What's the best Black Mirror episode? I want to watch one or two only. I'm behind.

No, you dont have to watch it all, it's a separate stories. I like The entire history of you and USS Callister. And i know a lot of people hate it, but i LOVE The National Anthem, their first episode. It's hilariously prophetic.

You can start wherever you want. Depends on which kinds of stories you enjoy (read the short summaries), or if there are some actors in particular you'd like to check out. Then proceed from there.

I watched the first season when it came out, but I couldn't see what all the fuss was about. I also watched the acclaimed White Christmas special, only because of Jon Hamm, still couldn't appreciate it.

I watched National Anthem because I have the host for Rory Kinnear. R1, It was too upsetting but I get it. So I want to watch a few more.

OP I am a fan of the show. I would suggest you watch these three episodes in this order first :

1) USS Callister 2) Nosedive 3) Hated in the Nation

None of the episodes are interconnected. While most of them are good(except season 5!) the three I suggested would give you a good feel of the entire show and what it represents.

R1 is correct the 1st episode of season 1 "The National Anthem" is good but don't start with it. After these three, you can just watch randomly.

R4/OP Yep the first episode - while excellent in a lit of ways - can turn people off the show, hence my suggestion.

Thanks r5! I was wondering if I should continue after National Anthem as well executed as it was.

Which are the gay ones please, if any?

The Entire History of you is so gutting. I like Hang the DJ, because it's one of the rare ones that doesn't have the conventional ending. No love for San Junipero?

Don't read the summaries! Best to go into each episode blindly.

My top 5 are:

White Bear

The Entire History of You

Shut Up and Dance

San Junipero

and White Christmas (it takes a little to get going, but it's a masterfully-told story)

R7

I'd say it's their most disturbing episode, so everything after will be easier to take.

r8 San Junipero has lesbians, and Striking Vipers is tangentially gay. I still resent the showrunner for not giving us the gay San Junipero after five fucking seasons.

[quote]No love for San Junipero?

That's my favourite one but lesbian stuff doesn't usually rate highly on DL, I've observed over the years.

Also it's incredible how opinions differ about episodes of that show. I saw same episode being called one of the best and one of the worst. White Christmas and Shut up and Dance, for example.

Shut Up and Dance, Nosedive, USS Callister and my personal favorite, San Junipero. For kitsch factor, the one with Miley Cyrus is actually kinda fun.

OP see R12

The Entire History of you made me so upset R9. His wife was EVIL!

I thought the first episode of Black Mirror was pretty bad and almost put me off the series, glad I gave it another chance.

My personal favorites are "Shut Up and Dance" and "White Christmas"

Good to know it's an anthology r2 r5. Maybe Ryan Murphy should take this approach more. It's hard to sustain quality over a series.

R15 I still hear Miley's version of the nine inch nails song as - "Hey I'm a hoe" instead of "Head in a hole".

OP Keep season 5 for the end. It's not nearly as fun as the rest.

I'd recommend you stop reading this thread, OP. Spoilers are starting to trickle in.

Is Bandersnatch part of the series? It's listed separately on Netflix.

Thanks r20 but I have to say spoilers don't upset me as most other people.

Whoops! Sorry I got excited and didn't realize I had typed a spoiler out.

Nosedive is my favorite. San Junipero's story was ok but the 80's music really made it stand out.

Don't worry R, still love you!

Ready to give it a go!

[quote] Thanks [R20] but I have to say spoilers don't upset me as most other people.

Good, then -- but for me, part of the appeal of Black Mirror is not knowing where the story is going. They generally do a great job of surprising the watcher. So, read away! Good reccos in here.

Woah! Just watched Shut Up and Dance. It was superb. That kid. Thanks for recommending it!

But how terrifying and dismal. Where the hell does Brooker get his ideas from? I was thinking television had opened up production to so many more talents after film got stultifying.

R28

I loved Radiohead's song in the end.

Yes a long time since I've listened to it. A perfect contemplation on the moral ambiguity.

LOL I figured Shut Up And Dance would be big among DLers.

My favorites:

Nosedive

San Junipiero

The Entire History Of You

and, of particular relevance since November 2016, The Waldo Moment

[Quote] LOL I figured Shut Up And Dance would be big among DLers

Whys that? I don't get it.

San Junipero is my favorite episode, but I think it's best if you watch other episodes first. I agree with others that the Entire History of You ranks high, but I also liked Be Right Back which doesn't seem like it's getting recommended here.

I found Bandersnatch so creepy about halfway through, that I had to turn the tv off. But then I got into finding all the different endings.

Ah, r33, Be Right Back was downright depressing. Good, but it was like Requiem For a Dream- only need to see it once.

Season 4 is my favorite season. I thought “Metalhead” was fun and suspenseful even though I noticed it doesn’t rank highly on IMDB. Both “Arc Angel” and “Crocodile” were dark but excellent.

USS Callister

"Be Right Back" will hit you where it hurts, in a profound way.

White Bear is in my opinion the best episode, it checks all the boxes of what makes a good Black Mirror episode and sticks with you. It’s especially horrific on a human level.

Wildly overrated show but entertaining. No need to start from scratch. Each episode is a one off.

Here's my rough ranking of all the episodes... I made it during the summer. Positions may not be as fixed, but it should give you a rough understanding of which episodes I'm into. I'd say they're ultimately all worth watching. Black Mirror's a great show and I've been watching it long before Netflix even scooped them up.

The Entire History of You

Be Right Back

USS Callister

Nosedive

Playtest

Shut Up and Dance

San Junipero

Black Museum

White Christmas

Hang the DJ

Striking Vipers

Bandersnatch

White Bear

Crocodile

The National Anthem

Hated in the Nation

Fifteen Million Merits

Smithereens

Rachel, Jack, and Ashley Too

The Waldo Moment

Metalhead

Arkangel

Men Against Fire

I watched 3 seasons and the only one that stood out to me was White Bear.

Be Right Back, the very best episode.

I agree with everyone who says that Be Right Back is not to be missed.

Sad to see the killer bees episode rated so low here. Its my favorite one. Followed closely by USS Callister (which is hilarious; the shit joke is everything) and San Junipero.

R45 I agree. Maybe people don't like it because it's ending is not as horrifying as some other episodes and you know 'horrifying' is what they turn to black mirror for. It is, however, very well executed and one of the best episodes so far even if there's still hope in its end.

Well it's pretty horrifying in that a lot of people get killed by those bees, but the ending is really great. Personally I don't see what's so good about The Entire History of You. One of the most boring episodes.

Another good episode is the one with Bryce Dallas Howard. It's actually kind of funny. I prefer the ones with upbeat finales. Hang the DJ is another one I love.

I've never been as enraptured by it as much as other people are. I liked the first episode, but the 2ndmion, "Fifteen Million Demerits," was so depressing that it took me about a year to return to watching it. (It wasn't very good, either.)

I like the creepier episodes the best, particularly "Hated in the Nation." (I also like "USS Callister.) The ones people seem to like the best here, like "Be Right Back," remind me of sentimental Twilight Zone episodes like "I Sing the Body Electric." I don't dislike them necessarily, but they're not very memorable to me.

R47 That's the ending I was talking about. The episode with Bryce is called "Nosedive" One of my favorites too.

My favorites are : Nosedive, Hated in the Nation (especially relevant now), White Bear, Be Right Back, and San Junipero.

However, I enjoy most of the episodes. These stand out for me.

The show many times hits so scarily close home that I find it too depressing to watch. It really is a black mirror when it gets it right.

Then again episodes like Bandersnatch are total fluff and feel like an idiotic one trick pony.

I'm liking the concept of the series. I've watched 3 more now based on your suggestions dear DLers. If if gotten your opinion earlier id have saved National Anthem for later instead of starting with it. You know, S1E1.

But now I know it's an anthology I've jumped around and enjoyed The Entire Memory of You and Striking Vipers (yay gay) and Shut Up and Dance (what's the title mean though?)

Playtest. Good god.

Thank you to all who recommended San Junipero. Loved it! But then I'm also a sucker for 80s music haha.

Be Right Back

I just started watching this. Wow I've been out of the loop! My faves are:

Shut up and dance

White Bear

National Anthem

Smithereens

Striking Vipers

I dislike Entire History of you. Hated in the Nation is my diabolic favorite.

Every episode I have watched I've found incredible. Each one has made me feel something big and deep. I think they all are pretty brilliant.

The Entire History of You is my favorite of all. It made me feel feelings I hadn't felt in years which was a wow.

White Bear is one of the most wrenching, but brilliant things I've ever experienced. It was a bit life changing to see.

Nosedive was the first episode I saw of the series, and I am glad it was the first. Just enough to thrill me but not too much to frighten me away or alienate me.

Metalhead is incredible and underrated, I feel. It is fast and furious, and really frightening.

Hated in the Nation is fast and furious too. And though one of the longest episodes, it does not feel that way at all. It is part serial killer hunt, part natural diasaster moment, part female buddy cop adventure, and a devastating statement on the mob mentality of social media.

And I love love Hang the DJ and San Junipero. Thank god for those episodes in the series.

Very high level writing, direction, design and acting throughout all of the episodes. I think it is one of the most important shows of the last decade. And that is saying a lot given how much good stuff is out there in episodic tv.

Just watched White Bear. I just couldn't deal with the lead character crying and whimpering every second of that half hour. Not that I wouldn't have done worse!

White Bear. Was so good. I really love most of the episodes. Some more than others. Black Museum, Crocodile, Nosedrive are some standouts.

I loved Nosedive. Those pastels!

Metalhead

Charlie Brooker is the Rod Seeking of this generation.

Nosedive... BDH must have had so much fun playing that character.

r63, he is. NOT Jordan Peele.

I've gotten as far as halfway through season 3 with Shut Up and Dance. That, White Bear (which is borderline unpleasant), and Nosedive are the best so far.

Be Right Back is haunting and very well done, and I would probably have liked it more if I hadn't just seen a film entitled Marjorie Prime, which is similar but better.

The National Anthem was more of a button pusher, though Kinnear is, as always, worth watching. Both Fifteen Million Merits and The Entire History of You were overlong. Merits is the weakest of all of them.

I know a lot of fans thought Shut Up and Dance was an inferior rip off of White Bear, but I couldn't disagree more. Obviously, SU&D used a premise that was quite similar to WB, but it actually managed to do something incredible with that premise while WB failed (imo).

I hated the experience of watching White Bear. I hated that 90% of the episode was just a woman with amnesia running around screaming her head off, with NO other context provided until the very end. I hated that after listening to her nonsensical screams for an hour, I didn't even care about the big reveal at the end. They had given is us no reason to emotionally invest in the main character. I didn't care who she was, what she'd done, or what was happening to her; I just wanted the obnoxious shrieking to be over with.

Shut Up and Dance forces you to truly sympathize with the main character, which makes the reveal at the end a genuine gut punch.

Be Right Back is excellent, but it's the only episode I swore I'd never watch twice. It deals with the raw pain of loss in a way that sugarcoats nothing.

[quote] White Bear is one of the most wrenching, but brilliant things I've ever experienced. It was a bit life changing to see.

How was it life changing?

Did it convince you not to be a sadistic pedophile?

Don't know about that poster, but it forced me to think about where I engage in mob mentality in my own life.

Start with White Bear. If you can handle the fuckery of that episode, you're good.

To be clear, I mean "good" as in able to handle the rest of the episodes. They're pretty much all mindfucks.

My top three:

Hated in the Nation - Excellent storytelling, especially if you don’t know the spoiler that’s being given away freely above. If you start to understand the situation along with the characters, it’s a hell of a ride, as it moves from a buddy detective story into pure horror.

White Bear - Grisly and dark, but it rang true to me. I could see this happening. And it has the best twist of the series.

Men Against Fire - This one is usually rated pretty low but I think it makes a great statement about soldiers and war, and is the episode that scared me the most.

My bottom three are Waldo, Be Right Back (felt phony to me, and I’ve experienced loss), and Entire History of You (I hated every single character).

The main character's constant crying and hysterics was poor direction of an interesting creepy script. I found it annoying from start to finish.

^^ about white Bear.

I loved the twist in White Bear. I didn't see that coming.

[Quote] Very high level writing, direction, design and acting throughout all of the episodes. I think it is one of the most important shows of the last decade.

It's the sharpest critique of society I have seen. Every episode makes a revelatory comment that speaks to an evolving and atrophying humanity. I find it is ultimately deeply humanistic.

Any of you post in the Black Mirror threads on Reddit? I must say I'm very impressed by them.

r77 I just read them and yeah, they're pretty great.

Is 15 Million Merits worth it? The setup took so long I stopped watching.

The long setup is what gets you invested emotionally. It's not my favorite episode, but it's still a strong one.

Ok thanks r80 I'll get back to it. Daniel is hot too 😊

For me:

USS Callister

White Bear

Hated in the Nation

San Junipero

(And a special mention for Crocodile since it was totally twisted -- once you figure out the meaning of the title.)

I also liked "Black Museum" but it really doesn't work if you haven't seen every episode of the show prior to that episode since the episode featured something relating to every single episode of the series in "the museum."

Fuuuuck. Something happened to my browser connection and I'm stalled halfway through Smithereen. Andrew Scott is so good. Should I try watching the rest? Besides for Andrew who I find ugly hot.

One of the best shows on TV. Yes, you should finish it. Just wished it didn't take so long for us to get a season.

Glad I did r84. It was a good episode. Topher Grace and his Billy Bauer was an added bonus.

r85 I was just going to say, the one with Topher Grace in it.

Topher Grace looked very hot in that episode. He’s been working out!