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TV Tuesdays Free Talk
Have you watched any TV shows recently you want to discuss? Any shows you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.
Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.
Recently I've been watching Black Mirror. For some reason I thought this was an anime but it never was lol. I've watched 6 episodes so far.
The series goes to the edge of the believable where you often need to do an awful lot of disbelief suspension to take the show and it's gadgets seriously but it is in fact talking about something serious and a possible future (which in a few cases has already/almost happened) each episode. The first 2 episodes are honestly fairly forced and obnoxious to me with the digital sex and going way too far with the narrative just to remind us that you shouldn't look at your phone on the road, but the next episodes are significantly better to me. It surprises me how in every episode so far the protagonist or at least one important character is in some level of abundant wealth, like the first episode already comes out with idealized suburban living and every episode has to feature a stupidly wealthy person. It also irks me that the episodes so far have been dealing with future tech on an individualized way. Like, in the episode where the parent can access their child's memories it's never really mentioned how popular pr unpopular the tech is, is the main character the only microchipped girl in the school? In episode 1 is ARG sex really not a widespread phenomenon?
Sounds like you may have started on the second season, though if you are watching on Netflix, the numbering is pretty funky, at least in Canada. Actually, after rereading your comment, I have no idea where you started; I think you referenced S02E01 Be Right Back (texting and driving, virtual sex) but also S04E02 Arkangel (tracking daughter), although it's hard to tell since some of the themes recur.
I think that one of the defining characteristics of the show is generally individuals reactions to specific technology; most of the time, we don't get a lot of world building, but in most cases, you can assume that the technology is widespread and not specific to the characters you are seeing, but that their interaction with it is the important thing. You may like Nosedive because it did show us a bit more about what society is like with the technology in question.
I also recommend the interactive black mirror movie Bandersnatch if you have Netflix. I enjoyed it quite a bit. And also the non-Black Mirror movie Ex Machina, as it is could basically be a lengthy episode.
Succession, the fourth and final season - and my most anticipated show of 2023. As much as I love the show, I feel like it is ready for it to end, though I think Jesse should be allowed to write a spin-off if he wants to. The first episode set a good bar. I do have a couple of theories but won't tell!
I wonder why so many people feel the need to phrase it this way. Not a dig at you at all I've just seen it a lot recently. It's absolutely ready to end and that's a great thing! So so many amazing shows have been ruined the last couple of years because the producers/makers/whatever got greedy and I just wish more people would appreciate this not happening here... (yet)