Finally Watched Black Mirror. Here Are My Top 5 Episodes

Despite the perpetually backed-up state of my Netflix queue, I finally got around to watching Black Mirror. I had heard a lot about the show from fans and haters alike, and after running the whole series--from it's first six BBC episodes to its new season on Netflix--I found that Black Mirror is definitely a mixed bag. At its best, it's a show that asks intriguing questions of society and technology while telling exciting, visually compelling stories. At its worst, the show is bland and hollow, with only a thin veneer of social commentary to show for its efforts.

But despite any demerits, there's really a lot more to love about Black Mirror than there is to hate. So let's take a look at my 5 favorite episodes and hopefully we'll get a clearer picture of the show's best attributes.

5. Hated in the Nation

Black Mirror's longest and final episode to date, "Hated in the Nation" is a fascinating cyber-detective story about public shaming and the consequences of online violence in the name of social justice. Though the extra-long run-time is a bit unnecessary, the story remains compelling throughout, thanks to the two female leads (the always brilliant Kelly MacDonald and Game of Thrones' Faye Marsay) as detectives investigating a series of social media-related murders. "Hated in the Nation" is a good bit of sci-fi and an even better psychological thriller.

4. The Entire History of You

Most of Black Mirror's finest moments show ordinary people sabotaging themselves with technology that's accelerated too fast for them to handle. "The Entire History of You" shows what can happen when you put the ability to replay memories on-demand in the hands of jealous, petty people with big secrets. The criminally underrated Toby Kebbell leads a top-notch cast as a petty, heavy drinking husband whose unchecked jealousy leads to brutal revelations about himself and the hollow, status-hungry people in his professional and social circles. Black Mirror thrives when the plot is steeped in character and the twists are small, but still shocking. In this sense, "The Entire History of You" is a true winner.

3. Playtest

Whereas some Black Mirror episodes break under the weight of their own thematic ambitions, "Playtest" avoids this fate in its exploration of personal fears instead of social ones. It also might be the most visually ambitious episode in the series (thanks to Dan Trachtenberg of 10 Cloverfield Lane fame).  I'll secede that "Playtest" isn't nearly as "serious" about its subject matter as most of Black Mirror's catalog, but it's a fun, poignant horror story about one man's fear of parental intimacy. 

2. The National Anthem

In the first ten minutes of "The National Anthem", we're introduced to a British Prime Minister charged with, of all things, fucking a pig in front of the entire country in order to meet the demands of the Princess' kidnapper. What follows is every bit as insane as you'd imagine. Daring, shocking, and insatiably provocative, "The National Anthem" is Black Mirror firing on all cylinders. And at only one episode into the series, that's quite a triumph.

...On a sidenote: nobody let Lars Von Trier see this episode. He might get ideas.

1. San Junipero 
Love stories are a plenty in Black Mirror, but happy endings are inevitably hard to come by. Amidst a series of biting social parable and jarring conclusions, "San Junipero" is not only an outlier, but a welcome breathe of fresh air. Don't get me wrong, I like to be shaken into a state of total hopelessness by my entertainment as much as the next guy--and for the most part, that's exactly what the technology-driven subject matter of Black Mirror calls for--but I couldn't help but be in awe of "San Junipero". Not only does the episode pull off a truly authentic love story, but it seamlessly explores the ways in which technological advancement challenges our perceptions of mortality, reality, intimacy, religion, and afterlife. And to top it all off, the 80's have never been rendered more beautifully. If you've watched all of Black Mirror and "San Junipero" wasn't a stand-out episode for you, keep in mind that the show's best episodes manage to subvert its loaded reputation as well as live up to it.

Keep that in mind, and you'll see that "San Junipero" is Black Mirror's finest hour.

Get Out: Horror or Horror Comedy?

Everyone is calling Jordan Peele's surprise smash hit Get Out a great "Horror Comedy". But the truth is, Get Out is straight up a great Horror movie, plain and simple.

So why am I making a point to say that Get Out is Horror and not Horror Comedy? After all, I'm a huge fan of both genres, and frequently talk about how both Horror and Comedy are still not taken seriously enough. But that's just it. Get Out already deserves more credit than it will ultimately get, simply because it's a Horror film. Throw Comedy into the mix, and well, there goes the wide-reaching respect that this movie deserves.

But I also think it's just plain inaccurate to call Get Out a Horror Comedy because it shows a crucial misunderstanding of both movie genres. Many...dare I say most great Horror films are booming with dark humor. Yes, Get Out is particularly rife with the same type of biting racial and social satire that director Jordan Peele is most famous for in his former sketch comedy show, Key and Peele. But Horror and Comedy share something in common--they evoke strong emotions when dealing with dark subject matter. And sometimes they evoke the same physical response--laughter. Does laughter always equal comedy? No. Sometimes laughter is just the only way to respond to something horrific.

I recently went to a 35 mm screening of The Shining at the New Beverly Theater in L.A. The Shining is one of my favorite films. I've seen it more times than I can count. But I never realized how absurdly funny it is until I saw it with a public audience. Like all of Stanley Kubrick's films, it's full of absurd, dark humor which--when paired with the dread of the Horror genre--makes for some serious laughs. Get Out doesn't necessarily exhibit the same brand of humor as The Shining, but the humor functions similarly in the way it tempers the tension and drives satirical points home. Yes, Get Out is a brilliantly humorous socio-political satire on modern racial tensions in America. But its satire is much more horrific than flat-out funny, and the humor exists in the same way it exists in a million other Horror movies.

Jordan Peele is obviously a big horror fan. In fact, he's proven himself a great student, and now, master of Horror with his directorial debut. I'd venture to guess that, were it not for his reputation as a comedian, no one would be calling Get Out a "Horror Comedy". And that's yet another handle. Jordan Peele has now proven himself a colossal talent. So don't pigeon hole him by haphazardly slapping the "Comedy" label on everything he does. He deserves more than that, because he's done something that stands outside the parameters of one box. He's brilliantly directed a great piece of cinematic Horror, plain and simple. When the year is over and we look back at all the movies, there's no way Get Out isn't going to be one of the absolute best. There's just no way. So, I guess, call it what you want, just as long as you recognize a great fucking movie when you see one.