8 ms·
Black Mirror is really, really, really good. The writing, the cast, it is just incredible. But it is also incredibly depressing. Maybe depressing is the wrong
by krylon 10y ago
Black Mirror is really, really, really good. The writing, the cast, it is just incredible.
But it is also incredibly depressing. Maybe depressing is the wrong word. Emotionally exhausting, you might say. Well worth watching once, but I recently could not bring myself to re-watch it because it so dark. And not even dark humor, which I like, just dark. Maybe in the spring, I'll come around...
- wldcordeiro 10y agoI was talking to my SO about this, it's an incredible show but unlike so many other shows that you can binge watch, it just isn't one of those. You need to take time off from it to process it because it's so heavy and dark.
- dexterdog 10y agoYou also can't binge watch a quality show like this because it really wrecks the experience.
- wldcordeiro 10y agoTotally agree, aside from the sheer depressive feeling you get from watching an episode they're so high quality that I feel like you're not going to get as good of an experience binge watching it. But I'm far from a binge watcher, my brother is one and my SO to some extent but I can't watch a 45min-1hr long episode and then want to immediately start another.
- throwanem 10y agoI'd be curious to know how you found Stranger Things, if you've seen it. As a rule I don't binge-watch either, but after watching the first episode of that show, I found myself quite strongly compelled to keep watching until it was done. Having previously had such experiences only with novels, and quite few even of those, I found it very odd that a TV show could manage to produce the same effect.
- wldcordeiro 10y agoFound the first episode really awesome, still haven't watched the second and it's been more than a month. I'm admittedly behind on the times but I've been watching The Sopranos (maybe 1-2 episodes a week) and have made my way to the 4th season now. Stranger Things is on my list of shows to watch though because there's a number of things I really liked about that first episode!
- dexterdog 10y agoThat's a bingeable show because it hooks you with cliffhangers. I don't consider it a great show by any stretch like I do Black Mirror so binging is fine. I watched 3 or 4 episodes and put it down. I'll finish it at some point.
- throwanem 10y agoTrue. I've also been a huge fan of pre-van Stephen King, and the show is so completely pitch-perfect in that regard as to make it uniquely bingeable for me.
- mikeleeorg 10y agoI really appreciate shows that don't encourage binge watching. Now, I enjoy binge watching as much as the next binge watcher, but since Black Mirror has a definitive ending after each episode, it's that much easier for me to turn off my laptop and go do something else - which usually is talking about the episode I just watched...
- jacquesm 10y agoWhat makes it so good is the fact that it is so believable. I wished I could come up with a 'white mirror' alternative where all our tech is used for good but it wouldn't be nearly as believable. Human nature being what it is you'd hope the future isn't even darker than what black mirror shows, it easily could be.
- rimantas 10y agoAnd the tech is also very believable. Not overdone, nothing gimmicky, feels very real.
- drewrv 10y agoStar Trek TNG is as close to 'white mirror' as we'll ever get. A universe where human nature advances alongside technology. It's obviously way more far fetched and the show hasn't aged well though.
- jacquesm 10y agoI don't find Star Trek believable at all, starting with the 'Warp Drive'. As soon as you add a device like that to a plot it becomes impossible to see it as a possible future.
- monocasa 10y agoI mean... NASA has a team that works on how to warp spacetime in order to provide apparent propulsion.
- paublyrne 10y agoI don't think it was supposed to be believable. It's a utopian society, reflecting the time in which it was conceived. The idea that society would be become more liberal, more socialistic, more tolerant by having greater access to information and not wanting for material goods is the more interesting one. We will be able to see if that's true over the next hundred years. The Warp Drive is just a plot device, so that the humans can interact species from other, distant worlds.
- CPLX 10y agoThe word that seems most appropriate to me is cynical. The worldview of the show is essentially the exact counter to the tech/entrepreneurship community's unique strain of optimism.
- untog 10y ago> The worldview of the show is essentially the exact counter to the tech/entrepreneurship community's unique strain of optimism I think it's the inevitable outcome of tech/entrepreneurship's naivety. Facebook and Google both came from this "unique strain of optimism" and they've come to represent much of what Black Mirror discusses.
- ghaff 10y agoYes! It's definitely one of those shows that I don't just casually flip on. I really have to be in the right mood to sit down and watch an episode.
- walterbell 10y agoIt postulates threats without hints of solutions, e.g. few happy endings, valiant resistance movements, defections by oppressors, deus ex machina resolutions. TV Tropes probably has a name for this genre of storytelling.
- Jtsummers 10y agoIt's very similar to Outer Limits, perhaps a bit more the 90s incarnation than the original.
- pmiller2 10y agoI've described it as "Clockwork Orange meets the Twilight Zone, with a technological spin."
- Jordrok 10y agoIt sure does! http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CrapsackWorld http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CrapsackWorld
- walterbell 10y agoThank you!
- zwily 10y agoS3E1 has the happiest ending so far... And it's not all that happy. :)
- cm3 10y agoI wasn't too affected by the previous seasons and haven't watched Season 3 yet (except episode 00 pre-netflix with Mr Mad Men), but if you're up for it and really want to feel emotionally exhausted after a motion picture, I can recommend Denis Villeneuve's Incendies (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1255953/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1255953/). If Lost in Translation leaves you disillusioned, then Incendies will be a punch to the stomach you feel for another day. It's one of those rare movies you appreciate and regret watching at the same time. A longer running movie with similar themes (I mean mini series) is the UK production The Honourable Woman, but it doesn't leave you as emotionally affected, so I wouldn't recommend it as a must watch.
- krylon 10y agoThanks for the suggestion! I have put Incendies on my to-watch list, with a caveat. I'll probably watch it in the spring or summer, when I bounce back from hard emotional experiences more easily.
- gdubs 10y agoAgreed -- so troubling. I actually felt sick to my stomach just from watching the new trailer. It's a really well done show, but so, so dark.
- gordon_freeman 10y agoI had exactly same experience watching 'Mr. Robot'. Can't even say it's dark humor.. It's just dark. Too dark for me.
- draw_down 10y agoI'm a depressive type and can't bring myself to watch it, for basically the same reason I don't look when I drive past a car crash. Sometimes people give me guff for it too-- "but it's so good!!" I think I'll live if I don't see one tv show. Even a good one. I'm negative enough about the state of the world and its future as is.