Black Mirror episode 2.
Charlie Brooker, putting out the best Ballardian television program since Ballard was programming television.
This episode was like a cross between Dollhouse, The Matrix Reloaded & Revolutions, X Factor and playing on the Wii, still somehow managing to be less bizarre than the first one. Co-written by Brooker’s wifey, ex-Xtra Factor host Konnie Huq, its slant on our desire for constant distraction and obsession with building people up to knock them down is perhaps less surprising considering Huq’s less than ceremonious axing from her first stab at said show. Described as “Cowell meets Orwell”, 15 Million Merits was a little predictable but visually very well done and had pretty great performances from Daniel Kaluuya off of Skins and Jessica Brown Findlay off of Downton Abbey. Rupert Everett overdoes it a bit in his Cowellesque role but that’s neither here nor there.
The third episode (airing Sunday) comes from Peep Show’s Jesse Armstrong and imagines what life would be like if you could Sky+ (TiVo) your life. Black Mirror is a bit of a heady mix of horror, comedy and sci-fi and has freaked me out like nothing else in recent memory. A lot of the themes are pretty obvious and delivered quite crudely in typical Brooker style but they’re relevant and I’d much rather watch a decent TV programme than read another stupid article about the digital age. Do recommend, you must watch it.
Also, can I just point out how bloody brilliant Channel 4 is? They’ve knocked out this, Top Boy (was going to do a post on this but forgot. Watch it!) and This Is England ‘88 started last night. That’s the three best mini-series I’ve seen for ages and they were on in the last couple of months. Bravo, Channel 4!
