My Top 5 'Black Mirror' Episodes

It has taken a lot of convincing to get me to watch the hit Netflix TV Show Black Mirror which was first released in 2011 on Channel 4. Taken to Netflix by Season 3, Black Mirror flourished its way to an audience of 11.6 Million viewers during the sixth season. I will not lie to you when I say that the majority of the episodes in my opinion, are some of the most boring and banal things I have ever seen on television. However, the cultural impact of the show upon others cannot be denied or understated.

Be that as it may, I do have my own personal five favourite episodes of Black Mirror and they may not be the ones you are expecting. Also, it was quite difficult for me to choose five that I enjoyed and when I looked them up, they are not necessarily the ones that are most acclaimed or critical rated as the best. One of them got some pretty negative ratings and scathing reviews. Anyways, without further introduction, here are my personal five favourite episodes of the hit Netflix TV Show Black Mirror.

My Top 5 'Black Mirror' Episodes

5. Loch Henry (Season 6, Episode 2)

This one is complicated. Though I knew how the story was going to go from the outset because I had pretty much guessed it by process of elimation of 'why would a serial killer shoot but not kill someone?' plus the question of 'why does the mother have no active role other than just appearing in random places of the house?' No matter how predictable it was though, it played with some things that I quite enjoyed such as the ethical problems that you could encounter when making a film about something that had actually happened. Another one is what happens when what you believe happened is challenged. It is quite a good episode and so makes it to number five on the list.

4. White Bear (Season 2, Episode 2)

When I learnt that this episode was inspired by The Wicker Man (1973), I was not only impressed, I could actually understand where the episode was going and, managed to guess roughly half of what was happening before it did. White Bear is an episode with many, many references to the classic folk horror movie whilst also providing a great atmosphere for something new to be made of it. Centred around a woman who wakes up not knowing where she is or who she is, or even why she is being shot at and chased, she calls for help but only recieves onlookers taking photos and videos of her with no social interaction. As the plot thickens, a photograph of a girl is thrown in (yes, like Robin from The Wicker Man) and flashbacks prove that there's something weird definitely going on. But the ending is even weirder yet.

3. The Waldo Moment (Season 2, Episode 3)

As you can tell, I like the kind of comedy that makes you think that Guy Ritchie probably had a hand in writing those jokes. The Waldo Moment is at number three because it makes fun of the most incredibly ludicrous political atmospheres that dominate Britain, even before some of them happened. The Waldo Moment sort of made me think about what would happen if you let Ali G make a Black Mirror episode about how the Tories look in the 2010s. It's a hilarious episode with great acting and a cartoon teddy bear, what more could you want? Filled with black comedy and Jason Flemyng having rants, this really does make for a fun episode.

2. Shut Up and Dance (Season 3, Episode 3)

I quite enjoyed the black comedy behind this one and the fact that in the end, it was quite happy because all of the characters that had it coming to them got what was coming to them. Let's just say this, some people who have some horrid, awful and disgusting inhuman secrets have been hacked by some random people and blackmailed with proof of their own horrors being released and sent to everyone they know. They are asked to do what at first seems like stuff that is really inconsequential and then, it builds up to a fight to the death. Ultimately, there is one of those Black Mirror twist endings where things are not always what they seem to be. But make no mistake, these are some really bad people.

Honorable Mentions!

• White Christmas (Special, 2014)
• Hated in the Nation (Season 3, Episode 6)
• Demon 79 (Season 6, Episode 5)

1. The National Anthem (Season 1, Episode 1)

I think that every single person in Britain knows exactly what this episode is talking about and it is quite possibly the funniest episode of Black Mirror ever. It is quite possibly the most raw look at the world of British politics with an edge that just makes it extra over-the-top to watch. It presents us with all the ethical issues of being England's Prime Minister whilst also managing to take the absolute piss out of about five of them altogether. Rory Kinnear's acting is always brilliant but he outdid himself in this one. Out of all of the episodes of Black Mirror, the very first one ever was definitely the best.

Conclusion

You know, after all this I think I will make a list of my top five least favourite episodes of Black Mirror and include that Manson family one that was set in space. We will have to wait and see…