Great episode! At first, I kept on watching it from the straight-up angle of what is being shown and told: Meets a demon, gets a quest, tries to stop the apocalypse. But as the story goes on, I increasingly got a feeling like "Yeah, she seems a bit like a maniac talking to herself like that". And the deeper she went down that alley and became even confident in her "mission", the more unsure I got about the meaning of "apocalypse". Her final victim was just as good as that. And she couldn't stop it.
I'm not totally sure about the ending and why it makes her feel at peace, really. I like to imagine she's rather gone mad and now lives on with her made-up Boney M. friend in eternal oblivion (aka. her head --> in a mental institution, maybe) instead of enduring any more of the racism... and even worse things that are about to come with the new parliament.
If anyone has a different or deeper take on that, I'd be happy to hear it! :heart:
PS. Yeah, it's been a more supernatural season. If you don't like it, that's fine, but stop hate-spamming. You can still like the show for what it offers, even if it's not what you expected.
BLACK MIRROR JUST GOT ESOTERIC!!
I would argue over half of this latest season explores the supernatural from demons to folklore and (black) magic, which the show has never explored before from my memory (this binge has made me want to rewatch a lot of the episodes though). In fact, the first and second seasons are almost the antithesis of this sort of thing where it would centre around politics or would only blame humans for things like greed, envy or lust barely realising at the time that these are labelled as deadly sins in the Bible for a reason. I'm willing to bet that Charlie Brooker has had a mindset shift about the world since 2011 - as have I and so many others.
This final episode certainly rids any subtlety that may have been had with exploring demonic possession but this honestly makes it the most hilarious Black Mirror has ever been - I laughed countless times at Paapa Essiedu's perfect performance.
It's already proven (from reviews I've read in the last two days) that much of the audience are reminiscing over the days where the show would only talk about technology but I personally loved the direction it's gone in for undoubtedly its best season since s3. Joan is Awful and especially Mazey Day were mid but both still had a super likeable element to them. The other three episodes, including this one, were fucking killer!
Charlie Brooker said "let's try live action South Park for 2023" and I'm all here for it.
Bravo.
I don't need to read the other comments to know that most of them will be saying things like, "Worst episode ever", "Even worse than the last one" and from those who are confused about what the show is meant to be about, "This is not Black Mirror".
The title of the show sums up the core theme of the series and mostly it sticks to that however this episode was different as far as I can tell. I'm not sure how her story is direct reflection on anything about the human condition. There wasn't really that element where I said, what would I do in this situation or that I felt I could see how her situation was highlighting something about us that is morally questionable.
I didn't hate any of these episodes but I don't think the series really hit the heights of earlier seasons. If this was the first season of the show I don't think it would get enough views to get a second series. That said, they were all better than Ep 1 series 1 and the first season did have the episodes that I personally found the most interesting. A series like this should be allowed to have an off season but as people are so confused about what the theme of Black Mirror is, Charlie Brooker should probably have given this season a sub heading to let people know that it would have some superficial, thematic differences. Most if not all the episodes was set in periods back in time so just making it "Black Mirror 1950's" type thing (if they had all been in the 50's) might have been enough.
At least they're honest that it's not Black Mirror anymore. It's been turning more and more into Tales from the Crypt, and here they fully embraced it.
Episode 2 was not Black Mirror, but normal.
Episode 4 was "Surprise, it's fantasy".
This one is full on fantasy from the start.
One could hope for a final episode that brings all the past stuff together in an unforeseen theme or link, sadly it is the last episode. And probably the last Black Mirror ever.
I'm into this kind of stuff, but that's not what I expect from it. I mean, you can't just use the name of a franchise to put whatever unrelated else you want into it. It looks like the inspiration is gone.
And once you know it's a Tales from the Crypt like, it becomes way more predictable too.
The Demon's (is it a spoiler ? I don't think so, it's in the title after all, and by then we already had a werewolf) first interaction is a lie, so the rest could be the same (both visions, apocalypse and the first victim's crime). And since she was already hallucinating killing people, one can already predict the potential future victims.
Bit of a twist as killers do not count though. I guess the ending was the most interesting of the 3 options.
Review by Liico ThalesBlockedParent2023-07-06T20:59:59Z
As I came to understand with some time, Black mirror is directly talking about media, specifically TV and its derivatives, and our relation with it. In this season, we explore the VHS tech, the Long distance call as avatars, the streaming services, and our exploration of the stars related to this media, To finally end talking about the alienation, the maddening behavior, the inflammation of speeches that comes with this media, this magic mirror we have at home.
Having also a take on genres and exploring the technology that surrounds us since the sixties, the writer and creator also pays homage to British entertainment television while making commentaries on the repercussion these things have in our own story. The woman that gets the protagonist of her life taken from her, the man that loses father, mother and girlfriend to achieve success. The astronaut who loses his family due to gesture of humanity, or the actress who is exposed to the supernatural just for being in the wrong place to record a series.
Finally we have the point of view of a woman cast aside by her reality, treat as less than human by her social circle, and who finds in the tv and the things they show, a comfort.
It’s no coincidence that when this supernatural force materializes, it shows itself as something from Tv, and uses the Tv as a mirror to see itself for the first time.
With its powers, in a snap of s finger, the demon played small edits and cuts from future occurrences, possibilities,
I will not spoil the end here, but I believe you got the point now.
This is still black mirror, it’s still talking about tech and their implications in people’s life’s, but ultimately is providing good stories, condensed movies with plots that entertain.
Loved this season.