{"id":4768,"date":"2016-04-14T06:39:50","date_gmt":"2016-04-14T01:09:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4768"},"modified":"2016-04-14T06:39:50","modified_gmt":"2016-04-14T01:09:50","slug":"review-netflixs-black-mirror-getting-too-real","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=4768","title":{"rendered":"SOS! Netflix\u2019s Black Mirror is Getting Too Real"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

W<\/span>hen <\/p>Black Mirror<\/span><\/i> first put out its pilot, it was 2011, only four years after the first iPhone was unveiled, and only five years after the first-ever tweet was posted. Informally known as the \u201cCharlie Brooker School of Mindfuck\u201d, the show went on to be the predecessor to several modern-day science-fiction titles<\/a>, from a rehash of our parent\u2019s favourite \u201c<\/span>Star Trek Discovery<\/span><\/i>\u201d to the more millennial-centric \u201c<\/span>The 100<\/span><\/i>\u201d. Still, nothing really matched up to <\/span>Black Mirror<\/span><\/i>, which resembles \u2013 in this family analogy \u2013 that one 15-year-old nephew who spent too much time on the internet by himself and now asks questions like, \u201cDo you think it\u2019ll bleed if I poke it hard enough?\u201d<\/span>\n\nThe first few seasons showed us how humans were in the process of selling their souls in exchange for a few cool gadgets. We were introduced to technology that could make cooking breakfast an experience straight out of a Mary Shelley novel. There was a device that never let you forget even your lowest moments, a metal creature thing rips straight through humans, and a haunted house that makes Mumbai homes look comfortable. Whether it was \u201cNosedive\u201d or \u201cWhitebear\u201d, the show brought to life the horrors of living in a world with devices that run on batteries and corporates that confirm every 16-year-old\u2019s most paranoid suspicions.<\/span>\n\nBut the new fifth season of <\/span>Black Mirror<\/span><\/i>, released on Tuesday, has received some flak from its faithful<\/a>. Most viewers feel like the show is now straying too far from its initial goal of making us throw our phones into the sea. The main points of contention \u2013 not enough freaky tech scenarios, too much humour\/cringe. \u00a0<\/span>\n\nWhich is a fair point to make after a cursory look at these episodes. The first of the three, \u201cStriking Vipers\u201d explores themes like sexual repression, and the many shades of modern-dating \u2013 a plot you\u2019d expect to see on <\/span>Easy<\/span><\/i> rather than <\/span>Black Mirror. <\/span><\/i>It did feature some technology, in the form of a VR device that puts you inside a game, but nothing Japan hasn\u2019t seen before.<\/span>\n\nThe second, a hostage drama titled \u201cSmithereens\u201d<\/span> is one of the more gripping episodes of the season. It features excellent actors, Andrew Scott, as protagonist and Uber driver on a mission, and Topher Grace, as the founder of (not specified, but pretty evident) Twitter. Again, there\u2019s very little epiphanic gadgetry. In fact, the coolest technology you\u2019re going to see on this episode is an alt-Twitter UI and a sniper rifle. The story chooses instead to focus on social-media addiction and the perils of living in a world with constant notifications. It does that by ending on a cliffhanger that\u2019s guaranteed to get you on social media instantly. Classic Charlie Brooker sense of humour.<\/span>\n\nThe third and by far most random episode of <\/span>Black Mirror<\/span><\/i> ever aired, features two sisters and a Miley Cyrus. Most of the first half of the episode could have been lifted straight from the Disney channel. You\u2019re told the story of an awkward girl trying to impress her school with a dance performance, and who buys a doll because she has no friends. Soon after, you\u2019re watching a scathing critique of the pop music industry that is trying to brainwash children with catchy music and inspirational quotes. Good TV, but hardly <\/span>Black Mirror<\/span><\/i>. No exceptional tech apart from a slightly advanced Amazon Alexa and an autotune software.<\/span>\n\nMaybe the show\u2019s creators are slowly losing the plot. Maybe <\/span>Bandersnatch<\/span><\/i> \u2013 the interactive-Black Mirror film that was released on Netflix earlier this year \u2013 sucked the life out of them. But that seems unlikely. In all probability, these episodes seem so relatable<\/a> for a much scarier reason \u2013 our reality is quickly keeping pace with Charlie Brooker\u2019s satire. This was probably his plan all along. Start off by showing us situations that seemed to be plucked out of a distant future, when our kids would probably have to deal with the consequences, but we could marvel at guilt-free. And then suddenly, bring it closer to home, by giving you an entire season that reminds you this is all happening in your timeline and not a wild dystopia.<\/span>\n\nJust look at the show\u2019s track record of being right. In season 1, they gave us a plot in which a prime minister was blackmailed into having intercourse with a pig on live TV to save a princess. Incredible as it seems<\/a>, three years later, a biography of the then prime minister of the UK revealed that David Cameron had \u201cinserted a private part of his anatomy\u201d into a pig in college. Then there\u2019s \u201cThe Waldo Moment\u201d an episode that predicted the iPhone X\u2019s \u201cAnimoji<\/a>\u201d feature, which allows you to control emojis with facial recognition. China has literally rolled-out<\/a> the exact same software that drives a woman to insanity in \u201cNosedive\u201d. Snapchat, meanwhile, uses the same general concept for cutesy face-swaps, that the army in \u201cMen Against Fire\u201d uses to brainwash all their soldiers into making war more appealing. <\/span>\n\nEven the new season features one of those \u201cahhh\u201d moments, even if it isn\u2019t really tech-related. Twitter\u2019s CEO Jack Dorsey<\/a> announced in December 2018 that he would be going on a 10-day vipassana in Myanmar, at least three months after Charlie Brooker wrote the exact same plot in the second episode, \u201cSmithereens\u201d. <\/span>\n\nMaybe the makers of <\/span>Black Mirror<\/span><\/i> know something we don\u2019t, but there\u2019s one thing we can be sure about \u2013 to keep this season so close to reality was a deliberate move. Blurring the lines between the future and present is one of the traits that made the show stand out from its peers. Let\u2019s hope we don\u2019t start outpacing it soon.<\/span>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The three episodes of Black Mirror\u2019s latest season may have lost their tech edge, but they are so relatable for a much scarier reason \u2013 our reality is quickly keeping pace with Charlie Brooker\u2019s satire. This was probably his plan all along.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":4769,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[8421,332,8422,6021,8423,19,8424,8425,6542,1341,3435,8426,8427,100,4735,5436,1788,8261,8428,8429,3439,8430,3443,8431,8432,4109,8433,111,1530,8434,8435],"class_list":["post-4768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pop-culture","tag-and-ashley-too","tag-black","tag-brooker","tag-charlie","tag-discovery","tag-india","tag-jack","tag-mary","tag-mirror","tag-netflix","tag-new","tag-nosedive","tag-on","tag-pune","tag-rachel","tag-release","tag-review","tag-season","tag-season-5","tag-shelly","tag-show","tag-smithereens","tag-star","tag-striking-vipers","tag-the-100","tag-to","tag-trek","tag-twitter","tag-uber","tag-watch","tag-what"],"yoast_head":"\nSOS! Netflix\u2019s Black Mirror is Getting Too Real<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The three episodes of Black Mirror\u2019s latest season may have lost their tech edge, but they are so relatable for a much scarier reason \u2013 our reality is quickly keeping pace with Charlie Brooker\u2019s satire. This was probably his plan all along.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4768\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SOS! 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This was probably his plan all along.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"#VALUE!\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=4768#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=4768\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"#VALUE!\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7e685cea646baa9279f67e2d4b7bb37c\"},\"headline\":\"SOS! 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