Film Review: Black Mirror Series Four (Part 3/3)

Onto the third episode!

The Premise

In order to cover up her involvement in a hit-and-run, Mia commits murder. Now exists a technology that can replay memories, and this leads to more murders being committed to cover up the earlier one.

But what about the tech? Well, a device known as a Corroborator comes into play here. You plug one end into someone's temple, turn on the machine, and there's your replay! This thing also plays a huge part in the story.

The Characters

Andrea Riseborough absolutely kills it (pun intended) as the reluctant serial murderer Mia Nolan. Gotta say, Riseborough was a superb choice to play this role. You can see every line on her face telling the story of the strain the murders take on her. The tears she sheds before and after each one, the cold fury every time a threat to her family or career surfaces. Riseborough's facial expressions just nailed the entire thing for me.

Andrew Gower as Mia's ex-boyfriend Rob. When he first see him he's frantic and panicked, and makes selfish and irresponsible decisions, and even pressures Mia into doing the same. Years later, guilt and remorse have changed him. He's a recovering alcoholic who wants to mitigate his crime years before, but his fate is tragic. It's hard to sympathize with the character, really. He started out disposing of the body of the man he accidentally killed, but by the first quarter of the show, it's his body that is being disposed of by Mia.

Kiran Sonia Sawar delivers a delightful performance as investigator Shazia Akhand. She's pretty as a picture but doesn't get sexualized in any way, which is refreshing. There's that moment where she gets in over her head while just trying to do her job, and it's powerful.

Anthony Welsh as Shazia's's husband Anan Akhand. He has a certain puppy-dog presence which is supposed to get us in the feels when he gets murdered later on. It kind of works, except it all gets overshadowed by the kid getting murdered as well.

Jamie Michie as Simon Nicholls. Big bear of a man, jovial and kind, probably meant as a foil to the murderous character of Mia Nolan. Good casting choice here.

Joshua James as Gordy. He's the guy who gets knocked over by the self-driving pizza delivery vehicle, and is it just me, or does he actually looks more like a serial murderer than Andrea Riseborough? Might be the teeth.

Adelle Leonce as Nini Harper-Brown. Is it just me, or did she look more appealing in the memory replay than in-person? Genius if so, touching on how memories could be biased.

Brian Pettifer as dentist Willian Grange. Supposed to come across as some kind of creepy pervert. Wish he'd played it up a little more. Oh, well.

Armin Karina has a brief appearance as concierge Farshad. Hardly the picture of discretion, but I enjoyed the subtle look of mischief on his face.

Stefan Orn Eggertson as Finn Nicholls. Cute kid. The role was necessary for the purposes of showing the audience that Mia Nolan has a family that she wants to protect, though he didn't have much to do.

The Mood

It begins with a starkly beautiful scene of winter in the mountains, and then later on there's a tad more color than blue, grey and white. Tension fairly courses through the entire hour. Throughout it all, there's very little joy in this episode (other than the welcome scenes of Shazia and her family), and this is easily one of the bleakest stories Black Mirror has ever told.

What I liked

Did I mention that the scenery and backdrop were amazing?

The opening strains of that dang-blasted song play early on. Normally this makes me groan, but it went astonishingly well with the snowy mountain backdrop.

Wow, a mobile pizza delivery self-driving vehicle! These already kind of exist, but none of the pictures I saw on the net look remotely this cool. I also liked that this little baby was an integral part of the story.

Looks like in this episode, facial recognition seems to be a function one can access on their phone! So mundane, yet so many possibilities.

The Corroborator tech. This thing about plugging in one thumbtack-like piece on the side of someone's head is consistent with the interface used in USS Callister, and makes it possible to believe that it all exists in the same world.

I also like the thing Shazia did with the subjects, like using the scent of alcohol to trigger those memories. Just adds some dimension to the entire thing.

What I didn't

I don't understand the title at all. "Crocodile"? Like, what?

The murder of Rob was a bit puzzling. One moment Mia is trying to stop Rob from leaving, and next moment he's lying on his back with a nosebleed. I get that this was a murder, but how was he killed? Some clarity would be nice.

I feel like something as intrusive as a Corroborator would have consequences such as the one that happened to Shazia, far more commonplace, and the episode writers just didn't take that into account. It wasn't even mentioned.

At some point, the song gets a little overused, and starts being annoying. It's good in small, very sparing doses.

Conclusion

This wasn't a bad episode, though the plot left me a bit baffled at times.

Also, a baby gets murdered. And all for nothing. Depressing as all hell, this story. There were good bits here and there, but meh I wasn't feeling it all that much.

My Rating

8 / 10

Final thoughts on Black Mirror Series Four so far...

The first three episodes have been banging. Especially the first two. They certainly stuck to the spirit of the Black Mirror series. The third episode took things up a notch in terms of darkness, and that's a brave choice.

Looking forward to the next three episodes. I have a feeling it's going to get way darker than this.

To Infinity and Beyond!
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