Okay... so this is the first episode in the first season where I was like "Ohhh- this world seems familiar." I feel like there's a lot of this kind of technology in further episodes of Black Mirror... and that's something I definitely didn't get when I was watching these episodes as stand alones... so I'll get into the recap of it and then I'll review it.
And before I recap I'll post a link to the current videos I'm watching recapping the series right here. I was watching the Gamespot Universe recaps- which I enjoyed... but they don't have recaps for the earlier seasons- only for season 4... so I watched this reviewer instead... I didn't really agree with his analysis of 15 Million Merits... so I didn't link it in the last post I did of this... but I really liked what he said about this episode and it helps to have some visuals of the episode if you haven't seen it yet. There are spoilers in his review though... so I wouldn't watch it if you haven't seen it yet.
Anyway this episode takes place in a world where everyone has a chip implanted in their ear so that they can watch pretty much everything that happens in their entire lives and the lives of those around them. The main character is a man named Liam that this sort of technology just isn't good for. He's a lawyer and he gets passed over for a promotion so he's playing back the tape a million times to see what possibly led to the outcome of getting passed over for that. He also doesn't seem to have many friends, it seems like he mostly just hangs around his wife's friends that he doesn't seem to know all that well... and they all have deep bonds and connections from College that they relive on replay from "the grain" which is the name of this device.
Liam is also very insecure when he meets his wife's old friend Jonas... and immediately accuses her of having an affair with him based on a few meaningless moments at dinner that are not exactly proof... and eventually when he does actually get proof confirming his suspicions... he comes to the worst possible conclusion that his baby is not even his... and the ending is left kind of vague... but we see him in an empty house with just his memories of his family on the grain... so who really knows what happened.
So I liked this episode because I thought this tied the season together really well... all 3 of these episodes are very much about screens particularly... and this seems like it isn't that scary at first... I play back moments from years ago all the time- but this you literally get to see a playback and so does everyone else... which is kind of cool.
This sort of "grain" technology is also similar to episodes that I've seen including Nosedive, Crocodile, USS Callister, Arkangel and Black Museum... so a lot of the 4th season is sort of set into motion in this episode... which is pretty cool.
I think I'd maybe give this 4 and a half out of 5 Stars... I think for personal enjoyment I'd just give it four stars... but this episode is really one that sticks with you and for that I think it deserves a little bit more credit. I think my favorite moment of the episode- which i WISH they would have explored further- is at the dinner party when the woman that works in development for The Grain judges the other woman that had her grain stolen from her for now choosing to live without a Grain... its just very catty and you can see how threatened the grain employee is by this woman questioning their brand... it's just very interesting.
So yeah. Hope you guys liked this review- I'll see you next week with another one!
Byeee!
-Shannon
And before I recap I'll post a link to the current videos I'm watching recapping the series right here. I was watching the Gamespot Universe recaps- which I enjoyed... but they don't have recaps for the earlier seasons- only for season 4... so I watched this reviewer instead... I didn't really agree with his analysis of 15 Million Merits... so I didn't link it in the last post I did of this... but I really liked what he said about this episode and it helps to have some visuals of the episode if you haven't seen it yet. There are spoilers in his review though... so I wouldn't watch it if you haven't seen it yet.
Anyway this episode takes place in a world where everyone has a chip implanted in their ear so that they can watch pretty much everything that happens in their entire lives and the lives of those around them. The main character is a man named Liam that this sort of technology just isn't good for. He's a lawyer and he gets passed over for a promotion so he's playing back the tape a million times to see what possibly led to the outcome of getting passed over for that. He also doesn't seem to have many friends, it seems like he mostly just hangs around his wife's friends that he doesn't seem to know all that well... and they all have deep bonds and connections from College that they relive on replay from "the grain" which is the name of this device.
Liam is also very insecure when he meets his wife's old friend Jonas... and immediately accuses her of having an affair with him based on a few meaningless moments at dinner that are not exactly proof... and eventually when he does actually get proof confirming his suspicions... he comes to the worst possible conclusion that his baby is not even his... and the ending is left kind of vague... but we see him in an empty house with just his memories of his family on the grain... so who really knows what happened.
So I liked this episode because I thought this tied the season together really well... all 3 of these episodes are very much about screens particularly... and this seems like it isn't that scary at first... I play back moments from years ago all the time- but this you literally get to see a playback and so does everyone else... which is kind of cool.
This sort of "grain" technology is also similar to episodes that I've seen including Nosedive, Crocodile, USS Callister, Arkangel and Black Museum... so a lot of the 4th season is sort of set into motion in this episode... which is pretty cool.
I think I'd maybe give this 4 and a half out of 5 Stars... I think for personal enjoyment I'd just give it four stars... but this episode is really one that sticks with you and for that I think it deserves a little bit more credit. I think my favorite moment of the episode- which i WISH they would have explored further- is at the dinner party when the woman that works in development for The Grain judges the other woman that had her grain stolen from her for now choosing to live without a Grain... its just very catty and you can see how threatened the grain employee is by this woman questioning their brand... it's just very interesting.
So yeah. Hope you guys liked this review- I'll see you next week with another one!
Byeee!
-Shannon
Comments
Post a Comment