Black Mirror Season 4 Netflix Series Review

Black Mirror (2011-)
Season 4  - 6 episodes (2017)

Watch Black Mirror Season 4 on Netflix
Created by: Charlie Brooker
Starring:  Jesse Plemons, Cristin Milioti, Jimmi Simpson, Rosemarie Dewitt, Andrea Riseborough, Kiran Sonia Sawar,  Georgina Campbell, Joe Cole, Maxine Peake, Douglas Hodge, Letitia Wright
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Plot 
Each unconnected episode examines the pitfalls when technology and society intersect. What happens when technology goes off the rails, creating a horrifying situation? Does technology make us happier, is being connected at all times beneficial, and does it do more harm than good? The stories are known for their harrowing nature and depressing conclusions.

Verdict
This is a solid season, though none of the episodes are going to land on my best of Black Mirror list. The series is still just as deep and thought provoking. None of them are bad or anywhere in the land of skipping. Some of the themes are in the same range as previous episodes, but the stories are unique. This delivered the mind bending episodes I expect from the show. I appreciate the level of detail the explores and idea, and technology is still scary. This season won't disappoint.
Watch it.

Review
This review is free of specific spoilers, though I will talk about concepts and themes in the episode. I did review each episode individually, delving into spoilers and theories. Check that out:

• USS Callister
• Arkangel
• Crocodile
• Hang the DJ
• Metalhead
• Black Museum

The show is just as complex, but some of the technology ventures close to concepts we've seen before. Maybe that's inevitable with a rising episode count, but this season thankfully didn't recreate stories. It further mined the idea of a trapped consciousness. It's a concept we saw in White Christmas, and it returns in two episodes this season. Episodes explore how technology can transform even mundane life, virtual reality, a dating app, and we even get an episode in the future.

I love that Black Mirror always does a good job of answering my questions, eventually or immediately. Small details are not just hand waved away. In episode two a character pulls a tablet from storage and my first thought was that there would be no charge. Most shows would ignore that, but this show has the character pull out a charger for the tablet next.

I've been anticipating this season since season three aired, and I was definitely satisfied. My only complaint is that either I'm getting used to the show or the episodes weren't quite as soul crushing as I've come to expect, though every episode pushed me to consider how we use technology and the caveats hidden in 'advancements.'

My ranking for this seasons from my favorite to the least is Metalhead, Black Museum, USS Callister, Arkangel, Hang the DJ, and Crocodile.

I love the style of Metalhead. It's a departure from the five minutes in the future setting, delving into what appears to be a post apocalypse of sorts. It's black and white which only reinforces how bleak it is. It's a simple plot focusing on escape. The action is often intercut with music creating the feeling of an incredibly violent music video. We know very little about this world, and it isn't explained. The world isn't the point. This is a game of survival between human and robot. This has the best conclusion of any episode this season. I didn't think this episode could get any more bleak, and it manages to go even further. It's my favorite episode this season, not least of which because it leaves me wondering what happened in the world and who did it.

Black Museum felt very Black Mirror, with three vignettes that fold into the larger story, similar to White Christmas.. We get medical breakthroughs that develop disastrous consequences. The museum in this episode is full of easter eggs, from this season and the past. This episode explores a disregard for humanity, a character harming himself, a husband ignoring his wife, and the world at large enjoying the torture of a digital facsimile. The rights of a digital consciousness is something Black Mirror has explored before. If a being thinks it's real, does that make it real? When they feel pain, solitude, and emotion just as strongly, where do you draw the line?

USS Callister opens with an eye roll inducing scene before deftly revealing what's really happening. It's a big caution to virtual reality and how that can cause people to act out dark fantasies. What we see isn't reality, and that trips us up a few times. This is the most twisting episode, reinforcing that idea with a main character that illicits sympathy before that becomes revulsion. Virtual reality is a platform that allows sociopaths to feed their twisted side.

Arkangel explores the desire of parents to keep their kids safe. In the need for security a mother ends up severing the relationship with her daughter. This has some great moments when we get the child's point of view. Regardless of how much control you have over your kids, if you don't trust them you will push them away. It's a concept that transcends technology, and it results in a heartbreaking conclusion. It's a bleak ending, though not the bleakest ending of the season.

Hang the DJ is going to generate San Junipero comparisons. It's not as good, and surprisingly it ventures into fairy tale territory in way the show has never done. Character relegate themselves to unhappiness because a dating app tells them to. This episode, as all the episodes do, tackles a lot. It's has the kind of ending I want, turning the entire episode on it's head, but it also makes me think everything I saw isn't real.

I don't want to call Crocodile the worst episode of the season, but it was the most disappointing.
It has a lot of promise, but the technology aspect took a backseat. It had the most promise to really bend my mind, but it didn't capitalize. The ending holds a surprise, but not in the bleak and eye opening way an episode of this show should end.
I love the subtlety of this world, the roving pizza vendor, the memory machine used by insurance adjusters, and the digital identification.  It's part Minority Report on a much smaller scale.
This starts by examining how two lives have fractured. This is the emotional foundation, but the memory box seemed secondary. I like how we see the street scene in the beginning without knowing how it fits and we circle back to that. It's clever how an episode about memories pushes you to remember scenes early on that seemed innocuous only to come back in full force. I did think the episode would exploit the fallacy of memory more. It's probably the best concept of the season.
This episode has some absolute killer scenes, but overall it felt weak. It didn't take the idea far enough. I wanted to see more about how this device changes society instead of a character that goes from zero to crazy in no time.

With Black Mirror it's difficult to pin down a best episode. Every episode provides numerous points for an argument. This is basically a list of the episodes I liked the most.