I love Black Mirror and was looking forward to its return. However this season was very disappointing, primarily due to lack of originality and laziness. Below is a brief review of each episode.
Joan Is Awful: The first episode presents a self-aware critique of the entertainment industry's rapid conversion of true stories into scripted television. The episode has themes of AI, privacy, and tech overreach. I also appreciate the dig at Netflix and the notion of hyper-customized content. This episode stands out as one of the more original narratives of the season, despite its occasionally heavy-handed approach and over-the-top plot.
Loch Henry: The second episode delves into the exploitative nature of the true-crime genre. It attempts to explores the cost of dredging up the past and relies heavily on retro technology to drive the point. But the majority of this episode is basically what it seeks to criticize: a fictional over the top true-crime drama. The theme only comes into play in the last few minutes with a montage of the protagonist looking sad.
Beyond the Sea: This episode wasn’t terrible as it dealt with some themes of loss and nature of existence. But the main conflict was presented very early with such obviously disastrous outcome that the second half of the episode was a slog.
Mazey Day: Easily the worst episode in the series, Mazey Day makes the brave poignant point that paparazzi are bad people. That’s it. That’s the whole episode. That and a cheesy supernatural twist that has nothing to do with technology and adds nothing to the story.
Demon 79: The final episode is a period piece set in the late 1970s, revolving around a British Indian shoe saleswoman and all the awful people around her. Everyone is just comically terrible in this episode and the plot was unoriginal.
The series seems to be pivoting to a more monster of the week format and away from exploring topics of technologies impact on our lives. 3 out of 5 episodes didn’t introduce any new technology and most episodes were set in the past.
It might have been timing of when the season was written but you would think that at least some of the episodes take on more timely issues in tech like the rise of large language models.
What if GPT wrote Black Mirror
Series creator Charlie Brooker tried but was unimpressed:
“It comes up with something that, at first glance, reads plausibly, but on second glance, is shit,” he said. “Because all it’s done is look up all the synopses of ‘Black Mirror’ episodes, and sort of mush them together. Then if you dig a bit more deeply you go, ‘Oh, there’s not actually any real original thought here.'”
But surely it couldn’t be worse than a papparazzi critique featuring a wearwolf.
Here’s a GPT generated episode:
Title: "Retrospect"
In the near future, a tech company called "MemorEase" creates a device named "Retrospect", a neuro-implant that allows individuals to vividly relive past memories. The device grows immensely popular, as people enjoy the nostalgic journeys back in time.
The protagonist, Jill, is a middle-aged woman who's struggling with the recent loss of her husband, Max. She decides to get the implant to relive her precious memories with him.
However, as she revisits her past, she starts noticing anomalies - small discrepancies in her memories. Certain scenes play out differently, some events she doesn't remember at all, and in others, Max behaves in ways she doesn't recall.
Jill contacts MemorEase, and they reassure her that Retrospect can't alter memories, it merely reveals them in their truest form. Jill grows paranoid and starts investigating. She finds a forum of other Retrospect users who have experienced similar anomalies.
Jill and her forum friends uncover that Retrospect is actually accessing the collective memory of its users, amalgamating all the memories into a unified version of the past. They find that MemorEase is subtly influencing this collective memory to rewrite history, shaping public opinion and manipulating power dynamics for unknown reasons.
They decide to expose MemorEase but face the dilemma of convincing a society that trusts the "reality" presented by Retrospect more than their own recollections. The episode ends on a suspenseful note, with Jill and her group preparing to disrupt a major MemorEase event, planning to wake the public up to the manipulation they've been subjected to.
This is an episode I would like to watch. It serves as a critique of collective memory and centralization of narrative. It can serve as an analogy for centralized large language models or fact checkers being manipulated by corporations or the state.
Now we just need to get generative video to a point where we can enjoy Black Mirror again.