Cragsidebarry

San Junipero was, in my mind, one of the best pieces of television ever. I'm not just talking about Black Mirror, incidentally, but genuinely one of the most thoughtful, thought-provoking, emotionally empowering pieces of TV drama.

Every time I've watched Black Mirror since, I've sub-consciously compared it to that, and while there have been many good episodes (some terrible, it has to be said), none have been in remotely the same league.

Until Hotel Reverie.

Oh, there are clearly some similarities between the two which might count for a slight lack of originality, and there is the potential for criticism for woke, but these are deliberate and in this context perfectly understandable.

It's some time since I have been so emotionally engaged in a plot that I have shed a tear - perhaps even several.

Thank you to everyone involved in this wonderful production.

I'm disappointed. It was an interesting setup, but half-way through the whole thing just completely comes apart at the seams: things make little sense, too many cliches, and a ridiculous, woke ending, poor cgi, etc.. Science is very, very dodgy at times.

Just a lot of illogical stuff, and it desperately tries to be grander and more significant than it is.

The actors mostly aren't fantastic, and some are just dire. Flat as pancakes.

I can see why some people might think this is passable, but it's way below anything that has quality and we really need better productions than this. Really we do!

I was happy to invest time in this despite many concerns about implausible characters and settings, and for the first few episodes it kept my interest.

But as time went on, the characters and settings just became more and more cartoon-like, and completely implausible situations and settings started to become the norm.

The killer for me came when a room of 'supposed' scientists completely failed to spot a gigantic hole in one of the main scientific tenets (I won't spoil it for you, but just to say it's to do with accelerating masses and completely overlooking that the larger masses in question would also have to be accelerated way beyond our capability). This isn't a debate, it's just plain impossible. And therefore, none of what ensues in the supposed resolution is possible.

And then there's the ridiculous scene in the hospital with the signing of the contract. What on earth (literally!) is the point of this? If the guy reneges on his contact it is too late and therefore has no value.

And then there's the frequent telegraphing of what is going to happen, sometimes multiple episodes ahead.

I'm really annoyed I invested time in this trash.