pd-19490

I'm a sucker for good sci-fi and the first episode of this was promising. They introduced what appeared at first to be a fresh take on the story but gradually delved into the kind of horror schlock that the Alien series has unfortunately become known for. To me what made the first movie so original and scary was the fact that you had no idea where the creature came from or what it could do. Was there some gore? Sure, but it was not the focus. The overwhelming focus was on the psychological effect and "what will happen next". To me the lore of the "xenomorph" lost its luster around Alien 3 and everything since has been just rehashing the same scenario over and over which is this: Space travelers come across "xenomorph", unexpectedly bring it on their ship with them, and "xenomorph" tracks each one down and systematically kills them in various gory ways.

Sadly this show is repeating that exact pattern, just with new characters and setting. We all know what's going to happen and how this creature works so there isn't really any suspense or "horror". I also just really don't care for gory horror if that's all the focus is, which unfortunately appears to be what they're going for with this show. Why not come up with something completely new and original? With Hollywood these days the answer is "that would be nice but we know people will watch this", and unfortunately they appear to be right. This got massive viewership for FX. Oh well.

I'm a sucker for sci-fi/tech stories and, with the exception of most of season 6, this show has almost always delivered. The stories usually touch on social ills and the danger of draconian efforts to use technology as a means of control. It honestly is more relevant than ever in this age of AI and the stories have become closer to home in recent seasons. The only uneven season for me was season 6 where a couple episodes barely used technology at all and were more horror influenced. Season 7 has thankfully returned to the Black Mirror of old.

I know Black Mirror is meant to be bleak, but this might be the most depressing episode of the series to me. It is a biting commentary on the US healthcare system and, I think, the darker side of capitalism in general. There are comments on here about it being too "on the nose", which I think I can understand, but man it really nails how a corporation would handle things with the "tier pricing" and "offerings". All you have to do is upgrade to our "Lux" package to avoid these "issues"! I'll admit it gets a little over the top with the "side hustle" the husband takes on, but otherwise it pretty much captures what a middle-class family would deal with in this situation. Incredibly sad and I needed to watch a light-hearted comedy after this.