Given that I enjoyed all of them, my ranking would be:
1. Nosedive (3x01)
2. Shut Up and Dance (3x03)
3. San Junipero (3x04)
4. Hated in the Nation (3x06)
5. Playtest (3x02)
6. Men Against Fire (3x05)
Aside from obviously relevant factors such as expectations and first-time view impact, I'd rate "Nosedive" roughly as high as my other two favourite BM episodes, "The Entire History of You" and "Fifteen Million Merits".
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1. Hated in the Nation
2. Shut Up and Dance
3. San Junipero
4. Playtest
5. Man Against Fire
6. Nosedive
1. San Junipero
2. Playtest
3. Nosedive
4. Hated in the Nation
5. Shut Up and Dance
6. Men Against Fire
Liked all of them though, very little between them.
"To err is human...so...errrr..." - Gary King
Nosedive and San Junipero fit the most within the Black Mirror ethos. Very personalized stories with nuanced traces of a tehno-dystopia in the background.
Men Against Fire fits the mold as well and is very good but its obviously not subtle and more like an action movie with an obviously evil government pulling the strings.
The other episodes all use more typical tv and movie tropes where rather than a smaller scale story where technology goes wrong, the antagonist is an evil corporation or super hacker with technical abilities that are pretty much magic:
Playtest - Evil super corporation, super hacker
Shut Up and Dance - Super hacker
Hated in the Nation - Basically episode 101 but with a super hacker and evil corp.
Overall the season was good, but half of it is pretty standard sci-fi/action. I wouldn't say any of the episodes out perform "The Entire History of You" and "Fifteen Million Merits" which I agree are the best in the series.
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Compared to other episodes within the series I don't find those two as good since they rely on magical hacker antagonists to move the plot forward.
Additionally I think your reading of Shut Up And Dance is bit off the mark. Its not about a vigilante, its about an online troll/hacker getting dirt on people and seeing how far they can be manipulated for I assume his won enjoyment hence the troll face.
Its basically the movie 'Phone Booth' or even 'Speed' where some unknown guy is making people do things against their will. I don't see that much social commentary beyond your online behavior could be used as blackmail. The pedo stuff was just taked on at the end because most people are not going to rob a bank or kill someone just because they jacked off.
For Hated in the Nation I did say it was about an evil corporation. They were complicit is a massive spying program that is completely counter to democratic values of free thought and expression. The problem is that much the narrative is reliant on 'techno-babble' and murdering hundreds of thousands of people because of a single twitter hate post is just way to over the top and ridiculous. Harassment is bad therefore I am going to kill you to make it stop? Everyone who criticizes someone should be murdered? Its just a medicore story about a lunatic with super powers.
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The 'moral lesson' is what doesn't make sense. In episode 101 the mastermind guy kills himself to make a point, not thousands of people. This is an intelligent Black Mirror story.
A single person using computer skills to kill hundreds of thousands is not going to make people 'be nice' on the internet. It would likely usher in a totalitarian police state which is completely counter to the entire point of Black Mirror in my view.
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The problem is that when you resort to mass murder or even genocide to make a point, you are justifying the police state not discrediting it. I think they could have made a better episode about online witch hunting and/or cyber laws. Trying to meld the two into an almost James Bond style story just didn't work that well.
The point of this thread is to rank the episodes which is obviously a subjective exercise. For me, the coherence and originality of the narrative matters when I rate a show. The two episodes in question were average to me at best. If you feel otherwise then fair enough.
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I agree with this assessment. Hated in the Nation felt more like a TV crime-drama to me. It was fine, but I think the themes they addressed were muddled by that way of storytelling. The Entire History of You, and Fifteen Millions merits are so good, and on a different level.
shareNosedive was by far the best episode. Man, I love when the show makes you think.
shareIts amazing to see how people are affected differenty by the episodes.
My ranking>
2 Playtest
5 Men Against Fire
1 Nosedive
4 San Junipero
6 Hated in the Nation
3 Shut up and Dance
Hated in the nation
Shut up and dance
Playtest
Men against fire
San junipero
Nosedive
emptiness is form, form is emptiness
Nosedive
San Junipero
Hated in the Nation
Playtest
Shut Up and Dance
Men Against Fire
I am shocked that San Junipero isn't last on everybody's list. It had nothing to do with Black Mirror. The writers went out of their way to make it as happily-ever-after as possible. The one negative possible aspect of eternal life is that you would be stuck there forever, but they made a point that it wasn't a prison, and that you could end it whenever you wanted. It might as well have been an episode of Seinfeld. I enjoy Seinfeld, but I don't want to see it in Black Mirror.
But here is my ranking:
Hated in the Nation
Men Against Fire
Playtest
Nosedive
Shut Up and Dance
San Junipero
Hard choices though, except for San Junipero.
I agree completely, San Junipero didn't feel like a Black Mirror episode at all, I actually greatly disliked the fact that it had a happy ending.
shareCompletely agree. San Junipero was a dull spot in a rather solid season. It felt like one of the cornier (bad) episodes of Twilight Zone, while the rest of the stories felt like classic freaky Twilight Zone episodes cranked up to the extreme! Love this series and hope it continues for many more seasons...with hopefully less San Junipero-type episodes.
shareSeriously? I can see where you're coming from in that it was very different from every other episode, but I love that the show is willing to just try anything and go in different directions. Not every episode needs to be dark and depressing, the patches of hope are what make it great (something Walking Dead could do with learning). Easily my favorite Black Mirror episode so far.
Nosedive was another different one, and that didn't work nearly as well. I liked it well enough, but it took the comedy way too far and became completely over the top.