‘Black Mirror’

The only heaven the human race may ever know is a virtual reality system, blocking people in real life renders them a mute and indistinct blur and the British prime minister is forced to have sex with a pig on live TV in ‘Black Mirror’. T

The exceedingly binge-worthy and brilliant anthology series created by Charlie Brooker.

Currently sucking souls into a succession of alternate realities in which the world’s relationship with technology has taken a turn for the bizarre, the three-season series deftly exaggerates modern society’s distinct traits, hopes and fears in a collection of chilling forecasts of eerily believable futures.

Dark, episodic and intense, each instalment of ‘Black Mirror’ is fully contained within a particular reality. Offering a new cast, new story and new world with each new play, the series maintains a sense of cohesion through Brooker’s particular brand of satire coupled with his dexterous use of twist.

Sometimes horrifyingly punitive in episodes like ‘White Bear’ and ‘White Christmas’, other times exploring themes of death and the afterlife as in ‘Be Right Back’ and ‘San Junipero’, Black Mirror delivers an array of stories with developments in technology changing how we relate to each other, troll the idiotic and face death.

Interrogating our need for validation as thumbs up and rating culture gets out of hand in ‘Nosedive’ while another reality sees ‘Got Talent’ type shows literally ruling the world, Brooker comments shrewdly on society in the spirit of ‘The Twilight Zone’ while presenting 13 of his own.

“The black mirror of the title is the one you’ll find on every wall, on every desk, in the palm of every hand: The cold, shiny screen of a TV, a monitor, a smartphone,” says Brooker speaking to The Guardian.

Reflecting our gadgets, our addictions and ourselves in a dark mirror, Brooker’s series straddles genres of science fiction and horror in a way that is all the more alarming in its links to the contemporary. Though some of the technology may be decades away, from the judging mob to the internet trolls and the moralising hackers, Brooker’s characters are us.

Brilliantly written, bite-sized and often terrifying, ‘Black Mirror’ is back with the kind of third season you’ll watch late into the night with another on its way. See this to see society.

Down the line and darker.

Black Mirror is now streaming on Netflix.

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