Having spent the past few years with wide-eyed friends getting Game of Thrones style aggravated that I had never seen Black Mirror, I finally found myself on Netflix last week – browsing for something new to binge in my PJs while eating takeaway food watch. Wanting to hush them up and to join their society, I binged four seasons. Yes. FOUR seasons in one week. As short as the seasons are, it was a lot to absorb and it definitely exhausted the psych. To the point where I felt I needed to get some thoughts out on each episode. Some were emotional and poignant, some were action packed, and some most were just downright fucking crazy.
Black Mirror is an anthology series, but to anyone that hasn’t seen it (now I can say WHAT, WHY!?), the connecting theme between all episodes is how technology has a grip on society, and we witness characters dealing with the consequences of its overpowering of humanity. Creator Charlie Brooker has birthed a masterpiece of storytelling, but all I kind of want to do now is smash my phone, deactivate Facebook, and go and live in the woods or something.
Anyway. I gotta talk about this, likerightfuckingnow.
Season 1 Episode 1: The National Anthem
The pig one. Oh man. As far as series pilots go, this one may go down in history as the most ballsy. British Prime Minister Michael Callow (Rory Kinnear) is woken to the news of the kidnapping of Princess Susannah (Lydia Wilson). The ransom is issued, and the PM must do something just…downright grotesque to ensure her safe release. Similar to how we would probably react in real life, I spent the first half of this ep nervously laughing and convincing myself they would find a way out of this predicament. But by the end of it, I was sharing the expression of those sods in the bar watching the TV.
“There is no way they would actually do this – seriously – oh fuck – FUCK – OH MY GOD THEY ACTUALLY WENT THERE.”
To be honest, I think I said something more or less along these lines for most of the Black Mirror episodes.
Brooker’s pilot was a perfect introduction to the series. It becomes pretty immediate that technology (in this case, social media) has a role of its own in this chapter, and it highlights how swiftly it can sway the opinions of the general public. There is no filter, no editor to approve your work, you can post to Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram in a heartbeat, and one status can drift or landslide your opinion in 140 characters or less.
I think above all else, this episode puts the spotlight back on us – highlighting our sick fascination with the disgusting and the unbearable (As Callow’s wife states, “I know people. We love humiliation”). Just recently, Youtube celebrity Logan Paul posted a vlog from Aokigahara (aka Suicide Forest) a few weeks ago, and filmed himself with a real suicide victim. It went viral and even I was guilty of trying to find the original video after it was taken down.
Of course, Brooker wraps up episode 1 with a twist. Maybe not as explosive as some of the ones that follow it, but it definitely locks in his theme of human observation in times of crisis. The importance of TNA doesn’t revolve around the ‘incident’, but more so on how society reacts to it.
The National Anthem is by no means a personal favourite in the Black Mirror series. But it’s a stellar intro to the most unique show on air right now.
Rating: 3.5/5
Anxiety Level: 2.5/5
Emily Kiko Komiyama 