“Black Mirror” season four’s episode diversity was astounding

Netflix original TV show “Black Mirror” season 4 turned out to be everything I wanted and more after a year of waiting since finishing the previous season and was released on December 29, 2017. This show has blown the public out of the water, including me. Its originality and complexity has made fans crazy for more. All episodes range from about 45 to 60 minutes, and every second is worth it. The creator of the show, Charles Brooker, while creating an interesting TV series, clearly shows his personal paranoias of what a technologically advanced dystopian society can result in.

What I love about the show is how each episode has different actors and actresses with a completely different storyline each episode. The characters chosen are all small-scale actors/actresses, but benefit the show due to their superior acting skills. However, some of the actors/actresses may be recognizable such as Cristin Milioti, from “How I Met Your Mother” and “Wolf of Wall Street,” and Jesse Plemons from ”Breaking Bad.”

A few months earlier, there was hesitation on continuation of the show, but recently it’s been announced there will be another season coming out around the end of 2018, but there is little public information out for what is in store. Season 4 is home to a few of my favorite episodes of the whole show and has six episodes in total, full of twists and turns you never get bored of. This show could be compared to shows such as “The Twilight Zone” as they are both futuristic and complex.

The first episode of the season “USS Callister” is one of my favorites. Robert Daley (Jesse Plemons), uses his skills from his joint video game company with his ex-best friend to create a videogame of his own design revolving around space missions. However, the characters he uses in the game are all produced by the DNA of his co-workers, who have done Daley wrong by making an exact replica of them and putting them into the program. The newest input of a new character, Nanette Cole (Cristin Milioti), will not stand for the prison world they’re trapped in, and this is where this episode takes off. The creativity and twists in this episode had me biting my nails the whole time, along with sweet redemption in the end.

The fourth episode of the season, “Hang the DJ,” is just as good but very different. It revolves around the central idea of having a system find your soulmate by going through many relationships on a set time until the system finally figures out who is perfect for you. This episode follows two main characters, Amy (Georgina Campbell) and Frank (Joe Cole), who are paired together in the beginning of the episode for only a short time and after their time is up they proceed to follow the system and go on their other dates. After being paired into meaningless and awful relationships, they still long to be with each other and then they begin to question the system. The ending of this episode made me almost fall off my seat because of the twist ending.

The diversity of the episodes, but still having an underlying theme/message, is something I love and appreciate about the show. If you’re looking for a TV show that bends your mind and will keep you on the edge of your seat each second, this is the show for you.

by KARINA MARTIN