Black Mirror Rewatch: Smithereens

Welcome to another Black Mirror episode I wasn't looking forward to revisiting, not because it was terrible, but because my memory told me it was boring.

Let's see.

The Talent: Like Hated In the Nation, Smithereens is written by showrunner Charlie Brooker and directed by James Hawe, with Fleabag's Andrew Scott in the lead role and a barely recognizable Topher Grace in the Mark Zuckerberg-by-way-of-self-help-and-a-better-gym part.

The Setup: Chris, an unassuming but deeply depressed ride share driver, parks himself outside of the Smithereen company headquarters every day in the hopes of snaring a passenger high up on the corporate ladder of the social media enterprise. He needs to get the ear of founder and CEO Billy Bauer, and taking a hostage seems like the easiest method.

Unfortunately, Chris acts a little quickly, judging the young 20something in a suit to be of note when in fact, poor Jaden is simply an intern trying to make a good impression. The negotiation process ends up taking much longer, which raises the suspicions of small-town cops who spot Chris's play from afar. Chris now feels even more pressure to get what he needs from Billy while outlasting the possible sniper target aimed at his head.

The Ending: It wouldn't be Black Mirror without some kind of twist or reveal, and in this case, it's by Chris's own confession: yes, he's sad about his fiancee's untimely death in a car accident, but it turns out, it was his fault all along. Much like the lead of my favorite episode (Be Right Back), Chris was busy scrolling through Smithereen's feed while driving. The fatal accident that took her wasn't due to a drunk driver's compromised position, but by a bored, social media obsessed Chris.

Chris finally gets Billy's ear, and the result is...underwhelming. Billy gets it: he's addicted too! That's what the software was designed to do, just like the Vincent Kartheiser triplets showed us in The Social Dilemma. But, well... what of it? Chris uses his last phone call to help a friend who has also lost one and is looking for answers through social media, and we exit on an ambiguous scene that suggests (but does not confirm) that Chris is killed by the sniper and the rest of those involved go back to scrolling their feeds.

The Theme: If Nosedive didn't already tell us this, social media is addictive and dangerous and...so?

The Verdict: My feelings on Smithereen didn't change one bit: it's a well-made slice of television that feels completely unnecessary and a good 20 minutes too long. I was far more interested in Amanda Drew's grieving mother than Chris's bottled guilt. Worse, the mistaken identity of Jaden is a subplot that takes up running time while giving us the same result we would have had if Chris abducted Billy himself (only without the scenic desert backdrop).

Black Mirror's fifth season isn't highly celebrated, and an episode like this certainly makes it clear to me why audiences have fallen out of love. There's nothing new to be said about social media and our dangerous reliance on its validation, especially when the show tackled the very issue one season earlier. What's left are some good performances that just don't go anywhere.

Technology Tip: Hey, did you know you shouldn't be distracted by your smartphone when driving? Don't worry if you forget: we'll repeat the lesson in a few months.

The Black Mirror Grade
Cruelty Scale: 4/10; there's some genuine felt weight regarding grief, especially with Drew's monologue. But ultimately, it's hard to care about Chris when it's so clear that he cares very little for himself.

Quality Scale: 6/10. Well acted, fine dialogue, pretty shots straight out of a Runner's World magazine, but sluggish and so oddly paced that something just feels off

Enjoyment Scale: 4/10. I'll almost certainly never go back to Smithereens, not because it's bad, but because it's just boring. Any of its meaning is better gleaned by better episodes, so what we're left with is a mopey story that doesn't even have a satisfying conclusion. I'll pass.

Up Next: It's a Shortening miracle! Next in the ranking was Season 5's Rachel, Jack and Ashley, Too, which just so happens to include a doll! See you in February!

Black Mirror Revisit: Hated In the Nation

 

I had very specific feelings of dissatisfaction after watching Hated In the Nation a few years back. While there are obviously some interlocking hints and easter eggs that suggest a larger universe at play, the beauty of Black Mirror, and similar standalone anthology series, is that each episode is self-contained. You might end the hour on a note of absolute despair, but at least that despair won't feel incomplete.

Clocking in at 90 minutes, Hated In the Nation is Black Mirror's longest episode, a movie-length mystery that makes a bold decision: being the only installment with an open ending.

Boy did that piss me off on first watch.

The Talent:

Hated In the Nation is another Charlie Brooker-penned episode, with the directorial duties in the hands of television veteran James Hawes (who also helmed season 5's Smithereens). In front of the camera, we get an incredibly likable cast of Kelly Macdonald, Benedict Wong, and Game of Thrones' Faye Marsay, equally devoted to solving a mystery as she was to murdering Arya Stark. 

The Setup:

There's a serial killer at large in modern England, but instead of knives and magazine collage police letters, his trademarks are robotic bees and social media games. 

Detective Karin Park is on the case, assisted by young and hungry constable Blue Coulsen. Blue's got that millennial edge of understanding modern technology, which is quite important when your murderer is using hashtags to determine his next target. 

And oh, what juicy targets he has! Ann Coulter-y journalists who hate the disabled, tunnel-visioned rappers who mock kids before thinking about the fallout, influencers using holocaust memorials for photo ops, and of course, politicians! A daily poll calculates which figure gets the most #deathto mentions, and before you can issue a carefully curated Instagram apology, a horde of robot bees has been dispatched to your flat. 

The Ending:

Here's where I initially had very intensely negative feelings on Hated In the Nation. Unlike every other segment of Black Mirror, this one ends on a cliffhanger. The detectives have identified their killer, albeit after he's flipped the switch to sic his minions on the 380,000+ citizens who ever cast a vote in his game. He's fled the country before they can actually arrest him, leaving Park to publicly clean up the pieces while Coulsen secretly follows his trail.

The Theme:

Hated In the Nation feels more invested in crafting a sleek mystery than exploring any deep thematic territory, but there's certainly much to mine in terms of responsibility when it comes to both our actions and reactions on social media. 

The Verdict:

I'm happy to say that this is the first case in my Black Mirror rewatches where I've been able to flip my rating to the positive side. Knowing to expect a lack of closure let me ease into the character work much more smoothly, and you know what? It's a treasure! Mcdonald and Marsay have fantastic mentor/mentee chemistry that develops so smoothly over the runtime that Park's slight smile at Coulsen's "got him" text is incredibly satisfying. 

The other key part of Hated In the Nation (social media fallout) feels a little more rote now, but it's handled well. Hawes and Brooker breach the "young people explaining computers to their elders" in a way that's natural to anyone who's had to give Zoom tutorials in quarantine, and it's not like we're ever going to stop debating how much we should invest in what someone says on the internet.

Technology Tip:

Hated In the Nation has three very hefty lessons that ultimately mean life or death:

1- Maybe don't take a good idea technology (environment-saving robot bees) and merge it with government surveillance

2- Don't be an idiot on social media

3- Don't judge people for being idiots on social media

Really, hard to argue with any of those points (side note: just how much higher is this episode going to ultimately rank?!)

The Black Mirror Grade

Cruelty Scale: 4/10; Until the final roundup, most of the victims are pretty despicable, but none deserve the truly cruel method of death that's described as being so awful that most victims ultimately kill themselves just to end the pain

Quality Scale: 8/10. It's good!

Enjoyment Scale: My initial watch probably would have lingered around the 5 territory, with a 7 while watching and a 3 for the open ending. On this viewing, I'm happy to up the overall pleasure scale to an 8. I'd totally take a Blue & Karin detective adventure spinoff!

Up Next (Month): James Hawes gets another round in the director's chair with my #18, Smithereens