re: Is Black Mirror any good?

USS was good. The cameo by Aaron Paul at the end.

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No idea why people talk so highly about it on here.

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Because as others have said, when it's good it's really really good. It peaked in season 3.

All episodes are stand-a-lone.

I googled the episode rankings and watched the top ones. There's threads on this board as well.

The ones we watched were good.

Yes

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Yup, that's the one. It's the first and last episode I watched.

Nope. I also watched the one where the collect social media likes or some shite.

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Those are two of the worst ones IMO.

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Can you give a run down on the good ones?

I don't want to waste my time with the bad episodes.

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Weirdly, I'd recommend watching them all (in order), but that's mainly because different episodes hit with different types of people like I said earlier.

But if you want a ranked list, I'd put them them like this (in no order under each category, except that TEHOY is my #1 overall):

Top tier/Excellent television
The Entire History of You
White Bear
White Christmas
Shut Up and Dance
USS Callister

Really good
Black Museum
San Junipero (one of the only "happy ending" type stories)
Fifteen Million Merits
Playtest

Good/Decent
Men Against Fire
Hated in the Nation
Be Right Back
Crocodile
Hang the DJ
Metalhead
Striking Vipers
Smithereens

Meh
The National Anthem
The Waldo Moment
Nosedive (great premise and rings very true to today, just poor execution IMO)
Arkangel
Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too
Bandersnatch



The biggest problem with BM is that, like you, people often watch the first episode (National Anthem) and hate it, so they quit. I kept going and REALLY liked the second episode (Fifteen Million Merits), although some don't care for that one. And then the third episode (TEHOY) knocked me off my feet and I was hooked. The "highs" of this show rank up there with some of the best television ever (and I say that as not hyperbole). And at worst, most of the episodes are "pretty good" or better. Sure, there are some misses in there, but even those are loved by some people or have a great message that they just sort of misfired on, stuff like that.

But I'd say if you watch my top tier five and still don't like any of those, then the show definitely isn't for you. And White Christmas is a solid one to start out on, because it's got an overarching story with smaller standalone-type stories within it. So it really does a great job of giving you little mini episodes of BM, while also following along a larger story overall.

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I'm usually in line with you but I hate this advice for someone who has never seen the show and is just getting interested in it. It'd be like telling someone who has never seen football before and wants to know more about it "well first watch a full round of golf, then if you havne't lost interest in that yet, check out the football on Saturday/Sunday next weekend". The first episode might as well just be called "Show XYZ" and a netflix intern screwed up and accidentally included it in the black mirror catalog by mistake.

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Well that's a horrible analogy. The reason I say watch them in order is because I'm always about watching things as they are released since that's how the creators presented it originally. Same reason that if I was introducing someone to Star Wars I would tell them to watch them in order as they were released instead of skipping some movies or watching them in some order that some random fans decided "maximized viewing" or whatever.

(In looking up older threads about this, you and I have had this exact conversation several times before by the way )

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It's not a "black mirror episode". It doesn't FEEL like black mirror. It doesn't have the same tone and themes that every other BM episode has. Sure it's a fricked up story, but the direction/pacing/overall environment of the episode is nothing close to teh rest.

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See, I don't agree with that. Watching S1 of BM lets you see how the show is presented and gives you some of the ideas into how/why it was created. For example, National Anthem isn't a good episode really. However, the message is a great one (how people have become so obsessed with media and social media that they ignore things happening right in front of their eyes). And even "bad" episodes of BM still usually have really good premises/messages.

Plus I think there's something to watching along with the creators and seeing them work things out and get better. I realize that with an anthology show that isn't completely necessary, but I still prefer it and think it's good advice.

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White Christmas was the first one I ever watched, and it was so insanely mind numbingly good that I knew right then and there that I was probably gonna watch every other episode even if there was nowhere to go but down. That one is a bit longer and almost it's own mini-movie, so I think "Entire History of You" is a great starting point which you already menitoned. It perfectly encapsulates what "black mirror" is all about in every way. If someone likes EHOY, maybe try 15MM or WC to see if you're really hooked for hte long haul. From there it doesn't really matter the order I guess since they're all standalone. I would only recommend even watching the first onie National Anthem if you just REALLY want to check the box to say you've watched all the episodes. But it should never, under any circumstances, be recommended for someone to have that be the first one they watch

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I did say above that WC is a good one to start on (and explained why), but that's only if they go against my advice of watching them in order. Plus, if you start with just the good episodes, then it's literally all downhill from there (most likely). So for me, it's worth getting through the lower quality episodes so that you can appreciate the higher ones a lot more. Just my $0.02.

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Dude how you gonna outright admit it isn't good yet still advise a show newbie to start with it? We're trying to draw people in and get them to enjoy the show like we do, why start htem out with what is unanimously the worst ep?

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Because it's the first one, and watching that one (for me) affected my viewing of the next two in S1. I may not have liked 15MM as much had I watched it first and not NA. Besides, 2/3 of the first season is great. So that's why I think the best course is to tell people to start with S1E1 with the understanding that E1 is one of the weakest of the series. That way if they hate it they will know it gets better from there.

And again, my main reason that I alluded to is because if you watch all the good ones to start, then the rest of the show will seem bad by comparison. And I don't think that's really fair to the show either.

I do agree that the creators deciding to put NA first was a mistake though, as it 100% turned a lot of people off from continuing the show (we've seen that time and time again in threads on here, and multiple people have mentioned it in here too I believe).

I'm interested to see if the few people in here that mentioned not liking the show (because of NA) go back and give it another shot, and if they do I hope they post their thoughts on some of the other episodes they watch.

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White Christmas with John Hamm was my favorite episode

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And by favorite, you must mean "the one that caused my soul to die with mortal fear of the universe".

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The one where they were trapped in a cabin and time was slowed down where it seemed like years on the inside but it was only seconds on the outside was a real mindfrick. Easily the best episode for me.

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That's like half of them, but yes. It scares the shite out of me.