts and in the fourth act take the option that is most likely to piss Eric off, while at the same time making him feel the gloom of knowing that this it is valid social commentary.
The only bright spot is that this episode starred Daniel Kaluuya. But, since his character is kind of an asshole, mostly through insensitivity in the beginning, I had a hard time feeling for him through the middle.
Two of my friends are watching these. I should say were, since they are done. One is not really a friend, but more than an acquaintance. And I think I should really stop following his viewing advice. I won't mention all the grief he gives me over stuff I watch before he then hoists something onto my queue that I know I will have issues with, though not always bad issues. I feel like he's trying to shock me into thinking he's cool, like he's 17 or 20 instead of 63. I also have the urge to go off on his tastes right now, knowing that he'll never read this because as he told me one day, even a "retarded monkey" can write a blog that has at least 100 followers, so he never reads anything with less than that. But maybe he's right. My other friend, the one that I passed the series on to, she stopped half-way through this episode. I understand why. I feel like I should stop now, too. But I won't. Are these episodes depressing the fuck out of me? Yes, but I am embracing both of my emotions during National Poetry Month - depression and anxiety. These first two episodes have also elicited from me a pretty visceral feeling of anger, not so much at the shows, but at them being right in their conclusions and me, sitting here feeling that there is nothing I can do to change that. But even though I don't feel that I can really do anything, I have this anger energy that I either have to channel into something creative or just get back on the bike and peddle harder.

Episode 3: The Entire History of You
This episode is not like the first two, in that you never build up any empathy for the main character. In fact all the guys turn out to be kind of dicks or full on dicks. I have a hard time getting emotionally involved in stories where I don't really care about the characters. So, as the episode progresses and the drama gets more intense, i find myself not rooting for anyone. I mean, here we have this bloke who is figuring out that his wife cheated on him and that his child might not even be his and he handles it so poorly that he comes across as a dick, and I don't care about him. Now, maybe this was the intention - to give us a protagonist who turns out to be less than a nice guy, and thus show us that in relationships gone bad, there is no good guy or bad guy, just humans. They totally missed the mark, though, because I just don't care if it turns out shitty or brilliantly for this guy. I feel that the way the show was structured that we the audience are meant to feel empathy for Liam because his wife has put him through crap and lied to cover it up.
Maybe my apathy towards the episode is due in part to the residual effects of my feelings toward the previous episode. I don't think this is a show that anyone intended for your to sit down and watch back-to-back episodes, especially someone as easily manipulated as I feel tonight. On the other hand, might I be saying that this show is really effective social commentary because it does make me feel something? Sure. I don't want to deny that - this show sets you up to feel a certain way and rams that emotion down your throat. I get that. I just don't think I'm feeling the way they intended, nor to the degree which they intended.
What could they have done differently? Well, certainly they could have shown us the main character being a nice fellow, or at the very least not an asshole. They also could have shown that he was a bit more upset which leads to self-reflection, not to spousal (psychological) abuse. They also might have picked more of a societal lense to show this one, than the first person drama-antics.
I've got to say that never have iI so looked forward to watching a series and then been so disappointed. I know that Tor.com has said the second season is something to the effect of "even better than the first" and I think I'm going to have to agree to disagree with them and take a pass.

Black Mirror at IMDb