Sci-Fi Scares And Another 2 Week Binger (Black Mirror This Time Around)

It is time loyal listener for another super-stuffed episode of this pop-culture podcast.  This episode of Nick Nack Goes to the Movies is all about the Black Mirror franchise.  In the spirit of long lasting franchise marathon binges, we have given this the American Horror Story treatment.  I got through all 22 movies/episodes in two weeks and here we are.  If you want to be horrified by technology that seems far off, but shockingly isn't, if you want to reflect on the world that is, or if you just want to feel some small sense of overwhelming dread, have I got an anthology series for you.  The mini-movies are the best thing for fans of a certain type of horror, and while most of these are dark, and depressing, as they should be, they are all well made and a few are actually pretty fun.  Some may be too weird, dark, or messed up, but nothing will be as weird as Men of course.  And the cast of these is stacked, there will be some actor that you will be really excited to see in at least one or a few of these.  It could be Hannah John Kamen, Jerome Flynn, Anthony Mackie, John Hamm, Haley Atwell, Bryce Dallas Howard, Daniel Kaluuya, Yahah Abdul Mateen the second, Miley Cyrus, or someone I didn't mention here yet!  MCU, Game of Thrones, James Bond, and more mainstays are littered in these 22 episodes.   So go watch these episodes on Netflix now, and make sure to let me know your favorites and Letterboxd order/rankings.  Let me know on social at Nick Nack Movies or NickNack_IC on every social platform including Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok, and more!

Transcript

Nick Nack Goes to the Movies Pod S3E10

-Intro/Jingle

-Hello friend and listener!  It may be your first time, it may be the latest of many listens to Nick Nack Goes to the Movies, the paramount podcast for all thing’s movies, tv, and pop culture.  With my acceptance of not feeling the immediate need to see the Top Gun sequel, it was a real doozy to come up with the subject for this latest bi-weekly episode.  If you go to my Letterboxd you can see the absolute dredge I have been watching as of late, some fun, but for sure rubbish.  There are so many Star Wars things happening with half of Kenobi already out and all the announcements for Andor, Asokah (aka the continuation of the very underrated rebels show), the latest from Mandalorian, and the return of Liam Neeson for Tales of the Jedi.  So much from a galaxy far far away.

-But it really boiled down to the two more horror-based franchises I had done recently.  The entirety of Black Mirror which was done in 2 weeks minus Bandersnatch, still working on that.  And I also finally finished the latest American Horror Story season on Hulu which came out way back in the summer of 2021.

-And while this podcast has a special love for the American Horror Story series, being our first episode and all, we will actually be going for the Black Mirror super 5 season episode.  Bandersnatch will not be in this one because we only have so much time.  So, let’s get on with the unsettling, darker, and more modernized version of Twilight Zone with the horror sci-fi elements, Black Mirror.

-Actors

-So, if you are unfamiliar with this show, first, you should watch this first before this episode.  But yeah, this is an anthology series with fairly long or even some almost movie length episodes.  But all 22 episodes are pretty much isolated episodes with a few similar technical innovations used in a few episodes.  So, the actor run through will take a good time before we get into the episodes themselves.  But, the big-name actors are some of my favorite parts of this show, besides the dark messed up parts.  

-I mean, I like both of those things, unless it is the not hit film Men, somehow, I met my match for too weird.  Not sure if it was too dark, it was dark, but the too weird part, for sure.  Not sure if this will be my new punching bag movie.  It has been a lot of Rob Zombie and his terrible Halloween movies for a while, somehow never Morbius, probably because that dance is hilarious, but Men was a whole unique thing in and of itself.  

-So let’s go through some cool actors littered in this anthology series, I will try and go through chronological order, which is weirdly not how I watched this on Netflix, where it is all available on.  We will get to that.  So speaking of Men, yikes I know, Rory Kinnear is in this.  And when not playing a ton of versions of himself and giving birth to himself, which feels like something Frida Khalo would come up with in Coco, he is just one man in this show, but he was a James Bond Craig Era staple in 4 whole movies, NBD.  

-Hanah John-Kamen is not a big player necessarily in either of her episodes, but I have been seeing a lot of her of late between Marvel, Star Wars, Game of Thrones, Resident Evil, and now this.

-Also Get Out and another Marvel player Daniel kah-Lou-Yah had a super strong episode, and some lesser Marvel project actors, but still there Toby Kebell, the last to play, albeit a weirdly designed, Doctor Doom and Tom Cullen from a severely unknown show, Knightfall, which was a History Channel knight show with the Star Wars legend himself, Mark Hamell joining season 2.  And that is just season 1 of this show, there are so many actors here, I am just running through the ones that I know well enough.

-Season 2 brought us the unlikely romantic paring of Weasley twin and General Hux, Domehall Gleeson and Agent or Captain Carter, wherever name you like the best, Hayley Atwell.  I feel like I get excited about more random actors than others, like Jayson Flemming from some of my favorite gritty British Guy Ritchie movies like Snatch and Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.  Fun fact, Toby Kebell is in one of those as well, Rocknrolla.  One day I should do a Guy Ritchie episode, writing it down.

-I would say most people don’t know about Tobias Menzies, but you know his face.  Edmure Tully from GOT, also James Bond Craig era stuff, Star Wars Rebels, and AMC shows The Terror and The Night Manager.

-And even more James Bond Craig characters with Andrew Scott, who keeps playing a similar role here, there, and in his main big one for me, Sherlock.

-Sometimes they have super exciting AMC leads like John Hamm, a major role, and even a small role for Aaron Paul.  Thankfully he is doing more TV overall post Breaking Bad with another season of him coming to Westworld soon enough.

-This show really does get a ton of just Marvel and Thrones actors overall.  Just to say even more, Wyatt Rusell (Falcon and the Winter Soldier), Jerrome Flynn (Game of Thrones as Bronn) a sensational character, Benedict Wong as the face of the latest MCU phase, Anthony Mackie (the new Captain America and previous Falcon), Pom Kleminttieff (Mantis from the Guardians franchise), and of course Bryce Dallas Howard who we will see in the new Jurassic movie soon, but people forget of her Marvel days role in one of the weirder ones, Spider-Man 3 (the Tobey dancing one).

-Another few Spider-Man Sony vets are here too, somehow Kirsten Dunst was in one of these, not Tobey Maguire sadly, but still, having both love interests of OG spider-man, not the same movie, but still, it is fun.  And Topher Grace is here too, the first Venom, who had to say and act lines in Spider-Man 3 about walking into a church and asking God to openly old testament smite Peter Parker, the audacity of the writers there, hah.

-I guess Westworld has a few people in these too, Jimmi Simpson was a big player in the first season of Westworld, but is that quirky nerd character a lot.  He may not be super known, but I enjoy him every time I see him on camera.

-A lot of Marvel and MCU representation, but there is a bit of DC Love with Yaha Abdul Mateen the second, who I can’t wait to see in the Aquaman sequel to see where his character arc takes him.  I loved his beginning to that movie fighting Jason Momoa and having a reason for vengeance.

-And of course, this show found a way to get Popstar and actor, the best of both worlds, Hannah Montana, I mean Miley Cyrus.

-Why did I list all these actors in my Black Mirror podcast episode and talk so much to be the walking IMDB page you are listening to now.  Well, I think it is to show just how many names they get to be on this.  Not all are big to everyone, but a horror sci-fi show with Hannah John Kamen, Jerome Flynn, Anthony Mackie, John Hamm, Haley Atwell, Bryce Dallas Howard, Daniel Kaluuya, Yahah Abdul Mateen the second, and of course Miley Cyrus!  MCU, Game of Thrones, James Bond, and more mainstays are littered in these 22 episodes.  So yeah, go watch Black Mirror on Netflix ASAP and become terrified by technology and contemplate life and how the world is the way it is.  Happy bingeing!

-And before I get to the episodes at hand, know that I watched this from season 5 to season 1 starting with the first episode of each season and working backwards.  Not by choice, but that is how they laid them out.  So, you may hear me comment on episodes and seasons how I experienced them, but that is how Netflix has them available as of now.  But I will go through all these like it should be done.  Season 1 to season 5 in like 2 weeks max in order of release.  So that is that, and here we go into the episodes themselves now that you know some of the who is who of them all!

-Also, lastly, a shout out to Elyse and Caleb, loyal show fans who inspired me to take on this episode.  So, this is for you both.  And to you, the listener, let’s get through all the sci-fi scares here and try to not get too quessy.  

-Season 1

-So, I actually ended my watch through with season 1, so it is a bit weird to think about starting with this as most people’s first introduction to this series.  And while these all exist in the same universe/world, the isolated stories make you think you could watch these in any order.  And while this is true, I sure did, this would of course be a ton of people’s first foray to this tone set way back in 2011 for what this franchise would be.  And while nothing could get me or anyone truly ready for this, darker edgier Twilight Zone only does so much after all.  A lot of people would make their decision about liking or not liking this franchise with these 3 episodes.  And interestingly, some of the tech introduced here is used in later episodes such as a literal block from people and the whole memory recall technology implanted in people.

-Those 3 in question would be The National Anthem, Fifteen Million Merits, and The Entire History of You.  

-Now with everything I had heard about this show, the infamous pig episode was something I had heard was…a lot.  I had no clue that was how the whole series started off.  Some episodes are darker, more sci-fi, or more messed up.  This was easily one of the more messed up ones.

-This one doesn’t feel super sci-fi, instead it is a wile royal ransom that has media coverage, military, and yes, insane public humiliation with someone performing sexual acts with the infamous pig.  This episode was wild, it was good with how messed up it was and leading to the eventual moment that you would have hoped they could avoid.  The government things are over there with public approval but the ramifications on trauma and dealing with it are also explored here.  But I could see someone not giving this show a second chance after this episode, which is sad because there are some overall really good episodes.  Including this second episode here.

-There is a good tone for my kind of episodes, the ones that are a techy dystopian future, that seem far off, but they may not be all that in the distance.  And Fifteen Million Merits is one of the real good ones.  It has amazing actor Daniel Kaluuya, it has American Idol references, and it just feels like the message it Is trying to make is clear enough but not preachy.  Only a few of these episodes end on a true happy note, this one can be up to interpretation.  But the idea of a future world powered by cardio unless you are one of the famous few.  I mean, it is messed up, but I do love me some cardio so I would tend to think I could be fit AF.  But like this is no way to live obviously.  But this episode was huge!

-In the same way that episode 3 was kind of average.  This was the first of the episodes that introduced us to that tech we would see time and time again, which less matters and is just more of a neat connective thin tissue these have, nothing truly ever feels like we have sequel episodes, anthology style, which I like, but a few connected stories AHS wise would have been neat.  But the entire history episode feels like a bit more generic version of some later episodes with the cool memory recall tech.  This episode isn’t bad, but the whole couples who don’t share all their dating histories who can’t hide it because of technology, it was just a very generic as far as these go.  

-Now these could have all been cool with the first intro to the topics, but seeing them last, one of these was too weird, one was just average, but that Fifteen Million one was very, very good.  Good enough to get me more invested in these one-off mini-movies.  Yes, these are for the most part on the longer side, but that makes sense.  I just hope that pig episode didn’t scare too many people off from a really neat series.

-Season 2

-These seasons were super spread out until the last few, season 6 could be a bit still.  But I can’t imagine having such a wait for these.  I had the pleasure of a full marathon, just like with AHS.  These seasons were also fairly short early on, this time just 3 with a holiday special a year later.  Be Right Back, White Bear, The Waldo Moment, and White Christmas.  

-But I won’t sugar coat it.  Look in general I like most of these episodes overall, this show overall, some are too weird, some are just fine.  Season 2 has a lot of just fine.  

-Be Right Back is the iconic line that every doomed horror character says, which to me, I was stoked for it.  I don’t think there are too many masked slasher type episodes, if any, I mean, if there was, I would be ecstatic.  But instead this is the interesting romantic paring of General Hux and Agent Carter.  There are quite a few relationship dramas in Black Mirror, this is one of them.  And yeah, this show follows the horror trope I tell my mom with families or couples.  She will never watch things of the scary kind, I don’t really think the majority of my family dabbles, well, maybe my one sister.  

-But I am getting sidetracked.  The point I have is, normally these stories start with things going well enough, and in horror things, they end up just awfully, that and or you discover things weren’t so peachy initially.

-But this is not that, a romance goes horribly bad when one person gets hit by a car, and then comes the grief and trauma part, which you think would be a home run for me.  The ideas are good, getting a robot husband, first over messaging, then his voice, then a literal robot of him to help with the healing process.  It works for a time but people are more than just all of their internet presences.  The idea was super cool, but this one was just a bit slow for me.  And the post-credit scene, apt with the group of Marvel actors in this franchise, is a neat touch of just holding her husband robot in her attic, only used when she or their daughter need him for something.

-The next of these episodes is super familiar to a Blumhouse film that released around the pandemic start.  It was supposed to be released earlier but was one of those seemingly too controversial ones. Called, The Hunt.  That movie was fun enough.  Not amazing, but fun enough.  And White Bear at least starts off super similar.  Someone waking up not knowing what is going on, people being hunted.  Once again, watching in the order I did, season 5 to 1, not my fault, how Netflix laid them out, those themes have been around.  People slaves to technology, just things with guns and stuff with some of those later military ones.

-The people being made to film without talking was super messed up, and it was fun and uneasy.  And the post-credit reveal that this is a punishment for committing a crime, having your memory wiped and doing this day and day again, we have a lot of tech punishments as the show goes, even some Jurassic Park vibes with the new one coming out.  But I think this one was another one of those ones that was fun but just fine.

-That may be a trend with season 2 as a whole.  While I do enjoy politician Edmure Tully from Thrones, The Waldo Moment is something that maybe I wanted more political criticism, like V for Vendetta, I hold that in super high regard for political criticism in media.  So, The Waldo Moment came out like the rest of this season way back in 2013, so it had been a while before anything, not like AHS Cult which was made for a very specific reason to provide political comedy and a special kind of real-world horror.

-But this is pretty much a joke candidate and running with it and seeing what happens.  There is a real-life dog mayor now, so how far off is a cartoon animal that talks and makes crass jokes.  This episode is fun, but I feel like I was always wanting more, and I just never got it, there was talk of government agents and companies using a figure head company mascot to rule, but the post-credit scene only does so much to wrap this story up for me.

-Now, this season was on the weaker side, but the to this point, sole holiday special of any kind, White Christmas brought it.  John Hamm, that is all.

-I mean it could be all, but I will say more.  So, this episode feels super similar to a mini anthology series, like Black Museum from Season 4.  But this has fewer stories to follow.  Also, it has a ton of the fun technology from earlier episodes, just done in a more interesting way.  Blocking people, I think is first used here and the memory recall stuff is here to.  As well as the notion of putting people or some part of people, memories or digital avatars into some object.  A lot of times this show gives sentience to parts of people but makes that sentience there to service people in mundane ways.  Like the butter robot from Rick & Morty.  Which does a lot of the same stuff as this show, but it is less dark, something we did not expect to say about Rick & Morty, hah.  But I like making Hamm that same charismatic guy he always plays, but also making him a bit of a scum bag and a bit of a villain.  Not as much as the guy he is with who while sympathetic, the idea of being blocked by someone for eternity and their kid being blocked from you too, a concept that is wild, muting and removing their image in-person or any photo ever.  It is a rough punishment, but it is one of the cooler tech ideas brought up in this show that of course does vilify this stuff.  Because with no crazy tech implants, this would not be a thing.  This story constantly plays with your expectations of what is going on, which is good to keep you on your toes, and the post credit scene, some of these put Marvel to shame with how good they are at times, of having Hamm seem to be fine but having him be blocked by everyone forever, alone in the world always, and imprisoning the other guys mind in a snow globe memory after murdering his ex’s father, the justice system is wild.  Easily the best part of season 2 if you can count it in there.  

-Season 3

-Season 3 starts the trend off a few years later of having double the episodes.  So the next few will be longer season recaps.  We have Nosedive, Playtest, Shut Up and Dance, San Junipero, Men Against Fire, and Hated in the Nation.  So with the other seasons being mostly I have one I really like and the others being more so fine, this had three I was about, and three that were less so.  But three strong ones is pretty good for me all things considered, 50 percent after all!

-So, there were a few episodes in these five seasons that really stood out to me, and for sure Nosedive is one.  I am a bit of a Tik Tok influencer, NBD, so social media is definitely a big thing.  Now I don’t know when I will be legit, but having the entire world seemingly run on you being good at social media, this episode was wild.  Everything felt nice and clean, but the cracks in society, and see Bryce Dallas Howard take that nosedive to being a social media person, close-ish to making it big, all the way to being in jail with nothing, experience everyday person life.  That just was such a good episode that showed a crumbling society that just had way too much realism, this one for sure feels like it could happen one day.  The morals on display here were once again, not preachy, close, but it did not happen of course.  Like everything from living in a nice place, literal employment, flights, it would be a scary world to live based on this stuff, but I am sure some people would be all about it.  Watch this episode, everyone, watch this one, social media people especially!

-Hanah John Kamen’s second episode, but also here more feature role in this show pairs with another Marvel vet in Wyatt Russell, son of Kurt Russell to remind y’all.  You know me, I am a gamer.  Not like a hardcore one, I mostly paly Animal Crossing and Lego Star Wars these days.  But when Fall Guys comes to the Switch, it will be a game-changer for me.  

-So many people did not like Wyatt Russell’s character performance in the falcon and the winter soldier show, but he played an unintentional villain well, I liked that show more than most, I just wish there were more consequences, especially for his character.  But I like him as an actor, he was for sure good in Overlord, one of those many WW2 zombie movies out there.  

-This really is another one of those movies/shows that starts off so well in the horror world so you know it will end badly.  I love video games and horror, so you think I would like this one, but there are big spiders, so no, even if they are fake, they look real to me.  One of the many episodes that warns of the too realistic VR concerns.  I really liked the haunted parts of this episode and something using your fears against you, but it reminds me that I would be horrified going to a real haunted house, will never do it, never.  I don’t need answers to those questions.

-So, most people would say the pig episode messed with them the most, and it is for sure up there.  But my take for the one that messed up me the most, and might have been the second most messed up one overall is Shut up and dance.  No, it is not based on the walk the moon song!  This episode tricks you, it is dark, messed up, and just so messed up.  I don’t really want to say a whole lot more outside of it is a mind fuck and Bronn from Game of Thrones is in it.  

-So onto another episode and I don’t know if I would ever say I was bored with an episode of Black Mirror, some just never really did a lot for me.  A lot of times these had interesting concepts and had the Black Mirror technology and had a few surprises along the way.  San Junipero was one of these for me.  Things happened that were interesting, I was just not interested in the episode really.

-This season 3 was a full epitome of a mixed bag.  Some episodes were really strong, and some were just not for me.  This episode, Men Against Fire, is as the kids say, Mid!  It is an action movie about fighting some group of people, or more so creatures called roaches.  This is one you can spot a mile away.  Partly because if you watch enough of this show, you know nothing is as it seems.  Partly because these have morals in most episodes without being too preachy, more cautionary tales.  So yeah, obviously the roaches were some sort of marginalized group being hunted down.  I didn’t necessarily see the soldiers being technology wiped so the kills were desensitized to the horrors of war.  Like I totally get it, but it could be seen from a mile away and was just a bit too generic of a war story.  Season 4 has something like this too.

-But before that, let’s wrap up season 3 with Hated in the Nation.  Besides having MCU legend Benedict Wong, this episode takes on some super interesting takes on holding people accountable for actions, regardless of how famous or unknown they are.  Sure , there is something with metal bees and swarms of them being hacked and killing people instead of helping the planet, but more interesting is hunting down a potential serial killer, something I wish this series did more, but with an actual boogeyman.  But yeah, the dark web voting on who is the worst person to kill is a fun enough aspect in and of itself.  But the catch at the end of going after everyone who voted to kill someone, that is peak Black Mirror.  A true gotcha moment, that closed out a very up and down season 3.

-Season 4

-I guess like every TV show and series is up and down, and really no season of this show is like peak, all of my favorite episodes are fairly spread out.  Now seasons with double the episodes have better chances for better episodes.  But outside of season 5, most of these are fine enough.  But if there was one I had heard about outside of the pig thing, it was the way this season kicked off with the USS Callister episode.  Now for the most part the best episodes are the darker ones here. This is also a part of this episode too.

-This seems like a fun Star Trek nod and a guy who has trouble with reality, there is a ton of fantasy living/gaming in these episodes overall.  But this is that interesting notion of having people’s consciousness in a digital format somewhere without it actually being them.  It is a weird thing and this being the 4th episode I watched, only the second with this notion, the whole concept is tough to wrap your head around.  

-But it is fun not only seeing this fun space adventure fantasy turn into one angry man’s way of punishing people he thinks slighted him, but also that these digital versions of these office punching bags have their own sentience and plan their escape for this digital hell scape.  This is, rightly so, one of the strongest versions of the true Black Mirror formula!

-I have heard so many takes on the episode Arkangel.  Not that it is like crazy controversial like the Pig episode or Shut Up and Dance, more just that a lot of people call it Mid.  Now that is not me, at all.

-The idea of being over protective of your children and saving them from the horrors of the outside world, that is about as relatable and understandable as anything.  Now the way it happens is something interesting, it takes the block technology and anything that is too scary is just a ton of blobs, sound too.  Not only that, but the whole thing is also a camera that this girls’ mom can see and report anything as needed.  Needless to say, she grows up super sheltered and that is not good as she gets older.

-Now her mom does let her off for a bit, and she learns how the real world works, you can’t shelter people from everything, it is just not feasible.  But when this mom becomes reliant on it, checking into her teen daughter and seeing her loose her virginity among other things, she becomes the worst kind of helicopter parent.  And eventually this leads to her daughter lashing out and another tragic end to a story of black Mirror, but this episode was super strong for me, watch it, especially parents and such.  Bravo black mirror!
 -Crocodile was one of those episodes I had to remember numerous times what it was actually about.  Which is weird how forgettable it is to me.  Sure, it has fun tech things in it, these all do after all.  But outside of the interesting notion of law enforcement having the legal right to everyone’s vision and experiences, it is just kind of bland overall story.  Another one with neat ideas and just a very average storyline of finding a killer who tries to remain hidden.  It is funny that they use a guinea pig’s vision to eventually capture her after another murder happens.

-Maybe I have talked about dating apps on here at some point.  If not, I have, like everyone had on and off relationships with them.  They can be absolutely brutal at times.  So Black Mirror, they know this, and decided to have some fun with it.  The idea, everyone can sign away their dating freedom for an app that will find the perfect match for everyone.  Now, that doesn’t sound awful to me.  But of course, this, like everything in this series, it is not all that good.  The lengths of relationships are dictated by an app robot that you have to follow.  

-So, people bounce around back and forth hoping for one date to be good, but you find out if they are doomed no matter what at the beginning.  Good insight, but this is brutal.  But this couple tries to continue to connect through it all and eventually fight the system when they have normal couple disagreements.  The end is super vague about what happens, but while this is a slower one, it is also a really fun and I would say important one.

-So, we talked about one military episode, and it was kind of average, and honestly, this one, Metalhead, feels the same way.  So, it is less military and more Terminator apocalypse, but I felt that both of these just were missing something or were just a bit average.  I think the black and white color scheme and the smaller amount of dialogue does make it a bit artsy.  You can tell the tone is different here, and honestly, the ambiance and tension are here for this episode.  I just don’t know if I care as much for a robot dog hunting a woman through the empty apocalypse.  It is fun, just it never hooked me, I am sure a ton of people will be and are all over this one though.

-I saw this episode to end season 5 prior to White Christmas with John Hamm.  And Black Museum is super close in tone and style of a small semi-interconnected anthology story with a ton of the tech from the overall franchise.

-I kind of wish I had seen White Christmas first.  I remember thinking this was a cool episode but it took a bit of a hit after I saw the Christmas special.  I overall thought that special mini-series episode was more interconnected and was able to do more mostly focusing on two stories and how they interconnected in this digital prison.

-But to what this episode brings.  There are some super dark tech stories.  We have the doctor who diagnosis people’s pain but becomes turned on by it and does wild murder stuff, which feels like an episode from the Amazon Prime messed up super hero show, The Boys.  Season 3 is now kicking off and go watch it of course ASAP!

-After that we have a wife who shares a body with her husband in his mind until she gets relegated to a teddy bear while he moves on with his life.  That and a guy’s consciousness has a digital clone that constantly gets electrocuted for people’s pleasure.

-The stories are fun; the revenge moment flip is fun.  But there is a lot going on here, maybe too much and a bit chaotic.  But it is for sure fun enough.

-Season 5

-Onto season 5, the 2019 and latest one.  Like I said, it is hard to talk Bandersnatch, I haven’t finished it, and how do you even rank a choose your own adventure, much less talk about and compare it.  But we have three episodes in what most people would say is the weakest of the 5.  Back to three episodes, and I think it is a bit iffy too.  Remember, these are the first three I saw, which probably was not for the best, but it is how Netflix organized them.  But this bunch did have the most stacked cast, for me at least.

-Starting with Striking Vipers, another video game one.  But while the first one was a horror one with fake Captain America.  This one was somehow a romance developing digitally with the real and new Captain America and Black Manta.  There is something fun about the energies digital personas can have.  While this puts a strain on a marriage and a friendship at the same time, it has about as happy of a conclusion as we can hope for in Black Mirror.  The one thing I will always wonder is when the two video game avatars are in virtual experience, like that must be on the TV, which for sure should have come up as an issue eventually.  I never got past that logic part.  But falling in love with your best friend but only virtually was another fun enough story to tell.

-I will just say it, Smithereens was a boring episode.  It was Andrew Scott playing the same-ish character as in Sherlock and that one James Bond movie, a mastermind guy trying to take someone specific down.  Even the cab driver thing, he was the driver in this version, was like that first episode of Sherlock.  But the whole why and overall story was kind of blah. Once again, the tech ideas of it all are for sure interesting.  Cops are weirdly getting more information about perps from social media websites who know everything about people and how to get into their psyche.  Topher Grace as a tech guru who is a normal-ish person in a world of fake people is fun enough, or just treating people like people, even for a moment is fun.  But yeah, this episode just screams super generic at a point.

-So, the last of these, the last episode most people have seen of this show has probably one of the bigger names, that’s right, it is the Miley Cyrus episode.  Now is she the best actor, maybe not, but she is good enough, and for sure in this role/episode.  This final episode has also been a bit polarizing based on quality not on controversy.  But I am once again in the positive ray of sunshine camp for this one.

-This episode tackles bullying, the hardship of making friends, celebrities and their impact on us, and humanizing them, they are people too after all.  And there is some classic Black Mirror artificial intelligence and sentience questions.  Every toy has some level of this celeb in them.  And I love record labels legit poisoning their celeb and having this small robot and two kids save the real one once they unlock her full sentience.  This is a fun one that is a bit dark, especially showing how brutal people can be, especially in school, but it has a fairly happy ending.  2 of the three this season did, TBD on the Sherlock one.  This one didn’t keep me guessing or anything like that.  But it was fun, very fun.  And even in a dark show that shows the issues with technology, there should still be some fun ones.  And while this episode and season was fairly different compared to some of the earlier horror stories, I am still excited for the future of this franchise, which maybe will be around in 2023.  I just learned about this series, but I am ready for more even after the full sprint through it.  But now the moment of truth, how did I rank all of these?

-Ranking all 22 Episodes

-Yeah at some point we will add Bandersnatch to this list, but it is tricky to rank because it is so different, so eventually all 23 Black Mirror things will be on here.  But until that time comes, here is what I got for you for my Black Mirror episodes rankings.

-22. – San Junipero (S3)

-21. – Crocodile (S4)

-20. – Smithereens (S5)

-19. – Shut up and Dance (S3)

-18. – The Entire History of You (S1)

-17. – Metalhead (S4)

-16. – Men Against Fire (S3)

-15. – Striking Vipers (S5)

-14. – Be Right back (S2)

-13. – The Waldo Moment (S2)

-12. – White Bear (S2)

-11. – The National Anthem (S1)

-10. – Hang the DJ (S4)

-9. – Rachel, Jack, and Ashley Two (S5)

-8. – Black Museum (S4)

-7. – Playtest (S3)

-6. – White Christmas (S2)

-5. – Hated in the Nation (S3)

-4. – USS Callister (S4)

-3. – Arkangel (S4)

-2. – Fifteen Million Merits (S1)

-1. – Nosedive (S3)

-wrap/call to action

-Well once again we find ourselves with one of the longer episodes than I have made on here in ages.  Brings me back to the early days of this podcast back in 2020.  But this whole franchise and episode brought me back to the early days and AHS as a whole.  But what is your take on Black Mirror, either the full series or an episode in particular?  We have some loyal listeners and Black Mirror fans, Elyse and Caleb, sharing their list on social so you can share yours too!  They were the inspiration for this episode and deep dive after all.  Check it all out on social at either Nick Nack underscore IC or Nick Nack Movies on Twitter, Instagram, and everywhere you listen to podcasts overall.  Well this has been Nick for another podcast palooza.  So, cheers and as always, until next time cinephiles.