User reviews

What a way to round of a superb series of Black Mirror. I'll admit my anticipation levels were high for this one, and I was not left disappointed. Instantly this was absorbing, it unfolded in real style, loaded with twists and turns, captivating viewing from start to finish. Technology used in true Black Mirror style, used to make a wonderfully twisted, but human story. Fabulous acting from all, Letitia Wright was fabulous throughout, particularly at the end. I've always been a big fan of Douglas Hodge, he seems to have been off the radar somewhat, so it was great to see him back, he was excellent, impressed by his accent too . At times it felt like a seventies portmantaeu film, lots of stories within a story, all combining at the end, similar in layout to 'From beyond the Grave.' This one seemed bigger and bolder, had the feeling of a quality film about it. Very impressed.

With its structure, story, and most of all its atmosphere, the "Black Museum" irresistibly resembles the cult anthologies of the eighties, such as "Creepshow", "Tales from the Darkside", "Tales from the Crypt", and to some extent Rod Serling's "The Twilight Zone".

A young black woman rides an old-timer on a dusty road, which suggests a retro episode. But when she stops at a gas station, we see her plugging a car into a solar panel. This kind of charging will take quite a while, so she decides to explore the nearby facility, to pass the time.

The building in question is the Black Museum, which, with the black woman in the lead role, again leads to wrong assumptions. It is a museum of various technological achievements related to crimes. We had the opportunity to see a good part of the exhibits in previous episodes of the "Black Mirror" series, but this episode does not focus on them, so they can easily go unnoticed and represent the "easter eggs" of this episode.

The Black Museum focuses on three exhibits we have not encountered so far. The curator of the museum, a person of a very suspicious character, tells our heroine the history of these exhibits, so in this episode, we have a triptych of short, but powerful and quite shocking and morbid SF dramas. Each of these stories opens new questions about human psychology and attitudes towards technical achievements and makes us think, and each for itself would be a worthy episode of the "Black Mirror" series. And when you finally, through the final twist, see how all three stories are connected, to each other and the background story, the episode becomes even more striking.

Although the twist is quite unoriginal and towards the end it becomes more and more predictable, and there is no tension typical for most "Black Mirror" episodes, everything is so nicely blended and works perfectly that the shortcomings are negligible. And in my case, the similarities with the anthologies of my childhood add another nostalgic star to the final rating.

8/10.

I really hope Karl Pilkington got paid in some way for this. Almost word for word what he's said on an old podcast episode.

Look it up if you don't believe me, it's crazy!

Fingaz MC.

My initial reaction to the season 4 finale of Black Mirror was that it was good - I can barely think of one episode that wasn't at least trying something intriguing or questioning our perceptions of the world thru our technology in some form... And yet I found this mean spirited piece of business with a hammy lead performance....

(One hour later) after pondering some more, so appreciate that this structure is similar to White Christmas but the nastiness lends itself more to something like CREEPSHOW: here are people who get twisted by the technology that they are given by this doctor-cum-carnival barker, but that doesn't excuse how far two out of three of these subjects abuse what they are given and end up going for the worst in humanity.

The last subject in this museum is a guy who rides the lightning and his consciousness in computer form has to relive it over and over. I might question how a computer entity can feel pain and become mentally fractured by it, but this is also a season that began with a video game programmer using the DNA of his coworkers to warp them in simulated space madness, so it is consistent.

I think the hamminess of this guy, how sweaty he gets, his general demeanor, is too much in the moment and yet of all the episodes this is one I want to watch again the most. It's sick in its humor (that one doctor and what he does with his pain receptor is the best part for me, I could have done with a whole episode about him, or seen him crop up in a Philip K Dick short novella or something) and it leaves on a note of that is not depressing. It's just... Trying so hard.

The fourth season of Black Mirror has not been what I hoped it would be - the quality of production is higher than ever, but the ideas and delivery thereof has been less interesting than before. The final episode though is a strong finish, helped by its 'anthology' approach. A British girl is charging her car and decides to visit the 'Black Museum' nearby. Inside the owner tells her about a series of tragedies with their roots in technological advances that he was involved in pushing - all which his main attraction awaits behind a curtain.

The 'sideshow' feel to this episode allows it to be more entertaining than many of the episodes this season; the tales have a darkness but they are told well by Rolo to have humor between them and in their delivery. Each of them deals with technology to keep someone around or to have an extra connection to them - whether it is the consciousness of someone in a coma, a doctor experiencing the pain of his patients to help diagnose it, or a killer captured at the time of his execution. The individual stories are engaging and well told with enough to shock but not to break us out of the "camp-fire" setting of the museum.

The final story allows for a strong finish/twist in the telling. The ethics of it are a bit all over the place to be sure, but it is also satisfying in how it tidies up a strong episode. Performances are strong from both Hodges and Wright, while the mini-episodes also have plenty of good turns from familiar faces. Each story and the overall story tells of letting go, and of not doing something just because you can - treating human and emotional things as pure science or data; and I guess in the context of that, the overall ending is easier to take because, as wrong as it is, it is also a natural extension of the same.

Black museum is a true horror black mirror episode, it has almost everything you'd like to watch on one and more. My favourite tale out of the Three was the Doctor Dawson one. Heck Yeah.

This may not be a 'Black Mirror' style, but this is one of the best episodes in this series indeed. The end was totally unexpected and that's why I gave it 10.

What a amazing season finale for season four, great plot, storys, characters and one of the biggest twist EVER! Can't wait for more episodes, keep on going Netflix!

Season 4 ends perfectly. The acting is brilliant. The writing is flawless. You do not know what to expect. The twist in the end is fantastic. The episode has a few stories in one story and all the stories have a WTF moment. The shock factor of this show is awesome. Looking forward to more.

This is so far one of the best episode of the entire serie, the history have a line unpredictable and connected perfectly. This was just a great reunion of emotions, and I loved it.

Has buildup of stories that have nothing to do with ending. You think they will make a connection but just fizzle out. I get the plot twists but they are out of place and awkward. Hard to not laugh at some scenes, I was tempted to turn it off several times but wanted to see it through. I get the tone they are trying to make but it's just off. Is this black mirror? How do people enjoy this?

The only explanation in my head that would cause someone to enjoy this: 1. They hate white people. Or 2. Low IQ. Beyond that it's an enigma and I wonder if half these reviews are from bots.