Demon 79

I find it's hard to watch Black Mirror now without being too critical of whether or not the episode fits the original themes of the show and the standard we are looking for as viewers. I can also get distracted at the beginning guessing what the "message" is going to be about.

I really enjoyed this episode though just as it was. I sort of forgot I was watching Black Mirror and just enjoyed the cinematography, soundtrack and acting.

Overall this season may not have knocked it out of the park for me but it's still a perfect show to watch an episode with my spouse after the kiddos are in bed and have a good chat. This episode wasn't the most thought provoking but the most enjoyable for me.

What a compelling actress. She really sells the whole concept of the episode, silly as the synopsis sounds.

Anjana, you had a lot riding in your shoulders, and you carried it. Well done. And you rocked that jacket too.

Honorable mention to the music and the cinematography. And the more-deplorable characters were well done, too. Some characters became heavy-handed caricatures, sure, but the piece was meant to be stylized.

Black Mirror, admittedly, excels most when it stays focused on the impact of technology (in moods both surreal and cautionary), and of course this season drifts from that norm a bit. But still I appreciate the exploring, as the show has always been a mix of hits and misses. (Metaphorically, I mean, not with a hammer.)

I guess that somewhere there is a manual that says what Black Mirror is supposed to be, and if it doesn't fit the parameters set up by some council of judges, we give it a one. I guess I look at each episode like I would an independent short story and judge it on its strengths and weaknesses. While I thought this episode was lacking in many ways, I still thought it was engaging enough to be of interest. I guess Black Mirror is supposed to be based on misuse of technology. Well, a show about a deal with the devil doesn't work. Nor does one about werewolves. But the stories are interesting, if not too long. This one is highly predictable. A deal with an evil entity is always a big risk. I guess I'll wait ten years for the next season. In the meantime, print out that rule book.

I don't know why the last two episodes of the season (Mazey Day and Demon 79) are not Black Mirror, they're fantasy episodes, they seem like taken out from another series (Like Del Toro's cabinet of curiosities) and put them here.

Mazey Day was plain bad, boring, pointless. But I actually enjoyed Demon 79. Even though it's a fantasy episode it's very entertaining, solid story, I loved how it ended, performances were great, Anjana Vasan (Needa) and Paapa Essiedu (Gaap) have a lot of chemistry together, it was a fun and enjoyable episode.

Still, I don't know if I want these kind of episodes in this series, I want to see Black Mirror, not this, not fantasy episodes. This is not why I watch Black Mirror.

Maybe... why don't they just create a new series?

I see a lot of people complaining that this episode has veered away from Black Mirror's central theme of the dangers technology can unleash upon humanity, but that's because the creator of this series, Charlie Brooker, intended to do so with this episode. He was quoted by the press saying the following:

"Demon 79 opens with a 'Red Mirror presents' title sequence, marking it out as 'different-from-yet-adjacent-to' Black Mirror. This is because, typically, Black Mirror has focused on tech dystopias or media satire, whereas this story has a stronger supernatural element, harking back to 1970s horror. The episode is almost unclassifiable."

Hopefully that helps clear up the confusion as to why "Demon 79" is so different than the other BM episodes.

Overall the main story of this particular episode could have been fleshed out a littler tighter, but the performances of the two leads, particularly Paapa Essiedu (who plays the demon Gaap), are exceptional. His charisma is incredibly intoxicating, and his on-screen chemistry with Ania Vasan (who plays the protagonist, Nida) is palpable. Kudos to both actors! They made a somewhat ordinary horror story especially interesting and even comedic, with hefty doses of dark humor sprinkled throughout. And of course the late 70s Britain setting creates a captivating nostalgic throwback.