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Definitely felt Striking Vipers could have gone a lot darker, maybe Karl bunny boiling or looking to record the game session and blackmail Danny to keep the sessions going? I don't think that Karl necessarily wanted to transition as some said, he still wouldn't have the experience IRL he got in the game. It was more the game ruined sex for him, the way when you're a kid and you find woods porn it's amazing but nowadays nothing but a 4k hardcore porn scene does it for most people, at the very least.
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Jun 7, 2019 10:48
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I watched The Waldo Moment for the first time earlier this year, and I thought it was entertaining if not as tightly plotted as some of the others. I thought Tobias Menzies' speech was a little too on-the-nose, though... then I googled it and found out that episode came out long before Trump started his campaign. I wouldn't call it a bad episode, just a little weaker.
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Jun 7, 2019 13:40
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There's a lot I don't like about that episode. It's framed like it's a road to dystopia when people don't choose wisely enough between the giant douche over the turd sandwich, as if that's the real problem here and as if state power wouldnt grow regardless. And then the main character being randomly homeless at the end. I don't ever want to knock BM episodes too hard because even the ones I dont like are so high effort and I really appreciate the show. But that one was looking at the wrong pieces of the puzzle. (It's been a very long time since I watched it) No Wave fucked around with this message at 15:03 on Jun 7, 2019 |
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Jun 7, 2019 15:00
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The Waldo Moment is easily one of the worst episodes. It's up their with Arkangel and Men Against Fire. Interestingly all three are arguably the worst in different ways. What makes The Waldo Moment place so low is that it has a great premise but doesn't really do anything with it. You see Waldo become popular and then it flash forwards to the future where he is an international sensation, but the world has become fascist. The episode should have spent time showing the transition of the state being increasing authoritarian and cold while it feeds into a cycle of the people growing more apathetic and Waldo growing more popular. I don't mean to get too political with this but the issue with the episode is that it has a very liberal (in the American term) point of view. That things can only get slightly better and that voting is merely a way to keep the state in check to stop the nation into turning into Nazi Germany or Neo Feudalism. When in actuality the episode should have taken a socialist view which is that instead of people joining various organizations, unions, or movements, they are "sticking it to the man" by voting for a virtual teddy bear. Oh and no it isn't the politicians fault for not having an ephinany of "drat, the people hate our proposals so much they'd rather vote for a poo poo talking bear, maybe we should change our policies and approach." Basically the show takes the opinion of this comic.
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Jun 7, 2019 16:33
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punk rebel ecks posted:The Waldo Moment is easily one of the worst episodes. It's up their with Arkangel and Men Against Fire. Interestingly all three are arguably the worst in different ways. quote:Opening mid-childbirth, “Arkangel” is a Black Mirror episode all about motherhood. This particular mother (played by Rosemarie DeWitt) is no different from most. Protective, caring, human. Constructed in reaction shots and snippets of dialogue with her elderly father, DeWitt’s character is well-intentioned yet fallible—a dangerous combination in this tempting technological near-future crafted by writer Charlie Brooker. Then, director Jodie Foster (channeling her Tales from the Darkside experience) constructs some unforgettable images—ripe and warm, next to gory reminders of mortality—for us to observe while the parenting drama becomes something darker: After a minor scare, DeWitt’s character springs for a microchip tracking device that allows her to see through her child’s eyes and filter out undesirable sights and sounds. (Censorship, meet security. You two have never met in a debate before, right?) Short, sweet and seething with the backstabbed martyrdom of a scorned helicopter mom, “Arkangel” is the perfect sci-fi encapsulation of the “mama bear” trope. The line between protector and assailant has never felt so thin. —Jacob Oller
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Jun 7, 2019 16:51
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Worst episode is Metalhead it's not even close. Even the Waldo Moment is watchable compared to a person crying and flailing making awful decisions for an hour
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Jun 7, 2019 16:54
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Gobbeldygook posted:Arkangel is a great example of an episode that most people don't like but that you also shouldn't skip in case you're the target audience. Here's Paste magazine on why they ranked it the third best episode: Arkangel had a decent premise but escalated so much and so quickly that it became completely ludicrous
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Jun 7, 2019 16:57
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The only part of Arkangel that I actively dont like is when the software that was supposed to protect the kid makes her ultraviolent because she cant see how badly she's beating on her mom. The whole episode was already about the software being dangerous! It's that trademark Black Mirror moment that was getting a little stale by S4 so I'm glad they abandoned it a bit in S5.
No Wave fucked around with this message at 17:01 on Jun 7, 2019 |
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Jun 7, 2019 16:57
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Metalhead really was the worst. A interesting concept ruined by being totally pointless and stupid.
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Jun 7, 2019 16:59
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punk rebel ecks posted:The Waldo Moment is easily one of the worst episodes. It's up their with Arkangel and Men Against Fire. Interestingly all three are arguably the worst in different ways. It’s amazing how quickly “voting is good and you should do it” became a reprehensible political position for so many people.
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Jun 7, 2019 17:02
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Black Mirror is still good, but I don't know that it's capable of being very surprising anymore. It used to present wildly different versions of the future, but the last two seasons have converged onto the ideas of digital consciousness that's equivalent to human consciousness (downloading a brain) and virtual environments that are the tactile equivalent to reality (perfect VR). A lot of the newer episodes are about these things, and it's getting to the point where Black Mirror almost has a fixed setting.
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Jun 7, 2019 17:02
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The biggest problem with Arkangel is that the daughter is supposed to be 15 but she looks 22.Doltos posted:Worst episode is Metalhead it's not even close. Even the Waldo Moment is watchable compared to a person crying and flailing making awful decisions for an hour I never got the hate for this one.
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Jun 7, 2019 17:03
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No Wave posted:The only part of Arkangel that I actively dont like is when the software that was supposed to protect the kid makes her ultraviolent because she cant see how badly she's beating on her mom. The whole episode was already about the software being dangerous! It's that trademark Black Mirror moment that was getting a little stale by S4 so I'm glad they abandoned it a bit in S5. There’s a better version of Arkangel somewhere in there. I think, “there’s a problem that kid doesn’t know how to solve because her entire world has been censored” would have been a better ending.
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Jun 7, 2019 17:05
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OR the same technology but you can use it to filter out opposing world views? A sci-fi equivalent of Twitter bubbles? I don’t know, maybe that’s dumb. Saucy_Rodent fucked around with this message at 17:26 on Jun 7, 2019 |
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Jun 7, 2019 17:07
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Doltos posted:Worst episode is Metalhead it's not even close. Even the Waldo Moment is watchable compared to a person crying and flailing making awful decisions for an hour PostNouveau posted:Black Mirror is still good, but I don't know that it's capable of being very surprising anymore.
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Jun 7, 2019 17:10
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Saucy_Rodent posted:There’s a better version of Arkangel somewhere in there. I think, “there’s a problem that kid doesn’t know how to solve because her entire world has been censored” would have been a better ending. The real conceptual problem with the software was obvious, it assumed that scary things can't actually hurt you when in reality an angry german shepherd is scary precisely because it can hurt you. You just kind of have to go along with the show's narrative they want to present though which is fine the episode wasnt about the pros and cons of exactly that exact software. No Wave fucked around with this message at 17:16 on Jun 7, 2019 |
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Jun 7, 2019 17:13
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Season 3 was Black Mirror at its best. Season 4 was a low point, but I find Season 5 marginally better. Still a great show.
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Jun 7, 2019 17:17
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punk rebel ecks posted:Season 3 was Black Mirror at its best. Season 4 was a low point, but I find Season 5 marginally better. Still a great show. I agree for the most part. I’ve only watched Striking Vipers so far, but it’s great. Season 4 had some good episodes but no great ones.
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Jun 7, 2019 17:25
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Black Mirror is a good show, but 15 Million Merits is insane genius. No show could ever regularly pump something like that out and I'm happy I got it once.
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Jun 7, 2019 17:28
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No Wave posted:Black Mirror is a good show, but 15 Million Merits is insane genius. No show could ever regularly pump something like that out and I'm happy I got it once. Theres an important detail to know about 15MM, it was written by Brooker's wife, Konnie Huq, who used to host Blue Peter, a really cute and wholesome kids/family show, so it's an absolutely massive pivot in tone for her. But importantly, she also hosted one of the X Factor shows, so all the behind the scenes stuff is presumably based on her horrible first hand account. There's some autobiographical parallels between Bing and Brooker, which gives it a really crushing undercurrent of self loathing. But her involvement makes me feel she's carrying a load of guilt too. They also showed the episode to clash with the first X Factor final that she wasn't involved in, which is a great and petty gesture. Also, and i can't prove this, but I suspect she first met Brooker when she appeared on Screen Wipe to make a fake documentary about pissing on a hill. Relationship goals right there.
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Jun 7, 2019 17:50
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Thats bad rear end, I didnt know any of that. I'm not a smart person so I didnt put together bing = brooker but it makes so much sense. Their parody x factor was so beautifully done, slightly off (how weirdly gross looking the hosts are, ghost's leaden quips) in ways that make it really offensive... having real life experience explains how they did it so well. Doing something they felt so strongly about and keeping it funny must have been so difficult, but they totally nailed it.
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Jun 7, 2019 17:59
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Strom Cuzewon posted:But importantly, she also hosted one of the X Factor shows, so all the behind the scenes stuff is presumably based on her horrible first hand account. There's some autobiographical parallels between Bing and Brooker, which gives it a really crushing undercurrent of self loathing. But her involvement makes me feel she's carrying a load of guilt too.
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Jun 7, 2019 18:11
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Were they trying to be artsy with this season? Episode 1: Conclusion, then an epilogue in the credits. Episode 2: No conclusion, conclusion in the credits. Episode 3: No conclusion, no conclusion in the credits. I hate things where it just ends and "it's all up to the viewer what really happened." No, you just didn't know how to end your story.
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Jun 7, 2019 18:22
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Episode 1: no real questions Episode 2: the narrative doesnt really change depending on who lives and dies. I'll just assume moriarty died. Episode 3: Aunty went to jail and ashley is making different music now, and ashley 2 will... uh... who knows. What did you think wasnt resolved?
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Jun 7, 2019 18:28
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Ugh, I hate how Netflix plays un numbered episodes of things now. For me, the order it played episodes was the Ashley one, then Striking Vipers, then Smithereens. I guess that might be backwards, because it kept trying to play all the Patriot Act episodes backwards too.
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Jun 7, 2019 18:42
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Doltos posted:Worst episode is Metalhead it's not even close. Even the Waldo Moment is watchable compared to a person crying and flailing making awful decisions for an hour
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Jun 7, 2019 19:00
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Cojawfee posted:Ugh, I hate how Netflix plays un numbered episodes of things now. For me, the order it played episodes was the Ashley one, then Striking Vipers, then Smithereens. I guess that might be backwards, because it kept trying to play all the Patriot Act episodes backwards too. Watching the last episode first is how I've watched every Black Mirror season. At least they're mostly self contained stories.
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Jun 7, 2019 19:14
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White Christmas is the best BM episode 
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Jun 7, 2019 19:34
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Rupert Buttermilk posted:White Christmas is the best BM episode
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Jun 7, 2019 19:46
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Rupert Buttermilk posted:White Christmas is the best BM episode
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Jun 7, 2019 19:54
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I think Hated in the Nation is the worst one.
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Jun 7, 2019 20:04
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punk rebel ecks posted:I assume it's taking advantage of the contestants and exploiting them? Oh massively. We've recently had a bunch of suicides linked to other reality shows, so I imagine there'll be some horror stories combing out the woodwork
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Jun 7, 2019 20:08
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Teriyaki Hairpiece posted:I think Hated in the Nation is the worst one. No Wave fucked around with this message at 20:19 on Jun 7, 2019 |
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Jun 7, 2019 20:13
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I was about to say it wasn't that bad, but I was thinking about the social media points episode, not the dumb cyber bees one.
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Jun 7, 2019 20:45
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Oh I love nosedive, probably my number 3. Beautifully realized visually and the end wedding scene is the kind of funny not at all funny I like. It's great because it's not just social media bad, it's more about the preservation and accessibility of all your life history (to employers and otherwise). And Jessica Chastain's attempt to climb socially is something that isnt just technology's doing.
No Wave fucked around with this message at 21:10 on Jun 7, 2019 |
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Jun 7, 2019 21:07
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S-tier: White Bear, San Junipero A-tier: National Anthem, 15 Million Merits, Entire History of You, Be Right Back, Striking Vipers B-tier: Shut Up and Dance, USS Callister C-tier: Playtest, Hayes in the Nation, Metalhead D-tier: Nosedive, Men on Fire, Hang the DJ, Black Museum F-tier: Waldo Moment, Arkangel, Crocodile Episodes in episode order within tiers
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Jun 7, 2019 21:28
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No Wave posted:Oh I love nosedive, probably my number 3. Beautifully realized visually and the end wedding scene is the kind of funny not at all funny I like. It's great because it's not just social media bad, it's more about the preservation and accessibility of all your life history (to employers and otherwise). And Jessica Chastain's attempt to climb socially is something that isnt just technology's doing. Don't be racist against redheads please.
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Jun 7, 2019 21:29
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Saucy_Rodent posted:S-tier: White Bear, San Junipero What about Bandersnatch?
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Jun 7, 2019 21:34
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15 Million Merits is the best one absolutely.
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Jun 7, 2019 21:44
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Teriyaki Hairpiece posted:15 Million Merits is the best one absolutely. It's probably my favorite. Even more now since this thread brought up the episode writer's background with reality TV.
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Jun 7, 2019 21:52
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