I was looking through my collection of articles and realized that I have not wrote about one of my true passions, which is film and television, so here we go.
I will admit that I am an avid binge watcher and movie goer, who subscribes to several streaming channels and currently has a watchlist on IMDb consisting of sixty one movies ranging from Charlie Chaplin films to Mad Max: Fury Road. I've seen forty seven of the eighty eight Best Picture winners with hopes to see all of them. But one of my current addictions is the show Black Mirror.
Black Mirror is a contemporary Twilight Zone in the best sense of the term with no continuous storyline, characters, or even reality. The show focuses its episodes on the potential dangers of our technological advancements and displays the dark reality we tend to ignore. The show's first two seasons were aired on British television, but the show was recently bought by Netflix, which aired a third season in late October. All of the thirteen episodes are available for streaming on Netflix and if I haven't convinced you to watch it yet here it comes.
Black Mirror isn't only one of the most artistically creative shows I've seen, but one of the most socially conscious shows I've seen in awhile. The show doesn't pander or make its social attitudes completely obvious, but rather it creates a universe which seems much like our own only to show us how much alike we are. And if don't want to watch a show that challenges your social perspective, then just watch the show for the twist. You'll spend the entirety of the episode guessing the ending only to have your mind blown.
If you don't believe in investing too much time into binge watching, then it's your lucky day because the episodes are stand alone. You get to watch a thrilling, entertaining story for an hour.
You may be intimidated and not know what episode to watch, but I'll suggest a few personal and fan favorites that will not let you down.
White Bear is a Black Mirror classic that is a good introduction episode. It is non-stop action that is sure not to disappoint. Similarly, Playtest from the newest season offers an action thriller that will scare you unlike an horror movie that has been released in recent memory. Two episodes that have significant depth yet remain extremely entertaining are San Junipero and The Entire History of You. And finally my personal favorite and probably the fan favorite is White Christmas. White Christmas was released as a special following season two. It is an hour and thirteen minutes and is an hour and thirteens minutes of high quality television.
Black Mirror is some of one the most creative pieces of television available today and I couldn't recommend it more highly. If you watch anything on Netflix, watch Black Mirror.
