Month: March 2015

At Christmas time, two relative strangers (chatty-guy and quiet-guy) sit down in a deserted cabin and share stories. It flashes back regularly to these two as the stories go on, as they explain the backstory of each story and interact a little.

Story One:

Dating coach of the future (chatty-guy) can help in real-time…making dating apparently far more successful and far less real – but the thought-provocation THERE is: if it WORKS, and it gets two people together who REALLY DO CLICK beyond just sex…is it worse to be fake to get something real, or be real to stay alone?

Said question is made slightly more complicated by the twist.

A good one, which slowly morphs into…

Story Two/Story Three:

Brief tale of a woman trapped as a “cookie” version of herself and subject to the whims of chatty-guy. This goes nowhere fast and stays there for a boring while, until a transition to…

Quiet-guy as he used to be: apparently happy and MUCH different, with a woman he seems to love.

The happy relationship turns very much for the worse when the woman discovers she’s pregnant, and after a big argument she “blocks” him from her life (a real-life adaptation of the FB thing).

After a while there’s the twist, and then the focus goes squarely back to the two men.

Decent twists to end it all.

Overall: The setup through story one are first-rate, just a notch below episode two. The rest is second-rate, somewhat interesting but still at the bottom of the barrel for these.

Please, let it be re-inspired, or let it end.

Seemed mediocre, stupid in parts, even quasi-copied from episode 2 (the speech: badly) at first.

But then it got somewhat interesting. Hang in there, you just might like it, even though the buildup is a lot of tedium.

I like the brief moment of humanity displayed near the end.

I also appreciate the way the show avoids slipping into maudlin sentimentality, instead displaying its statement stubbornly as-is: a “reality” established in the plot outside the realm of right and wrong, what should or should not be.

Your initial guesses, whatever they may be, are probably wrong.

Following the plot I made my own guesses, including one as to the nature of the message. These were challenged by the plot twist, although there remains a certain connection between what I guessed (and what most people will guess) and what actually is happening.

The problem, to me, is that neither during part one (“The Episode”) nor during part two (“The Twist”) was I particularly impressed with the quality of the writing. To say nothing of part three, which is “The Epilogue” but to me could just as easily be labeled “The TV Time Filler”.

This isn’t BAD…don’t get me wrong. But it’s uninspired, at least as compared to the rest.

It is adequately executed competence, nothing more; ‘Black Mirror’s Contractual Obligation Episode’, at least to me.

In the not-too-distant future…

Another small-scale tale attempting to send a large-scale message.

But this one resonates much more than the last because the relationship, even though only briefly established, is completely believable.

And because it raises some really difficult questions – what constitutes reality, and to what extent should we allow ourselves to escape into things other than pure reality, no matter how pleasing or comforting it might be to do so? Especially when such escape sacrifices “real” life.

When does indulgent fantasy become a perversion of real moments…moments that are best remembered as the brief but pure things of beauty that they were, and will in memory always remain?

Better than episode 3, but episode 2 looks more and more like this show’s pinnacle.

In the future, people have immediate access to every memory they’ve ever had. So if the mind is indeed one snapshot after another, everyone now gets to see each and every one – none lost in the shuffle, for better or worse.

Choosing NOT to have such a total recall is considered odd (and rare).

Much more small-scale than the previous two. Also pretty predictable (if well done), which is a huge disappointment after episode 2.

But hey, at least it makes you think…a little.

THIS is ‘Twilight Zone’-ish, an episode with a twist.

Interesting futuristic (but not TOO far in the future) sci-fi setting/set-up.

Pokes fun at pop culture, mass marketing and zombie-like mass acceptance as opposed to diversity, creativity, and individuality.

Much better than the first, and gets better as it goes along. Great performance by the lead.

Beyond “interesting”…compelling.

Well done.

Inspirational Quote: “I’m an entertainer.”

A mini-mystery/thriller/character study/statement on the times.

Nothing at all like ‘The Twilight Zone’, as I was led to believe, but certainly interesting enough to watch (and to watch further episodes).

Not for the faint of heart, but more restrained than it could have been (translation: not in bad taste purely for sensationalist ratings purposes).