Northern England, 1979. A meek sales assistant is told she must commit terrible acts to prevent a disaster.Northern England, 1979. A meek sales assistant is told she must commit terrible acts to prevent a disaster.Northern England, 1979. A meek sales assistant is told she must commit terrible acts to prevent a disaster.
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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.)
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've now watched 3 of this new season. And only a handful of ones from past seasons. I find BM can be a hit and miss affair. Sometimes a bit too predictable like watching that old series 'Tales of the Unexpected' if anyone remembers that?
But Demon79 was so much more nuanced and fun. Who cares if it wasn't about technology? Do a whole season of 'Red Mirror' please. This is exactly what it was like living at the end of that decade. Script and acting were sublime. Top marks to the fashion and sets too. Sometimes these retro scenes can look like a modern day students idea of the '70's - but the detail in this was done really well and it had a fantastic soundtrack that didn't pick all the obvious tunes.
Best thing I've seen on TV in a very long time.
But Demon79 was so much more nuanced and fun. Who cares if it wasn't about technology? Do a whole season of 'Red Mirror' please. This is exactly what it was like living at the end of that decade. Script and acting were sublime. Top marks to the fashion and sets too. Sometimes these retro scenes can look like a modern day students idea of the '70's - but the detail in this was done really well and it had a fantastic soundtrack that didn't pick all the obvious tunes.
Best thing I've seen on TV in a very long time.
I'm not going to repeat what many others have said about this season. I don't know what is happening to the show but here we are. This episode is actually good TV. A good coherent story (unlike the last episode, wtf was that? Werewolves? Seriously?) and very well acted. There is great chemistry between Vasan and Essiedu, and the latter does a particularly great job portraying a funny, inexperienced demon dressed like Bobby Farrell, you know, the man from Bony M! The funny moments do well to give a lightheartedness to a story that tackles many serious issues like racism and murder, and shows an exercise in an extreme version of the trolley problem. Would you kill three people if you could save the world? What if they were bad people? The episode does an excellent job of making you laugh one second and clinch at the violence the next, all the while keeping you questioning what you would do in Nida's shoes. The only thing that made me enjoy this episode less than I would have otherwise is the fact that I was very aware the whole time that I was watching a Black Mirror episode and this is not that. Don't do what I did. Forget it has anything to do with Black Mirror and you will enjoy it.
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?
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?
Black Mirror has always been a startling commentary on technology. This season has been drifting away from that and bordering on some kind of horror/fantasy. Why can't the writers pause and remember that San Junipero was their best episode and realize that we don't need to feel scared, we need to be mesmerized and surprised by new concepts surrounding technological advancements. And if those concepts happen to excite us or just freak us out, cool. But the goal doesn't need to simply be to freak us out. Loch Henry & Mazey Day had the same problem. While these kinds of episodes are entertaining on their own, they aren't Black Mirror.
Did you know
- TriviaBoney M. singer Bobby Farrell was replaced with the character of Gaap in the TV appearance. In the original Episode #29.48 (1992), Farrell wears a long white cape and a Rasputin-esque fake beard.
- GoofsIn the car chase scene, just before Nida starts ramming Michael's car, they both appear to be driving on the right hand side of the road. The UK drives on the left.
- Quotes
Gaap: Cast out into a boundless, cosmic void. And doomed to spend eternity in a vacuum of infinite nothingness. Absence of matter, of time, of space, light, and sound. I would endure a profound, palpable, and ever-present lack of existence, alone in perpetuity, forever more.
Nida Huq: Sounds like my life.
- ConnectionsFeatures Top of the Pops (1964)
- SoundtracksBright Eyes
Written by Mike Batt
Performed by Art Garfunkel
Playing on the radio during the opening scene and again at the end of the episode while continuing over the end credits.
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Filming locations
- Harrow, Greater London, England, UK(The former Debenhams building, situated in Greenhill Way in the heart of Harrow Town Centre, underwent a complete transformation to become the fictional department store "Possetts", where Neda works.)
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 14 minutes
- Color
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