Tuesday 23 December 2014

We Wish You A Mirror Christmas [Review: Black Mirror]

Two men sit in an isolated cabin exchanging stories about their past. Their past is our future, a post-Google Glass world where mobile technology is implanted directly into the optic nerve so, for example, it becomes possible to "block" other people, preventing communication in real life as well as online. Black Mirror is back for this one-off Christmas spec-fi drama.

For the unitiated, Channel 4's Black Mirror is a series of speculative fiction TV dramas created by Charlie Brooker, a twenty-first century Twilight Zone with stand-alone dramas inspired by the rise of digital media tech. Brooker has always been the ultimate hatchet-wielding reviewer - for this episode, satirical targets include friend-blocking, online pick-up gurus, and personal assistants such as Siri or Cortana.

As with previous mini-series, the acting in this episode is super: great performances particularly from a creepy Jon Hamm. The combination of the three subplots is OK but personally I think the ideas would have been better suited for three full episodes.

However all the sci-fi concepts and subplots are a diversionary tactic. Brooker has used this episode to declare war on one primary target, and by the end of the episode you will hate it as much as he does. It is of course the soundtrack - Wizzard's "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day."