They should have gone all out and had Shin'ya Tsukamoto direct Metalhead, dialog-free.

The thing was just too tame a concept to run a full episode.

Didn't really like any of the episodes this season.

It was an entertaining but underwhelming season for sure.

My rankings:
1. Black Museum
2. Hang the DJ
3. Arkangel
4. Crocodile
5. USS Callister
6. Metalhead

Surprised to see Black Museum ranked so high by many. While the first two acts were pretty good, I thought it was drug down by the third act which was overly predictable and amateurish, especially once the female character began supplying audio captions for the last 10 minutes of the episode.

I would prefer less reliance on uploading/downloading consciousness (or seeing through others' eyes). I think that covered 5 of the 6 episodes this season. Maybe that's why if I was going to watch an episode again it would be Metalhead because it was least like every other episode.

I liked Black Museum because it felt like a capper on the uploaded consciousness plotline which they've been doing to death. Much like White Christmas was a culmination of concepts from Seasons 1 and 2, Black Museum felt like the cumulative finale to Seasons 3 and 4.

It literally burns the concept they've been toying with since White Christmas to the ground and it just felt satisfying as such.

I didn't like the conclusion to Hang the DJ but it was nice to have a rom-com episode of Black Mirror.

Arkangel and Crocodile were probably the two most overall well rounded episodes.

Two more down, going to save the last one for tomorrow.

I think Hang the DJ may be my favorite episode this season. That may just be because I fell in love with the Amy character though.

Not sure what to make of Metalhead as far as how it fits the Black Mirror theme. I thought it was beautifully cinematic in its use of black and white. I liked the story telling, though the twist was a bit predictable.

The "dogs" were what made Metalhead fit in the series.

I enjoyed each segment for various reasons. So, this season was another good one, for me.

That's a good way to put it. I'm glad there was a fourth season and I was never bored, but this is probably the weakest collection of episodes so far.

My favorite, easily, was Hang the DJ. It was dark but hopeful, like some of the best Blackest Mirror episodes are.

Second favorite was probably USS Callister, although I didn't find it to be as stellar as some of the reviews made it out to be.

Crocodile and Arkangel were solid efforts, but so bleak that I wouldn't call them enjoyable. Crocodile reminded me a bit of the movie A Simple Plan in that



Metalhead was also bleak, but in an edge-of-your-seat way that I enjoyed, so I'd probably rank that one third. The ending didn't sit well with me, though:



Finally, Black Museum. I appreciate all the Easter Eggs, but each of the three plots seemed like a lot of set-up without a satisfying payoff, and the preachy tone at the end just didn't seem justified. It also didn't help that...



Overall, a good if not great season. I really hope they do more. My favorite episode remains Be Right Back.

Before watching "Hang the DJ" I asked out loud, "I wonder if this episode is going to play that Smiths song?"





My answer to a question above:

Hang the DJ also our favorite of S4

My response to your response (re: the end "reveal" of Metalhead).

just popped in finished hang the dj, what a great ep..

halfway thru the season...

Yeah

Well ... you could say that in about the loosest sense you could have; but I don't agree. The concept of Black Mirror is an exploration of the complexity of humanity and the ways in which technology alters the human state.

Metalhead was just ... Terminator-dog. If the 'dogs' were created as a security or home assistance device which went rogue and destroyed humanity, then I suppose I could get behind that. But with no back story like that, I just don't think it fits. It is just a 'monster' story, not an exploration of how tech impacts humanity.

I'll agree 100% with you on enjoying each episode though. Even Metalhead, which was gorgeous with a plot that doesn't hold up well.

Re: Metalhead's plot ...

I thought it was more of a story of AI run amok. How it couldn't weigh the difference between something of high value and something of low value, everything is black and white, and once the criteria was met you were dead.

The part that doesn't support that are all key boxes having built-in overrides for the dogs, which may have been great initially but I feel like those would be the first things disabled in a true "run amok" scenario.

The show has a bit of a shift in tone starting with White Christmas, not necessarily in a bad way, just different.

.

Naw. How can you say that and then not understand this ep? The Dogs, like a lot of Tech in this series, is what oppresses HUMANITY even if they may have been created to HELP Humanity. How can you guys not see that?

People are mad that the mission was "just for a teddy bear for dying child"....Well my gawd...you can't get much more HUMAN that that. These people died trying to make a dying child feel better. A risky Fool's Mission? Yes. But a HUMAN MISSION nonetheless. The Dogs fucked all that up. Seems to me this ep once again has hit the right tone of the Black Mirror series and it didn't even occur to me how much it did until I read the negative comments here.

really? You really missed a lot in this ep.

Risking three adult lives to potentially save the life of a child? Yes, that's human. To retrieve a stuffed animal? Foolhardy and unrealistic.

Educate me. All I said was that the payoffs didn't satisfy me, and you jump to the conclusion that I "missed a lot." So tell me what you think I missed. I'm pretty sure I didn't miss a thing. I understood the conclusion to all three story threads in this episode and found all three lacking.

I'm not sure I believe this but some have said the teddy bear wasn't the mission. The teddy bear was suppose to be some kind of medical thing. So their mission was doomed from the start because they had the wrong item number.

This doesn't save the episode for me. To sell me on this idea they would have had to be more explicit on what they were after. I don't think there was anything people are missing. It is rather basic episode that some people like and others don't. For me the teddy bears was the worse part of the episode. Cut that one scene and there would be nothing I would be calling stupid about the episode. But hey if that made the episode for you that is cool also.

Absolutely. I even pointed that out. But I'm not so sure it's unrealistic in a world like "Metalhead" where things are bleak and desperate. Perhaps a foolish journey like that is what people need to still feel their humanity. It was Bella's(main character) family member(Child?) who was dying. What person wouldn't do something seemingly foolish to ease a child's pain?


What payoff were you looking for? I'd say a daughter 1. Ending her INNOCENT father's pain and 2. avenging her INNOCENT father's horrific plight vial taking care of Rolo was a HUGE damn payoff. Shit, she even liberated the woman in the teddy bear.

Also, you used the phrase "preachy tone". I'm always wary when that word is used, even when i use it myself , because it's often used in a context of "those aren't my thoughts on that matter so let me downplay this by calling it preachy". I mean tell me, what part was so "preachy"?

EDIT. NEVER MIND. WRONG EP.

I think you're getting confused between "Metalhead," which included a teddy bear as a MacGuffin, and "The Black Museum" which included a stuffed monkey with a human consciousness inside.

Rewatching the relevant parts, they never say what they intended to get, but it wouldn't make the sick kid well, or stop him from dying, but the main character (Bella) says "if what's in there makes those [final] days easier, that'll do for me.... Plus, there'll be other stuff in there: batteries... all sorts."

At the end, she says to tell Jack (the sick kid) "sorry I didn't get the replacement like I promised. I know how dear it was to him. And I did try."

So it seems like the primary mission was the teddy bear, although they were looking to get other things, and maybe another vehicle. So the mission wasn't only the teddy bear, but it seems to have been the primary driver to go to this particular warehouse.