Crocodile

One of the darkest black mirror episodes I've seen, this one explores the spiralling depths someone is capable of in order to protect a secret and a way of life.

It left me with a very dark, uncomfortable feeling at the end, but well worth the watch.

The third episode in the fourth season of Black Mirror was Crocodile; it is an episode that shows the budget and scale that the show now has in its locations. Throughout the episode the selection and use of locations is impressive in the beauty of the Nordic landscape and even the use of interiors and specific places. Read any professional and amateur review and you'll find they all praise this. Part of the reason for that is that it is true, but the other reason is that the episode is unfortunately sufficiently lacking that this single aspect stands head and shoulders above the others.

In terms of technology and darkness, the episode has both - which is usually the core of these episodes working. In this case though, the technology is used to setup the scenario but there isn't really a feedback loop onto the technology as it is in the episode, and as it connects to us now. This lack of connection to the device weakens the episode, but what makes it not work is that the darkness is so pointlessly bleak, and the lead character seems single-minded without any hook for the viewer to try to connect to her actions or feelings. Instead we see characters murdered without involvement - only watching. It is surprisingly dull in this regard, and is pretty disappointing in all ways apart from the scenery.

A decently written episode, but they do the brain implant/virtual reality theme absolutely to death.

It's my biggest qualm with later seasons, they just do episode after episode of the exact same thing. One of the earlier seasons' greatest strength is the variety of tech themes that they explore. The implications of brain implants/VR are interesting, but there's an inherent lack of creativity on the writers' part by falling back on it over and over again.

It's almost guaranteed that 3/4 new episodes are going to be brain implants/VR.

I am amazed at the negative reviews; this is a train wreck episode and I mean that in a good way. It is compelling television- The twist is not something you would expect and maybe some of these haters just didn't like it- The setting in Iceland is stark and it is a brutal story. Brilliant.

An insurance agent is investigating a minor car accident, using a device that reads the witness's memory. But one of the witnesses inadvertently reveals to her a dark secret from the past, which she must now cover up at all costs.

I have a lot to say about this "Black Mirror" episode, but a deeper analysis requires specific details that would spoil the story, and for a full experience, it is best to enter this adventure with as little prior knowledge as possible. For the most part, it is predictable enough that the additional information I would present here would completely ruin it.

Many resent its unconvincingness, in the sense that it is not in human nature to choose the path that the protagonist took, and that on that path she could not physically perform everything she does in the episode, and on top of all that she does it so nonchalantly and still no one caught her in the act.

True, the story has holes and illogicalities, but it is not so naive, because this is not about the average person, but about someone driven into psychopathy by fifteen years of guilty conscience combined with the urge to protect the family. The drama of a mentally unstable mother, who struggles with a guilty conscience and tries to keep the family together, sinking deeper into madness and eventually turning into a monster, is shown strong and impressively enough to distract you from the holes and illogicalities.

Many also blame it for not being in the spirit of the "Black Mirror" series. And I agree with this too. While "Black Mirror" deals with the positive and negative impacts of technology on the individual and humanity as a whole, basing plots on specific examples of (mis)use of technological advances, this episode is based on the characterization of the protagonist, while the Sci-Fi element is there just to push the story in the desired direction and provide the final plot twist.

If not a particularly representative episode for "Black Mirror", viewed outside the context of the series, "Crocodile" is a great psychological drama-thriller. With a well-balanced pace and duration, a great choice of scenography, a tense atmosphere, and a story that gradually transforms from a drama into a thriller and pushes further to the edge of horror, it held my undivided attention until the final twist, which serves as both a shocker and a comic relief.

All this, along with the fact that the protagonist is so skillfully brought close to the audience that I sympathized with her all the way, and even at times cheered for the monster to get away with her crimes, is reason enough for me to disregard all the clichés, holes and illogicalities in the story.

8,5/10.