Mirror, Mirror, on the TV
A third season of the British sci-fi anthology series "Black Mirror" was produced by Netflix, and was made available in it's entirety on October 21st. (As a warning right off the bat, I'm going to try to be as spoiler-free as I can in reviewing it, but if you're concerned about having anything ruined for you, go ahead and wait until you've had a chance to see it before you continue reading.) The season consists of six episodes, which worried me slightly - the first two seasons, which were produced by Channel 4 in Britain, were only three episodes each. If you haven't seen the show, I suggest you treat yourself to it - it's among the finest television shows I've ever seen. But with an extended season, I was concerned that the quality might go down. There are, after all, only so many great ideas that a writer or team of writers can come up with before they start having to polish a few turds. And the new season was picked up by Netflix, which doesn't have a spotless record when it comes to resurrecting fan-favorite TV shows.
Lest we forget, they're the company that allowed THIS to happen...
So, I had my doubts about this. And I've never wanted more to be proved wrong about something. But, as I glared at my TV while the ending credits to the first episode of Season 3 played, I realized that I was right to be skeptical.
It's not that the new season is bad, necessarily - it still manages to be one of the best shows that's currently out there, in my opinion. The quality, however, has gone down a bit, and I attribute that to the show-runners losing sight of what the show was originally about. The production values remain high, and while there aren't any HUGE names in this season, there are some bigger stars than seasons one or two featured. Bryce Dallas Howard, Kelly Macdonald, Michael Kelly, and Jerome Flynn all have major roles. While each episode is still competently written and shot - with a little expansion, they could all be feature films unto themselves - they don't have the same impact of social commentary that earlier episodes do.
"Black Mirror" is at it's best when it presents stories that reflect our growing dependence on technology (The titular "black mirror" refers to the darkened screen of a phone, tablet, computer, etc.). Each episode takes place in it's own universe - sometimes a dystopian future, sometimes a world that appears to essentially be our own - and functions as a parable about how our relationship with technology can interfere with or corrode our relationships with each other. What really makes the show pack a punch is that, well, it doesn't pull any punches. There aren't really any happy endings in the stories that it tells - and in fact, the show is most effective when it ends on a note so bleak that you feel emotionally at a loss, and physically sick to your stomach. "The Entire History of You" and "Be Right Back" - from seasons one and two, respectively - both left me feeling upset, which is why they stuck with me so strongly and made me think so hard about the philosophical implications that they explored. I'm not going to say that the third season was completely free of that, but it was lacking.
The nuance displayed by the earlier seasons was nowhere to be seen. Rather than raising questions about the dehumanizing effect of living in a world of advanced technology, some episodes touch on the subject tangentially at best. "Nosedive" (the first episode of the season, and the one that left me worried about what was to come) takes place in a world where social media ratings are a form of social currency, determining status and position in the world. It raised the kind of issues appropriate for the show, but did it rather heavy-handedly and fizzled out just as it looked like it was building to a climactic ending. "Playtest" - essentially a horror story about a virtual reality video game - was a decent enough story, but lacked depth and tried to make up for it with plot twists. "Shut Up and Dance" was basically just a story about blackmail carried out by an Anonymous-esque entity. It was evocative of a season two episode, "White Bear," but didn't quite have as much to say as that story did.
There were moments of greatness, however. "Men Against Fire" is a military story which explores the possibilities of advanced indoctrination techniques in the name of keeping troop morale high. It was everything I want from "Black Mirror" - thought provoking, expertly executed, and incredibly dark. "San Junipero" is an unlikely (and I'm not saying that it's unlikely because it's a same-sex relationship) love story which takes place via virtual reality. It's touchingly poignant and raises questions about the nature of consciousness. I wasn't in love with this episode at first - particularly the ending - but, as is not uncommon with the series, I warmed up to it after having some time to think about it. And the season finale, "Hated in the Nation" is a 90-minute crime drama involving state surveillance and the dark side of social media - where our propensity to post and say hateful and negative things online isn't as free of consequences as we think. It provides an epic ending to the season.
All in all, flaws aside, the third season of what's probably the most thought-provoking show currently ongoing is one worth watching - even when it fails to live up to the standards that it's set for itself, it's head and shoulders above most of what's out there. A fourth season of six episodes will be coming out sometime in the future (unless we end up in a "Black Mirror" style dystopia before then), and Charlie Brooker (creator of the series) has teased that some of the episodes could potentially see sequels, or that at least some characters may reappear in some capacity. And while I may have been somewhat disappointed in this latest batch of episodes, that idea excites me very much.
All three seasons of "Black Mirror" - along with a feature-length Christmas special - are available for streaming on Netflix.
