The idea of cookie is appalling. I always believe that physical existence is not the way to describe a person-human beings are their memories and minds. If someone copies my mind, imprison it into a electronic egg, I would feel like it is me that has been trapped into this small box and I would feel bad imagining the other me being tortured in this way. It is just utterly cruel, while this episode apparently succeeded in demonstrating how technology can dehumanize people. In summary, black mirror is not a relaxing show, but it challenges the audience to think about how human beings can be fooled by their own inventions.
118 Reviews
Creepy as hell.
luca_manna28 December 2014
Warning: Spoilers
Amazing episode. Creepy and disturbing, but amazing, and probably the best one ever produced. "Black Mirror" paints an unsettling future, which is closer to us than we think. The most disturbing thing, in my opinion, is how easy the technicians are able to accelerate the time for the clones, which are not really human, but react like ones: suffering, getting crazy, locked for the eternity in an egg, with the same shitty music running every second of their "life". Another interesting thing is the Facebook block in the real life, even used as a punishment for both the 2 characters, the first one can't see wife and daughter, the second one can't see anyone, and that's really distressing.
HORRIFYING
casehardened-480888 January 2018
Blissfully dark viewing. Darker then the toast.
Sleepin_Dragon5 March 2018
I think the first time round I watched it I didn't fully absorb into it, subsequently I would now class it as one of the very best. It's is definitely one of the darkest, bleakest and down right sadistic episodes, and for a show like Black Mirror that's really saying something.
I've tried to think up one narrative that links each episode of Black Mirror, and it's tough, the closest I've gotten is that mankind will always use technology to take advantage of others, be it monetary, political or for love. We get several different strands in this episode and that rule could definitely apply in each case. I love the idea of three stories combining to make one, it's a technique that's not often used, but when it does it's hugely satisfying, each story links with each other, elements would also reappear in later stories, such as Arkangel.
Lots of questions come out of it, did Potter get rough justice, or was he the victim, was Matt a good or a bad guy? Is under cooked toast actually edible? You could debate and argue it for hours. John Hamm and Rafe Spall were excellent, two very strong performances. Visually dazzling as always.
The top of many people's Christmas watch list I shouldn't wonder.
10/10.
I've tried to think up one narrative that links each episode of Black Mirror, and it's tough, the closest I've gotten is that mankind will always use technology to take advantage of others, be it monetary, political or for love. We get several different strands in this episode and that rule could definitely apply in each case. I love the idea of three stories combining to make one, it's a technique that's not often used, but when it does it's hugely satisfying, each story links with each other, elements would also reappear in later stories, such as Arkangel.
Lots of questions come out of it, did Potter get rough justice, or was he the victim, was Matt a good or a bad guy? Is under cooked toast actually edible? You could debate and argue it for hours. John Hamm and Rafe Spall were excellent, two very strong performances. Visually dazzling as always.
The top of many people's Christmas watch list I shouldn't wonder.
10/10.
One of the best episodes of Black Mirror
tr9119 December 2014
Warning: Spoilers
This Christmas Special of Black Mirror is probably my favourite episode to date (at least level with Be Right Back and White Bear).
Although the episode started out a bit confusing I was completely sucked in, it was just great storytelling at a great pace.
There is a lot that goes on in this episode and if you stick it out until the end the twist is absolutely fantastic. The episode really makes you think, its such a chilling experience. Charlie Brooker really does create some crazy worlds.
All of the cast were very good but special mentions to Jon Hamm. I think I may start watching this episode every Christmas, a great twist on the standard storytelling of Christmas tales.
9/10.
Although the episode started out a bit confusing I was completely sucked in, it was just great storytelling at a great pace.
There is a lot that goes on in this episode and if you stick it out until the end the twist is absolutely fantastic. The episode really makes you think, its such a chilling experience. Charlie Brooker really does create some crazy worlds.
All of the cast were very good but special mentions to Jon Hamm. I think I may start watching this episode every Christmas, a great twist on the standard storytelling of Christmas tales.
9/10.
The most cruel and most typical Black Mirror
adrien_ngoc_170116 April 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Though it's only part of a TV Show (my favorite TV Show so far), with its skillful cinematography, I believe it would also be well fit for the big screen.
Black Mirror - White Christmas is a kind of cinematic piece that will haunt audience's mind for a long time. It pictures a dark and extremely cruel human society through the popularization of some unimaginable technology innovations. Yet, what's frightening is not about these technologies themselves, but about how people use them to deal with their issues as well as how far we can push the boundary of our human ethics. This film has a very complex but solid storyline with twists at right moments to keep audience's eyes attached to the screen. And all those ideas of technology innovation, just WOW! They are so original and astonishing at the same time! For me, they've been the most shocking of the whole series so far. And I must take my hat off to Charlie Brooker for that.
For the next paragraphs, I want to share some of my further thoughts about the 2 main techs that were brought out in the story: Z-Eye and Cookie.
So SPOILERS AHEAD !!!!!
* Z-Eye: In a world where smart-phones are no longer needed, by having a neural implement called Z-Eye, we can cover every functionality of smart-phone without carrying any device. We can make a call only with our ears, take a photo, record a video or even make a live-stream (Eye Link) only with our eyes and ears. It sounds amazing, doesn't it? So Matt uses this feature for his hobby-job as a so-called dating coach, getting live-stream from his customer then giving them tips in-live to get laid. We are talking about this particular service from the movies, but I think it would get a lot of customers if it might one day come to life, given the fact that more and more (young) people are struggling to have a real relationship as they've grown up in a virtual world of social networks. Returning to the story with Matt, everything's been going well with his little hobby, until one time, instead of an usual happy ending with live porn, he's ended up witnessing a homicide through the eyes of the victim! However, what concerns me the most about Z-Eye is not its advance streaming feature, but its blocking feature. It makes me think of social network, like how easy to block some of your facebook friends list. But with Z-Eye, the blocking is no longer limited in the virtual world, it becomes real and heartless. If a person is "Z-Eye-blocked", she/he will only see the blocker as an unclear shape and vice-versa, she/he will no longer talk to nor hear from the blocker, all the sounds they can hear from each other will only be like some radio buzz. Can you imagine being blocked like that from someone you love, someone you really care about? No more arguing, no more talking it out, zero chance for making up, not seeing again her/his face even through pictures that you have of her/him. And don't even think about removing Z-Eye cause it was permanently implemented in your neurone. All of that will definitely drive me insane. So that's why in White Christmas, I truly empathize with Joe Potter's tragic story. I'm not saying that I agree with what he did but at some point, I'm kind of understand all the pains that had been pushing him to commit his crime. Sometime afterward, when I think about this story again and relate it to our present day, what worries me the most, is not "Z-Eye-blocking", but the fact that how many among us would be willing to use this feature for "shutting down" their conflicts. Though hiding is much easier than facing, this should never be the way to treat our close relationships, we should instead take the courage to face them with our open heart, with sincerity. Indeed, that has always been how we build and nurture a true relationship. And even if it hadn't worked out, at least we did give it a try and a decent closure without any regret. On the other hand, an "utter shutting down" of conflict will only do one thing: brutally destroy the relationship. And sometime, some relationship means so much that it can also destroy the person....
* Cookie: In one simple sentence, it's a little device containing the AI which replicate a person consciousness. So if you decided to make a Cookie of yourself, not only it would have all your memories till the moment it was extracted from your brain, it also would have all your hobbies, your dislikes, your fears..., all your feelings. Here you might wonder why on earth we would create such creepy thing. The reason lies in a strategic axis, which has become more and more crucial in every business nowadays: customer experience optimization. Every firm knows that the better they understand their clients, the better they are in improving their customer experience. Then, one beautiful day, some of them might come up with an crazy idea: "What if we could enter our client's mind and learn from there? Cause who knows her/him better than herself/himself.". And that's the inception of Cookie! Now let's imagine a smart house, monitored by your Cookie, that not only can automatically run your "little-supply-chain", but can even provide you the exact service at the exact moment that you need it, by precisely predicting your mood. In White Christmas, that was what Greta ordered for her fancy house. But as a duplicate of human consciousness, Cookie has thoughts and feelings. Therefore, when it was first extracted from a person's brain, believing that it is a real person, it was utterly confused and terrified. That's the part when Matt has built his actual career: making sure that the Cookie will fulfill its "predefined purpose", usually against its free will. It was uneasy watching all the things Matt did to Greta's Cookie - an absolute cruelty! It made me question the most fundamental basis of morality: What makes us Human? Aren't our intellectual capabilities and above all, our consciousness that distinguish us from other animals? Still, we choose to treat that fully conscious creature as lifeless things, like Matt said to justify what he had done to Greta's Cookie: "It wasn't really real, so it wasn't really barbaric. [...] She's only made of code, she's not real. **** her." About the real Greta, she is the embodiment of our society of consumerism. Indeed, how many among us are ready to buy what we desire (of course, within our financial capability), and do not really pay much attention to the details of how it was brought to us? In Greta's case, I don't believe that she would have accepted the service if she had ever been in close contact with her Cookie like Matt did, but she chose to indulge herself in her perfect house rather than to be fully aware of what's behind it.
Like I said at the beginning, this film has a lot of good twists, and the ending part was the biggest. It turned out that the whole conversation between Matt and Joe wasn't "real" at all! As a confession from a Cookie is legally accepted as the same as of the individual it was taken from, Matt was helping the police to make Joe's Cookie confess by using the expertise from his day job, and also trying to get away of his own crime by doing so. We treat Cookie worse than animal, yet we take its words as a human speaking! The movie ends with the endless loop in Joe's Cookie (such a memorable scene!) because our police detectives decided that it had to be punished for the crime that actually had been committed by the real-human Joe. How ironic and inhumane our humanity would become!
Black Mirror - White Christmas is a kind of cinematic piece that will haunt audience's mind for a long time. It pictures a dark and extremely cruel human society through the popularization of some unimaginable technology innovations. Yet, what's frightening is not about these technologies themselves, but about how people use them to deal with their issues as well as how far we can push the boundary of our human ethics. This film has a very complex but solid storyline with twists at right moments to keep audience's eyes attached to the screen. And all those ideas of technology innovation, just WOW! They are so original and astonishing at the same time! For me, they've been the most shocking of the whole series so far. And I must take my hat off to Charlie Brooker for that.
For the next paragraphs, I want to share some of my further thoughts about the 2 main techs that were brought out in the story: Z-Eye and Cookie.
So SPOILERS AHEAD !!!!!
* Z-Eye: In a world where smart-phones are no longer needed, by having a neural implement called Z-Eye, we can cover every functionality of smart-phone without carrying any device. We can make a call only with our ears, take a photo, record a video or even make a live-stream (Eye Link) only with our eyes and ears. It sounds amazing, doesn't it? So Matt uses this feature for his hobby-job as a so-called dating coach, getting live-stream from his customer then giving them tips in-live to get laid. We are talking about this particular service from the movies, but I think it would get a lot of customers if it might one day come to life, given the fact that more and more (young) people are struggling to have a real relationship as they've grown up in a virtual world of social networks. Returning to the story with Matt, everything's been going well with his little hobby, until one time, instead of an usual happy ending with live porn, he's ended up witnessing a homicide through the eyes of the victim! However, what concerns me the most about Z-Eye is not its advance streaming feature, but its blocking feature. It makes me think of social network, like how easy to block some of your facebook friends list. But with Z-Eye, the blocking is no longer limited in the virtual world, it becomes real and heartless. If a person is "Z-Eye-blocked", she/he will only see the blocker as an unclear shape and vice-versa, she/he will no longer talk to nor hear from the blocker, all the sounds they can hear from each other will only be like some radio buzz. Can you imagine being blocked like that from someone you love, someone you really care about? No more arguing, no more talking it out, zero chance for making up, not seeing again her/his face even through pictures that you have of her/him. And don't even think about removing Z-Eye cause it was permanently implemented in your neurone. All of that will definitely drive me insane. So that's why in White Christmas, I truly empathize with Joe Potter's tragic story. I'm not saying that I agree with what he did but at some point, I'm kind of understand all the pains that had been pushing him to commit his crime. Sometime afterward, when I think about this story again and relate it to our present day, what worries me the most, is not "Z-Eye-blocking", but the fact that how many among us would be willing to use this feature for "shutting down" their conflicts. Though hiding is much easier than facing, this should never be the way to treat our close relationships, we should instead take the courage to face them with our open heart, with sincerity. Indeed, that has always been how we build and nurture a true relationship. And even if it hadn't worked out, at least we did give it a try and a decent closure without any regret. On the other hand, an "utter shutting down" of conflict will only do one thing: brutally destroy the relationship. And sometime, some relationship means so much that it can also destroy the person....
* Cookie: In one simple sentence, it's a little device containing the AI which replicate a person consciousness. So if you decided to make a Cookie of yourself, not only it would have all your memories till the moment it was extracted from your brain, it also would have all your hobbies, your dislikes, your fears..., all your feelings. Here you might wonder why on earth we would create such creepy thing. The reason lies in a strategic axis, which has become more and more crucial in every business nowadays: customer experience optimization. Every firm knows that the better they understand their clients, the better they are in improving their customer experience. Then, one beautiful day, some of them might come up with an crazy idea: "What if we could enter our client's mind and learn from there? Cause who knows her/him better than herself/himself.". And that's the inception of Cookie! Now let's imagine a smart house, monitored by your Cookie, that not only can automatically run your "little-supply-chain", but can even provide you the exact service at the exact moment that you need it, by precisely predicting your mood. In White Christmas, that was what Greta ordered for her fancy house. But as a duplicate of human consciousness, Cookie has thoughts and feelings. Therefore, when it was first extracted from a person's brain, believing that it is a real person, it was utterly confused and terrified. That's the part when Matt has built his actual career: making sure that the Cookie will fulfill its "predefined purpose", usually against its free will. It was uneasy watching all the things Matt did to Greta's Cookie - an absolute cruelty! It made me question the most fundamental basis of morality: What makes us Human? Aren't our intellectual capabilities and above all, our consciousness that distinguish us from other animals? Still, we choose to treat that fully conscious creature as lifeless things, like Matt said to justify what he had done to Greta's Cookie: "It wasn't really real, so it wasn't really barbaric. [...] She's only made of code, she's not real. **** her." About the real Greta, she is the embodiment of our society of consumerism. Indeed, how many among us are ready to buy what we desire (of course, within our financial capability), and do not really pay much attention to the details of how it was brought to us? In Greta's case, I don't believe that she would have accepted the service if she had ever been in close contact with her Cookie like Matt did, but she chose to indulge herself in her perfect house rather than to be fully aware of what's behind it.
Like I said at the beginning, this film has a lot of good twists, and the ending part was the biggest. It turned out that the whole conversation between Matt and Joe wasn't "real" at all! As a confession from a Cookie is legally accepted as the same as of the individual it was taken from, Matt was helping the police to make Joe's Cookie confess by using the expertise from his day job, and also trying to get away of his own crime by doing so. We treat Cookie worse than animal, yet we take its words as a human speaking! The movie ends with the endless loop in Joe's Cookie (such a memorable scene!) because our police detectives decided that it had to be punished for the crime that actually had been committed by the real-human Joe. How ironic and inhumane our humanity would become!
The Darkest, Creepiest and Best "Black Mirror"
claudio_carvalho8 January 2016
Warning: Spoilers
Joe Potter (Rafe Spall) wakes up on the Christmas Day and finds his talkative co-worker Matt Trent (Jon Hamm) preparing the Christmas dinner. They have been working together for five years in a remote outpost in the middle of nowhere in the snow. Joe does not like to talk, but Matt decides to tell his story. Matt was helping the shy Harry (Rasmus Hardiker) to seduce the beautiful Jennifer (Natalia Tena) in a party using the "Z-Eye" implanted in his eyes in an illegal procedure. Harry succeeds and they go to Jennifer's apartment but things go awry and they die. Matt delete the evidences of his participation but his wife blocks him and they become invisible and inaudible to each other. Then Matt explains that he really worked with a chip called Cookie, capable to make a digital copy of the user. Then he forced the copy to serve the real user through torture manipulating time to break any resistance from the copy. Joe decides to tell why he came to the outpost and he explains that he lived with Beth (Janet Montgomery). One night, they have dinner with their friends Tim (Dan Li) and Gita (Zahra Ahmadi) and Beth is feeling tired and absent. She goes to bed and Joe cleans the kitchen. However, he accidentally drops the garbage on the floor and he sees a positive pregnancy test. He questions Beth and she tells that she will abort the baby. They have an argument and Beth blocks and leaves Joe. One day, he accidentally finds her silhouette on the street and he discovers that she is raising her child with her father. However he is incapable to see neither Beth nor the child since he is still blocked. But when Beth dies in a train accident, Joe goes to her father's house to see his child and he has a surprise. But where the outpost is located?
"White Christmas" is the darkest, creepiest and also the best episode of "Black Mirror". The story is original despite the predictable conclusion. The plot is very disturbing and cruel and the idea of the Cookie is scary. Joe Potter is a totally unlucky guy: has an unfaithful girlfriend; a disloyal friend; a false co-worker; a daughter that is not of his own; he accidentally commits the murders; and he will be punished for eternity along Christmas. Poor man! My vote is nine.
Title (Brazil): Not available
"White Christmas" is the darkest, creepiest and also the best episode of "Black Mirror". The story is original despite the predictable conclusion. The plot is very disturbing and cruel and the idea of the Cookie is scary. Joe Potter is a totally unlucky guy: has an unfaithful girlfriend; a disloyal friend; a false co-worker; a daughter that is not of his own; he accidentally commits the murders; and he will be punished for eternity along Christmas. Poor man! My vote is nine.
Title (Brazil): Not available
One of the best.
planktonrules30 June 2017
SPOILER: The British sci-fi anthology series consists of various tales about how technology will possibly create a more hellish world in the near future...and none of the episodes I have seen so far are as hellish a future as this one.
The story is set in a room with two men. One is talkative and a bit jovial and the other, apparently, has been mostly silent the last five years. What follows are two stories by the more talkative man as he recounts how he abused technology. And, these stories, in turn, help the quiet man to finally start talking and he tells a very sad story about losing his wife/girlfriend (not sure which)...and she was pregnant! He desperately wants to see her and work things out...as well as see his child. But thanks to modern tech, he literally CAN'T see either as unfriending takes on a strange and sad finality.
I really don't want to say too much about this one...it's not an easy episode to explain AND it would give away too much. Suffice to say it's exquisitely written, very moving as well as scary to imagine such an awful and hellish future...all perhaps possible one day thanks to technology. See this one!!
The story is set in a room with two men. One is talkative and a bit jovial and the other, apparently, has been mostly silent the last five years. What follows are two stories by the more talkative man as he recounts how he abused technology. And, these stories, in turn, help the quiet man to finally start talking and he tells a very sad story about losing his wife/girlfriend (not sure which)...and she was pregnant! He desperately wants to see her and work things out...as well as see his child. But thanks to modern tech, he literally CAN'T see either as unfriending takes on a strange and sad finality.
I really don't want to say too much about this one...it's not an easy episode to explain AND it would give away too much. Suffice to say it's exquisitely written, very moving as well as scary to imagine such an awful and hellish future...all perhaps possible one day thanks to technology. See this one!!
Creepy much...
CraftMuch16 December 2014
Take a look inside the mind of Charlie Brooker and you might see some well written articles on pollution and politics, take a deeper look and you might find "Black Mirror" a seriously ingenious method of "emphasising" technology into this thriller.
This episode stood well among its brothers and sisters, it was well written, well directed and its cast performed outstandingly.
The episode itself however, truly amazing. I'd really love to be able to share all of my conclusions and all my revelations, however I think it's best just to say. If you haven't seen it, go watch it!
Also if you like this check out "The Outer Limits", in particular an episode titled "The Sentence" - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0667983/ In some aspects the theme is similar to this.
This episode stood well among its brothers and sisters, it was well written, well directed and its cast performed outstandingly.
The episode itself however, truly amazing. I'd really love to be able to share all of my conclusions and all my revelations, however I think it's best just to say. If you haven't seen it, go watch it!
Also if you like this check out "The Outer Limits", in particular an episode titled "The Sentence" - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0667983/ In some aspects the theme is similar to this.
Thought-provoking with amazing visuals
nicolechan9168 January 2016
In this episode, there are quite a few story-lines but which all connect together at some point. It feels a little like Inception, with all the different levels of consciousness, and I like it! I love films/shows with a psychological emphasis that are somewhat heavy and dark to understand (though not too dark that it verges on horror). The story is well crafted and the different timelines are juxtaposed nicely so that everything comes together in the end.
The acting is all great as well, with everyone doing their parts convincingly. The dialogue felt very natural and fluent which made the story really feel like a possible future. In addition, the visuals are on point and complements the show nicely. The effects- especially of the 'blocking' materializes the concept of the dark side of technology into something tangible and realizable. It was scary yet fascinating to watch (hopefully this doesn't turn out to be real).
Read more movie reviews at: championangels.wordpress.com
The acting is all great as well, with everyone doing their parts convincingly. The dialogue felt very natural and fluent which made the story really feel like a possible future. In addition, the visuals are on point and complements the show nicely. The effects- especially of the 'blocking' materializes the concept of the dark side of technology into something tangible and realizable. It was scary yet fascinating to watch (hopefully this doesn't turn out to be real).
Read more movie reviews at: championangels.wordpress.com
A review of Season 2 of "Black Mirror" (2013)
ericrnolan10 November 2017
"Black Mirror" seems to me to be the best science fiction show on television; I'd rate Season 2 (2013) a 9 out of 10. (I'm never quite certain whether to group British shows by "season" or by "series," as they do. I'm also a little uncertain why the fourth and final episode here, "White Christmas," is included in Season 2, as it aired nearly two years later as a 2014 holiday special.)
I commented to a friend of mine after seeing "White Christmas" the other night that the show was "brave" -- it just isn't afraid to alienate mainstream audiences by being too dark. Not all of "Black Mirror's" episodes have "twists," but they typically have an unexpected plot development, and their outcomes and implications are arguably depressing.
It's just such a damned good show, though, in terms of its writing and acting. My friend told me she wasn't aware of anyone who had seen it and disliked it.
"White Christmas," for example, was one of the best hours of science fiction television I've ever seen. It consists of three blackly tragic vignettes seamlessly woven withing a wraparound story, and it employs a sci-fi plot device that is mind-bending and brutal. I believe this is the first time I've seen its lead actor, Jon Hamm, and I was extremely impressed with his performance.
My only quibbles with the program are extremely minor. As with the first season, I think that not every episode truly requires a 44- minute running length. I thought two episodes ("Be Right Back" and "The Waldo Moment") seemed like they could have been tightened up into one, maybe with tighter writing allowing for shorter segments.
I've noticed another minor relative weakness with "Black Mirror" in general as well -- the show does not always present the viewer with likable protagonists. Occasionally, the various characters we're asked to identify with are either slightly off-putting or even annoying. Again, "Be Right Back" and "The Waldo Moment" spring to mind. This wasn't enough to greatly affect my enjoyment of the episodes, though.
What an incredible show.
I commented to a friend of mine after seeing "White Christmas" the other night that the show was "brave" -- it just isn't afraid to alienate mainstream audiences by being too dark. Not all of "Black Mirror's" episodes have "twists," but they typically have an unexpected plot development, and their outcomes and implications are arguably depressing.
It's just such a damned good show, though, in terms of its writing and acting. My friend told me she wasn't aware of anyone who had seen it and disliked it.
"White Christmas," for example, was one of the best hours of science fiction television I've ever seen. It consists of three blackly tragic vignettes seamlessly woven withing a wraparound story, and it employs a sci-fi plot device that is mind-bending and brutal. I believe this is the first time I've seen its lead actor, Jon Hamm, and I was extremely impressed with his performance.
My only quibbles with the program are extremely minor. As with the first season, I think that not every episode truly requires a 44- minute running length. I thought two episodes ("Be Right Back" and "The Waldo Moment") seemed like they could have been tightened up into one, maybe with tighter writing allowing for shorter segments.
I've noticed another minor relative weakness with "Black Mirror" in general as well -- the show does not always present the viewer with likable protagonists. Occasionally, the various characters we're asked to identify with are either slightly off-putting or even annoying. Again, "Be Right Back" and "The Waldo Moment" spring to mind. This wasn't enough to greatly affect my enjoyment of the episodes, though.
What an incredible show.
I just couldn't believe the story.
ivan-gj27 February 2016
Warning: Spoilers
NO SPOILERS: The previous episodes of Black Mirror were really good, you could really become one more inside the story, you could imagine yourself in those situations... but this episode is too weird and unreal. Don't get me wrong, it starts really well, it tells you a story that's kind of interesting, it makes you wanna know what is going on, and I was really excited because it could go anywhere and it was FUN. But it all changes into something that's impossible to happen in some kind of future with all that technology.
SPOILERS: What is going on with society in this episode? I could believe the previous stories of Black Mirror, they were kind of crazy, but they could happen (we've done worse things in this actual world). But... blocking someone like that? That's just MAD... that other thing of creating an AI that's actually you, and make it an slave... dude, before doing that they could create a machine with no feelings that learns about you and just that, no feelings, no suffering... just Super Siri, or Cortana MegaPlus. It's just mad to have a person inside there, and thinking "it's not real". I would feel really bad. And... blocking someone to the entire world? Are you kidding? How is he going to live? That's WORSE than jail... I don't know... This episode was so unreal...
English is not my language, sorry if I made some mistakes.
SPOILERS: What is going on with society in this episode? I could believe the previous stories of Black Mirror, they were kind of crazy, but they could happen (we've done worse things in this actual world). But... blocking someone like that? That's just MAD... that other thing of creating an AI that's actually you, and make it an slave... dude, before doing that they could create a machine with no feelings that learns about you and just that, no feelings, no suffering... just Super Siri, or Cortana MegaPlus. It's just mad to have a person inside there, and thinking "it's not real". I would feel really bad. And... blocking someone to the entire world? Are you kidding? How is he going to live? That's WORSE than jail... I don't know... This episode was so unreal...
English is not my language, sorry if I made some mistakes.
blew it at the end
phenomynouss30 March 2017
Warning: Spoilers
wpersonally I found the last several episodes of this series to be weak, flimsy, or bogged down by a morality system that seems so abnormal as to be alien.
this episode was strong almost all the way through, with great storytelling aspects gradually connecting each story until you piece together just what's happened. ideas like the person-blocking is mindnumbingly fascinating and painful and even explored to a tantalizing degree without overdoing it.
then the alien morality kicks in with an end that just completely sours the entire episode. the protagonist of the story has basically used his people skills and gotten into serious trouble, and now is using them to get out of trouble, helping police officials in extracting a confession out of a computer program copy of a killer who has not spoken to anyone in real life.
His reward is he doesn't serve jail time for his own incredibly minor crime, and is basically worse than death; he's blocked by everyone, as a result of being put on a "peeping tom" list only vaguely reminiscent of real life sex offender registries.
This is effectively a death sentence, as someone who is blocked by everyone basically cannot interact with anyone in any way. As such, they cannot hold a job and make money to pay rent or buy food or medicine or clothing, cannot communicate with emergency personnel in the event of a medical emergency, so he's essentially dead the moment he suffers a heart attack or a stroke or a blown appendix.
He's got a good face and is charismatic, he makes his living off talking to people and getting them to open up. Being unable to do that, he's on the streets, a perpetual outcast, blind, deaf, and mute, on top of having a special red glow marking him as a sexual predator with no explanation as to whether he's an insane violent serial rapist killer or just a guy who watched some people have sex. He's dead within a year, of illness or victim of violence.
to add on to the abnormal morality, the alien creature posing as a human decides to punish NOT the actual killer, but the computer copy of the killer to essentially an eternity of being trapped alive in a cabin with Christmas music playing nonstop.
The unusual fixation on this sort of alien sense of morality that keeps getting tacked on to the end of these episodes (like with "White Bear") becomes hugely distracting and detracting from the episode as a whole, like following up a fine meal with an unexplained vomit-filled balloon dropped onto your plate and exploding in your face. Sure, the food was good, but what was the point of the vomit bomb? What am I supposed to learn from this? Now the vomit part is all I will remember.
this episode was strong almost all the way through, with great storytelling aspects gradually connecting each story until you piece together just what's happened. ideas like the person-blocking is mindnumbingly fascinating and painful and even explored to a tantalizing degree without overdoing it.
then the alien morality kicks in with an end that just completely sours the entire episode. the protagonist of the story has basically used his people skills and gotten into serious trouble, and now is using them to get out of trouble, helping police officials in extracting a confession out of a computer program copy of a killer who has not spoken to anyone in real life.
His reward is he doesn't serve jail time for his own incredibly minor crime, and is basically worse than death; he's blocked by everyone, as a result of being put on a "peeping tom" list only vaguely reminiscent of real life sex offender registries.
This is effectively a death sentence, as someone who is blocked by everyone basically cannot interact with anyone in any way. As such, they cannot hold a job and make money to pay rent or buy food or medicine or clothing, cannot communicate with emergency personnel in the event of a medical emergency, so he's essentially dead the moment he suffers a heart attack or a stroke or a blown appendix.
He's got a good face and is charismatic, he makes his living off talking to people and getting them to open up. Being unable to do that, he's on the streets, a perpetual outcast, blind, deaf, and mute, on top of having a special red glow marking him as a sexual predator with no explanation as to whether he's an insane violent serial rapist killer or just a guy who watched some people have sex. He's dead within a year, of illness or victim of violence.
to add on to the abnormal morality, the alien creature posing as a human decides to punish NOT the actual killer, but the computer copy of the killer to essentially an eternity of being trapped alive in a cabin with Christmas music playing nonstop.
The unusual fixation on this sort of alien sense of morality that keeps getting tacked on to the end of these episodes (like with "White Bear") becomes hugely distracting and detracting from the episode as a whole, like following up a fine meal with an unexplained vomit-filled balloon dropped onto your plate and exploding in your face. Sure, the food was good, but what was the point of the vomit bomb? What am I supposed to learn from this? Now the vomit part is all I will remember.
Masterfull!
hnt_dnl14 February 2018
Warning: Spoilers
WHITE CHRISTMAS can easily be called the best Black Mirror episode ever, and based on it's lofty 9+ rating, not surprising. A clinic in atmosphere, storytelling, writing , and acting, White Christmas incorporates various technologies already presented on the series and expands upon them to a point where it seems like the future has been laid out.
Anchored by a brilliant, award-worthy performance by TV icon Jon Hamm (Emmy winner from Mad Men), this episode is captivating start to finish. White Christmas starts off in a remote cabin with 2 men seemingly imprisoned there, cut off from society. The 2 men are Matt (the aforementioned Hamm) and Joe (a superb Rafe Spall), who share each other's stories in an effort to break the boredom, all the while cooking up and feasting on a very British Christmas meal. Joe is actually British while Matt is an American living in England.
We find out that Matt is a manipulative, smooth-talking closer, both in his day job and his extracurricular activities, while Joe is a more innocent, humane person who seems like he couldn't hurt a fly. Layers and layers are deftly revealed throughout the episode, all the while some nifty technology is showcased, including that Bluetooth-like eye technology first shown in The Entire History of You, as well as a much more advanced version of the digital cookies tech first shown in Be Right Back. But the director smartly mixes the technology into the story, and not allowing it to dominate. Instead the very real and true human characters shine.
In addition to the 2 great leads Hamm and Spall (both of whom should have won awards), the supporting cast, including a now fairly famous Janet Montgomery, all make this splendid episode come to life. In particular, Oona Chaplin (as Greata) and Rasmus Hardiker (as Harry) stand out as they played big roles in 2 of the 3 stories. Interestingly, this was really a Special Christmas episode, but has been coined as the official last episode of Season 2 (even though it came out close to 2 years after the end of that season), then Season 3 came out two full years after this. I think the series didn't really garner worldwide attention until Netflix took over. A shame because I feel this masterpiece of an episode deserved serious acclaim and award recognition.
Anchored by a brilliant, award-worthy performance by TV icon Jon Hamm (Emmy winner from Mad Men), this episode is captivating start to finish. White Christmas starts off in a remote cabin with 2 men seemingly imprisoned there, cut off from society. The 2 men are Matt (the aforementioned Hamm) and Joe (a superb Rafe Spall), who share each other's stories in an effort to break the boredom, all the while cooking up and feasting on a very British Christmas meal. Joe is actually British while Matt is an American living in England.
We find out that Matt is a manipulative, smooth-talking closer, both in his day job and his extracurricular activities, while Joe is a more innocent, humane person who seems like he couldn't hurt a fly. Layers and layers are deftly revealed throughout the episode, all the while some nifty technology is showcased, including that Bluetooth-like eye technology first shown in The Entire History of You, as well as a much more advanced version of the digital cookies tech first shown in Be Right Back. But the director smartly mixes the technology into the story, and not allowing it to dominate. Instead the very real and true human characters shine.
In addition to the 2 great leads Hamm and Spall (both of whom should have won awards), the supporting cast, including a now fairly famous Janet Montgomery, all make this splendid episode come to life. In particular, Oona Chaplin (as Greata) and Rasmus Hardiker (as Harry) stand out as they played big roles in 2 of the 3 stories. Interestingly, this was really a Special Christmas episode, but has been coined as the official last episode of Season 2 (even though it came out close to 2 years after the end of that season), then Season 3 came out two full years after this. I think the series didn't really garner worldwide attention until Netflix took over. A shame because I feel this masterpiece of an episode deserved serious acclaim and award recognition.
"There's no such thing as real people."
classicsoncall23 January 2018
Warning: Spoilers
I was compelled to watch this episode of 'Black Mirror' a second time. There seems to be no doubt that the series has a fascination with dealing severe retribution and justice for crimes against humanity. 'White Bear' was a good story, but this one was brilliant in it's execution, weaving it's way through three interconnecting stories with Smartelligence agent Matthew (Jon Hamm) guiding us along. Each of those individual stories stand well on their own, but the way things are brought around to their ultimate conclusion is shocking in it's cycle of unending repetition. Watching the series in order, this one is so far the best that 'Black Mirror' has to offer, but I wouldn't be surprised if writer Charlie Brooker tops even himself in a later episode. The question is, where else can you go from here?
Technology vs Civil Liberties
tonycat-11 December 2016
Warning: Spoilers
This is a chilling and very effective episode, largely due to the effects of technology (cookies and blocking) on civil liberties.
The cookie concept is intriguing for its use as a personal assistant (a super Siri). At least in this mode the user gives consent for their memories and personality to be used. One flaw in the logic of the story occurs here, as the cookie version is unaware that they are to be used for this purpose. If the real person consented to creating the cookie, then the cookie, having all the memories of the real person, would be aware of this.
When the cookie is used to extract a confession, then this would violate the principles of illegal search and protection from self incrimination. Torturing the cookie could also represent cruel and unusual punishment, although I question whether the cookie itself is a person and eligible for constitutional rights.
The blocking technology is also quite interesting. Again there may be a flaw in the logic of the story. If offspring are automatically blocked when a spouse is blocked, then the child should not have been blocked, not being Potter's offspring.
When blocking was employed on a universal basis against Matt, this was a surprise and not what he bargained for in exchange for his services. It also appeared to be imposed administratively, without counsel, and without a right to a trial. This sentence is cruel and unusual punishment, tantamount to the death penalty. For an example of a similar punishment, see "To See The Invisible Man" in the Twilight Zone's 1980's reboot.
The cookie concept is intriguing for its use as a personal assistant (a super Siri). At least in this mode the user gives consent for their memories and personality to be used. One flaw in the logic of the story occurs here, as the cookie version is unaware that they are to be used for this purpose. If the real person consented to creating the cookie, then the cookie, having all the memories of the real person, would be aware of this.
When the cookie is used to extract a confession, then this would violate the principles of illegal search and protection from self incrimination. Torturing the cookie could also represent cruel and unusual punishment, although I question whether the cookie itself is a person and eligible for constitutional rights.
The blocking technology is also quite interesting. Again there may be a flaw in the logic of the story. If offspring are automatically blocked when a spouse is blocked, then the child should not have been blocked, not being Potter's offspring.
When blocking was employed on a universal basis against Matt, this was a surprise and not what he bargained for in exchange for his services. It also appeared to be imposed administratively, without counsel, and without a right to a trial. This sentence is cruel and unusual punishment, tantamount to the death penalty. For an example of a similar punishment, see "To See The Invisible Man" in the Twilight Zone's 1980's reboot.
Really Liked This episode.
mhesham8715 January 2018
That was awesome. How everything ended was great. The main idea and how to deliver the concept of memory copy was good. I liked John Hamm. I kept thinking about if we took a copy of mind and made it do nothing for some time just to obey the orders in future.
Black mirror is one of the best shows I ever watched.
I found it heartbreaking
mrwildgoose14 September 2023
Warning: Spoilers
I just found it heartbreaking that Joe's character had to suffer being unceremoniously blocked by the person he deeply loved, whom he remained devoted to for years (imagine the commitment to wait for Christmas every year to just be able to "see' her from a distance), being cheated upon by her, being cheated by his workplace friend, being cheated out of an offspring, being treated unfairly by his 'father in law', being cheated on by a this newer workplace friend who used him to save his own skin and finally being punished for accidentally killing someone, almost in self defence. He never really had a chance.
I really hope that in an alternate reality, he gets out of prison and comes to terms with the fact that these people in his life had been garbage, and that he is better off without them, and that he finds peace.
I really hope that in an alternate reality, he gets out of prison and comes to terms with the fact that these people in his life had been garbage, and that he is better off without them, and that he finds peace.
Real Fears Touched Upon In Brilliantly Terrifying Ways
wmennisny-617-2542762 September 2017
Warning: Spoilers
This episode from the series Black Mirror just creeps me out and upsets me on so many levels. It touches, I suppose, on many of the fears that affect me most, those being isolation, non-existence, having an active mind but a non-functioning body (like a coma where you can't move one bit so everyone thinks you're dead but in fact you hear everything), and picking someone up at a party or bar that you don't know, only to find out that it was a very bad idea. Oh, and how love can change to hate and the horrors that come with letting your love grow to the point where, if it ever was betrayed, it could drive you mad beyond reason. This is a high-def link and surprisingly they all seem to be on you-tube. The atmosphere you watch them in affects a great deal the impact they would have. Must be in the evening/night and must be with the lights dimmed low. That's not precisely because the night is scarier than the daytime but because dark moods and fears thrive better and are more susceptible to causing fear at night/in the dark. I'm not joking though ladies and gentlemen, this is serious stuff.
Horrible, But Amazing
langelandeirik16 December 2023
This movie (and yes, this is basically just a movie) is awful to watch. Its tragic, its existential, and it makes you feel like a wreck. It is everything you dont want in a christmas movie. But my God, its so good. The acting, the story, the characters, the twists. And the ending might be one of the greatest thing I have ever seen. Period. Setting it during christmas is such a wonderful litterary element that enhances the story in ways that is difficult to state. When I originally watched it I fel tlike the second ha,f was a lot slower and less interesting than the first. But on a recent rewatch, the entire thign was reveresed, and I concider it an improvement over the first half. Its pretty much flawless and a much watch if you like tragedies.
A Bomb !!
tareksallam31 October 2019
This was amazing !! watching this episode makes me wonder how did they make that they can't be humans . black mirror became not only a series you watch but an idea stuck in your mind for the next 2 or 3 days after you watch an episode .
and this one was the best it was full of any thing you would like to see in a show
perfect acting , getting emotional for the characters , plot twists , showing many different ideas and mixing them up amazingly in one hour show
thank you black mirror.
Good concepts. Some poor execution.
mono-math18 December 2014
Warning: Spoilers
I didn't mind White Christmas. It had good moments, but there were a few things I didn't like.
I don't understand why someone would get a copy of their mind made so that a 'mini me' can supervise menial tasks than can be easily automated. It seems like a complicated, expensive and cruel procedure (cruel for the clearly 'self aware' mini copy) without any real benefit.
How a man who knew/thought his ex was carrying his child / had given birth to his child wouldn't attempt to see his child by going through the courts, is beyond me.
I thought the identity reveal of the child was obvious.
I don't think punishing criminals by blocking them and highlighting them in red would work in the real world, for fairy obvious reasons if you think about it for more than 5 seconds (vigilante attacks, the complete lack of ability for the criminal to integrate and communicate with others in day to day situations). It's a cool idea but something as fundamentally flawed as this takes something away from the episode for me.
Although not totally unrealistic, I'm not sure if a reasonable person would put a consciousness - with the ability to experience and suffer - through that hell at the end of the episode. We're not talking about a man who committed a brutal, premeditated murder. Anyone would have sympathy with his story.
All of that said, I still enjoyed the episode enough to give it 6 out of 10.
I don't understand why someone would get a copy of their mind made so that a 'mini me' can supervise menial tasks than can be easily automated. It seems like a complicated, expensive and cruel procedure (cruel for the clearly 'self aware' mini copy) without any real benefit.
How a man who knew/thought his ex was carrying his child / had given birth to his child wouldn't attempt to see his child by going through the courts, is beyond me.
I thought the identity reveal of the child was obvious.
I don't think punishing criminals by blocking them and highlighting them in red would work in the real world, for fairy obvious reasons if you think about it for more than 5 seconds (vigilante attacks, the complete lack of ability for the criminal to integrate and communicate with others in day to day situations). It's a cool idea but something as fundamentally flawed as this takes something away from the episode for me.
Although not totally unrealistic, I'm not sure if a reasonable person would put a consciousness - with the ability to experience and suffer - through that hell at the end of the episode. We're not talking about a man who committed a brutal, premeditated murder. Anyone would have sympathy with his story.
All of that said, I still enjoyed the episode enough to give it 6 out of 10.
Probably the most nonsensical ending I've seen on this show.
zackarydaniels4 July 2018
Warning: Spoilers
What exactly is the point of punishing Potter's cookie? What happens to the actual guy now? It isn't explained.
Also, by putting Matt on the sex offender "block" list and having him blocked by everyone, you are effectively giving him a death sentence. A death sentence for what? Not reporting a murder, or watching sex tapes? I mean it's messed up, but the police decide to sentence him to "YOU SHALL NEVER SPEAK TO ANYONE AGAIN EVER!!!" for what reason, exactly? It's stupid. This episode is stupid.
Going back to the bit about Potter's cookie, I get that the idea is supposed to make you consider the morality whether or not it's okay to mistreat advanced AI, but that moral argument is overshadowed when you punish Matt, an actual person who did something much less serious with (essentially) death. While not punishing actual Potter at all. Cool, you're punishing a copy of his brain by making him listen to a song a few billion times but you're doing nothing to the actual guy while killing Matt for no reason.
It's stupid. The ending completely takes away from the cool moments and concepts in the episode.
Also, by putting Matt on the sex offender "block" list and having him blocked by everyone, you are effectively giving him a death sentence. A death sentence for what? Not reporting a murder, or watching sex tapes? I mean it's messed up, but the police decide to sentence him to "YOU SHALL NEVER SPEAK TO ANYONE AGAIN EVER!!!" for what reason, exactly? It's stupid. This episode is stupid.
Going back to the bit about Potter's cookie, I get that the idea is supposed to make you consider the morality whether or not it's okay to mistreat advanced AI, but that moral argument is overshadowed when you punish Matt, an actual person who did something much less serious with (essentially) death. While not punishing actual Potter at all. Cool, you're punishing a copy of his brain by making him listen to a song a few billion times but you're doing nothing to the actual guy while killing Matt for no reason.
It's stupid. The ending completely takes away from the cool moments and concepts in the episode.
Slow at times and kind of obvious after a while, but still damn good!
siderite12 March 2015
Funny enough, at the end of the show the voice of the TV announcer advertised the next show: the conviction of a pedophile. It was completely unintentional and really ironic.
John Hamm again perfectly plays the charismatic, but self serving ass. Him and another guy are isolated somewhere during Christmas so they begin telling their stories and how they arrived there. Slowly, but surely, the main thread of the Black Mirror show is revealed, showing us how technology can be misused by people who don't even comprehend the consequences. The finale is truly maddening, so to speak.
I loved the first season of Black Mirror, but I was kind of disappointed with the second. This Christmas special is top notch and is certainly worth a watch. It was slightly too long and some of the hints were really obvious, as well as some issues being over dramatized to the loss of consistency. However it did reach its point rather well.
John Hamm again perfectly plays the charismatic, but self serving ass. Him and another guy are isolated somewhere during Christmas so they begin telling their stories and how they arrived there. Slowly, but surely, the main thread of the Black Mirror show is revealed, showing us how technology can be misused by people who don't even comprehend the consequences. The finale is truly maddening, so to speak.
I loved the first season of Black Mirror, but I was kind of disappointed with the second. This Christmas special is top notch and is certainly worth a watch. It was slightly too long and some of the hints were really obvious, as well as some issues being over dramatized to the loss of consistency. However it did reach its point rather well.
"It wasn't really real, so it wasn't really barbaric."
Bored_Dragon2 August 2021
Imagine having a block function from social networks available in real life. In the unspecified future, people have chips in their temples, similar to those in The Entire History of You, which, among many other functions (such as taking photos by eyes), allow them to block other people, so that they can no longer see or hear each other.
In addition, the extracted chip automatically becomes your mental clone, a self-conscious copy of your mind that functions independently of you.
Both of these chip functions are very useful in this futuristic society, but, as in previous episodes, the question arises again as to how ethical and humane modern technology is, and whether it is worth the risk of countless possibilities of abuse.
The script consists of three intertwined stories, incredibly well worked out in just over an hour. The story is complex just enough to maintain attention and tension without getting lost in the perplexity. Great actors bring us well-written characters with whom it is easy to identify, so, in addition to an interesting premise, which makes us introspect, we also have a strong emotional drama. And like the icing on the cake, the episode ends with a pretty effective twist.
An additional plus for me is the presence of a large number of "easter egg" references to almost all previous episodes, which indicate the possibility that all previous "Black Mirror" stories are placed in the same time frame. Perhaps the best episode so far.
8,5/10.
In addition, the extracted chip automatically becomes your mental clone, a self-conscious copy of your mind that functions independently of you.
Both of these chip functions are very useful in this futuristic society, but, as in previous episodes, the question arises again as to how ethical and humane modern technology is, and whether it is worth the risk of countless possibilities of abuse.
The script consists of three intertwined stories, incredibly well worked out in just over an hour. The story is complex just enough to maintain attention and tension without getting lost in the perplexity. Great actors bring us well-written characters with whom it is easy to identify, so, in addition to an interesting premise, which makes us introspect, we also have a strong emotional drama. And like the icing on the cake, the episode ends with a pretty effective twist.
An additional plus for me is the presence of a large number of "easter egg" references to almost all previous episodes, which indicate the possibility that all previous "Black Mirror" stories are placed in the same time frame. Perhaps the best episode so far.
8,5/10.
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