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| Black Mirror vs Electric Dreams vs Twilight Zone |
In 2011, a little-known British show filled an anthology-sized void the greater television viewing community didn’t even know they had in their lives. Once Black Mirror was picked up by Netflix in 2014, the series skyrocketed to the top of everyone’s queue and became streaming television’s next big thing. There have been a few other series to try to piggyback on Black Mirror’s success, most notably two in particular. Amazon – not wanting to back down from a fight – released the 10-episode series Electric Dreams in 2017, which are all based on Philip K Dick’s short stories, and out of nowhere and to everyone’s delight (well, mine, and I assume everyone else is like me), Jordan Peele announced yet another reboot of the Twilight Zone in 2019. Only it would be on CBS All Access so no one would actually get to see it.
When it comes to my television viewing habits, I do like
being shackled to the same characters and plot line for the next 5-10 months as
much as the next guy. I once thought I might want to check out the X-Files.
Then I saw how many hour-long episodes there were and that number is 218.
That’s too many hours. So occasionally, it is nice to break free and change the
scenery a bit. That’s why I love these series (serieses?). These shows are all
anthological, which means the episodes exist in and of themselves as short
movies (and in some cases, regular-length movies) and you can watch them in any
order you like. I chose random because I’ll be damned if I’m gonna let Charlie
Brooker tell me in what order to watch stuff.
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| The truth may be out there, but somebody else is gonna have to find it |
The three of these series have some subtle differences, but only in the way Honey Crisps differ from Granny Smiths. All of these are unburdened by the need to carry storylines, actors, or even film styles (see Metalhead) across multiple episodes, but they also similarly need to engage you entirely in the short run time that they have. The Twilight Zone is both aided by and hampered by the format it has inherited – notably the theme song and the fourth wall break by the narrator. Electric Dreams episodes are all based on Philip K Dick short stories, and though there are many that are high quality, there is a finite number. Black Mirror has much more freedom. Its episodes vary in length from 41-89 minutes and aren’t handcuffed to any source material, format, or tradition. But it also had the heavy lifting of growing an audience from scratch.
Black Mirror is definitely the Granny Smith of the bushel in
that most of the episodes are so bitter, you can only eat one at a time and
often need to shower and call your therapist afterwards. Black Mirror delights
in leaving you feeling angry and/or empty inside. It is great for the sadist
and the thinker. They do an excellent job of showing us what technology there
could be in 5-15 years and what horrible problems that could lead to. Expect
some great twists, but be warned that some of them are tough to watch.
Electric Dreams quite frankly, is like Black Mirror Lite. And I don’t mean that in the pejorative. I don’t drink Everclear because it’s poison and my heart literally caught on fire last time I tried it. But I still enjoy a nice Hard Cider. That’s Electric Dreams. It doesn’t seem to exist to make you feel horrible, but it won’t pull punches either. Its goal seems more to be clever and show you a world that could be. And don’t get me wrong – there’s nothing really uplifting about any of these episodes either.
The Twilight Zone has always had a slant toward societal
allegory. Really, so do Black Mirror and Electric Dreams and most science
fiction, but that was always the rub in the Twilight Zone. And this is also a
series you could watch with your kids – for the most part. There is comedy,
tragedy, and originality, but most episodes directly say things like “Hey. The
world is still racist” and “Hey. Our political system is screwed up.” And the
narration brings it to another level of connectivity with the audience.
THE FIRST QUARTER
The following are the first quarter, or the first 13 of 52.
If this was a deck of cards, these would be the clubs. Nobody gets a club and
says “Oh great, I have a club.” You know, if all other things are equal. Some
people actually call them clovers too. I’m not kidding. But I’m getting a
little off track.
#52
You Might Also Like, Twilight Zone 2.10
Featuring - Gretchen Mol, Greta Lee
Summary - This episode opens with a series of commercials, most of them
being ads for something called an egg that is just coming out. Meanwhile, a
woman seems to be waking up in her bed with shoes on and no idea how she got
there. These two storylines dance around each other and leave you to figure out
what it’s trying to say.
Analysis - This episode very obviously was an allegory for something
more than just the story on the screen. But damn if I have any idea what it
was. I watched this more than any other episode trying to get it, but other
than the obvious jab at consumerism, I have no idea what they were trying to
say. Though I did enjoy the homecoming of the Kanamits from Twilight Zone
royalty, this episode is a scattered mess. Where the first season ended on such
a high note, this one missed by a long shot.
What I learned - In film school, I was made to feel like if I didn’t get
something, it was my fault. Since then, I have come to terms with my at least
average intelligence, and if I don’t get it, maybe it’s not me.
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| We're all crazy Kanamits, living in a twilight paradise |
#51
Crazy Diamond, Electric Dreams 1.4
Featuring - Steve Buscemi, Sidse Babett Knudsen
Summary - In a world where erosion is taking out most of the inhabitable
land little by little and the government seems to control all the food
production and distribution, a man who works in a factory that makes some sort
of artificial consciousness plans a heist with a woman he just met. But his
indecision in carrying out his plans could be his undoing.
Analysis - This episode was also a mess. There was way too much going on
for the time allotted. There were these random pig people who had little to do
with the story and were never explained. I get the feeling that all the sci-fi
components of this episode were just misdirection for what turned out to be the
story of a heist, and not an extremely original or interesting one. I’d rather
be confused than bored and here, I was both.
Personal context - I once watched a guy at a fair spinning plates and he
wasn’t very good and almost all of his plates broke. That’s what this episode
was like. Next time, maybe don’t try to spin so many plates. Also, at its best, plate spinning is boring anyway. Also also, this story
is not true.
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| If your two options are to be either bad or boring, maybe find a different form of entertainment |
#50
Impossible Planet, Electric Dreams 1.8
Featuring – Jack Raynor, Benedict Wong
Summary - The two-man crew of a space cruise ship docks after a mission to
find a strange request waiting for them. A 387-year-old lady wishes to charter
their ship for a trip to earth, which has been uninhabited for about the last
three centuries. But the crew decides to take her to a planet much closer which
closely resembles earth in hopes that she doesn’t know the difference.
Analysis - There was a bit of tension in the dynamic between the crew’s
decision to go to a closer planet and the woman’s robot companion discovering
their plan, but that fizzled out and the rest of it was odd. And I like odd,
but when it makes sense. This was the kind of odd that I didn’t understand
and/or appreciate. I’m not sure if something larger was at play, but the ending
was – as advertised – rather impossible.
Truth time - Truth told, I think I was too bored by this episode to
think about what it might have actually been trying to say. And that’s
not a good sign.
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| Me, during this episode |
#49
The Blue Scorpion, Twilight Zone 1.9
Featuring - Chris O’Dowd
Summary - Jeff, an anthropology professor, walks in to find his dad – a
gun-hating hippie – has apparently shot himself with a bullet that had his dad’s
name on it. As Jeff tries to sell the gun, he sees that there is another bullet
that has his own name on it. He also discovers the gun is a legend and it is
said the gun finds you, you do not find it. Over time, Jeff develops strange
feelings for the gun.
Analysis - I got it. We value objects over life and can easily fall in
love with power. But also, everybody he met was named Jeff, so he didn’t know
who the bullet was meant for. It just wasn’t very resonant for me. It kind of
drug on and it didn’t impact me like those that came before and after it. It
was filler, and I think it was obvious.
So you know - No, this is not a commentary on gun regulation. Also, it’s
basically Taxi Driver, but with half the run time and none of the DeNiro.
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| The things we do for our daughters |
#47
The Commuter, Electric Dreams 1.9
Featuring – Timothy Spall
Summary - A train station employee meets a rather peculiar woman who
asks to go to a station that doesn’t exist. After she disappears in front of
him, he becomes curious about this place she was asking about. A little digging
reveals that it was a planned community on a certain route that was never finished.
And he grows curious of what could possibly be there.
Analysis - Let’s file this under things I didn’t understand. I get the
very general lesson here of somewhere between being careful what you wish for
and the grass is always greener. What I did appreciate was how this episode
sets up a world where you’re never sure if this place exists or not, but it’s
not enough to detract from a common message dressed up in a boring cardigan
that doesn’t quite fit.
Insecurity - I read a blog post where a professional person called this
his favorite episode. When this happens, I doubt myself and wonder what I
missed. Then I saw him mention Impossible Planet as another favorite and I
instantly felt better. I’ll bet he probably likes Goonies as well.
#46
The Waldo Moment, Black Mirror 3.5
Featuring - Daniel Rigby, Chloe Pirrie
Summary - A vulgar, animated TV character inadvertently gets drawn into a political argument with a senator running for office, and in time, runs against him. While this is happening, Jamie - the actor playing Waldo - befriends a woman involved in the political race and he is placed in a position where he has to decide between publicly berating her or disobeying his production team.
Analysis - This episode maybe isn’t as bad as my rating, but I was so disappointed and confused by the ending of it, I need the world to know. I rather enjoyed the position Jamie found himself in between his job and his love interest, but there was a rather disjointed feeling once he has his collapse. I found it hard to believe and couldn’t really figure out if I was missing any allegory, which isn’t a good sign.
Life Imitates Art - This episode came out in 2013, but really provided the blueprint for Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Be loud, brash, anti-politics, defensive, don’t say anything of substance, and rule social media with entertainment and ridicule. Cut and print. Thanks a lot, Brooker.
#45
Ovation, Twilight Zone 2.4
Featuring - Jurnee Smollett, Tawny Newsome, Thomas Lennon
Summary - A street performer is presented with a coin by the hottest singer in the world shortly before that singer kills herself. This new owner rises to the top of the public’s eye in no time and she suddenly realizes the cost of fame might be more than she’s willing to pay. And now she’ll have to face the choice of possibly giving up fame once she’s achieved it.
Analysis - This “cost of fame” trope has been done before and this version does not bring anything new to the table. It is rare that I feel an episode of the Twilight Zone is as uninteresting as this, but in the end, I feel like they just put in a twist because that’s just what they do. Just like on Jasmine’s hit album, this track is just filler, not even the B side of a single, if anyone even gets that reference anymore.
Egg Hunt! - The magazine cover featuring the new singer Mynx from this episode is also featured in Among the Untrodden, a future episode. Is this just done for fun, or is this supposed to indicate these stories and people exist in a shared world? And if so, what would that mean? No seriously, I’m asking.
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| Mom, what's a B side? Or a single? |
#44
Human Is, Electric Dreams 1.3
Featuring - Essie Davis, Bryan Cranston
Summary - Earth – now known as Terra – is running out of breathable air, and the story centers on the government and the military who have been tasked with travelling to another planet to steal some version of concentrated air from the aliens that inhabit that planet. The mission goes terribly wrong and only two survivors make it back to the ship, and their bodies may have been infiltrated by the aliens.
Analysis - It’s not only a story we’ve seen before, but one from later in this series in The Father Thing. The wrinkle in this episode is that the potential alien-morphed version of the colonel returning from space might be a better person than the original human. The episode is saved by a speech made at the colonel’s hearing by his wife about what it means to be “human.”
More Human Than Human - Yes, the overarching theme behind this episode can be summed up by a line from another Philip K Dick story (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?) turned into another movie (Blade Runner) turned into a song by White Zombie. It’s an interesting concept and the hour I spent thinking about it afterwards was better than the hour I spent watching this. Which is actually a credit to the episode. And also, it isn’t.
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| Being human is overrated |
#43
A Traveler, Twilight Zone 1.4
Featuring - Marika Sila, Steven Yeun, Greg Kinnear
Summary - A mysterious visitor shows up in the jail cell of a remote Alaskan town claiming to be an aggro-traveler, and being pardoned by the small town sheriff as part of a Christmas celebration was on his bucket list. But everyone seemed to be too full of being recognized by this YouTube-famous traveler to wonder how or why he really managed to get here. All except one deputy.
Analysis - As an audience, we are immediately asked to expect that the sheriff, mayor, and most other members of this small town are so taken with this stranger’s obsession with this place, that they don’t bother asking who he really is and how he managed to slip passed everyone at the sheriff’s office and lock himself in the jail cell. From there, things didn’t get any easier to swallow.
Seventh Grade - One of the things I really enjoyed about this new Twilight Zone series is that each of the episodes is almost like a modern remake of an original episode. This one pays homage to the classic The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street episode from 1960, which my class did as a play back in 7th grade. Norman Phengvath played this character with one line. He was leaving town and was supposed to say “I’ll be right back.” Instead, Norman left and said “I’ll write back,” which gave the scene a significantly different meaning.
#42
Not All Men, Twilight Zone 1.7
Featuring - Taissa Farminga, Rhea Seehorn
Summary - While on a date to watch an asteroid shower in the sky, Annie sees some of these rocks hit earth, and she and her date go out to see one of them. As it turns out, this rock carries with it something that seems to give men – and only men – a disease that makes them overly aggressive, and Annie needs to get her sister and find a way out.
Analysis - This is clearly an allegory on toxic masculinity (#NotAllMen), and carries a message at the end that makes sure this point is not to be missed. It sets up this world, but never really convinces the audience of all of the rules by which it is governed. I found myself saying “Why would that happen? Oh well. Moving on” more than once. However, considering the importance of the subject matter, I recommend you ignore the low-ish ranking and check it out.
Next level analysis - In filmmaking, sometimes you have to sacrifice story for meaning. Just like in music, sometimes you have to sacrifice meter for rhyme. Personally, I’m a meter guy.
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| No, I'M a meter guy |
#41
The Father Thing, Electric Dreams 1.7
Featuring - Greg Kinnear, Jack Gore
Summary - A 10-year-old boy and his father are out camping when they witness a meteor shower. In time, a few strange things happen and the father starts to act differently. The son seems to be the only one to notice and after doing some research, discovers some other people are having the same experience. The boy is forced to decide if he wants to confront what is likely an alien in his father’s body.
Analysis - This is obviously a retelling of The Thing, and doesn’t hide it – even paying homage in the title. But the 1982 The Thing, which was a retelling of the 1952 The Thing from Another World and would be later remade into the 2011 The Thing got it right the first, second, and third times. This doesn’t really have anything much to add, but for the allegory of what a divorce could mean for the father/son relationship and a fun scene and conversation about the hot corner.
If you enjoyed this - If you enjoyed this episode, you’ll probably also like Human Is. They both explore aliens taking over human bodies and what it means to be “human” the adjective, when you’re not “human” the noun.
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| OK, I heard my name like four times. What do you need? |
#40
Arkangel, Black Mirror 4.2
Featuring - Rosemarie DeWitt, Brenna Harding
Directed by - Jodie Foster
Summary - After a mother briefly loses her 3-year-old child at a park, she decides to have her participate in an experimental procedure which implants a chip in her head. The mother can then locate her daughter, see what she’s seeing, monitor her vitals, and much more. When she discovers she may be doing more harm than good, she turns off the filters and stows the monitor. Until her teenage years.
Analysis - This is a very interesting look at helicopter parenting taken to an extreme. And it’s easy to see how one could slide down this slippery slope, and how temping it can be to pick it back up once your child gets old enough to experiment with lying, drugs, and sex. Unfortunately, this interesting look into helicopter parenting doesn’t come to a natural conclusion, and though interesting, feels a tad disingenuous.
True Story - The day DeWitt shot the scene of her screaming into her tablet was the day after the 2016 presidential election. She said she used her raw emotions from that event to fuel her performance. I think we all heard those screams.
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| Wait. You're in this blog too? |
End of the
First Quarter
Black Mirror
– 3 episodes of 22 (14%)
Twilight Zone – 5 episodes of 20 (25%)
Electric Dreams – 5 episodes of 10 (50%)
And at the end of the first
quarter of play, you can clearly see that Electric Dreams is ahead. But not in
the way you want to be. Half of the episodes in its run are in the bottom 25%
of the rankings. The Twilight Zone is right where is should be statistically,
and Black Mirror only had 14% of its episodes in the bottom 25th
percentile. And now is a good time to again note that I would still recommend
almost all the episodes in various situations to different and possibly very
specific people. All but for the bottom 4ish, and even then, I recommend you
check them out to tell me why I’m wrong. I enjoy being told I’m wrong. Just ask
my wife.
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| Black Mirror vs Electric Dreams vs Twilight Zone |
If you missed Part 1, check out #52 - #40 in Part One first. Unless you intentionally missed it. In which case, as you were...
THE SECOND QUARTER
Everybody good? Good. Onto the second quarter. And to recap,
Black Mirror is ahead for the lowest percentage of episodes in the bottom
quarter, The Twilight Zone is right about where it should be, while Electric
Dreams had half of its episodes in the clubs section. But this isn’t
really a team sport. Well, I guess it is in so much as swimming and log rolling
are team sports. You might have other people on your team, but they don’t
really affect how well you do or how you’ll be remembered. Also, I have no idea
how log rolling is scored.
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| After 7 rounds of play, it's Hatty McHatterson with 77.75 bags of sawdust, and Braided Ponygirl with 5 skidders and a hayburner |
To continue with a really silly metaphor, these 13 episodes would be the diamonds. They are certainly more sought after than the clubs, but the rigid line structure lacks the coolness of the heart and spade. But at least you know what a diamond is. I mean what the hell is a club? Yes, a club is like a baseball bat of sorts, but then why is it shaped like an off-ramp that’s partially under construction? Still, even though these next 13 episodes may technically fall in the bottom half, they’re still worth a watch.
#39
Fifteen Million Merits, Black Mirror 1.2
Featuring - Daniel Kaluuya, Jessica Brown Findlay
Summary - A community of what seem to be slaves living underground – though
it’s never fully explained to us how these people came to be there – earn
merits by riding on a bike all day. Bing helps to fund a friend to participate
on an America’s Got Talent–type show, but he has to spend all the credits he
has earned over 6 months to do it. And this gesture seems to have only made her
situation worse.
Analysis - There are a lot of unanswered questions in this episode,
namely where exactly did these people come from? Because it is tertiary to the story,
it is never fully explained, and that mystery wraps up the episode in a blanket
of anxiety. But ultimately, the story stretches itself out in the first,
second, and third acts. It is a compelling story that could have probably been
told about 15 minutes faster.
Or… - it could have been 30 minutes longer. This episode creates such a
complex and difficult world in which to submerge its viewers in only 15-20
minutes before the turn, it leaves way too many unanswered questions out there.
So it could have benefitted from either cutting out parts of that world and
only telling part of the story, or going for the full ass. But as it stands, we
only get half of it.
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| Get it? |
#38
A Human Face, Twilight Zone 2.7
Featuring - Jenna Elfman, Christopher Meloni
Summary - A couple mourning the loss of their teenage daughter comes face to face with an alien who has appeared in their basement, brought by a cosmic flare passing through earth’s atmosphere. The alien begins to take the form and characteristics of their daughter, causing them to question how far they’ll really go to have their daughter back.
Analysis - This episode poses a great question about whether or not we would accept an illusion even if we knew it was an illusion. Would we give into our desire to feel better at the cost of the truth? Would we take the red pill or the blue pill? The episode is really intriguing, but is undone by its ending, which crams the question down our throat one more time when we were already full.
If you liked this episode… - you’ll also like Be Right Back, the Black Mirror episode I talk about down there somewhere. They both find interesting sci-fi ways to talk about grief. One is aliens, one is technology. Both have all-star casts. Pick your poison.
#37
The Wunderkind, Twilight Zone 1.5
Featuring - John Cho, Jacob Tremblay
Summary - A down-on-his-luck campaign manager gets the idea to support an 11-year-old YouTube star for president, but he perhaps doesn’t consider the long-term implications of what might happen should he succeed. Soon, the boy becomes too powerful and the flywheel is now going way too fast to jump on or to slow down.
Analysis - This episode draws some very obvious parallels to what it means to want something different out of the presidency. It is part mirror of the Trump presidency, and part homage to It’s a Good Life, The original Twilight Zone episode with the boy who wished things away to a cornfield. The ending is a bit silly and unnecessary, but it shines a decent-wattaged light on what happens when an obviously petulant child has too much power.
Tone-Def - You know when you don’t really like a TV show or movie but can’t put your finger on it? It's usually because of the tone. This episode – much like Ghostbusters (story for another day) – couldn’t seem to figure out its tone. Is it playful? Serious? Funny? It can be all of them, but it has to mesh them together well. This episode would have served well to pick one side of the fence or the other, because riding fences is just a huge pain in the ass.
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| Oh good. Another ass pun. |
#36
Safe and Sound, Electric Dreams 1.6
Featuring - Annalise Basso, Maura Tierney
Summary - In a world where there are two separate factions of people – the government-run majority and the radicals who live in “bubbles,” allegedly free from government oversight, a mother brings her daughter out of one of the bubbles for a year while she acts as a delegate for the radicals. While there, the daughter finds that she yearns for certain comforts that freedom does not provide.
Analysis - This episode touches on some really interesting subjects – notably the battle for truth. The government claims there have been terrorist attacks, while the radicals claim propaganda. Meanwhile, the daughter willingly gets a tracking device to make school easier and now questions if the voices in her head are real. The episode is undone by a leap in character logic, but the ending makes it worth that leap.
The Opposite of Dues Ex Machina - Apparently, this is the section of the rankings where I send all the good episodes undone by if not silly endings, then at least plot contrivances. Everything from pretty much Arkangel to this had great potential squandered in the third act. And in the interest of avoiding spoilers, I’m just gonna be general here and say that these episodes are like the opposite of an unsolvable problem suddenly becoming solved.
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| I'll let you figure out the opposite of this |
#35
The Entire History of You, Black Mirror 1.3
Featuring - Toby Kebbell, Jodie Whittaker
Summary - In a world where people have a device implanted in their heads that record audio and video available to play back for others to see, Liam surprises his wife at a dinner party with her friends. She seems to be flirting with an old friend, and once suspicions are cast, Liam goes down a dangerous rabbit hole of needing to know exactly what happened and when.
Analysis - This final episode of the first season poses some very interesting questions (yes, I am a broken record now). Like how much do we really need to know about our loved one’s past? And what is more harmful – a small lie or the truth? Or something in between? Liam’s spiral was likely inevitable even without the implant, but how he got there was the kind of tragedy that Black Mirror became known for.
Run Time - Black Mirror (and Electric Dreams and Twilight Zone) episodes usually clock in at about an hour. But in these sci-fi stories, sometimes they need to create this entire world for you to live in and understand and that takes some time. This was done particularly well here with the dinner party, but it likely caused the end to be rushed. If we saw a more gradual transition of Liam’s character, we might have believed it more. But then we wouldn’t have believed in this world we’re in. Making TV is hard.
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| It comes across as much deeper in context. I think. |
#34
The Comedian, Twilight Zone 1.1
Featuring - Kumail Nanjiani
Summary - The ghost of a standup comedian shows up to a club one night to bestow the gift of knowledge to a middling comic – which is that you need to put parts of yourself out there on stage. However, once you do that, the material belongs to the world and no longer belongs to you. Which of course has other consequences.
Analysis - Kumail Nanjiani can do no wrong. He is fantastic as a struggling comedian in the new inaugural episode of the Twilight Zone. This episode is fun and really sets the tone for this reboot of the VERY popular franchise. It does drag at times and doesn’t have the societal impact that many of the future episodes will, but for those that are real fans, hearing that theme song and the interrupting narrator is all the drug you need.
Warming up the crowd - This was the first episode in the reboot of the franchise, so for that, I probably gave it more credence than it deserves. But it’s got Kumail Nanjiani AND it’s about bad stand-up comedy. It also fingers a nerve I have about how thin the line is between killing and bombing on the stand-up stage, and it usually has little to do with the material. This episode isn’t necessarily headliner material, but it does a good job of warming up the crowd for the feature acts.
#33
Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too, Black Mirror 5.3
Featuring - Angourie Rice, Madison Davenport, Miley Cyrus
Summary - A shy teenage girl moves to a new school system and befriends an 8-inch robot replica of her favorite pop star, Ashley O. As she is unable to make friends at school as easily, Rachel becomes obsessively close with the doll. When a tragedy befalls the actual Ashley O, Rachel and her sister accidentally uncover a secret hiding deep within Ashley Too and Ashley too.
Analysis - This episode took me on at least two major twists I didn’t expect, and they were both pretty clever. I don’t know why this season of Black Mirror got so run over in the public media, unless they’ve just set their own bar too high to clear. The downfall of this episode is the end, though the credit scenes bring it back. It is a fantastic role for Miley Cyrus, as I’m guessing this was somewhat autobiographical.
Art Imitates Life Imitates Art… - It’s not exactly like a chicken and egg thing here, but more like if the chicken was wrapped around an egg. Which it technically is before the egg is hatched. Though Cyrus had already started her transformation years before with Wrecking Ball, it wasn’t until she starred as this Nine Inch Nails punk rocker that she finally went full disco-punk-rock with Prisoner and Heart of Glass. She didn’t exactly pull a Malcolm McDowell, but suffice to say, her role definitely drove her somewhere.
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| Dear Miley, If Stanley Kubrick ever walks up to you, just say no |
#32
Men Against Fire, Black Mirror 5.5
Featuring - Malachi Kirby, Madeline Brewer
Summary - Stripe is a soldier assigned to kill what they call roaches, these zombie-esque mutant creatures who are hiding in the rural countryside. On his first mission, he manages to kill two of them, but seems to be suffering from some unusual headaches and visions, along with some technical glitches with the software in his head.
Analysis - This episode points a very heavy finger at military tactics and hypothesizes the next step in brainwashing. It draws a lot of obvious parallels to Nazi Germany, but it could apply to any group of people who are discriminated against. It is a painful look at both military culture and racism, and Black Mirror isn’t in the habit of pulling any punches.
Based on the Book - Men Against Fire: The Problem of Battle Command is a 1947 book that talks about how most soldiers in World War II fired over the heads of their enemies because they identified them as humans. I doubt the book recommended the procedures Black Mirror implemented, but I get the reference.
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| Black Mirror goes deep for inspiration |
#31
A Small Town, Twilight Zone 2.8
Featuring - Damon Wayans Jr., David Krumholtz, Natalie Martinez
Summary - A grieving widower takes up residence in his small town’s church attic. When he finds a detailed model of the town and realizes that the changes that he makes to the model actually happen in the town, he begins to play God. But he soon finds that being a god comes with a lot of baggage, and it isn’t always possible to fix or foresee everything.
Analysis - The detail that a man plays God in the attic of a Church is not a subtle one. It shows the inner struggle of this god-person when someone else dares take credit. And what will he do when he goes too far? This character relates well to his audience and asks exactly how far would you go to do what you think is right, and what will you do once you accidentally go too far? But it stops short of relating this fantasy to reality, in which a commentary on blind followers heaping praise on a sleazy, undeserving politician could have been relevant.
Dr. J - I grew up in Philly watching Dr. J fly above the rim pulling off these crazy gravity-defying dunks at least twice a game. I remember one time, he leaked out and got a lead pass from Maurice Cheeks and was headed for another SportCenter moment. What would it be? A windmill? A two-handed reverse? A back handspring? He jumped a mile into the sky, and with seemingly no idea what he really wanted to do, he just kinda let go of the ball and it fell through the hoop for two points. That’s what this episode was like.
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| Sometimes it does matter HOW you finish |
#30
Smithereens, Black Mirror 5.2
Featuring - Andrew Scott, Damson Idris, Topher Grace
Summary - A rideshare driver takes an employee of a social media company hostage and demands to speak to the company’s CEO or he’ll kill the employee. The police, FBI, and the social media company (Smithereen) enter into a negotiation, all with different ideas of how things should go, and things don’t seem to go as planned for anyone involved.
Analysis - This episode is certainly more drama than the science fiction that Black Mirror is more commonly known for. It makes a commentary on social media today, but it isn’t anything revolutionary. The strength of this episode is in the tension it creates inside the car with the brilliant acting performance from Andrew Scott as we wait to find out exactly what he wants. And this episode really sticks the landing.
Science Fact - As I mentioned earlier, this was more drama than science fiction. The reason for this is that this is not science fiction. Much like The National Anthem (#48) and Shut Up and Dance (#28), this Black Mirror episode could happen today. All of this technology is out there already. Just replace the word “Smithereen” with “Twitter.”
 |
| You're just jealous because I'm on this list twice |
#29
The Hood Maker, Electric Dreams 1.5
Featuring - Holliday Grainger, Richard Madden
Summary - In a world where a small faction of people have been seemingly outcast for their abilities to read another’s mind, one of these “Teeps” - as they are unaffectionately called - is hired to help the police. Though she is looked down on and despised by her colleagues, she has proven to be useful in the field, until it is discovered a special hood can be made to make a person unreadable.
Analysis - I enjoyed the turbulent relationship the Teep has with her cop partner. Though the Teep community is ostracized from the “Normals,” the two of them are forced to trust each other, as partners do. Part of that trust is that she is not allowed to read him or any other officer without their consent. When new information tests their relationship, she must choose between who she was and who she has become.
Yin, Yang, and Yong - Here’s a fun challenge. Watch this through the eyes of Honor, the Teep. It isn’t hard. She’s the main character. Then watch it through the eyes of the cop. THEN, watch it through the eyes of the “Normals.” They are all equally relatable perspectives and thus could all be the protagonist, antagonist, or both. The Teeps (telepaths) represent whatever oppressed minority you choose and they’re being used for their talents by the cops. The cops are trying to keep peace by using whatever means they can in a world seemingly at war. And the “Normals” have created these masks because they don’t want their thoughts to be read or tampered with. This episode is a lot more thought-provoking than most, and it leaves you wanting to know more about the world. Which is not a failure of the episode, but on the contrary, to its credit.
 |
| There's something strangely familiar about this image... |
#28
Shut Up and Dance, Black Mirror 3.3
Featuring - Alex Lawther, Jerome Flynn
Summary - A teenage boy has his computer hacked and a video of him masturbating is sent back to him in an email. From here, the boy is forced into a blackmail game in which every next step gets worse and worse, until whatever line that he wouldn’t cross has been so stretched and blurred that it’s unrecognizable.
Analysis - Black Mirror isn’t happy unless they put some unassuming people in an incredibly horrible situation. This episode builds up tension with every new task the boy is asked to complete, and the audience is rooting for him the entire episode, no matter how far he goes. It is a terrifying look into what exactly hackers are capable of - even today - and the lengths some people will go to to hide a secret.
A New Villain - In previous versions of this screenplay, there were shots of the hackers in an internet café in Eastern Europe - toasting and making bets - having blackmailed the characters for fun. But in the end, Brooker felt there was no need for it. The internet was a stand-in for the overt villains uncommon to most episodes of Black Mirror. Yes. The internet. THE INTERNET IS THE VILLAIN!
Also - Also of note is that this is one of the most disturbing episodes of Black Mirror. DO NOT watch it with your kids thinking it’s the music video from Victorious.
 |
| They called the show "Victorious" because "Look at How Beautiful and Talented and Humble I Am" didn't test well |
#27
The Who of You, Twilight Zone 1.8
Featuring - Ethan Embry, Daniel Sunjata, Billy Porter
Summary - A struggling and frustrated actor decides to rob a bank in a desperate and misguided attempt to save his relationship. While at the bank, he locks eyes with the teller and they somehow switch minds (or souls or essences or something). The actor (as the teller) then tries to escape with the money, and suddenly realizes this new power to switch his soul into another body could be quite useful.
Analysis - This episode has a lot to unpack in a short time. What happens to the souls of those bodies he steals? What is going on in the body of the actor? How will the detective assigned to the case deal with the information coming out of whoever is in the body of the actor? A sudden boost to his powers halfway through was a little contrived and distracting, but it is a heck of an interesting concept to explore.
ACTING! - For all you acting junkies out there, this one is for you. It’s your standard body swap trope on coke. Not the drug, but the soda. There are multiple actors playing multiple characters and none more than Embry, who plays at least five very diverse characters (spoiler alert: it’s six). This episode is fun and required a little rewinding at times for me to straighten out which cup the ball was under. But it’s possible you all are better at the shell game than I.
End of the First Half
Black Mirror – 9 episodes of 22 (41%)
Twilight Zone – 10 episodes of 20 (50%)
Electric Dreams – 7 episodes of 10 (70%)
And at the end of the first half
of play, Electric Dreams is still ahead. But again, not in the good way. It
added another 2 episodes in the 2nd quarter, making a total of 70%
of its episodes in the bottom half, with The Twilight Zone right where it
should be at 50%, and Black Mirror sitting at 41% of its eps in the bottom
half. What does all this mean? Nothing. Well, it means I like Black Mirror the
best, and then the Twilight Zone, and then Electric Dreams. So yeah, I guess it
does mean something. Sorry.
 |
| Black Mirror vs Electric Dreams vs Twilight Zone |
If you missed the first two installments, check them out here first for some context. Or if you'd rather start here, do that. I'm not in the business of telling people how to waste their time.
Part One: #52-40
Part Two: #39-27
THE THIRD QUARTER
For those who may not know how fractions work, we are now
into the top half of the lineup. As I said before, I recommend all episodes of
these three series, with the exception of maybe the bottom 3-4 episodes, but we
have now breeched into “non-qualifier” territory. This is a clunky way of
saying that I would recommend all these episodes without any silly qualifiers
like “If you like dystopian apocalyptic political horror thrillers…” or “If you
like getting high and putting syrup on your eggs…” You’ll just like all these. Whether you like it or
not.
 |
| In case any of you want to get diabetes and heart disease on the same day |
Coming into the second half (also the third quarter, again for my fraction-impaired readers), Black Mirror is ahead with only 41% of its episodes in the bottom half, with the Twilight Zone in second with 50%, exactly where it should be, and Electric Dreams in the caboose, with 70% of its episodes already listed in the bottom half. But that’s OK. There’s still time to pull ahead! Actually, given this scoring algorithm, I’m not even sure what pulling ahead would look like. Or winning. But hey, we are after all assigning value to subjective art, so who gives a rat’s hooey how we do this, right? Also, in a rather short-sighted metaphor I started almost a year ago, these 13 episodes would be the hearts of the deck. Majestic curves, while still coming to a point and a symbol that actually stands for something, unlike the stupid club that we should have replaced centuries ago. OK, I’m done talking.
#26
Six Degrees of Freedom, Twilight Zone 1.6
Featuring - DeWanda Wise, Lucinda Dryzek, Jefferson White
Summary - Just before the first human space flight to Mars takes off, news
of an imminent nuclear war interrupts the countdown and the crew decides to go
ahead with the launch, leaving humans on Earth to potentially become extinct.
With no contact with anyone on Earth, the crew faces the potential burden of
being the last humans in existence and struggle with what to do with that
information.
Analysis - This was in intense from the outset. A lot of episodes
introduce a strange thing and have a slow build up. But this puts you
immediately in the seat and demands you decide – given the prospect of the
world ending in nuclear war, do you return to base as is protocol, or leave for
Mars and enjoy what’s left of whatever life you have? And then, just when
you’re settling into your decision halfway through, maybe things aren’t what
they seem.
The signpost up ahead - This episode could have easily been its own
psychological thriller or space drama or anything it wanted. It had an
interesting and original premise that grabs you right away and forces you to
ask yourself a disturbing question and then considers the consequences. But
there is of course the Twilight Zone twist, as is necessary. It also pays
homage to another classic Twilight Zone episode, but telling you which one
would be giving it away. And instead, it’s the opposite (you’ll see).
 |
| There goes the neighborhood |
Meet in the Middle, Twilight Zone 2.1
Featuring - Jimmi Simpson, Gillian Jacobs
Summary - Suddenly, a man begins to hear a voice in his head that seems to be coming from a woman. After he realizes she can hear his thoughts too, the two begin communicating. While both were enjoying the newness of their telepathic connection, things were great. But once they disagree about the direction of their relationship, they find it’s hard to set boundaries when you literally can’t stop communicating.
Analysis - This episode warns us of the dangers of becoming too close to someone we don’t really know. But mostly, it just hooks us with an interesting story and turns the tables on us just when we get comfortable. And there’s much more to the story than we are led to believe.
Run time schmun time - In researching these episodes, I found a lot of critics dogging the longer run times of these new Twilight Zone episodes over and over and over ad nauseum (which means it made me nauseous). And I don’t know why. Black Mirror and Electric Dreams episodes all run longer than these, and the Twilight Zone episodes have just as much to say. It is an example of low-hanging fruit for critics who need some reason to hate on the subject without saying anything that could be controversial. Like when Nicolas Cage has to actually act in a movie. Anyway, the run time is just fine with all these. Don’t listen to those critics. Listen to me.
 |
| I never understood this metaphor. There's no accompanying proverb about the fruit tasting worse, right? So yeah, why not pick the damn low-hanging fruit? |
Striking Vipers, Black Mirror 5.1
Featuring - Anthony Mackie, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II
Summary - A new dad reunites with his college roommate a decade after college to play a new version of a fighting video game they were once obsessed with. Only this virtual reality version is a lot more interactive and inspires a lot more exploration. It doesn’t take long for them to realize that this experience is ripe for sexual encounters and this leads to some complicated feelings.
Analysis - Striking Vipers not only questions the nature of cheating in a relationship, but it makes you consider the nature of sexuality. If sex exists only in some virtual world, is it cheating? What if the other user is a different gender than his/her character? This episode takes you on an interesting journey of two people trying to reconcile this virtual sexual relationship with their real-world relationships.
Poloerotica - Owen Harris, who also directed Be Right Back and San Junipero, two Black Mirror episodes lauded for the romance in them, directed this episode. And when asked what convinced him to take on another episode, he said there was a line in it that instantly grabbed him. It is Brooker’s way of reminding us that there is a playful nature to Black Mirror, despite the darkness. “I even fucked Tundra the polar bear character. I fucked a polar bear and I still couldn’t get you out of my mind.” To hell with the gay and genderqueer conversations, let’s pursue this line a little further, shall we?
 |
| Don't even think about it, Falcon |
8, Twilight Zone 2.6
Featuring - Joel McHale, Nadia Hilker, Michelle Ang
Summary - An international crew of scientists on a 6-month mission in Antarctica to track a melting ice shelf discover a new species of octopus at the same time that they find three of their crew members missing and presumed dead while on a dive. The motives of the remaining crew may not be as they seem to one another, and their actions could have major human race life-threatening consequences.
Analysis - This episode touches on all the tropes. Hubris, selfishness, deceit, and above all else, man’s arrogance about his place atop the food chain. Just like in Alien, Planet of the Apes, and countless other stories of the type, man underestimates his opponent, and could very well clumsily give the key to world domination over to another species.
Submitted for your approval… - The coolest thing about this episode for serious fans of the original TZ is that there is an actual Rod Serling narration in the introduction. Whilst the crew watches TV in their igloo-pod, a show called The Life Aquatic is playing, which is a 1968-1975 Jacques Cousteau documentary and was actually narrated by Rod Serling. So The Twilight Zone is fiction in its own reality. Or something like that. It’s very Twilight Zoney to ponder.
#22
Nightmare at 30,000 Feet, Twilight Zone 1.2
Featuring - Adam Scott
Summary - While on a cross-Atlantic flight, an investigative reporter
finds a portable audio player cued up to a podcast about the mystery behind a
flight that disappeared. When he discovers that the podcast is talking about
the flight he’s currently on, he tries desperately to stop this tragedy, but
will anyone believe him in time?
Analysis - Not every Twilight Zone episode has to have some greater
purpose bestowed upon us as viewers. Sometimes it’s nice to just put somebody
in an impossible position and watch them react. Adam Scott plays a perfect
Cassandra who could see the future but just couldn’t get anyone to believe him.
And the episode has one of the more perfect endings in this franchise, giving
the audience hope, but also a bit of justice, shall we say.
Recurring Nightmare - It’s got to be tough to play a role that successful
actors before you have played. Adam Scott is faced with the task of bringing
back to life a character played by William Shatner and John Lithgow, both known
for their more eccentric turns. But the slight differences to the story
combined with the nod to the original is a sweet nectar for fans of the OG TZ.
#21
Crocodile, Black Mirror 1.2
Featuring - Andrea Riseborough, Kiran Sonia Sawar
Summary - A woman and her friend accidentally kill a biker on a sparsely
traveled road. Against Mia’s desires, Rob decides to dispose of the body.
Fifteen years later, Mia witnesses an accident outside her hotel. An insurance
agent tracks her down and asks her to be hooked up to a machine that would
allow the agent to see Mia’s memories on a video screen. Mia is forced to
decide if she wants to take that chance.
Analysis - This episode begs the oft-asked question of how far would you
go to keep a secret. And once you start the cover-up, how much is too much? Crocodile
does an excellent job of putting you in Mia’s position of someone who didn’t
even want to carry this burden, but slowly slides further and further down that
slope until you completely lose control on the ice.
The Crocodile Pit - Many people have speculated the reason for the title
of this episode, especially since it involves no crocodiles and is filmed in
Iceland, where no crocodiles exist. Is it because the main character is
emotionless, thus crocodile tears? Is it because a crocodile’s brain is almost
entirely limbic, which means they house memories better? Or is it that thing
that Charlie Brooker said in Inside Black Mirror about how a Crocodile
is a traumatic life event or whatever bullshit that was? I say it’s this
episode’s ability to keep you one step ahead of the action rather than one step
behind, so it all plays out like a slow motion nightmare, making that pit in
your stomach the size of a crocodile pit. Why not? It makes just as much sense
as whatever your theory is.
 |
| I'm an alligator, moron. |
#20
Downtime, Twilight Zone 2.2
Featuring - Morena Baccarin
Summary - A hotel manager suffers a headache and awakens to find an orb
in the sky. Slowly, people stop what they are doing and walk outside or go to a
window to stare at the orb, unresponsive. She runs home to her husband who at
first greets her, but then suddenly starts speaking in an Irish accent and
walks outside to stare at the orb himself, leaving Michelle on her own to
figure out this mystery.
Analysis - The episode gives the main character and the audience pieces
of the puzzle as it sees fit and lets us play along with Michelle. Once we
realize what the orb is, we have to decide whether or not we want to join in
with the crowd, and we may not have a choice. I love this episode for a couple
reasons, but mainly because it poses the question of when does a game become
real, and it does it well.
What’s in a name? - No need to say spoiler alert here because the
title of the episode gives away the hook. The Twilight Zone is supposed to take
you toward a door and then yank the floor out and send you down that way. I
think the ride at Universal Studios does exactly that. But the title of this
episode takes away part of the suspense, and I rather enjoy being suspended.
It’s not as bad as putting the Statue of Liberty on the cover of the Planet of
the Apes VHS, but I still might have liked those 12 minutes of not knowing.
 |
| [SPOILER ALERT!] |
#19
Nosedive, Black Mirror 3.1
Featuring - Bryce Dallas Howard
Summary - In a world in which people openly rate other people based on
their interactions with them – however fleeting and unmeaningful – a woman
tries to raise her score by attending an old friend’s swanky wedding. Because
so much of life is tied up in these scores, every interaction and pastel outfit
decision is so completely fake. In her quest to achieve a 4.5 rating, things
don’t go exactly as planned.
Analysis - Black Mirror is known for being just on the edge of where we
are or could possibly be as a society, and Nosedive is a perfect example. In
this world, your social rating is tied to being able to fly standby and rent
apartments, whereas here it’s just tied to riding a car and getting food
delivered. It shines a light far enough in the distance that we can see it
coming, but we’re still headed there – for better or worse.
What else is in a name? - So remember what I said about Downtime?
Well, the same applies to Nosedive. It kinda gives away the ending. But I
guess so does Die Hard. And Free Willy. And The Assassination
of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.
 |
| Seriously, you couldn't call it Guns of the West or something? |
#18
Playtest, Black Mirror 5.1
Featuring - Wyatt Russell
Summary - An American backpacking across Europe to avoid dealing with
his mother hooks up with a woman who works at a gaming tech company. The
following day, he discovers his bank account has been emptied and he has to
find a way to get money. He finds himself playtesting an interactive horror
video game that distorts his idea of reality and ultimately makes him see parts
of himself he has been hiding.
Analysis - The brilliance of this episode is in the misdirection. This
episode has an extra layer, and one I didn’t get the first time through. On the
surface, it’s a terrifying horror in which the main character and the audience
never fully know what’s real. And that is frightening enough. But the greatness
of the episode is the reference to Edgar Allen Poe in its relationship to the
truth about his mother revealed at the end.
The Tweet Taste of Victory - The end of this episode was not written by
Charlie Brooker. It was written by a rando twitter user named Mallory Ortberg. In
2015, she tweeted "Next on Black Mirror: What if phones, but too
much?" And so – according to Brooker – Playtest featured an
ending inspired by that incredibly cryptic tweet. But honestly, the more I read
about Brooker, the more I get the feeling he maybe just likes to bullshit us
plebians for continuously probing him for crap like this.
 |
| I came up with the idea for San Junipero from a discarded Diner napkin that had a raspberry stain in the shape of St. Peter's Basilica |
#17
Be Right Back, Black Mirror 2.1
Featuring - Hayley Atwell, Domhnall Gleeson
Summary - A young, seemingly normal couple is thrust into tragedy when the man is killed in a car crash. The woman learns of a program that simulates that person’s tone based on their online presence and she begins to have conversations with him. As she gives the program access to more personal things about him, the interactions become more intimate and confusing.
Analysis - This episode is fantastic in how it explores a woman’s struggle with grief. While she really enjoys the interactions with this program and develops a new sort of relationship with it where she is telling her new friend things about him that he doesn’t know about, she begins to feel that things have maybe gone too far.
Technology changes, people don’t - Forget the tech for a minute. This episode would be fantastic if it didn’t have it at all. It is such a fantastic depiction on the different stages of grief that we all go through and how they don’t make sense, and how they sometimes repeat, and jump immediately from one feeling to the next and then back again, and even if we someday find a cure for losing someone, we will still have these same human problems.
#16
Kill All Others, Electric Dreams 1.10
Featuring - Mel Rodriquez, Vera Farminga
Summary - In a world where North America is one huge nation (Mexuscan) and there is only one political party, a factory worker witnesses the political candidate tell everyone to “kill all others” live on TV. While he is convinced this will be the nail in her coffin, he finds no news or social media talking about it at all and we wonder if he is imagining this or if something more sinister is afoot.
Analysis - This episode is filled with allegory about our current sociopolitical climate. What do we do when we see a person of significant power do or say something so obviously wrong? Do we dare become the first to say something? The world is filled with either people who don’t care or don’t dare speak up. So what happens to the person that does speak out and tell the emperor he has no clothes?
Art imitates life - Dee Rees directed this episode and spoke of her experience watching the 2016 presidential race as inspiration: “When Trump was talking about making America great again, why was nobody asking ‘When was that again?,’” said Rees. “Get him to name just one decade when it was great, and then his whole premise is unraveled. People, smart people, people who are supposed to be thought leaders — no one asked what for me was the central question that would have un-did everything.” Instead, it felt like she was the only person awake in a time of madness. And it came out in this story.
 |
| I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and kill all others and I wouldn't lose voters |
#15
Replay, Twilight Zone 1.3
Featuring - Sanaa Lathan, Damson Idris, Glenn Fleshler
Summary - A mother on her way to drop her son off at an all-black college realizes that the camcorder she is carrying has the ability to rewind time. As she heads to the school, she runs into a racist police officer. When she replays that moment and tries to find a way to the school, she realizes this is a problem even a magic camera may not be able to help her avoid.
Analysis - This episode dives head-first into the long history of racially-motivated police violence. The officer in the story is meant to represent racial injustice and how it doesn’t matter what route you take as a black person, but sometimes it is impossible to avoid it. And it’s also just a matter of time. When we take this as an allegory, it brings so much more meaning to a story that at times seems a little implausible. But maybe that’s the point.
Two Distant Strangers - The best film I saw all of last year was a 32-minute short story on Netflix called Two Distant Strangers. You may not have heard of it even though it was produced by Kevin Durant and Puff Daddy and won an Oscar. I was so in love with this TZ episode and shouted from the rooftops about it to anyone who would listen. And then I saw Two Distant Strangers and realized that Replay is a rough draft for that movie. They are actually very different, but you can see the inspiration. I definitely recommend watching both, as they each shine a very similar light on systemic racism in our country.
#14
Point of Origin, Twilight Zone 1.8
Featuring - Ginnifer Goodwin, James Frain
Summary - A seemingly typical rich suburban housewife finds herself in the middle of a scandal involving some immigration violation. Originally assumed it was about her recently deported house maid, she soon finds out it may be something else. Something she may not even consciously know. And she may not be who she appears to be.
Analysis - This episode draws a really interesting comparison to what it is like to be an illegal immigrant in this country. It often doesn’t matter how nice you are or how long you’ve been here, some people just see you as someone who doesn’t belong. And how can that possibly happen when you’re rich and white?
It's no fun - Yet again, another episode that takes a cannon to the bow of the sociopolitical climate of the time. Just like Not All Men did with toxic masculinity, Peele and friends address our society’s views on “illegal” immigration. I was reminded of Trump talking to reporters about why he arrested certain illegal immigrants. Obviously going off script, he said that they were arrested because they were criminals. Asked what they had done to make them criminals, he said that illegally crossing the border made them criminals. In other words, he admitted they weren’t criminals before they sought sanctuary from whatever danger they were fleeing from, but by our laws, the mere act of crossing the border was illegal, making them criminals. Only he probably used the term bad hombres. What a guy. I bet he could probably get away with saying we should kill all others on camera.
 |
| How come none of these episodes are about me? |
End of the Third Quarter
Black Mirror – 14 episodes of 22 (64%)
Electric Dreams – 8 episodes of 10 (80%)
Twilight Zone – 17 episodes of 20 (85%)
At the end of the third quarter,
Electric Dreams finally found a way to not be in last place. It managed to pull
ahead of the Twilight Zone, which has 85% of it’s episodes in the top three
quarters, meaning it has only 15% of its episodes in the top quarter. I’m sure
you can all subtract double-digit whole numbers from 100, so I’ll refrain from
doing that for you, but suffice to say if all things were even, each show would
have 75% of their episodes in the bottom three quarters. So Black Mirror is
ahead of the curve, while the other two are behind. What does this all mean? It
means I need to spend more time cleaning the house, according to my wife. But somehow
that feels unrelated.
 |
| Black Mirror vs Electric Dreams vs Twilight Zone |
If you missed the first three installments and you're a chronic completionist, check them out here first for some context. Or if you'd rather start at the creme de la creme, do that. I'm not in the business of telling people how to waste their time.
Part One: #52-40
Part Two: #39-27
Part Three: #26-14
THE FOURTH QUARTER
OK. It’s crunch time. This is where the supermax contracts are made. Nobody loses their mind over a borderline backcourt violation with 8 minutes to go in the second quarter. We’re now in the end game. And to close this ridiculous metaphor, these are the spades. And in their titular game, the spades rule all. King of Hearts? Not as good as the 3 of spades. Ace of Diamonds? Here’s a tiny little two of spadados. And you can send those clubs back to the medieval days. The spades rule this world. At least until we add another five Black Mirror episodes to the 52 total episodes and screw everything up. Anybody know of something that comes in 57s?
 |
| Well, how about that? |
And into the final period of play (or the spades, if the metaphor… suits you), we have Black Mirror ahead by 16 points with 64%, Electric Dreams in second with 80%, and the Twilight Zone in what we’ll call last place with 85%. Though if you’ve been paying attention to this unbelievably poorly-thought-out method of scoring, you’ll realize that at the end of the “game,” all three series will be tied with 100% of their movies in the top 52. This really takes the suspense out of the list. HOWEVER, I will reveal to you who won after you’ve sat through and read about which episode was higher. Because that’s really why you’re here. At least I assume. Or else this is like 15 years later and I’m running for office or won some reality TV thing and somebody is looking for a reason to cancel me. Which is honestly pretty cool. ANYWAY…
#13
Autofac, Electric Dreams 1.2
Featuring - Juno Temple, Janelle Monae
Summary - Three years after the near nuclear destruction of the world,
the few people who seem to be left alive are fighting with Autofac, a
completely automated factory that continues to produce items the people don’t
need, and in doing so, is depleting the world of the resources needed to
survive. Headed by a programming expert, the survivors hatch a plan to
infiltrate the factory.
Analysis - If you enjoy your TV programming with lots of twists and
turns, this is your episode. It is ultimately a heist wrapped in a riddle and
just when you think you have it all figured out, it turns on you. This is a
rare episode that probably kept me thinking about it for days afterwards trying
to fully assess what had happened.
When is a 2 also an 8? - For some reason, depending on where you look,
this episode is either labeled as episode #2 or episode #8. I don’t know why.
It allegedly doesn’t really matter because it’s an anthology series – unlike
the way Fox famously mishandled Firefly – but you can imagine that there may
still be an order that’s preferable to another for the creators of the show. I
mean if you were to start your entire series with a politician fucking a pig,
you might turn off some viewers. So why is it different on Amazon than it seems
to be on IMDB? Hell if I know, but I recommend you watch this one 2nd,
because that’s how I watched it and I want people to do things the way I do
them.
 |
| Your shipment of umbrellas shoes is on its way! |
#12
White Bear, Black Mirror 2.2
Featuring - Lenora Crichlow
Summary - A woman wakes up without any memory of who or where she is and is
immediately thrust into a situation where she is being hunted by a masked
person with a shotgun while onlookers take pictures and video of her. She tries
desperately to piece together who she is while doing what she can to save her
own life and cursing these onlookers who are so unwilling to help her.
Analysis - The great thing about this episode is that it puts you
directly in the shoes of the main character. She only gets information as it is
given to us. And then the big reveal at the end (and please go through all the
credits) takes a turn I probably wouldn’t have guessed in 100 attempts. It is a
fantastic surprise the first time through, and a little unfortunate that this
feeling of surprise can’t be replicated in future viewings.
Taking credit - This episode came out in 2014, well after Marvel showed
us the magic of putting in content after the credits have already begun. But
where they used it primarily to market their next billion dollar enterprise, this
particular episode told the rest of the story. And not just fluff, but story
that would be germane to the plot. What separates this from Autofac – besides one
place in these rankings – is that White Bear was already a great story before
the reveal. And then the mid-credit scenes – which basically made up the entire
third act – just piled it on. They would do the same thing in San Junipero two
seasons later with equal effectiveness. And because the credits already started
rolling, the tone is so much lighter and different. It’s a really interesting
technique taken as far here as I can remember. Suck on that, Bueller.
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| Hey! What the hell did I do? |
#11
Black Museum, Black Mirror 4.6
Featuring - Douglas Hodge, Letitia Wright
Summary - On an abandoned stretch of highway in the Utah desert, a woman
happens by what is called a Black Museum, where a strange and somewhat sexist
proprietor gives her a tour in which he explains the history of three of the
stranger displays. These three displays all have something to do with the
nature of reality, and it concludes with an equally strange example of false
reality played out in real life.
Analysis - This episode takes the White Christmas format and doubles
down. It plays out three vignettes about the manipulation of the brain’s
experiences and closes with the framework becoming part of the story. But in
addition to forcing us to question the reality of simulated experiences (a
recurring trope in this show), this had a fun component of giving a nod to a
few more episodes, creating a shared Black Mirror world.
The Magic of Storytelling - This episode is essentially three unrelated
stories in one, an anthology within an anthology. The final two stories are
ideas that Brooker came up with while thinking of ways to torture his viewers,
while the first is based on a short story by the one and only Penn Jillette. He
got the idea while in a hospital in Spain where he couldn’t get a proper
diagnosis because of the language barrier and thought about a contraption a
doctor could wear to be able to feel the pain the patient is feeling. And from
there, things got a little dark. Now I know why Teller never talked.
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| Help! It's not really a trap door! |
#10
Real Life, Electric Dreams 1.1
Featuring - Anna Paquin, Terrence Howard
Summary - A detective from the future is having such anxiety, she decides
to take what they call a vacation. In this case, that means she goes to sleep
and has a fantasy world injected into her brain. But within that fantasy world
– which seems to exist in a more realistic time period to us – her character
there does the same thing. Eventually it becomes difficult to figure out which
of them is real.
Analysis - I have seen a similar story before, but this really keeps the
viewers on their toes. There are compelling arguments for both versions of
reality being real and the stakes become raised in regard to her decision late
in the episode. When forced to choose, her thought process is what makes this
episode the best version of this story that I’ve seen.
Real Real Life - I awoke one day from a dream that seemed so real, I
thought to myself “Wait? What if this is the dream?” And I don’t even
smoke pot. I was brilliant. I was going to win an Oscar for this screenplay,
maybe an Emmy if things didn’t go right. Then I saw this concept in an episode
of the original Twilight Zone. Then I found out about the story this episode
was based on – Exhibit Piece – written in 1954. So I went back to the drawing
board. I recently woke up thinking “Wait? What if I could see dead people and
the audience didn’t know who was dead?” I’m back in business!
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| Um, I got some more bad news for you. |
#9
Hang the DJ, Black Mirror 4.4
Featuring - Joe Cole, Georgina Campbell
Summary - A couple is fixed up by a relationship app that not only tells
you who your date will be with, but how long it will be. These relationships
range from 12 hours to years. After hitting it off on their 12-hour date, the
couple go their separate ways, stuck in different relationships. They continue
to see each other in passing and wonder if it would be worth breaking the rules
for what they could have.
Analysis - This episode takes the world of online dating to an extreme,
with guards and automated houses and cars making sure you date who you are
supposed to for as long as you’re supposed to. The app tells the couple
separately that it has a design and to trust it to find you a mate. But
something in this world is obviously askew. And what happens if you want to
break the rules and veer from the app?
Spotify for dating - In a short-lived podcast about Black Mirror (Black
Mirror Cracked), Charlie Brooker called this episode “like Spotify for dating,”
in that it takes the data that you have given it (what songs you like), and
then it tries to find you songs (or podcasts) you might like because of your
previously entered data, and whether or not you listen to them or shut them off
immediately, it will gather data from that interaction, so every song – even
the crap you hated – helps to eventually come up with a perfect playlist for
you eventually. It’s times like this when I’m fucking glad I’m already married.
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| Careful. I wouldn't want you to give me a virus. |
#8
Blurryman, Twilight Zone 1.10
Featuring - Zazie Beetz, Jordan Peele, Seth Rogan
Summary - A writer is struggling to finish a script and we enter the
conflict in his head between his artistic vision and whoever is editing his
story by hearing him complain out loud to no one. Suddenly, he looks out the
window to find that his apocalyptic story has come true. Jordan Peele begins
his narration but partway through, he stops and asks for a rewrite, sending
this story deep into the Twilight Zone.
Analysis - This is the meta of all meta stories. It is about a writer
trying to write a Twilight Zone episode about a sci-fi writer who changes the
world with his words. This is a fantastic nightcap to the first season of the
show, and an excellent homage to the original Twilight Zone. It slows down in
the middle while the magician is showing you his empty hand, but the payoff is
well worth it, especially for hardcore TZ fans.
Missed Opportunity - I’m a sucker for anything meta, so when Jordan
Poole stopped his monologue to talk to the writers, I was all in. Some of my
past favorites were Paul Reiser in Mad About You telling Mark that he only saw
the first Alien movie, and when John Lithgow ran into William Shatner in 3rd
Rock From the Sun and told each other about the time they saw something on the
wing of the plane. However, when the Russo brothers directed Avengers: Infinity
War and consciously decided NOT to have Robert Downey Jr. say “No shit,
Sherlock” to Benedict Cumberbatch, I was pissed.
 |
| You realize only like 86 people in the world will get this joke. |
#7
Hated in the Nation, Black Mirror 3.6
Featuring - Kelly MacDonald, Faye Marsay
Summary - The mysterious death of a journalist sets a couple detectives
down a trail that seems to lead somehow to social media. When another person
dies in a similar fashion the very next day, the two find the most unlikely of
murder weapons was somehow used in both cases. And how it ultimately ties into
Twitter and how they could possibly stop it turns into a race against the
clock.
Analysis - This is brilliant. It is simply awesome. And it’s also the
kind of brilliant where you can pick up something new with every viewing. It
really takes two unique concepts and seamlessly combines them into one story.
This episode is the longest of any of the 52 presented here and it deserves to
be. It is more suspenseful and better thought out than most summer
blockbusters.
Danger, Danger - This episode aired in October 2016, a scant 35 days
after an episode of an actually-decent-for-adults teen superhero show called Henry
Danger aired an episode called “A Fiñata Full Of Death Bugs,” in which the
unwitting tools of murder are one the same. I did not catch the Henry Danger
episode until much later in my life, because I have not been in a while and did
not have until recently a pre-teen kid, but I watched it and thought they
must have stolen that idea from Black Mirror! only to find out that this
episode came out before that one. And as I’m assuming it takes more than 35
days to write, shoot, and edit an episode of Black Mirror, I’m guessing it was
just a coincidence.
 |
| Hey look! We made it into some random blog! |
#6
Metalhead, Black Mirror 4.5
Featuring - Maxine Peake
Summary - Three people set out in a car across an obviously abandoned countryside to get something from a warehouse. In the warehouse, they find an electronic killing machine they call a “dog” waiting for them. A woman manages to escape, but finds herself tracked by the dog. While on the run for survival, she manages to figure out how to elude the dog for a while, but how long will she be able to keep it up?
Analysis - I would not be surprised to hear this won some Sundance award and Black Mirror just slapped their logo on the front of it, a la The Twilight Zone’s An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge. It is beautifully shot in black and white, and possibly with a different frame rate to add some anxiety to the film. It is never explained how these dogs came to be, but it is clear they have wiped out most of humanity and the real story lies in whether or not this woman can escape with her life.
The Real Survivor - This episode is fantastic in its simplicity. It takes a huge world – which you can ask questions about along the way and for weeks afterward if you like – and makes it all about this one interaction. A person caught in a situation and can they get out of it? It has the same feel of something like Cast Away, Jaws, Fall, or 127 Hours. Only in this story, all of society has collapsed around her, but still the film is able to make you focus on just this one person just trying to survive.
 |
| Wrong Metalhead |
#5
Try, Try, Twilight Zone 2.9
Featuring – Kylie Bunbury, Topher Grace
Summary - Claudia has a chance encounter with Marc and they share a wonderful afternoon in a museum together. But it turns out this encounter may not have been such a chance one after all. For the rest of the afternoon, the two of them try desperately to get the other to understand their circumstances, but the disconnect between their two worlds may be too far a bridge to gap.
Analysis - The reason I enjoy this so much is because of how earnestly Marc feels like he’s doing the right thing and how well he argues his case. It should obviously seem that Claudia is being manipulated by Marc’s strange circumstance, but Topher Grace plays his character so well, you can empathize with his situation and appreciate his point of view, even though Claudia is the obvious protagonist.
No Spoiler Zone - I decided when I started this exercise that I would avoid spoilers, because these three sci-fi anthology shows often have some sort of a twist, and I know how pissed I would have been if The Daily Show had spoiled The Sixth Sense for me back in 1999. And this was the episode I was worried about. I had no idea how I was going to talk about it without giving anything away. So if it appears that I’ve said absolutely nothing so far, it’s probably because I haven’t. Because I couldn’t. So I guess sorry and you’re welcome. But I WILL say that this episode explores a decades-old concept that should have been tapped for more energy years ago, but really hasn’t until recently when now there’s a new take on the concept every couple of months. There. I probably just said it without saying it. Just go watch this episode. It’s only 42 minutes and it’s on something called Freevee, so I assume it’s free.
#4
USS Callister, Black Mirror 4.1
Featuring - Jesse Plemons, Cristin Milioti, Jimmi Simpson
Summary - The co-founder of a gaming company develops a version of their game for himself based on his favorite show, Space Fleet. He takes the DNA from some of his co-workers and creates a version of them inside the game, and they become his digital, unwilling slaves. When a new coworker is introduced into this ecosystem, she brings some ideas on how to possibly find a way out from under his Godlike rule.
Analysis - This is a perfect episode. It opens with an example of the simulation without explanation and the contrast between that and the real world gives the perfect amount of realism to each of these worlds. The cast is perfect and the subtle differences between the opening scene and the subsequent Space Fleet (a nod to Star Trek) scenes make us believe in that world and root for these digital characters.
You Down with NPC? - Black Mirror took a turn this season to explore life for those people in video games (and related things) and asked “What if they had feelings?” This was done marvelously in this episode, and again in Black Museum, mentioned above (episode 4.6). For a week, I had a crisis of conscience where I started to feel bad for all the Sims characters I doomed to die back in the 90s. And all those worms I killed. What war were we even fighting? And don’t get me started on Leisure Suit Larry. But then I remembered that Black Mirror is just a TV show. Or is it?
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| All's fair in love and Worms. |
#3
San Junipero - Black Mirror 3.4
Featuring - Mackenzie Davis, Denise Burse
Summary - It’s Saturday night in 1987 and an awkward young woman goes out on the town and meets a rather boisterous and popular young woman. They form a rather strange but comfortable relationship, but there are clues of something else going on – something with much higher stakes than simply a fun Saturday night on the town.
Analysis - This is such a well-constructed piece of artwork, I feel that calling it a TV episode wouldn’t do it justice. There are episodes that can tug at your heartstrings, and there is TV programming that does an excellent job of revealing their hand one card at a time to keep you guessing, but it is rare that a piece of work can do both with such elegance, while maintaining a consistent and appropriate tone. Bravo.
An Unlikely Hero - This is one of the less soul-hardening episodes of Black Mirror out there. In fact, it’s one of maybe two where you won’t necessarily feel the need to cry in the shower when it’s over. And it almost didn’t happen that way. Charlie Brooker, who wrote this episode first of all the offerings in Season 3, said he was originally going to end the episode earlier, after a scene in a hospital (successful non-spoiler). But while jogging, he heard Belinda Carlisle singing Heaven Is A Place On Earth and decided to keep writing and exploring Yorkie and Kelly’s journey. And so now you probably still need to shower, but for other reasons. Thank you, Ms. Carlisle!
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| Funny enough, Spielberg got the idea of Saving Private Ryan after listening to Circle in the Sand. |
#2
Among the Untrodden - Twilight Zone 2.5
Featuring - Sophia Macy, Abbie Hern
Summary - Irene walks into the classroom at an all-girls boarding school as a new student. She is immediately picked on by Madison and the popular mean girls, but through a project she does for the science fair, she learns that Madison may have psychic powers. The two girls become close and form an unlikely friendship, but friendship with a new psychic may come at a price.
Analysis - This is my favorite Twilight Zone episode because it manages to throw in a compelling story while perfectly embodying the struggle to fit in in high school. Both young actors are fantastic in their roles. Meanwhile, the story is one you may have seen before, but the episode does such a great job of sleight of hand, you may fail to realize it until the card is gone completely. And you’re better off if you do.
Using Children For Our Amusement - Kids make for great subjects, because they haven’t completely ripened yet, so they can change more easily than adults. Not only that, but because simply of the lack of revolutions around the sun, they aren’t held as accountable for their attitudes or actions. To a degree, of course. So when we are presented with the mean girls being mean, we can completely sympathize with them in the very next scene. This makes it a little easier for this particular episode to turn a very common trope on its head.
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| Don't even get me started on the mode girls. |
#1
White Christmas - Black Mirror 2.4
Featuring - Jon Hamm, Rafe Spall, Oona Chaplin, Rasmus Hardiker, Natalia Tena
Summary - In a series of three intertwined vignettes, two men stranded together in a desolate icy wasteland on Christmas open up to each other about what led them there. It is unclear if they are there voluntarily or not, but it is clear they are both running away from something. The American was inadvertently a voyeur in a horrible crime, while the Brit did something he couldn’t speak about for the last five years.
Analysis - This is perfection in storytelling. It manages to take these three bleak individual stories of technology and seamlessly intertwine them into a cohesive whole. And with each story, we are kept at arm’s length and only given pieces of the puzzle at just the right time. This episode builds on gut punch after gut punch until you feel like you’ve been in a heavyweight fight by the end. And you feel the pain for days.
Happy Easter! - Charlie Brooker thought when he shot this that it would be the final installment of Black Mirror (as it was the last before Netflix picked it up for a 12-episode run they split into seasons 3 and 4). So he decided to put Easter eggs in the episode for all the episodes that had come before (which, to be fair, was only 6). The Z-eyes was an homage to the grain in The Entire History of You, the pregnancy test was the same one used in Be Right Back, the ticker during a news report brings up the Prime Minister from The National Anthem, and “15 Million Merits,” “White Bear,” and “The Waldo Moment” can be seen in TV as Potter is scrolling through the stations. This means that there is a Black Mirror Cinematic Universe and within that universe, some episodes exist as things that happen, while some episodes exist as television programming. Trying to map out exactly how this universe exists could be extremely confusing and taxing. Which is why it’s what I will do next. Merry Christmas!
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| A shared Black Mirror-verse |
End of the Fourth Quarter (also the entire game)
And there it is. My favorite of these entire series is the
same as everybody else’s favorite. I really didn’t want this to be my favorite
because I quite enjoy pretending I’m a contrarian, but sometimes you just have
to dip your chocolate into the peanut butter and say Yep. Everybody else was
right. And in terms of final score, it was totally my plan the entire time
to just average the place of each of the three franchises. That makes the most
sense and also renders all that other stuff about who was ahead at the end of
the third quarter meaningless. And also medianless and modeless too. (Boomerang
joke!)
In this system, an average score would be a 26.5, since
we’re taking the average of the numbers from 1-52. And in the end, the average
position for the three went something like this. Electric Dreams came in 3rd
place with an average position of 33.6. That’s actually better than I thought
it would be going in. But then again, I was a film major. Math was just a
passionate hobby of mine. The Twilight Zone reboot had an average score of 28.1.
And the uncontested winner is Black Mirror, with an average seed position of
21.9. And more than that, they had 8 of the top 13, which will drag your score
up, if my college hobby taught me anything.
So a congrats to Black Mirror for being the completely
objectively better franchise than the Twilight Zone and Electric Dreams. And
congrats to me for finally finishing this project I started over two years ago
and to you for reading this entire very painfully spoiler-free word jumble. And
one more time, for those of you without Z-eyes, all of these are worth
watching, save for the very bottom of the barrel. The rest of the barrel are
the fun monkeys, swinging around, all proud and red and plastic. I wrote this
actually to hopefully inspire a few of you out there to give one or two of
these episodes a shot if you like the description and then maybe hopefully get
hooked. But if you are just reading this so you can say “No way Blurryman is
better than Hang the DJ!”, that’s cool too.
Once again, thanks for reading and remember that not everything that isn’t true is a lie. I hope to see you all again in that special place between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge and if the shit hits the wall, you could always just kill all others.
 |
| Winning! |
