As we prepare to have our minds blown by six brand new episodes, we thought it would be a good opportunity to rank the original seven episodes.
2. ‘The National Anthem’
“Well I’m not fucking a pig! Page one, that’s not happening.”
This episode was a pig’s hair away from reaching the top spot. The first ever episode launched onto our screens on 4 December 2011 and pulled no punches from the get-go – before the first ad break we learned that nation’s sweetheart Princess Susannah, a faux Kate Middleton, had been kidnapped and the kidnappers wanted Prime Minister Michael Callow (the impeccable Rory Kinnear) to shag a pig on live TV later that day or she’d be killed.
There’s a Bullingdon Club believability to the episode, long before allegations of David Cameron having had similar porcine relations during his university days. The pomposity with which Callow dismisses the ransom serves to highlight the arrogance politicians hold themselves in, a demeanour that only relinquishes in the face of opinion polls, social media trolls and rolling media coverage.
Gradually worn down into committing an act of bestiality by public demand and lack of assurances of personal security should he refuse, the audience end the episode almost feeling sorry for Callow – particularly after the revelation that the princess was released before he committed the act but everyone was too busy watching the live broadcast to notice.
Whilst the pig sex may draw attention to the episode, it is Brooker’s mirror being held up to society that proves the most shocking – you can bet a similar real world scenario would also draw huge ratings and a political scramble of the same nature.
Easter egg: Slim pickings on that one, but it’s worth mentioning we get the first appearance of UKN, the Black Mirror world’s rolling news channel that later appears in other episodes.
1. ‘The Entire History of You’
“Because memory is for living.”
In some ways it’s a little odd that arguably the best episode of Black Mirror is the only one not written by Charlie Brooker (although Konnie Huq did co-write ’15 Million Merits’ with him). Jesse Armstrong, co-creator of Peep Show, takes that show’s point of view storytelling technique and transports it into a usable real world scenario.
The utterly brilliant Toby Kebbell plays Liam who we meet mid-appraisal at work. He can’t tell if it went well but thanks to a grain implant he’s able to perform a Redo – reliving memories to enjoy again or, in this case, agonise over every minor detail. Liam goes straight to a dinner party with his wife Ffion’s friends where they Redo the appraisal. Back at home, Redo is used to settle arguments and score points.
Liam’s jealousy gets the better of him and he’s convinced Ffion (the underrated Jodie Whittaker) had a fling with her friend Jonas. It all unravels slowly, meticulously, and rather painfully.
The beauty of this episode is just how seamlessly the viewer can picture the technology being integrated into the real world – the couple having sex but both watching a Redo of their favourite time with one another instead of enjoying the reality, the mother watching the Redo of her child to confirm how often the babysitter checked on the child, or reliving memories of happier times in the family home when in fact everything has fallen apart.
It’s a faultless episode and one that reverberates throughout the rest of the Black Mirror world.
Easter egg: The remote used to watch a Redo is seen again being used by characters in ‘White Christmas’ to block one another and, at one point, act as binoculars.
Buy the complete Season 1-2 plus Christmas special box set on Amazon here.
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