Ari Beckett

Black Mirror season four addresses multiple issues including fatalist dating apps, transferring consciousnesses, and privacy of the mind. The episodes give insight to the faulty dystopian worlds while mirroring our faulty world.

The ominous “Coach” device tells its users advice and phrases like “It’s up to you,” giving the illusion of free will in a society fated to find “The One,” assigned by a system’s algorithm. Agonized by relationships with known “expiry” dates, the users maneuver the world hoping the system is always right because “everything happens for a reason.” The system is supposedly 99.8 percent accurate, although with questionable direction. Not an unexpected mood for the “Hang the DJ” episode of Black Mirror’s newest season.

Netflix Original, “Black Mirror” has a 8.9 out of 10 rating on IMDB (IMDB.com). Season four, which came out Dec. 29 has changed the game to Black Mirror watchers. The sci-fi anthology series makes consumers think about how they consume information and technology in a different — often horrifying — way through individualized plots that are seemingly unrelated.

Two major benefits of the anthology style series are:

• Creators can explore many topics and issues without sacrificing plot. Instead, they get to make a new plot every time tailored to the issue they want to address.
• Creators can hire a more diverse set of actors since they don’t have to use the same ones every time. Also, they can use the platform of what has become a well-known TV show to give more actors ‘umph’ to their resume of jobs.

I once would tell people that they can skip the first episode or start with the newest season, watch them in whatever order they like; but after the release of season four last year, I’m not so sure. Easter eggs in season four seem to indicate that all these dystopian technologies presented in each episode may exist in the same world.

What does this mean for us

One, for Black Mirror audiences, this means we may get some character development and recurring themes/technologies in future episodes, or maybe they already have. They may expand on plots that have more potential in season 5, thus challenging audiences to remember what has happened already.

Two, this shows us that the world of Black Mirror is far from perfect and is afflicted with many issues. Just like our world, the world of Black Mirror is a complex lattice of problems, as we can see by looking around our own lives or skimming news headlines. This season has changed Black Mirror, because not only do we see our reflection in the horrific — and sometimes beautiful — stories, but we see the bare bones of our hideous society.

Season four has changed the game for watchers of the show, revealing to us that we should consider rewinding and rewatching not only the episodes but our own lives and reveal to us the parts that we think are ugly or beautiful in the reflection of the Black Mirror.