Black mirror

Yes. If you don't want to buy or add the extra option of protection for your kids, you're instantly the bad guy.

You're always the bad guy as a parent. Lol.

 

I'm surprised to see someone else finally have the same thoughts that I did regarding this episode. Crocodile was hyped up by a few people I know. When I finally watched it the other day I was left wondering what the hype was about. Sure, the ending was good but the episode was way too long. Even within the first ten minutes or so I found the scenery to be more interesting than anything else that was going on. That remained my thought process throughout the majority of the episode, too.

I watched season 4 in a random order and glad I didn't save crocodile for last. The salt would have been real.

 

You two are not the only ones. Crocodile is IMO among the worst episodes by a huge margin, along with The Waldo Moment, Playtest and Black Museum. Not offensively bad for sure, but terribly pointless and bland.

Luckily appart from Crocodile and Black Museum I found season 4 to be pretty good overall. USS Callister and Hang the DJ are simply fantastic.

 

I sure didn't think the ending to Crocodile was good. I thought it was the worst part. I also disagree that it wasn't offensively bad. Those other three episodes you mention are not great, but they're all vastly better, especially Black Museum. Here is my fuller version of that post. I originally made it on a TV review site where a bunch of people were like "that ending is not technologically feasible

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cause guinea pigs can't retain memories

cause I read it in a scientific journal! It totally took me out of the episode!!"

"This is by far the worst episode of this show yet. This was one of the most infuriating watches I’ve had recently. I HATED this episode, flat-out, by any metric. There’s NO reason for this episode to be remotely close to as long as it is. It has no real plot development, all it does it just keep adding more plot details blindly until it digs itself into a hole and then throws out the

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guinea pig twist,

which seems like it was decided after the rest of the episode had been filmed and the writer was informed they had to come up with an ending in the next 10 seconds or they were fired. Like, most obviously, the whole first section could have been removed with no detriment to the story. Was this supposed to show she was an innocent at some point and that bad guy set her off

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on the path towards becoming a mass murderer?

Or was it just padding? Either way, it should have gone.

And the episode so completely fails to sell any sort of anguish on the part of this horrible woman that instead of it being any kind of interesting character study

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about a woman who keeps digging herself in past her own breaking point, we instead get the tale of a dull aryan psycho murdering a non-white family with blunt instruments, and she would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for that darn guinea pig!!!

I can’t believe people are saying they were taken out of the episode by the twist because it was technologically unfeasible. There are far, far more egregious reasons for why that twist is terrible. Adding the 100% pointless detail that

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the baby was blind?

Fuck you, episode. Just fuck you.

Worst. Episode. Ever. /comicbookguy"

So yeah, I really, really hated this episode. One of the worst episodes of TV I've ever seen.

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And I don't even like babies!

 

Their "twist" (baby and guinea pig) isn't what I was focused on for the ending. Her breaking point and acceptance of her new ways was extremely exaggerated. For me, the ending was her making her way to the bathroom. Everything else, including the baby and guinea pig, were merely filler. Maybe it's because the episode was so drawn out, the only bit of tension of uneasiness was her journey through the house.

That and the scenery was about all I could take away from the episode.

 

I really enjoyed this season. The show has become a bit of a victim of its own success in that you can start anticipating the twists well in advance and pick every episode apart if you want but you just have to take it for what it is.

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USS Callister was a great opener. It felt like this episode was wrote in mind for people that were watching it for the first time. I had a friend over watching with me who had never watched it before.

Arkangel was my least favourite, the idea could have been better executed with a darker ending.

Crocodile was an enjoyable watch but the last 15 mins are so could have been better. Like Arkangel the whole story could have been better executed.

Hang the DJ was probably my favourite. I've used online dating for years and met my gf through it so really enjoyed the idea of this one. They could have done something really dark but that would have been too predictable so having a positive episode with a happy ending was a nice surprise.

Metalhead was a mix of Mad Max, Terminator, Screamers, The Road and a ton of other post apocalyptic dystopian films along with some some old black & white horrors. A simple story and unoriginal but I still really enjoyed it. Horribly bleak with a vague backstory and welcome typical Black Mirror ending. The purpose of the mission is a little confusing and the director hasn't said too much about it so you are really left to your own imagination. Originally there was supposed to be a scene of someone controlling the dogs but that was scrapped.

I really enjoyed this one and how they mixed multiple stories together. Arkangel or Crocodile could have been fit in here like that. The fan service in Black Museum was well done and sure to keep the endless debate about a timeline going until next season. A little too much spoon feeding though which was odd considering the last episode was so vague and received a lot of criticism for.

 

I'm kind of perplexed by how much people are dumping on Black Museum. It's not GREAT, but I liked the second and third segments of it and found the overarching story amusing. The doctor thing sucks, though, I'll give it that. But compared to the aforementioned Waldo episode (or IMO White Bear or especially Crocodile) it's f'in Citizen Kane.

What would a "darker ending" look like with Arkangel???

 

I know I’m in the minority but I found Waldo moment to be pretty interesting given the current state of things in the US. it basically happened.

It’s got things about it that could be don better but I still think it’s decetn.

 

Well, it happened in the UK before us!

I was amused by the "anyone who gets x number of votes gets to appear on stage" thing since I'd already heard about the same thing happening with "Lord Buckethead," which made me laugh and laugh. They had him on John Oliver's show afterwards.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...mo-and-mr-fish-finger-a-very-british-election

Anyway, the episode was just dreary and predictable. Like, at first, it's kind of interesting, but it just becomes obvious and predictable, until the insane ending, which isn't a twist or anything, it's just a really blunt and silly hammering home of the idea that kind of undermines the whole thing.

 

I've tried a few episodes of this show now. I don't find it all that compelling, because the human element seems to be fundamentally missing, at which point it's quite difficult to consider it a commentary on much.

 

I really enjoyed the Doctor story, it was a nice change to see them fit multiple stories into one episode. It also felt like they were poking fun throughout the episode at the audience for craving such characters and stories. White Bear is the only episode I don't like, still haven't finished it since the main character constantly screaming was getting a bit much.

In Arkangel I was expecting it to end with

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the daughter triggering the block feature and breaking the controller so she's permanently like that.

 

Ah. Yeah, that does seem obvious now that you say it. I think I was afraid of that too, since it was established early on that the technology was banned.

 

I watched out of order and so glad I kept the first episode for last. It was, by far, the best episode of the season. That was the black mirror I've been used to.

 

finally got around to starting s4.

first episode was good as everyone says

 

What black mirror have you been watching and where can I get some?

 

Netflix and season 1-3. Watch for the storyline, not for the inevitable M. Knight Shamalamalama technology-based twists that will be heavily dissected for debate of realistic vs fantasy on the Internets.

The first episode felt and watched like a story just like many episodes from previous seasons. Without revisiting episode recaps, the only other episode from season 4 that was memorable was Arkangel. That's not to say it was good or bad but merely that I remember the story. The rest? I remember a metal dog, scavengers and a downloaded hologram for torture but with a twist of then downloading more real life to transform to a hologram for more torture. Neat.

Disclaimer: The above recollections may not be accurate by any means. Hence forgettable storylines being forgettable.

 

I was basically asking "what other Black Mirror episode is anything like this one?" since you said "now THIS episode is like the first three seasons, unlike all the other season 4 episodes!!" I've seen all of them and none of them are even close to that fun and silly and exciting. The first three seasons are almost nonstop misery apart from San Junipero and that rate people episode. It's a radical departure for the series. So, I was wondering if you'd been watching a different version of Black Mirror that I didn't know about That episode was probably my favorite of the new season, it was really great.

 

I will say none of the previous episodes had the added "fun and silly" moments like this one, but I'm happy they didn't. This episode probably wouldn't stand out so well from the pack if other episodes had that same vibe going on. The first three seasons were soaked in misery. The creative storylines glued it all together, for me at least. The rest of season four had a lot of high tech wizardry going on that lacked any substance and depth story-wise to keep me all that interested. Hoping season five gets back on track.