Stepping up for a new mission
Kelly Marie Tran is the fresh face of Star Wars.
At this point in 2017 — a year of political, cultural and technological upheaval — it is almost a cliché to say that real life is turning into Black Mirror, the dark British sci-fi anthology series from writer Charlie Brooker that often portrays a future scarred by technology rather than strengthened by it.
In its fourth season, the series struggles to keep pushing the boundaries of the sci-fi futures it imagines, as reality becomes eerily close to its fantastical future and the hype surrounding it reaches a fever pitch. In six new episodes (streaming on Netflix Friday, Dec. 29, eegE), Black Mirror is decidedly mixed, managing occasionally to find brilliance but most often dwelling in the mediocre.
In past years, the series has had a few duds, but never a season in which most of the stories are disappointments. That doesn’t take away from this year’s exceptional episodes — “U.S.S. Callister,” a riff on Star Trek, and “Hang the DJ” — but it does make the overall experience a bit of a letdown, especially if you binge-watch.
The season see-saws between typically structured Mirror episodes and more experimental swings, including the best two. But those swings have yielded better results in past years, and the more by-the-numbers episodes lack surprises and sharpness.
“Callister” and “DJ,” however, are sublime, emotionally satisfying and truly surprising episodes that are among the series’ finest. “Callister,” especially, may generate the kind of reverence and buzz that the Emmy-winning “San Junipero” did last year, with a story so cleverly written and of-themoment that a description might spoil its effect. The perfectly cast episode is a brutal character portrait and moral- ity tale about power dynamics and male toxicity. “DJ” features fantastic performances from Georgina Campbell and Joe Cole in a story about finding your perfect match, capped by one of the series’ best kickers.
But the weak “Black Museum” indicates that even the free-wheeling Mirror has its limits. The episode, about a corporate hack who pushes dangerous consciousness experiments on unsuspecting subjects and eventually opens a horror museum, often feels like a cheap facsimile of the series without any emotional heft. It stretches the anthology format by telling three stories through narrated flashbacks, and they never quite work together. Its twist ending falls decidedly flat.
“Crocodile,” about a woman trying to cover up a crime in a world where a device can read memories, is disappointing and feels a bit too close to Season 1’s “The Entire History of You.” “Metalhead,” a post-apocalyptic survival story in which robotic “dogs” stalk the remains of humanity, and “Arkangel,” a cautionary tale of helicopter parenting directed by Jodie Foster and starring Rosemarie DeWitt, are smart and wellcrafted, but too predictable for hardcore Mirror fans.
Black Mirror has become known for instilling awe and fear, for provoking viewers to examine their relationships to technology and their loved ones. It’s a tall order that’s tough to sustain.
But when Black Mirror is on, there’s nothing else quite like it. And experiencing that sensation twice more is better than nothing.