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Saucy_Rodent posted:I loved the ending, where they all made a compromise. Danny and his wife remain a 90% monogamous loving couple, everybody got some version of what they wanted. It doesn’t need to be dark to make its point. They're stuck in a lifeless relationship and one day a month they get to actually enjoy themselves.
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Jun 10, 2019 14:02
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HorseRenoir posted:Finished the whole season and mostly felt underwhelmed. I appreciate that they toned down the edginess and went for something a little more lighthearted this year, but the only episode that worked for me was the Miley Cyrus one. The other two were alright but they felt so stretched out for no reason at all. Same. It was basically the only interesting one. The other two was just relationship drama and "man waits on the phone".
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Jun 10, 2019 14:04
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Holy moly, I just finished watching episode 3. They got Miley Cyrus to do a Disney Channel episode. It's Hannah Montana 3 but with horrific Black Mirror poo poo, absolutely fantastic stuff!
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Jun 10, 2019 14:25
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"What if phones, but too much" indeed. If the dude from Smithereens had gotten into an accident when changing the radio station, would he have demanded to talk to the descendants of the dude who invented the radio and blubbered at him? Also, why in the world would they even tell Billy about the demand to talk to him if they weren't going to let him? He's in the loving desert, he won't find out otherwise. Just leave him in the dark, he supposedly didn't even know anybody knew where he was. Seems like a crappy attempt at more conflict. This was a really bad episode. The Miley Cyrus episode was good, Striking Vipers didn't really do it for me. Though the effects where they were in the game were pretty cool. Nail Rat fucked around with this message at 15:34 on Jun 10, 2019 |
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Jun 10, 2019 14:29
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Alhazred posted:They're stuck in a lifeless relationship and one day a month they get to actually enjoy themselves. Or they love each other and want to be with each other but have desires that they can’t fulfill within the confines of pure monogamy.
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Jun 10, 2019 14:41
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Saucy_Rodent posted:Or they love each other and want to be with each other but have desires that they can’t fulfill within the confines of pure monogamy. The way his wife spoke about how she was bored but stayed because of commitment makes me think it wasn't a really healthy relationship.
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Jun 10, 2019 15:01
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Alhazred posted:The way his wife spoke about how she was bored but stayed because of commitment makes me think it wasn't a really healthy relationship. I took the ending as an indication that their relationship issues began to heal when they started communicating.
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Jun 10, 2019 15:10
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I thought different. As I mentioned in my first read I did like that striking vipers feels ambiguous enough that different people end up having different takes on it. For me the ending was kind of a sad compromise, and I too have read enough of the relationships thread to know that open relationships rarely work out. Theo seemed far more committed and interested in her husband until he basically grew distant, and while she said she could go gently caress anyone she did not seem particularly happy about her one night out as they showed her at the end. Karl basically turns into a single cat lady (nothing wrong with that, I'm currently one myself, but at 40 years old for one night of virtual sex it seems pretty grim). I think having been in an "emotional cheating" (nevermind real cheating) situation I kind of feel more for Theo who has to deal with the fact her husband checked out and barely got his poo poo back together.
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Jun 10, 2019 16:07
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Clocks posted:I thought different. As I mentioned in my first read I did like that striking vipers feels ambiguous enough that different people end up having different takes on it. Yeah, I read it pretty much exactly the same, especially re: the quiet sadness of Karl apparently eschewing other relationships for the sake of being Danny's once-a-year side piece. Also, yeah, Danny's sort of a real scumbag for cheating on Theo (and denying it to her face three times in a row!), which is easy to skate over when we're bombarded with images of him being unhappy in his marriage.
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Jun 10, 2019 16:23
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Why would you program a bot to feel pain when you insert an USB cable though.
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Jun 10, 2019 16:36
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Alhazred posted:Why would you program a bot to feel pain when you insert an USB cable though. Why would the software for the dad's bespoke remote controlled rat be 100% compatible with an AI bot made by a multimillion dollar enterprise?
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Jun 10, 2019 16:38
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Android Blues posted:Danny's sort of a real scumbag for cheating on Theo The big problem with the episode in general is black mirror making the videogame so advanced that it just makes all the moral questions really simple. Like right now there is a guy somewhere in a stale marriage that goes on second life and does cybersex. And there is like, big questions on that, is it cheating the first time he plays a canned sex animation? no, that is just pornography, but like, if he's doing cybersex with the same person all the time that is cheating, but different than physical cheating, and like he might fall in love but if he's not talking to the person and only doing cyber sex what is that? is he in love with the guy or the dumb second life cat girl toilet or whatever. But like, striking vipers is just real, it's got no gray area or any complicated questions. It's just regular old cheating with the person. there isn't the abstraction that videogames give. Like people made private RP rooms in like diablo II in 2001 or whatever and what the hell is that? but this isn't anything, striking vipers is just real in basically every way. So there isn't much to the questions.
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Jun 10, 2019 16:51
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Owlofcreamcheese posted:The big problem with the episode in general is black mirror making the videogame so advanced that it just makes all the moral questions really simple. I do think it would have been a stronger episode if they'd cut all the, "these fighting game characters are inexplicably hooked up for force feedback sex!" stuff and had it be like, the most they can physically do is kiss and touch each other's Barbie doll bodies, but they end up having virtual sex anyway because the appeal is ultimately psychological.
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Jun 10, 2019 17:20
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That would be a completely different story. And I dont think "does it count as cheating if" is a very interesting question given that the answer is always yes. That it's so easy and fun to have sex in-game is sort of the whole thing motivating the plot. No Wave fucked around with this message at 17:43 on Jun 10, 2019 |
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Jun 10, 2019 17:35
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It's kinda funny that everyone is using the fighting game to gently caress instead of actually playing the game.
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Jun 10, 2019 17:53
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Alhazred posted:It's kinda funny that everyone is using the fighting game to gently caress instead of actually playing the game.
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Jun 10, 2019 18:27
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Gobbeldygook posted:If the game was real there would be a small, grumpy community of people trying to actually play the game, but most of the people looking for matches would be shouting, "LF 1v1 S/NH" for sex/no homo or whatever. Programming a) lifelike neural feedback to all physical stimuli and b) fully modelled genitals on VR fighting game characters is such an obviously disastrous idea for so many reasons that I feel like it low-key undercuts the episode just a little bit. Like, the actual use case for the game as a fighting game is that you put yourself in a virtual arena with a random opponent who could whip their dick out at any time. It would be like Street Fighter Chatroulette, except with people groping you without your consent.
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Jun 10, 2019 18:36
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Android Blues posted:It would be like Street Fighter Chatroulette, except with people groping you without your consent. Or repeatedly punching you in the dick.
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Jun 10, 2019 18:38
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It's actually not a fighting game; the name and characters were sold to a company that makes pornographic games. Danny doesn't know this because he hasn't kept up with gaming in years.
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Jun 10, 2019 18:38
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Android Blues posted:Programming a) lifelike neural feedback to all physical stimuli and b) fully modelled genitals on VR fighting game characters is such an obviously disastrous idea for so many reasons that I feel like it low-key undercuts the episode just a little bit. Alhazred posted:Or repeatedly punching you in the dick. PUNCH SOMEONE IN THE DICK! or suck it. BREAK SOMEONE'S JAW! or lovingly caress it.
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Jun 10, 2019 18:50
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You gotta be able to turn that poo poo off, right?
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Jun 10, 2019 18:51
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Clocks posted:I thought different. As I mentioned in my first read I did like that striking vipers feels ambiguous enough that different people end up having different takes on it. Open relationships don't work out all the time because they aren't *even*. One partner wants to compromise way more than the other in many/most instances, and jealousy/fear builds in the other partner over time. In a situation where both partners are exactly on the same page, they can work out. I mean, most monogamous relationships don't work out either. Even when people stick together, a large portion do so more from fear of being alone. Every relationship is about two people being on the same page and communication so that everyone's needs and wants are fulfilled, and that's kind of a lot of the point of the episode. Darko fucked around with this message at 18:56 on Jun 10, 2019 |
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Jun 10, 2019 18:54
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Even among open relationships it feels like the ones that start because one partner was cheating and wants to have permission in the future are especially unlikely to work
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Jun 10, 2019 19:24
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Nail Rat posted:Why would the software for the dad's bespoke remote controlled rat be 100% compatible with an AI bot made by a multimillion dollar enterprise? Because the rat bot is also 100% conscious and that’s the horrible secret twist
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Jun 10, 2019 20:02
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quidditch it and quit it posted:Because the rat bot is also 100% conscious and that’s the horrible secret twist It doesn't want to shock anyone, but it is forced to.
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Jun 10, 2019 20:04
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Cojawfee posted:It doesn't want to shock anyone, but it is forced to. “Daddy, why is the rat bot typing “I AM YOUR MOM” into the computer repeatedly”
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Jun 10, 2019 20:17
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Darko posted:Open relationships don't work out all the time because they aren't *even*. One partner wants to compromise way more than the other in many/most instances, and jealousy/fear builds in the other partner over time. Exactly my viewpoint. Context is everything.
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Jun 10, 2019 20:19
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Intruder posted:Even among open relationships it feels like the ones that start because one partner was cheating and wants to have permission in the future are especially unlikely to work Yeah, those definitely hinge on the side of "one partner wants this way more than the other." Anecdote - I was discussing this episode with an ex in which we did have the open relationship talk, and never did it because of her fears that I'd end up moving on, and her current boyfriend who she never had this talk with, and she and I had widely different opinions on this episode than him, so life experience really does come into play. He was insistent that Falcon was just gay for his friend and that was the point of the episode, while his bi girlfriend (which he doesn't even know, apparently) was trying to explain spectrums of sexuality and stuff to him, to no avail. I'm getting a lot of "he was gay" on social media and stuff as well, making me wonder why so many people don't understand how fluid sexuality really is.
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Jun 10, 2019 20:21
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quidditch it and quit it posted:“Daddy, why is the rat bot typing “I AM YOUR MOM” into the computer repeatedly” "Rat Need A Hug"
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Jun 10, 2019 20:45
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No Wave posted:That would be a completely different story. I wonder if it was the different story they were writing originally. Lots of people today in 2019 go home with their stale marriage with their wife then get online and do all sorts of various shades of going outside the marriage, including having romantic and sexual relationships in online games. But this making it so so far future technology feels like it disconnected it from anything just made it regular cheating but with a mostly meaningless fighting game layer.
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Jun 10, 2019 21:07
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Darko posted:Open relationships don't work out all the time because they aren't *even*. One partner wants to compromise way more than the other in many/most instances, and jealousy/fear builds in the other partner over time. Broken relationships end because they're broken, and that's a good and positive thing. Nobody breaks up because their relationship is too amazing.
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Jun 10, 2019 21:25
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I thought the police officer from Smithereens was Tracy Ullman. Oops.
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Jun 10, 2019 21:28
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Owlofcreamcheese posted:But like, striking vipers is just real, it's got no gray area or any complicated questions. It's just regular old cheating with the person. there isn't the abstraction that videogames give. Yes, that's part of my complaint, as well. The sci-fi tech aspect to the story barely informs anything. You could replace the VR with an IRL pickup basketball league, and the story is almost literally the same. Karl's perspective would've been way more interesting, what with the questions of embodiment and gender identity through VR. Is Karl trans? Does he feel the need to reconcile that with his lived experience? Does anyone else in his life know about it? How much of his time is lived in VR as Roxette? The episode gives you some clues, but we're shackled to this story of stifled domesticity that's honestly not close to as compelling.
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Jun 11, 2019 00:41
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LividLiquid posted:Open relationships have a lovely reputation because when they end, people blame the openness of the relationship. You could just as easily flip the script and blame every monogamous relationship ending on monogamy and you'd still be just as wrong. loving thank you. This nails it. I'm in an open/poly relationship now but the key is that my partner and I agreed we want it that way from literally the very beginning. We're not doing it to try to glue a broken relationship back together.
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Jun 11, 2019 01:22
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SamuraiFoochs posted:loving thank you. This nails it. Yeah it strikes me that when someone brings up "I want to see other people" in a monogamous relationship, just letting them do it isn't going to fix the relationship because what they're REALLY saying "I want to see less of you".
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Jun 11, 2019 02:09
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Halfway through Striking Vipers and it so far this is the worst Black Mirror episode I've seen. It's just unpleasant and boring I went through the first season in like two days and it's taken me three days to get this far in one episode
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Jun 11, 2019 03:55
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The Cheshire Cat posted:Yeah it strikes me that when someone brings up "I want to see other people" in a monogamous relationship, just letting them do it isn't going to fix the relationship because what they're REALLY saying "I want to see less of you".
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Jun 11, 2019 05:13
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If anything the last episode is another argument for that screenwriters should not write songs.
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Jun 11, 2019 07:59
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This season lacked any bite. No impending doom nor any miraculous highs like San Junipero. I found at the end of each episode going, “that’s it??”. Vipers was decent but didn’t really do anything interesting. I don’t know what would make it better but I didn’t like it.
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Jun 11, 2019 11:23
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I feel that Brooker could've been a lot more critical against the some ceos. Facebook and Twitter has dine a lot og shady poo poo and yet Brooker only critisized the users. Portraying Bauer as an innocent hippie way over his head is bullshit.
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Jun 11, 2019 12:51
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