S05.E02: Smithereens

[TheOtherOne]

A London rideshare driver ignites an international crisis when he kidnaps a worker from a social media company.

[QQQQ]

And just when I thought I couldn't love Andrew Scott more than I already do...

This ep felt like a punch to the gut. Especially when I realized my first reaction was to check the forum for comments. 

Edited June 5, 2019 by QQQQ

[Miles]

Well good thing the guy didn't use Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg would have never taken that call.

Very good episode. Classic hostage thriller with technology only being the inciding incident and a bit of background for a few plot points.

I hope the intern survived. It was kinda old school black mirror cruelty that they didn't show us.

Edited June 5, 2019 by Miles

[Cranberry]

It took me way too long to recognize Topher Grace, and even then it was the voice that did it, not the face.

I don't have a lot to say about this one, but I thought it was a strong episode. The tension built up nicely throughout, it didn't feel too long despite being the longest episode of this short season, and I empathized with all of the major characters, even Zuckerberg stand-in Billy Bauer. Andrew Scott's performance was excellent. 

I'm choosing to believe that the police accurately took Chris out while Jaden made it out alive. I think that was the happiest ending Chris was going to get.

[Princess Sparkle]

I cannot say enough good things about Andrew Scott. He was just so good and when he finally got to speak to Billy in the car, he was just so excellent. And he even had me laughing with his rant in the beginning about everyone dressing the same at Smithereen so there's "no fucking sense of hierarchy". 

I hadn't seen Damon Idris in anything else, but he impressed the hell out of me. This was obviously an Andrew Scott showcase, but Damon Idris really held his own against him and the two worked really well together. And Topher Grace was good in his limited role. I'm here for a Topher Grace renaissance. 

[tennisgurl]

Andrew Scott has really been having a great time lately, between this episode and Fleabag, I love seeing him on my television so much lately. He was so good this episode, I was riveted by him, even as he was just talking on the phone in the car. 

I thought this was a very tightly written, strong episode, with less future tech and science fiction than we often get in this show and more of a commentary on current trends, and I thought it worked as a kind of commentary, as well as just a good hostage/cop drama. It took me WAY too long to recognize Topher Grace, I didnt even realize who it was until he took his glasses off. 

I hope the poor intern survived, but I like that we dont really know what happened. Black Mirror, you dick I love you.

[Amarsir]

Persona has some terrible password security. No properly secured system should be able to look up someone's password. Glad I don't use it.

I'll echo the praise for Andrew Scott. At first I was worried I'd spend the whole episode looking at Moriarty but that character was soon forgotten. All 3 mains delivered well.

[marny]

Wow, I expected to see more people who thought this episode was as lame as I did. To me, it was virtually a long PSA about the dangers of texting while driving. Yes, phones and social media are addictive. Duh. They’ve done countless segments on the Today Show about this. This episode had nothing new to say. 

And Topher Grace was more Jack from Twitter than Zuckerberg with his silly new Age retreats and man-bun. 

Edited June 7, 2019 by marny

[Chaos Theory]

1 hour ago, marny said:

Wow, I expected to see more people who thought this episode was as lame as I did. To me, it was virtually a long PSA about the dangers of texting while driving. Yes, phones and social media are addictive. Duh. They’ve done countless segments on the Today Show about this. This episode had nothing new to say. 

And Topher Grace was more Jack from Twitter than Zuckerberg with his silly new Age retreats and man-bun. 

I thought the acting was all really good but ultimately the episode was something you would see on any other show.    It was not particularly entertaining.   And the ending wasn’t  even that.....uhhhh Black Mirror heart breaking soul crushing.   

Edited June 7, 2019 by Chaos Theory

[DrSpaceman]

This was my least favorite of the "seasons", 3 episodes long. 

It was well done, but the whole point seems rather trite.  Basically we're addicted to our phones and social media.  OK, that point has been made thousands of times already in thousands of TV shows and many other forms.  That's not really the type of edgy or future tech dystopian points I expect to see from Black Mirror.  I expect something more.

Plus I could see it coming halfway through the show where it was going, which doesn't happen often on these shows.  And it went on too long, this could easily have been done in 30 minutes.  Really dragged it out for a straightforward plot point. 

Also....so the guy is literally in the middle of a field, NOTHING around him, the snipers are trying to get a clean shot and the ONLY place they can do that is at an angle where they are shooting straight at him and the hostage right behind him?  They couldn't get an angle from the side of the car so they would be aiming at just him and not the hostage? 

Didn't recognize Topher Grace or realize it was him until the credits. 

44 minutes ago, Chaos Theory said:

I thought the acting was all really good but ultimately the episode was something you would see on any other show.    It was not particularly entertaining.   And the ending was even that.....uhhhh Black Mirror heart breaking soul crushing.   

Completely agree.  Nothing much original in this plot or idea.

[DrSpaceman]

1 hour ago, marny said:

Wow, I expected to see more people who thought this episode was as lame as I did. To me, it was virtually a long PSA about the dangers of texting while driving. Yes, phones and social media are addictive. Duh. They’ve done countless segments on the Today Show about this. This episode had nothing new to say. 

And Topher Grace was more Jack from Twitter than Zuckerberg with his silly new Age retreats and man-bun. 

Yes, again, exactly. 

This might as well have been a "VSE" from back in the 80s US TV.  Like an after school special

[marny]

10 minutes ago, DrSpaceman said:

Also....so the guy is literally in the middle of a field, NOTHING around him, the snipers are trying to get a clean shot and the ONLY place they can do that is at an angle where they are shooting straight at him and the hostage right behind him?  They couldn't get an angle from the side of the car so they would be aiming at just him and not the hostage? 

Ugh, yes. And when the guy is sitting in the car motionless, it's too risky for the sniper to take the shot. Yet when he and the hostage are struggling and moving around so that there's zero ability to be certain about your aim, that's suddenly the time to take the shot? Nice police work, guys. 

[benteen]

I thought this was the strongest episode of the season and the most like Black Mirror.  I had a feeling it would be with Andrew Scott as the lead.  I've been a fan of his since Sherlock and his performance should at least earn him an Emmy nomination.  His meltdown about the company and social media was hilarious and he definitely made me sympathize with him despite what he was doing.

Topher Grace was excellent too and so was Damson Idris.  Whatever issues this season has had, it hasn't been on account of the ending.

I like it when an episode does a "closed in" show like this.  Despite being in a big field, it had a claustrophobic feel to it and I like it when shows do that.  Social media getting information before the cops is disturbing and I like that Chris was able to help out the grieving mother at the end.

The episode lost points due to where they ended the episode.  It felt like the show couldn't reach a conclusion and decided not to show one.  This seems to be a real issue this season and it's disappointing to see on this show.  It's also like they didn't want to take an angle one way or another and that too is disappointing.

I got why Jaden wanted to help Chris.  But grabbing a live gun with police snipers surrounding them (and he knew that they were) was just plain stupid.  Though they might have been the worst police snipers imaginable as they 1, can't shoot and 2, don't know what flanking is.

[cmfran]

This might have been my least favorite ep of this show so far. I think the writers had some sort of idea where they wanted to imply that present day technology is just as complicated and potentially dangerous as the not-so-distant future technology, but it failed miserably. If this ep had been released 15 years ago, then it would have worked. But in 2019, everyone is well aware of how all this social media stuff works (as well as the negative aspects), and the ep doesn't leave you with anything to think about. 

I can usually find something positive to say about any other BM ep, but this one was incredibly subpar. Even as a suspense drama, it was too long and not particularly well constructed. 

[tennisgurl]

2 hours ago, DrSpaceman said:

This might as well have been a "VSE" from back in the 80s US TV.  Like an after school special

Today, on a very special Black Mirror...

I basically do like this episode, but I agree that it seems to be a bit "well, yeah?" when it comes to being glued to your phone. Not exactly the most unique hot take in the world, and without a lot of Black Mirror twists. Maybe this is actually a sort of Black Mirror prequel episode? They specifically mention this takes place in 2018, while most episodes dont give us the year it takes place in and leaves it kind of ambiguous as to when and sometimes where it takes place, just "in the near future" or something, so maybe the show is trying to say that our current phone addictions are leading to the rest of Black Mirror? That this is now, and the rest of the show is the future? Or possible futures? Which is kind of interesting in that context, but its also kind of obviously what the whole show is about, you dont really need a whole episode just specifically about how we shouldn't text and drive.

[DrSpaceman]

2 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Today, on a very special Black Mirror...

I basically do like this episode, but I agree that it seems to be a bit "well, yeah?" when it comes to being glued to your phone. Not exactly the most unique hot take in the world, and without a lot of Black Mirror twists. Maybe this is actually a sort of Black Mirror prequel episode? They specifically mention this takes place in 2018, while most episodes dont give us the year it takes place in and leaves it kind of ambiguous as to when and sometimes where it takes place, just "in the near future" or something, so maybe the show is trying to say that our current phone addictions are leading to the rest of Black Mirror? That this is now, and the rest of the show is the future? Or possible futures? Which is kind of interesting in that context, but its also kind of obviously what the whole show is about, you dont really need a whole episode just specifically about how we shouldn't text and drive.

I hadn't thought of it that way, I supposed there is some truth in this one being present day as opposed to "the not to distant future"

But agree it still seems like a rather obvious point that we already acknowledge, does not take a one hour episode to show it

Also to be fair I don't think the message is don't text and drive, or do social media and drive, but that in all our lives throughout the whole day social media is always there distracting us.  Not just about driving but our lives in general

But still.......yes, we know this.  That is not an insight you need to prove to us. 

[Lady Calypso]

I actually really liked this one. I think it had a lot to it in terms of discussing technology and social media being so prominent in our life. I like that it took place in 2018. I think it really gave a real world perspective, knowing that this could happen today. Maybe it wasn't like a typical Black Mirror episode with more focus on technology, but I thought it spoke well to how addictive social media is now.

I know there was a lot of "well duh" moments but I think they also included some moments that really made me go "Whoa...that makes sense." Having Smithereens able to find information on Chris before the police could, for example. Having Chris find out about the police listening in through social media is another example. It kind of puts things into perspective, in terms of how social media is used so frequently that it's its own corporation. 

The acting from Andrew Scott was fantastic. Topher Grace was also fairly great at his role as CEO of Smithereens. I like that the CEO basically tossed aside the advice given by psychologists because Chris was too aware of that tactic (again, thanks to social media and technology). 

Plus, the ending was still made to be a bit bleak. Chris was aware that it would likely be his last day. He just wanted his final words to be spoken to a company that helped destroy his life.

But yeah, I can agree that this episode did feel like an episode you'd see on another show. It wasn't completely Black Mirror-esque. It wasn't that unique. But I still enjoyed it.

[Cthulhudrew]

I loved this episode. I can understand criticisms that it didn't seem to tread new ground, that it was just about cell phone addiction, etc., but to me, that was actually the least poignant commentary the episode was trying to make. I thought it was more about the dehumanization that seems to (maybe? maybe not?) come with technology.

Here you have Chris, a man with a guilty conscience because he feels his own cell phone "addiction" led to his wife's death. Would it have made any difference if he'd not looked away from the road for those few precious seconds? Chris (and the audience) will never know, but he only blames himself- not the drunk driver. Yet for all that he now despises the addictiveness of phones and social media, he can't bring himself to open up about his guilt to anyone in real life- only a figure he has never met across the vast gulf of our telecommunications web. He can only see a way to confession via an elaborate plot to kidnap a faceless minion to put him in touch with that CEO. Ironically, though, for all that he feels his addiction caused him to lose touch with the world enough to cause him to lose the one person in it that made living worthwhile, his possibly last wish is to do something kind to help another person with their own pain. Albeit with her never knowing who helped her, or why.

Meanwhile, you have: kids on their smart devices making a tense situation worse by mindlessly tweeting/posting images and conclusions without context over social media; millions of uninvolved persons perpetuating those tweets- adding their own inane commentary, or sometimes not paying more attention than the half second it takes to acknowledge the message.

You have Corporate Honchos scrutinizing social media accounts to develop a profile of the kidnapper, in hopes of coldly concocting a method to delay him in order for the authorities to take charge. You have a hostage negotiator using same information to hastily develop his own profile of the perpetrator, possibly because he wants to put a notch in his own social status by talking the man down. You have trigger happy SWAT (or British equivalent) ready to take this guy out at the first clean shot. But nobody actually wants to talk directly to the very real human being  in the middle of all of this.

(I'll add here that the hostage also seems to be almost an afterthought to everyone, save as an obstacle to work around.)

Then you have the CEO of Smithereen, by his own admission a virtual prisoner in a world he helped create but has little control over any longer. And he is- notably- on a retreat from that very same digital world; his only escape is the Catch-22 of removing himself from the rest of dehumanized humanity.

I came into this episode with my own preconceived notions and baggage which undoubtedly lead to my different perceptions of its message from those of others on here. So maybe this episode is just reverberating within my own echo chamber differently; maybe it was just the incredible performance by Andrew Scott (whose Moriarty I only loved about 1/2 the time; when he wasn't being over the top), or by Topher Grace's exasperation and panicked confession of loss of control; whatever of the above, I loved the heck out of this episode and it ranks up there among my favorite BM's to date.

(And the irony that I find myself communicating all of this information to faceless people across the digital divide is not at all lost on me. 😉)

[SWLinPHX]

Contrary to what others are saying here (that this was just a pedestrian attempt at a lecture on texting and driving or even dependence on social media and smartphones in general), I feel it went further.  I see a terrible path we are headed down where we are more isolated because of immersion in technology and also treat each other worse, not just due to online trolls or online criticism and bullying but that we devalue people as a dime a dozen; pics to be swiped left or right and easily dismissed.  Many people are lonelier than ever too.  Don't kid yourself to think that all this doesn't seep over into our everyday psyches in general.  Chris's desperation should be something we all sympathize with to a point.  I know I do.

[DrSpaceman]

Again, all those things are true

I just don't see it as some sort of revelation or anything original. 

I know this was about more than just a "don't text and drive" message. 

But still, its just not something that has not been done or considered before in other shows or forms several times. 

They crafted a nice story around it all and it was well acted and well written, but in the end, the message still seems rather pedestrian and overdone. 

[Chaos Theory]

Eh like last season I was one of the few people to truly enjoy Crocodile I get why people did like this episode.  I did like how the cops were pretty much answering to Smithereens and it was the corporation who often got the information first.  I also liked how the woman in charge was loathe to get the guy that Chris wanted to speak to even though of course she knew exactly where he was.    

[iMonrey]

I felt cheated that we didn't find out what happened at the end. It was a compelling story and held my attention but I didn't feel like it rewarded me for watching the whole thing. I don't like feeling like I'm left hanging.

[SHD]

3 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I felt cheated that we didn't find out what happened at the end. It was a compelling story and held my attention but I didn't feel like it rewarded me for watching the whole thing. I don't like feeling like I'm left hanging.

It felt like one final nod to Bandersnatch. Choose your own ending.

23 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:

Eh like last season I was one of the few people to truly enjoy Crocodile I get why people did like this episode.  I did like how the cops were pretty much answering to Smithereens and it was the corporation who often got the information first.  I also liked how the woman in charge was loathe to get the guy that Chris wanted to speak to even though of course she knew exactly where he was.    

Fellow "Crocodile" enjoyer here. I agree with you. And I don't think every episode has to have a unique, out-there message. I dislike a lot of the series' episodes because I feel like they stretch things too far just to be edgy. Sometimes I just like a well-acted, suspenseful drama and I found this one riveting. But we all watch the show with different expectations, so I completely understand where the non-likers are coming from.

[Kel Varnsen]

On 6/6/2019 at 10:57 AM, Cranberry said:

I'm choosing to believe that the police accurately took Chris out while Jaden made it out alive. I think that was the happiest ending Chris was going to get.

I am choosing to believe the same thing. Mostly because it would stretch credibility too much for me if police snipers missed 3 shots in a row.

On 6/7/2019 at 10:43 AM, benteen said:

I got why Jaden wanted to help Chris.  But grabbing a live gun with police snipers surrounding them (and he knew that they were) was just plain stupid.  

Keep in mind he said he was 22, and generally 22 year olds aren't smart.

On 6/7/2019 at 1:49 PM, Lady Calypso said:

I know there was a lot of "well duh" moments but I think they also included some moments that really made me go "Whoa...that makes sense." Having Smithereens able to find information on Chris before the police could, for example. Having Chris find out about the police listening in through social media is another example. It kind of puts things into perspective, in terms of how social media is used so frequently that it's its own corporation. 

There were a few moments like that for me too, especially when they were able to pull up his playlist and use it as hold music. Or even worse when they were able to override the mute on his phone. 

I really liked Topher Grace in this and kind of wish he was in more stuff. Although I still thought "Dumbass!"when I saw him. I wonder what happened to him, did he make so much off That 70's show that he doesn't need to work or did Spider-man 3 really damage his career?

[Black Knight]

For me this was the weakest episode of the mini-season and possibly the weakest episode of the series. It sort of reminded me of watching the mini-series Storm of the Century back in the day, where viewers didn't get to find out until the last 15 minutes or so what the guy wanted. At least that was a decent payoff. This, eh. It could've been set 10 years ago and been exactly the same aside from the ride-sharing (and Uber started in 2010, so ten years ago would be on the cusp of even that).

It might have been stronger if they'd allowed the hostage to be a real character instead of a plot device. He never asks what's motivating this dude or otherwise engages him in any fashion during the ordeal, and he forgives really easily considering he's been scared out of his mind for hours on end. I could have believed the latter more if they'd had any real interaction leading up to the end.

[DrSpaceman]

19 hours ago, SHD said:

And I don't think every episode has to have a unique, out-there message.

Agree to disagree here

It doesn't have to be an "out there" message, but the whole basis the show is built around is at least unique views on the interaction of technology and society.  I f you take that away, it becomes just any other drama. 

[Joimiaroxeu]

Look at Damson Idris, out here doing episodes of both Black Mirror and Twilight Zone.

If anyone's taking a vote, I liked this episode. I'm not expecting these sci-fi anthology shows always to give me some amazing insights on life vs. technology. Just draw me in for a while and I'm good.

[shrewd.buddha]

It was a good episode, tho it did feel stretched out  longer than it needed to be. This could have worked just as well in 30 minutes.
What helped -slightly - was that the material used to stretch it out was well acted and directed: the kidnapping misadventures, the police bureaucracy, the tech company's bureaucracy, etc. 

But I feel the idea of addictive technology was undercut because the main character seemed to really be dealing with his own secret guilt of being responsible for his fiance's death. The only person he ever told the full story to was the tech company founder. It came off as him trying to shift some of his blame onto someone else.

And where does the real blame belong?: The social media apps or the mobile phone industry? Would everyone be indoor media consuming zombies if mobile devices were not available? 
He could have blamed the sugar industry if he had been obese or the tobacco industry if he had been diagnosed with lung cancer. 
In the end, it seems as if all corporate industries, technology included, would like their consumers to be addicted to their products. 

Edited June 11, 2019 by shrewd.buddha

[Kel Varnsen]

1 hour ago, DrSpaceman said:

Agree to disagree here

It doesn't have to be an "out there" message, but the whole basis the show is built around is at least unique views on the interaction of technology and society.  I f you take that away, it becomes just any other drama. 

It is, although keep in mind the very first episode was basically a hostage drama without any real interactions with advanced technology. Even Bandersnach was about tech that was current (not really advanced) for the time period it was set in.

Personally I am just glad this one was a bit different and not the usual brain/personality downloaded into a computer well they go back to way too much.

[DrSpaceman]

45 minutes ago, Kel Varnsen said:

It is, although keep in mind the very first episode was basically a hostage drama without any real interactions with advanced technology. Even Bandersnach was about tech that was current (not really advanced) for the time period it was set in.

Personally I am just glad this one was a bit different and not the usual brain/personality downloaded into a computer well they go back to way too much.

I hated the first episode.  In fact I never finished it. 

If the first episode was the standard that was followed afterwards, never would have watched this show

Bandersnatch was unique not based on the tech in the story but the technology itself in the show, allowing a person to direct the action.  I actually wasn't all that impressed with that either, to be honest.  That one they depended too much on the "choose your path" idea and not enough on the story itself

[markx]

If you're going to be glued to your phone when taking a taxi, you should have at least used Google's recently announced feature!: https://www.xda-developers.com/google-maps-taxi-goes-off-route/

I enjoyed watching it, but I agree with other comments, it felt a bit mundane by Black Mirror standards and didn't really say anything new. It's not that Black Mirror is about advanced technology - rathwe it's often been about showing new often frightening ways that technology (either existing or hypothetical) could be used. The very first episode was very much that - a story very bizarre and seemingly unlikely, but one that could actually happen. It also showed the Government's struggle to keep up with technology (e.g., the demand video posted on Youtube rather than direct to the Government, pointless gag orders on media).

This episode tried to do a similar thing implying how the police were lagging behind companies like social networks, but that came across unfair to me. Police today *are* taking advantage of new technology including information on social networks, and they would gladly use more of it if not for laws preventing access (and I'm glad laws put those limits there). The information that the company came up with ultimately was of little use anyway. It also seemed a rather unfair portayal of trained negotiators - on the contrary, doing things like playing the gunman's music collection back at him would be more likely to be something he spots and gets angry over.

The idea that a hire car might have a driver who takes you hostage was a frightening aspect to imagine, but I spent the rest of the episode trying to guess something that wasn't there - e.g., would it show how even a massive Internet company could be brought to its knees by old fashioned hostage taking, or would it show how an Internet company would have the power to diffuse something that the police couldn't. Not a criticism, I liked it anyway.

It's very true that the guy in the suit is most likely the new guy.

Re: the kids watching and posting about it - to be fair, they were stuck in the middle of nowhere without their bikes! Not to mention having just experienced a dangerous situation and no doubt wanted to tell people about it. Maybe the police could have given them a ride home to their families - not to mention they were potential witnesses so they could have taken their statements.

It could've been set 10 years ago and been exactly the same aside from the ride-sharing (and Uber started in 2010, so ten years ago would be on the cusp of even that).

In fact that's still fine - outside the US (and certainly in London) we've had ride sharing aka private car hire for decades before Uber. (Before they received jobs on a phone, they would have radios or more dedicated equipment.)

[TVbitch]

I watch The First 48 and the first thing detectives do now is look their suspects up on Facebook. 

Chris' LONG-awaited conversation with Bauer didn't seem to bring him any satisfaction, relief or closure. What he really needed was a conversation with a therapist! A more interesting story might have been Chris going to these dramatic lengths just to have a real conversation with someone. Or about the Bauer guy losing control of his creation and having to live with it becoming a monster. When he started talking about that, I got interested for a second. But then Chris told him to shut up! 

[Cthulhudrew]

On 6/10/2019 at 6:22 PM, Kel Varnsen said:

I really liked Topher Grace in this and kind of wish he was in more stuff. Although I still thought "Dumbass!"when I saw him. I wonder what happened to him, did he make so much off That 70's show that he doesn't need to work or did Spider-man 3 really damage his career?

I believe (someone can correct me if I'm wrong) that he may be doing behind the camera work these days, in addition to other on-screen roles he has taken. I do recall hearing that he has a personally re-edited version of the Star Wars prequels that is highly regarded and he shares with friends. (And I've been dying to see for years.)

[LadyArcadia]

On ‎6‎/‎7‎/‎2019 at 2:14 PM, Chaos Theory said:

I thought the acting was all really good but ultimately the episode was something you would see on any other show.    It was not particularly entertaining.   And the ending wasn’t  even that.....uhhhh Black Mirror heart breaking soul crushing.   

On ‎6‎/‎7‎/‎2019 at 4:59 PM, cmfran said:

This might have been my least favorite ep of this show so far. I think the writers had some sort of idea where they wanted to imply that present day technology is just as complicated and potentially dangerous as the not-so-distant future technology, but it failed miserably. If this ep had been released 15 years ago, then it would have worked. But in 2019, everyone is well aware of how all this social media stuff works (as well as the negative aspects), and the ep doesn't leave you with anything to think about. 

I can usually find something positive to say about any other BM ep, but this one was incredibly subpar. Even as a suspense drama, it was too long and not particularly well constructed. 

On ‎6‎/‎8‎/‎2019 at 5:14 PM, DrSpaceman said:

Again, all those things are true

I just don't see it as some sort of revelation or anything original. 

I know this was about more than just a "don't text and drive" message. 

But still, its just not something that has not been done or considered before in other shows or forms several times. 

They crafted a nice story around it all and it was well acted and well written, but in the end, the message still seems rather pedestrian and overdone. 

I'm with you guys. Andrew Scott did a phenominal job, but the plot and story were subpar. This was not "Black Mirror."  Black Mirror is at its best when it has a Twilight Zone feel with twists and you end the episode contemplating what you just saw. The plot was clear early on, so there were no twists or surprises and I certainly didn't spend time thinking about it afterwards. 

I mean, in summary, a dude looked at a notification and got into a car accident, killing his fiancee.  He blamed himself and wanted the owner of the software to know. In the end, he was killed due to his actions. 

Message - don't text and drive.

Meh.  ok.  That's not Black Mirror high grade material for me.

[Kel Varnsen]

11 hours ago, LadyArcadia said:

I mean, in summary, a dude looked at a notification and got into a car accident, killing his fiancee.  He blamed himself and wanted the owner of the software to know. In the end, he was killed due to his actions. 

Message - don't text and drive.

Meh.  ok.  That's not Black Mirror high grade material for me.

But then by the same logic isn't the message of White Bear just "don't kill people". I think in both episodes there is a lot more to the story than just a single sentence.

[SG11]

On 6/13/2019 at 3:32 AM, LadyArcadia said:

I'm with you guys. Andrew Scott did a phenominal job, but the plot and story were subpar. This was not "Black Mirror."  Black Mirror is at its best when it has a Twilight Zone feel with twists and you end the episode contemplating what you just saw. The plot was clear early on, so there were no twists or surprises and I certainly didn't spend time thinking about it afterwards. 

I mean, in summary, a dude looked at a notification and got into a car accident, killing his fiancee.  He blamed himself and wanted the owner of the software to know. In the end, he was killed due to his actions. 

Message - don't text and drive.

Meh.  ok.  That's not Black Mirror high grade material for me.

Agree. Not much else going on. Black Mirror? Not the one I hoped for.

[AngelKitty]

When I read the description, I thought "boring", when I started watching, I thought "boring", right up until Billy got on the phone and then it was a little more exciting. But tell me the truth, did anyone else wish the first demand would be for Billy to cut off his man-bun?

[LadyArcadia]

On ‎6‎/‎13‎/‎2019 at 10:31 PM, Kel Varnsen said:

But then by the same logic isn't the message of White Bear just "don't kill people". I think in both episodes there is a lot more to the story than just a single sentence.

White Bear was an ultimate mind fuck that couldn't easily be predicted.  Until the end, you thought she was the victim, you rooted for her.  Then the truth was unraveled in a shocking fashion. At the end, the reality of the mob mentality hit you.  After the episode, you are left contemplating whether or not you'd approve of the never ending public mental torture of someone who did something horrible.  This was no White Bear.

[iMonrey]

Quote

But then by the same logic isn't the message of White Bear just "don't kill people". I think in both episodes there is a lot more to the story than just a single sentence.

I think the difference is that most Black Mirror episodes have an other-worldly feel to them. It's like almost our world, but a slightly different dimension with different technology. This episode felt like it took place in our world. 

[Black Knight]

On 6/17/2019 at 4:46 AM, LadyArcadia said:

White Bear was an ultimate mind fuck that couldn't easily be predicted.  Until the end, you thought she was the victim, you rooted for her.  Then the truth was unraveled in a shocking fashion. At the end, the reality of the mob mentality hit you.  After the episode, you are left contemplating whether or not you'd approve of the never ending public mental torture of someone who did something horrible.  This was no White Bear.

Exactly. Especially since she had had (repeatedly) a total memory wipe, raising further ethical questions about whether it's appropriate to keep punishing her in any fashion, let alone the one they chose. And the more you have qualms about that, then the more you question whether in the end she's still the monster or if these people are now the true monsters. What does it do to a society to have this new method of punishment? There was tons to unpack from White Bear, things that wouldn't be thought of if not for the new total memory wipe technology that rendered this scenario possible. We could talk for hours about all of the implications.

This episode, what? It raised absolutely nothing new for us to talk about. I was hoping the phone call to the founder would spin out some sort of interesting/unanticipated action or reaction on his part that would save the episode, but his "yeah, it got out of my control and it's addictive and I couldn't stop it" was no more fresh an angle than the "I got distracted looking at my phone and killed someone" part. If this episode had been released in the early '00s before smart phones and social media became things, then it would've been fantastic!

[Neurochick]

On 6/7/2019 at 7:46 AM, marny said:

Wow, I expected to see more people who thought this episode was as lame as I did. To me, it was virtually a long PSA about the dangers of texting while driving. Yes, phones and social media are addictive. Duh. They’ve done countless segments on the Today Show about this. This episode had nothing new to say. 

And Topher Grace was more Jack from Twitter than Zuckerberg with his silly new Age retreats and man-bun. 

I agree.  I mean if you're text while you're driving, I believe that's on YOU, not the dumb program...unless it's something like Striking Vipers X.

[meep.meep]

I'm with you.  It was well acted, but not pushing the envelope in any direction, like a good Black Mirror episode does.  I expected that when he finally got to talk to the Smithereens CEO, that he would have an actual request, not just want to talk about how addictive it was.

[ganesh]

I knew we were in for some shit when Moriarty was the main character. 

[ganesh]

On 6/6/2019 at 11:33 AM, Princess Sparkle said:

And he even had me laughing with his rant in the beginning about everyone dressing the same at Smithereen so there's "no fucking sense of hierarchy". 

This was an excellent monologue and near perfect use of 'cunt'. 

Great casting with Topher Grace. I always like when he pops up unexpectedly. It seems like he chooses roles like that. 

I liked this one a lot because there wasn't actually much to do with the taking technology that step further. It's what we have now. 

I really like this stripped down theme. Very Dog Day Afternoon. 

Edited July 1, 2019 by ganesh

[Hanahope]

I liked that they showed up the tech behind the tech.  How Smithereens could hack Chris' phone and unmute it so they could hear everything.  How it had more information about Chris' auto accident than the police did (and yeah they were rushing but that info should have been easy to find as well, in the report - at least that the other victim was the passenger in Chris' car - it would have been obvious that the other person was someone in Chris' life).

And yeah, don't text and drive, but you know how easy it is to turn off sounds so you don't get the constant "dings".  Want something to do while driving? listen to a book, music or podcast.

Chris, if you wanted to die, just get out of the car and run towards the sniper/cops.  or does that only work in america?

And then Billy Bauer just goes back to his meditating retreat as if nothing ever happened.  

Oh, one of the 'bystanders' was the main actor from Bandersnatch, I'm pretty sure.

Edited August 16, 2019 by Hanahope

[Biggirlscary]

What do you guys make of the optics of Topher Grace's character? It hit me as a tad Christ-like, but as an English teacher, I may be brainwashed to look for those things.

Heck, he even said, "Really the only good thing about my position, is every once in a while I get to invoke God-mode."

Edited September 17, 2019 by Biggirlscary
Add the quote. :)