Black Mirror Comes to Netflix:
Season 3 of the Dark Series Dials it Back a Notch

Release Date: October 21st, 2016
Number of Episodes: 6 (from 52-89 minutes long)
Created by: Charlie Brooker
Starring: Bryce Dallas Howard, Alice Eve, Wyatt Russell, Hannah John-Kamen, Alex Lawther, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mackenzie Davis, Malachi Kirby, Madeleine Brewer, Ariane Labed, Sarah Snook, Michael Kelly, Kelly MacDonald, Faye Marsay, Benedict Wong

Dystopian speculative fiction series Black Mirror is dark, twisted, and brilliant. It's satire at its sharpest, often ruthlessly commenting on some facet of human psychology or behaviour, some aspect of society at its most dysfunctional—to fully disturbing yet captivating effect.

Originally produced by U.K. network Zeppotron, Black Mirror introduced an untraditional format consisting of only three episodes ranging from 44- to 62-minutes in length in each of its first two seasons (2011 and 2013), with a 74-minute special released in December 2014. The series gained a cult following before slowly catching on to wider audiences, and so U.S.-based streaming juggernaut Netflix commissioned this third season of another six episodes. In the modern television industry it's virtually unheard of for a show to release only thirteen episodes over a six-year period. But it's this very design that's led to Black Mirror's success, allowing for consistently high-quality content and cultivating a thirst amongst fans for more.

Because of the care put into each episode without the usual timetable restrictions of a weekly prime time series, each installment resonates with the depth and nuances of a feature-length film. And it's only possible to execute in this way because the show is an anthology series—that is, each episode presents a different story and characters, rather than one continuing story. In this sense, and because it explores science fiction, horror, and political commentary, and the storylines often have plot twists at the end, Black Mirror succeeds as a kind of updated, more extreme version of The Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits.

The stories take place in an alternate universe in which people's emotional pain is amplified by their dependence on media and computer technology—elements of which exist now in our own real world but are heightened on the show to nightmarish degrees. Hence the title Black Mirror, which creator Charlie Brooker has said refers to "the cold, shiny screen of a TV, monitor, smartphone". Like nearly all other Black Mirror episodes, the newest six are written or cowritten by Brooker, who's said that this season is overall generally lighter in tone than previously. This is a common practice, of foreign films/TV shows being remade for American audiences, only to often dumb down and/or glitz up elements of the source material. In this case it's still original material, but the move from U.K. to U.S. is evident as previously all episodes were based in England with exclusively U.K. actors whereas some of the new ones are set in the U.S. and feature American and Canadian actors. 

And there is a lighter feel to some episodes. This is not a bad thing though, as the format that Black Mirror has established indeed allows for a greater range of styles and themes than the show had yet to explore. There's still a lot of darkness too, but the slight changes in the new season give it a more expansive quality that will perhaps open it up to a wider audience rather than just being a favourite for sci-fi fans.

Episode 1 "Nosedive" is set in an altered reality where social media is even more pervasive than in our current real world. The parameters of this society are outlined in the early minutes—not by overt exposition but rather through keen world-building details. Smartphones with cameras are ubiquitous in this world, enabling users to identify others and assign ratings as to the value of a person overall—friends and strangers alike—at any moment. The social media program automatically averages the ratings into a personal score out of five, to the thousandth decimal point (ie. 4.183), and everyone's face, name, and score is accessible to everyone else.

What ensues is a hypersuperficial world of people faking courtesy in order to gain positive ratings and increase their rank. The ratings function as a social class-stratifying mechanism in which life opportunities are restricted for those with too low a score, or no score at all should they choose not to participate. Access to jobs, housing, bank loans, and government support is severely limited to those with low ratings, which in turn reinforces the use of the technology in all aspects of society and causes most to be constantly modifying their behaviour in attempts to gain a higher score and thus more opportunities. But since people will also rate another poorly if they appear to be trying too hard, there's really no way out once one has decided to participate in this sick social game. Once one's score gets low—like below 2.5—they're looked down upon, discriminated against, continued to be rated poorly, and it becomes difficult to climb back up to a higher social position.

Protagonist Lacie Pound—played to nervous, insecure precision by Bryce Dallas Howard—is obsessed with upping her rating. Howard inhabits this role with painstaking desperation as Lacie constantly seeks approval from everyone she interacts with. She has a respectable 4.2 rating, but isn't one of the elite "Upper 4s" who occupy the space of 4.5 or greater. When circumstances dictate Lacie needs a minimum 4.5 to get her dream apartment, she determines that she must get more higher approval ratings from more Upper 4s; when others see she's getting high ratings from those who are high-rated themselves, it will spark a chain reaction of even more people wanting to rate her highly with the hopes that she will in turn rate them highly. The problem is she doesn't know many Upper 4s, but when her childhood friend (a 4.8) invites her to be her maid of honour at her upcoming wedding, Lacie sees it as a perfect opportunity to boost her score. If she delivers her wedding speech well she'll get rated highly by many of the Upper 4s in attendance and her score will skyrocket. But of course, all doesn't go according to plan.

"Nosedive" presents a fascinating, frightening story that emphasizes the dangers of unquestioning acceptance of computer technology. It's a clever commentary on the totalitarian potential of social media, and stands out as one of the most memorable episodes of the season.

Episode 2 "Playtest" stars Wyatt Russell (of Everybody Wants Some!!) as Cooper, a twentysomething American travelling the world alone. He ends up in London, U.K., and short on cash he responds to a job posting for a tech company looking to test its new videogame software. Turns out it's a high-tech corporation developing a top secret project; an "interactive augmented reality system", as Cooper's interviewer says, "Like layers on top of reality". A tiny device called a "mushroom" is inserted into the back of his neck, he's strapped into a chair, and the fun begins. In many respects, the story follows similar themes and narrative devices to those explored in David Cronenberg's eXistenZ (1999).

Cooper's a happy-go-lucky, "I'm game for everything" goofball—a bit too much so. But I guess a necessary kind of protagonist for the setup—after all, who else would sign up for such an experiment with so few questions asked? The software is engineered to probe the player's mind and present them with visual and aural incarnations of their deepest fears—but of course it's in the trial stage. Why the game isn't designed to present the player with their best hopes and dreams rather than their fears isn't explained, and I can only surmise that it's because creator Charlie Brooker wanted to make a traditional horror piece. Granted, most Black Mirror episodes resonate as downright terrifying, but what makes it so scary is the frighteningly real ways in which the scenarios depicted parallel and magnify aspects of our current world. But the premise here is less fleshed out, more so relying on horror images and concepts that too often border on cliché.

Episode 3 "Shut Up and Dance" involves teenager Kenny downloading antivirus software after his computer freezes. He runs the program and the problem seems corrected. The next day, after masturbating to online porn, he receives an anonymous email with a video of him masturbating—apparently the malware gave hackers access to Kenny's computer webcam—and they threaten to send the vid to everyone in his contacts if he doesn't do what they say. He offers them money, but they only respond by telling him to send them his cell number. So, the hackers can gain access to his personal computer webcam and emails, but can't figure out his phone number? This is one of many shaky details. 

Kenny indeed emails his cell number to the hackers who text him an order to await further instructions for him to be "activated". Directions come via text message, leading the petrified Kenny on a cryptic scavenger hunt of sorts; commanding him to complete various tasks, obtain certain items, and deliver them to specific locations to be picked up by others who also appear to be operating in the same manner—under blackmail by the hackers. Despite this intriguing setup, the payoff is slim as the climax feels like it's trying to force a chilling effect. But without a deep enough message to back it up, the episode isn't as resonant as the twist ending seems to aspire to.

Episode 4 "San Junipero" is unique in the series to date, with a story about lesbian love, euthanasia, time travel, and a virtual reality paradise world. Unlike most other Black Mirror episodes, which are usually dark and deranged and end with little or no redemption for any of the characters, this one has kind of a happy ending and takes a genuinely kindhearted approach to issues of love and death. It may not register for horror audiences as strongly as other episodes, but its lighter tone makes it a rare entry in the series—and a welcome one, offering a respite from the other disturbing tales, and endowing the series with more texture and variety.

Episode 5 "Men Against Fire" focuses on a squad of soldiers whose mission is to seek out and eliminate fanged, shrieking mutants known as "roaches" who were created from the fallout of biological warfare in a recent war. The soldiers are fitted with brain/eye implants as part of a military computer program in which everything they see is recorded and remotely monitored by central command. In typical Black Mirror fashion, a provocative plot twist casts earlier events in a completely different light when it's revealed that "reality" is not as it appears. By the end, the story effectively turns out a powerful, dark moral in the spirit of the best Black Mirror episodes.

And finally, at 89-minutes-long, Episode 6 "Hated in the Nation" is a fitting season finale. At the outset we're told that mechanical honeybees called Autonomous Drone Insects ("ADIs") have been created to mimic bees' act of pollination following the presumed extinction of real bees. Initially this seems a simple world-building detail but ends up playing a larger role in the main narrative.

The story begins as a murder mystery in a near-future version of Earth. Police Detective Karin Parke (Kelly MacDonald of Trainspotting and Boardwalk Empire) heads an investigation into the apparent murder of a shock journalist who has been the target of much online hate due to her recent controversial clickbait article. Then other public figures turn up dead, and the plot thickens. The case soon reveals that the ADIs have been hacked and manipulated, and programmed to do far more than just carry out bee pollination practices.

Numerous subjects overlap, including celebrity, internet trolling, species extinction, drone technology, and government surveillance of private citizens. It's all engaging, but loose threads remain at the end; it's never explained if the ADI program is discontinued following the revelation that it's been corrupted, and how much has been revealed to the public. If the honeybee drone system is discontinued, would this result in the collapse of the world ecosystem? These are big questions raised that aren't answered, and there's no extreme twist ending to drive it all home. Nonetheless, it's a largely compelling episode that makes its dismal point: behaviour inciting hatred and revenge is often allowed to go unchecked, and even prosper, within our current system.

Black Mirror plotlines deftly unfold; we think we know what's going on until shock endings serve as M. Night Shyamalan-like revelations slanting all that's occurred before into a bigger and more cynical context with horrifying connotations. The stories are sometimes so dark that it's hard to extract positive meaning, as they avoid attempts at redemption and instead resolve in the most dire ways possible. Black Mirror approaches nihilism or defeatism at times, which could be remedied with more episodes that end in a sliver of hope or ambiguity rather than total gloom as most do. Sometimes it's so depressing that it risks being dangerously misinterpreted as endorsing an "all is lost" message, emphasizing that there is no hope. How real world details are ratcheted up to reveal some terrible truth about humankind is what makes the show is so unnerving—it's actually not that far-fetched in many ways. Maybe this is the strength of good satire, and where the meaningfulness comes from; by magnifying negative elements of humanity, societal problems are clearly identified. Black Mirror episodes are essentially profound cautionary tales warning us to be ever vigilant in how we govern ourselves.

Few if any Black Mirror stories are predictable, and make for an absorbing watch despite the grave conclusions of many. At least this has been true of the earlier seasons, and is still mostly true with Season 3 too—although now there are a couple of marginally lighter endings that show hints of hope, indicating a slightly different direction in the show. While this may disappoint some fans, Black Mirror ultimately retains its creepy thematic elements while also opening up new dimensions. As eerily prescient, thought-provoking, dystopian science fiction, it's the best of its kind. It's riveting, imaginative, and skillfully crafted—if also wholly demented. Probably not the show to watch if you're feeling down about the state of the world and need a pickup.
• Nik Dobrinsky / Boy Drinks Ink
November 20th, 2016