Black Mirror has returned to Netflix for season 5, a shortened season that goes back to three episodes, like the original UK program before it was acquired by the streaming service. This may not be a permanent change, and seems inspired by how much work went into Bandersnatch, the lengthy, interactive Black Mirror episode that was out earlier this year which took as much as work as four episodes put together, because how much had to be filmed and scripted.
As I always do with new seasons, I wanted to rank the new episodes of Black Mirror from worst to best. Given that there are only three episodes, this will be a much shorter task than usual. I would classify two of the episodes as pretty good, and one of them as great, making this a solid season overall. I’m still trying to think of if any of them fit into the top 10 all time, but I’ll consider that another day.
So, how are these three? Here’s the list, and I will stay as spoiler-free as I can in the descriptions, as I’ll get into the full details of them another day. Like most Black Mirror episodes, the less you know about them going in, the better.
3. Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too
It was a bit of a toss-up as to which episode got the last slot here. I’m not putting this episode here because of any sort of anti-Miley Cyrus bias. I actually think she did a great job here in the part, which obviously is one that suits her. She plays a pop star, Ashley O, who is less Miley and perhaps more Katy Perry with her bright colors and ultra upbeat song lyrics, but her personal life is far more dark, controlled by her aunt and manager, drugged by her on-staff doctor. It’s bleak.
The other half of the story revolves around two sisters, Rachel and Jack, who has lost their mom. Jack copes by playing moody guitar music, Rachel by being an Ashley O superfan, and naturally, she’s first in line to grab an Ashley Too, a sort of AI-driven virtual helper robot that can do anything from teach you dance moves to listen to you talk about your feelings, while channeling Ashley O’s voice and positive spirit.
My problem with this episode is that it feels like it’s trying to do too many things at once. The message that Miley was probably on board with, that being a star is hard and everyone tries to control you, is a bit blunt with the lengths her aunt and team go by the end, and it comes across as a bit goofy. The Ashley Too stuff is interesting, and eventually features a callback to another piece of older Black Mirror tech, but I think the episode would have benefitted from full focus on Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too, as the title states, and the Ashley O stuff doesn’t work quite as well, despite Miley being pretty good herself.
2. Smithereens
This one is anchored by one thing and one thing only, the performance of Sherlock/Fleabag’s Andrew Scott, who is absolutely phenomenal as a desperate man who takes an employee of the social media company Smithereens hostage in order to speak to its CEO.
Compared to most other Black Mirror episodes, this one is super small scale, taking place only in a few locations, the main one being a car in a field where Scott’s character holds a young intern (who he mistook for an executive) hostage.
The tech here is not all that Black Mirror-ish, just a social network very clearly meant to emulate Facebook, though with some dark privacy aspects as there are some moments that show Smithereens being able to get more information on the hostage-taker before even the police, thanks to scraping his internet profile. They even turn his phone into a device to spy on him when he thinks he’s on hold, waiting to speak to the CEO.
Topher Grace is that CEO, a kind of hybrid of Twitter’s Jack Dorsey (he’s on a silent retreat in Utah as all this is going down) and Mark Zuckerberg, but the show gives him a surprising amount of empathy, acting like this monstrous network he created is simply beyond his control.
The best and worst parts of the episode are the ending. First, learning why Andrew Scott is doing all this is heartbreaking and a brilliant piece of television, though one that maybe didn’t need another 55 minutes to lead up to it. But the very end makes it seem like the writers didn’t really know how to end this, and you’ll see what I mean by that.
1. Striking Vipers
I was surprised that this episode ended up being first on my list because from the initial trailer, I had zero idea what it was about. And that’s by design. This is definitely one that you should not know much about going in, so I will be as vague as I can be without being annoying.
The story focuses on family man Danny (Anthony Mackie), who after getting married and having a kid, reconnects with a friend from a decade ago. The two start playing Striking Vipers online, a fighting game that’s more or less a knock-off of Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat, and it changes the lives of everyone involved.
As for why I like Striking Vipers so much, I’d have to get into full spoilers, but suffice to say it went some place I was not expecting, and it raises some very interesting questions about video games, VR, technology, morality and infidelity, as well as a new class of sexual questions that I’m not sure anyone’s even thought to ask before. I’m not sure how I feel about the conclusions it ultimately draws, but this is a very powerful, very strange episode that is going to stick with me longer than these other two, I can already tell.
Watch the season, let me know your own order after you do.
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