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Black Mirror S04E05 “Metalhead” Discussion Thread
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Black Mirror Season 4 Episode 5 - Metalhead
At an abandoned warehouse, scavengers searching for supplies encounter a ruthless foe and flee for their lives through a bleak wasteland.
Warning: this thread contains spoilers about this episode! If you haven't seen it yet, please watch it and come back to this thread later.
You can talk about past episodes, but please don't discuss future episodes in this thread!
If you don't know what to say, here are some questions to get the discussion started:
- How does the title relate to the episode itself?
- Are there any similarities between real life events and the episode?
- Are there any references or easter eggs in the episode, such as references to past episodes?
Please rate the episode here!
Sorry for being late with this one!
I thought the most remarkable thing about this episode was how similar the 'ruthless foe' was in appearance to my Mavic Pro. D:
I mean, I guess it was scary enough... and it's a pretty OK episode in the context of the show, but I found it annoying on the whole because I absolutely could not relate to the protagonist. At the end I was fairly well rooting for the drone because she was just a ridiculous font of stupid decisions.
I actually thought this was one of the more interesting aspects of the episode. There isn't much backstory given, but it's clear that the human protagonists have been on the run for awhile. They're sleep-deprived, malnourished, and so on.
I think a big theme of the episode is the psychological toll it takes on a human to have something implacable and robotic like that chasing you. All the robot needs to do is wear you down and wait for you to make a mistake or a poor decision.
Not to mention we find out at the end that the human team's entire motivation was entirely sentimental (and arguably poorly though out) from the get-go. They weren't after food, medicine, or weapons. They all risked their lives and died for a teddy bear.
That level of compassion and sentiment or whatever you wanna call it is so often played as a strength for humanity, whether we're depicted fighting robot terminators or aliens or what have you. But Black Mirror, as usual, turns that trope upside down.
Easily, one of the worst episodes of Black Mirror alongside Waldo Moment for me. I don't know, it felt too slow and action-movie esque and wasn't gripping enough.
The ending was alright but not enough to save the whole episode. The only episode which felt like a slog to me. The black and white choice was bold though.
I'm interested to know what people feel about the cast and whether they know who any of these people are.
The lead in this episode (Maxine Peak) is well known in UK, and somewhat well-regarded. I like Black Mirror, and I like her work. I don't think she's great in this episode.
I like this episode. I think BM needs variety to stave off the dead hand of formula crushing any creativity.