Black Mirror

:

Season 4
  • Network: Netflix
  • Series Premiere Date: Dec 4, 2011
Season #: 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
User Score
7.2

Generally favorable reviews- based on 273 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 200 out of 273
  2. Mixed: 34 out of 273
  3. Negative: 39 out of 273
Watch Now

Where To Watch

Buy on

Review this tv show

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling

User Reviews

view
per page
  1. SuperMax156
    Jan 1, 2018
    3
    The Star Trek parody USS Callister is really good, but sadly it is the exception this season. Unfortunately the technological premise is too far fetched in several episodes. In the past Black Mirror was cool because the technologies seemed kind of feasible, but now we have machines that can read memories, even in guinea pigs apparently. Just silly. Black Museum , the last episode goesThe Star Trek parody USS Callister is really good, but sadly it is the exception this season. Unfortunately the technological premise is too far fetched in several episodes. In the past Black Mirror was cool because the technologies seemed kind of feasible, but now we have machines that can read memories, even in guinea pigs apparently. Just silly. Black Museum , the last episode goes completely off the rails and is just stupid. Well, we had a good run, but looks like Black Mirror has now jumped the shark.… Expand
  2. viroodiem
    Jan 1, 2018
    3
    Season 4 is an absolute departure from what made the series great.

    The biggest problem is that with such a small episode count is a double edged sword. A single episode can make an entire season. However, having only 6 episodes it puts more stress on each episode to be up to a certain caliber. Callister is barely up to mediocre and is so only based on the connection to the recent    Season 4 is an absolute departure from what made the series great.

    The biggest problem is that with such a small episode count is a double edged sword. A single episode can make an entire season. However, having only 6 episodes it puts more stress on each episode to be up to a certain caliber.

    Callister is barely up to mediocre and is so only based on the connection to the recent Discovery Vs Orville discussion about the future of Star Trek. Its only real notable point of existence is that it shines a light on just how groan worthy the real thing(and in t really is. Outside of that the episode is really disappointing especially being it is the first episode which really set the tone for the following episodes.

    Arkangel has no place in the series as its just a rehash of a plot that has been in tv and film since the 50s with only a minor technological deviation that literally can never happen. ( even the episode acknowledges that fact) From its trailer It had all the makings of something that could have been truly remarkable. It instead fits as a nod to this years cultural zietgiest with its ever so tired plot, likely driven by its equally tired director.

    Crocodile however is a completely unwatchable mess. Centered around an illogical technological premise, it keeps plodding on and on waiting for a merciful ending that the absolute mess of an episode cant even come up with.

    The pointlessly titled Hang the DJ was another uninspired tale. While the narrative was not up to par, it redeems itself on the strength of the performances from the cast.

    Thankfully they saved the best for last and the season started to turn around with Metalhead. While not all that original it was very well acted by its lead and its tone evokes the true heart of what the IP is all about, The fear of what our technology can lead us to.

    The finale, The Black Museum is by far the best. As an anthology within an anthology, it cobbles together three main acts to display the normal swerve job the series is known for. The ONLY real failing is that they chose Douglas Hodge to play Rolo. He did a great job without question. However in an episode based on a story drafted by Penn Jillet, He would have made a better choice in the episodes lead role.

    Overall the problem with Season 4 as stated was that just like one stellar episode can make an entire season, A bad one can just as easily sink it when there are only 6. Arkangel and Crocodile are terrible for their own respective reasons and they serve as the albatross around the neck of the entire season weighing it down leaving the rest of the season struggling to tread water.

    Honestly the back and forth with its development is likely the problem. First it was not due out until 2018 and then at the last moment it was going to be released just before the end of 2017. They really should have dumped crocodile and probably arkangel all together and took their time to make something better. Even episodes on par with Hang the DJ and Callister would have resulted in a season that would have been arguably the best season to date. What we got however is an incontrovertible reality making season 4 by far the worst. Hopefully we get a season 5 so the franchise has a chance to redeem this season.

    In the end the score is a 3 as it is firmly in bad territory compared to the good the franchise is known for. Not the least of which is that this season while still passable otherwise was completely overshadowed with how good Phillip K. Dick's Electric Dreams turned out to be. With all that considered it makes what would have otherwise been a 4 or 5 season slide all the way down to a 3.    … Expand
  3. bloodrizer
    Feb 3, 2018
    3
    Black mirror was always bad, but this season broke all the limits of bad writing and cancerous SJW agenda
  4. thinkbach
    Feb 6, 2018
    3
    getting tired of brooker's pompous certainty that he knows what's right v. what's wrong in the world, and his relentless interest in providing targets for the audience to feel gratified in punishing; too much media these days seems to focus on these certainties: these values, people, ideals are wrong! screams the content of so much work out there; when the world of entertainment seems togetting tired of brooker's pompous certainty that he knows what's right v. what's wrong in the world, and his relentless interest in providing targets for the audience to feel gratified in punishing; too much media these days seems to focus on these certainties: these values, people, ideals are wrong! screams the content of so much work out there; when the world of entertainment seems to be bending over backwards to convince me of the correct social position, i start feeling a little 'they live' coming on; brooker exemplifies this with his snarky certainty of what's right and wrong in everything from politics to murder; the most derivative of his episodes, 'black museum', deals squarely in the obvious wrongs, and they are wrongs, but does so by co-opting hellraiser's superior treatment of the now worn-out theme of pleasure v. pain, roald dahl's superior treatment of what it's like to hold someone hostage, and anyone else's superior treatment of what it means to be tortured by white jerks; having been hit over the head daily by what is right and wrong in our world from every corner of the media room, here it is again; where are the shows that leave me puzzled and uncertain? where are the shows that question the creator's own certainties? sadly, with this episode of black mirror it feels like brooker has exposed the truth in himself, that he is, in reality, no different inside than any of the power-hungry supremacists he likes to target, and they are such easy targets, aren't they? but all that self-righteous finger-pointing is inevitably going to slip, and the mirror reveal that the dark side is in him in brooker too! this series alone is enough to deter me from consensus-building television; after all, when the tv is showing me entertainments that basically argue the same points of view that everyone on facebook argues incessantly, maybe it's time to cash it in; after all, i can get everything brooker offers in any given single conversation thread online; cash it in, brooker, you've run out of real juice on this, and i question whether the series ever had any real juice, other than brooker's own certainty in his superior pov, which finally reveals it's ugly internal great-white savior bias; save yourself first, then you can tell me who else might need saving, but in the meantime i'm finally done with black mirror… Expand

Awards & Rankings

81
#81 Best TV Season of 2017
23
#23 Most Discussed TV Season of 2017
68
#68 Most Shared TV Season of 2017

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
72

Generally favorable reviews - based on 27 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 27
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 27
  3. Negative: 0 out of 27
  1. The New Yorker
    Reviewed by: Troy Patterson
    Mar 30, 2018
    80
    When the moral arguments of Black Mirror grow strident, and overbearing klaxons ring about corporate surveillance states, an episode can weigh like a ponderous cyberpunk parable, and the effect is off-putting. Still, the series’s lively futurist premises and tight production design combine to supply shocks of recognition.
    Read full review
  2. Vanity Fair
    Reviewed by: Emma Stefansky
    Jan 17, 2018
    80
    So when Black Mirror began, we soon figured out the show’s main twist: there would be no happy endings. But four seasons in, the new twist is that this is not always the case. And occasionally, it’s nice not to be reminded how easy it would be to destroy ourselves.
    Read full review
  3. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
    Reviewed by: Maria Sciullo
    Jan 4, 2018
    60
    Season 4 is uneven. Three stories--“USS Callister,” “Black Museum” and “Hang the DJ”--are far superior to the others. There is much more graphic sex (albeit hilariously depicted in “DJ”) and violence than in past seasons.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »