And let me be clear, this show in its entirety is TOTALLY MY JAM. I love the dark side of storytelling, the more cynical/realistic view of how things might be with the inclusion of more technology. I think the whole premise of the show is fucking brilliant and perfect and necessary for our current era.
But this season fell really flat for me. Other than two episodes ("Hang the DJ" and "The Black Museum"), I was simply unenthused. Normally, I'll watch the entire season flat out in one sitting. I'll binge the fuck out of it once, then twice, and then a third time to really make sure I understood and got the message. Because, again, I really appreciate everything the show is trying to do on several levels: cultural warnings, ethical dilemmas, and tiny moral plays revolving around tech.
Let's just go episode by episode:
1: "USS Callister" - I enjoyed the take on this, utilizing what seems to be a similar technology to what we saw used in "White Christmas" starring Jon Hamm. An interesting premise where the main antagonist is built up, deceivingly, as the protagonist before it's revealed that he knows EXACTLY what he's doing to these people and knows that they still have the ability to feel. But again, it kinda felt like we've seen this premise before, albeit not under the guise of a sci-fi space exploration show set in the 60's and 70's. Fun watch, but ultimately unsurprising.
2: "Arkangel" - The helicopter parent is given a way to keep closer tabs on her daughter. As the daughter ages, so too do the things and images she comes to witness (violence becomes more prevalent, porn, lust, drugs). While the tech shown here hasn't really been utilized the same way in previous episodes, there wasn't much that ended up being a surprise here except the violence against the mother at the end, which was seriously significant. The ending was pretty easy to see coming far off as we've seen this story play out before. Well-directed, but...not one I'll return to.
3: "Crocodile" - Interestingly, the tech used here was the least interesting thing about the episode...and it was seriously interesting tech. What really had my interest piqued was the thought process behind each murderous act that played out. Here we have a career-minded mother and wife who's shrugged off the loser nature of her past and worked to become something better. When the past comes back to fuck everything up, she goes on an interesting rampage to cover it all back up for good. The story was okay, but what kept my interest here was the increasing level of moral dissolve that occurred in order to keep her out of trouble...all of which, of course, simply led to more trouble. An okay watch, purely for the heightened drama of the killings.
4: "Hang the DJ" - My second favorite of the episodes as I really appreciated the micro look at how a dating app might realistically look from the inside of a computer's 'brain.' This was a singularly interesting plot that I really enjoyed and I honestly didn't see the ending coming (which I appreciated). I was pleasantly surprised by this one. I've heard others call it the "San Junipero" of season 4; while that's not wrong, I think they mean it more in terms of tone rather than anything else. You actually leave the episode feeling better than when you first started it - a rarity in the world of "Black Mirror."
5: "Metalhead" - I just flat out didn't care for this one. Maybe I didn't fully understand it? Three people are out scavenging across a desolate and deserted area. Their target? A warehouse. Specifically, a box in the warehouse. Behind the box is a metal dog that kills two members of the team straight away, but then chases the third. Eventually, she ends up in a house where the metalheaded dog eventually sends shrapnel into her body. Near as I can figure it, the shrapnel all had tracking devices embedded. Other dogs are released to chase after her. The final scene backtracks along the landscape back to the warehouse, back to the box in question, which shows....stuffed teddy bears scattered across the floor. I feel like I missed the connection, but I also feel like the connection was never made in the first place, so...kind of hated this one.
6: "Black Museum" - This one starts off unassuming enough. Woman rides through the desert, pulls off to charge her car's battery via solar panel, decides to kill time by exploring this roadside attraction. The owner of the museum leads her through a smattering of artifacts and tells her the stories behind them (all of which I thoroughly enjoyed). But then you get to the final attraction, a ghostly digital reproduction of the woman's father, incarcerated and having been put through his own execution multiple times due to racists and bigots coming through the museum for kicks.
This one was multi-layered, using tech elements from some of the other artifacts (and their stories) in order to create a revenge story, which was super fucking satisfying once you realize just how meta every aspect becomes and how it all gets utilized to progress and propel the story forward. This was my favorite episode of the season, both for its darkness (in all the stories) and for its use of all the technologies coupled together to form one big 'fuck you' of an ending. Really solid final episode for the season.
