White Christmas

SPOILER: The British sci-fi anthology series consists of various tales about how technology will possibly create a more hellish world in the near future...and none of the episodes I have seen so far are as hellish a future as this one.

The story is set in a room with two men. One is talkative and a bit jovial and the other, apparently, has been mostly silent the last five years. What follows are two stories by the more talkative man as he recounts how he abused technology. And, these stories, in turn, help the quiet man to finally start talking and he tells a very sad story about losing his wife/girlfriend (not sure which)...and she was pregnant! He desperately wants to see her and work things out...as well as see his child. But thanks to modern tech, he literally CAN'T see either as unfriending takes on a strange and sad finality.

I really don't want to say too much about this one...it's not an easy episode to explain AND it would give away too much. Suffice to say it's exquisitely written, very moving as well as scary to imagine such an awful and hellish future...all perhaps possible one day thanks to technology. See this one!!

In this episode, there are quite a few story-lines but which all connect together at some point. It feels a little like Inception, with all the different levels of consciousness, and I like it! I love films/shows with a psychological emphasis that are somewhat heavy and dark to understand (though not too dark that it verges on horror). The story is well crafted and the different timelines are juxtaposed nicely so that everything comes together in the end.

The acting is all great as well, with everyone doing their parts convincingly. The dialogue felt very natural and fluent which made the story really feel like a possible future. In addition, the visuals are on point and complements the show nicely. The effects- especially of the 'blocking' materializes the concept of the dark side of technology into something tangible and realizable. It was scary yet fascinating to watch (hopefully this doesn't turn out to be real).

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"Black Mirror" seems to me to be  the best science fiction show on television; I'd rate Season 2 (2013) a 9 out of 10.  (I'm never quite certain whether to group British shows by "season" or by "series," as they do.  I'm also a little uncertain why the fourth and final episode here, "White Christmas," is included in Season 2, as it aired nearly two years later as a 2014 holiday special.)

I commented to a friend of mine after seeing "White Christmas" the other night that the show was "brave" -- it just isn't afraid to alienate mainstream audiences by being too dark.  Not all of "Black Mirror's"  episodes have "twists," but they typically have an unexpected plot development, and their outcomes and implications are arguably depressing.

It's just such a damned good show, though, in terms of its writing and acting.  My friend told me she wasn't aware of anyone who had seen it and disliked it. 

"White Christmas," for example, was one of the best hours of science fiction television I've ever seen.  It consists of three blackly tragic vignettes seamlessly woven withing a wraparound story, and it employs a sci-fi plot device that is mind-bending and brutal.  I believe this is the first time I've seen its lead actor, Jon Hamm, and I was extremely impressed with his performance.

My only quibbles with the program are extremely minor.  As with the first season, I think that not every episode truly requires a 44- minute running length.  I thought two episodes  ("Be Right Back" and "The Waldo Moment") seemed like they could have been tightened up into one, maybe with tighter writing allowing for shorter segments. 

I've noticed another minor relative weakness with "Black Mirror" in general as well -- the show does not always present the viewer with likable protagonists.  Occasionally, the various characters we're asked to identify with are either slightly off-putting or even annoying.  Again, "Be Right Back" and "The Waldo Moment" spring to mind.  This wasn't enough to greatly affect my enjoyment of the episodes, though.

What an incredible show.

I think the first time round I watched it I didn't fully absorb into it, subsequently I would now class it as one of the very best. It's is definitely one of the darkest, bleakest and down right sadistic episodes, and for a show like Black Mirror that's really saying something.

I've tried to think up one narrative that links each episode of Black Mirror, and it's tough, the closest I've gotten is that mankind will always use technology to take advantage of others, be it monetary, politically or for love.

We get several different strands in this episode and that rule could definitely apply in each case. I love the idea of three stories combining to make one, it's a technique that's not often used, but when it does it's hugely satisfying, each story links with each other, elements would also reappear in later stories, such as Arkangel.

Lots of questions come out of it, did Potter get rough justice, or was he the victim, was Matt a good or a bad guy? Is under cooked toast actually edible? You could debate and argue it for hours. John Hamm and Rafe Spall were excellent, two very strong performances. Visually dazzling as always.

The top of many people's Christmas watch list I shouldn't wonder.

10/10.

I could go on for hours concerning this episode.

But I will simply conclude it is a horrifying prediction of a future that hopefully will never be possible.