It was quite a wait between Season 4 of Netflix's Black Mirror before we finally got to see their interactive film Bandersnatch last year prior to the 3-episodes Season 5 aired earlier this month. For the record, Black Mirror was one of the Netflix series that saved me from boredom on boring cold nights when I was away for work in the cold winter weather in Europe last year. The other being Stranger Things (but reserve some rants for July '19 shall we?).
For the uninitiated, Black Mirror is a 'what if' series that tell us about the horrors of technology and how they will impact human lives in the near future.
I thoroughly enjoyed Season 1 till 4 although there were some less than desirable episodes along the way, but I sat through all of them nonetheless! Rumors had it that Netflix was gonna blow our minds off with Season 5 episodes but one didn't expect it to have only 3 episodes. I think Netflix capped it at 3 episodes this season just to gauge how audiences (yours truly included) will react to them and whether further episodes are needed for Season 5....or would Season 6 be in the works later.
So what made Season 5 so special? Since their release on June 5, I've heard mixed reactions and mostly were good despite some quarters saying that Charlie Brooker (that's Black Mirror's chief writer) had run out of juice after Season 4. Again, please ignore them 'paid reviewers' and do yourself a favor and watch the new episodes yourselves to find out. I personally love all three episodes, especially the first two.
In a nutshell....
Episode #1 - Striking Vipers is perhaps my most favorite among the three mainly because of the extreme virtual reality (VR) capabilities that allow one to integrate with whatever video games you desire. The gender/sexuality issue aside, I think the episode successfully explored the innermost and darkest feelings one might have if superficial relationships are to be a thing in the near future. Scary, but somehow you can't help but feel that technology will get the better of human relationship in the near future. Heck, it's already happening now with your Instagrams, twitters, facebooks and whatnots....
Speaking about facebook.....
Episode #2 - Smithereens is perhaps a metaphor on how facebook has managed to subconciously control our lives from the moment you wake up in the morning and the instance before you go to bed every night. I like Topher Grace's character in the episode and he managed to convince me that he is NOT Eric Foreman anymore so that's a good thing. At one point I even said to myself that the episode might even be better than Striking Vipers but in the end arcade games still reign supreme. LOL.
Episode #3 - Rachel, Jack & Ashley Too deals with the possibility of us living forever albeit our subconscious minds being transferred to another vessel. Again, human greed proved to be the downfall of an empire so technology wasn't the sole culprit this time around. I almost didn't recognize Miley Cyrus but yea, that's her alright in the center of the whole plot. Great story line but it is my least favorite story among the three episodes.
Coming back to Bandersnatch, doesn't it remind you (for those of you old enough to remember that is!) of those addictive adventure game books you've played in the 80s/90s? the ones where you decide the next course of actions and whether you die a fiery/gruesome death on your next chosen page? If you haven't watched it yet then please go and do it soon! You'll be hooked to try all of the different routes and how choosing different answers will lead you to alternate scenes/endings. Trust me when I say that some of the choices you'd have to make on behalf of the main character/protagonist were down right creepy! So far I still haven't reached the 'secret ending' yet but it's probably time to go and re-watch Bandersnatch again anyway.
Laters.
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