Trakt for iOS
Works on iPhone and iPad.
the production here has really stepped up, shit looking like a film or something. great way to start the new season with a different pacing, an episode filled with tension and a surprsingly "happy" ending, the universe looked really fine and the whole plot was interesting while deviating from the whole "technology is EVIL" from past seasons. Black Mirror is truly one of a kind!
I don't think I breathed once during the entire episode. I'm not okay. This was not okay.
The whole Star Fleet universe is pretty good. Really well done while keeping the cheap retro look. Except for the monsters, that are really top class.
The concept is however a lot less original than what Black Mirror usually does. People trapped in a game ? Come on, it's been done hundreds of times, and it's even already been done in Black Mirror. Otherwise the question is whether we should treat AI as persons. Not really original either, even if more in the Black Mirror vein, but it's treatment doesn't bring much here. That's one of the themes that seem obvious for the series, it had to be addressed at some time, but it's largely ignored here.
The one interesting thing is that the episode makes you root for the AI as if it was a good thing. They even win in the end, they escape and the bad guy is punished; but how is it a good thing ? There's not really any moral ambiguity here.
Can someone create game characters and do whatever they want with them ? Well, yeah.
Hurt them, torture them, kill them ? Well yeah, we've had that for a while now.
Can we blame them for venting their anger and frustration on digital replica of people instead of doing it in real life ? Clearly not.
But what if they were sentient ? Well maybe there is something to explore there, but it's not done at all. We're just put in front of the fact: they are and that's it. A great missed opportunity.
There's no explanation for it on the in-universe side either. They seem surprised themselves so this technology does not exist. Daly really is an incredible genius. Not only did he develop this great game, almost by himself (the team seem pretty low in numbers for something this big), but he apparently also invented, without anyone knowing about it:
- sentient AIs
- a way to make a digital copy of someone from its DNA
- and even a way to copy memories from fresh DNA
That's a whole other level of genius ! No wonder the guy is frustrated by the way everybody treats him.
Apart from that, a lot of inconsistencies in the story.
Why would he let his own world be auto patched ? OK, let's call it a mistake.
He knows they react like real people and just act like game characters when he's here. How could he fall for her immediate turnaround and not be suspicious ?
They want to die, ok, but what's the point of getting rid of the DNA ? He'd start again, but it would not be them, just other copies. So to prevent him to do it again to other versions of them ? Well he can clearly get fresh DNA whenever he wants. He got hers two days after she started working there. It will just get him a little longer to start again and he will be more frustrated and cruel with the new digital versions, that's all.
The ending kinda implies he's stuck in the game when it's shut down. But there's no way a game technology that is apparently well implanted in society would do that. You'd die if the power turns off or somebody pull out the cable ?
And let's say he is, what about the legal consequences for the real her ? It will be highly suspicious, she was there, even ordered pizza o his place from his phone, she probably left trace everywhere. The AI worry about what would happen to other digital replicas of them, but have no trouble implicating the real life version in crimes ? Well, so much for them being the good guys of the episode.
'Let's just fuck off somewhere.'
I need that spin-off right fucking now!
Am I the only one who feels sad for Daly because Wolton is so mean to him in real life and he exploited his idea and capabilities? He wouldn't have made this hell whole if he wasn't treated horribly in real life. So technically they drove him to be the psychopath he is.
VIP9[8.5/10] Captain Kirk should not be anyone’s role model. Speaking as someone who watched all of the original Star Trek during the past year, I can say that the enduring contradiction of the series is the way that it is both so forward-thinking, empathetic, and in many ways ahead of its time in its approach to politics, power, and people, and at the same time, so seemingly backward, given to a “Father’s Knows Best” approach to civilization, retrograde gender politics, and above all, the notion that everything the certified Great Man™ James T. Kirk was good and right and laudable.
So maybe it’s not surprising that a diehard fan who’s emulating Kirk (or at least his off-brand, non-copyright-infringing equivalent) would turn out to be a terrible, self-centered, possibly even evil person. Futurama got plenty of mileage out of the idea that a real life Kirk might not be so great with Zapp Brannigan, but Black Mirror takes the same notion in a scary new direction.
“USS Callister” isn’t just a takedown of Kirk, or those who idolize him, or even of the flaws in the original Star Trek. It’s an takedown of a toxic sector of fandom, particularly genre fandom, where the prevailing notion is one of fantasy, where every whim of the reader/watcher/obsesser should be sated. It exposes a sense of entitlement, that the world doesn’t recognize your worth or greatness, and that these fictional worlds exist to rectify that, to vindicate and validate you. It’s an extreme form of solipsism and myopia, one where the rest of the world’s wants and needs are subordinate to your own, and anything that departs from how you think things should be is cause for correction and punishment.
It’s weighty, complex, and incisive thematic material. And yet the beauty of “USS Callister” is that, even separated from its commentary on fandom and hero worship and current nerd culture, it just tells a fascinating and novel story. The episode manages to honor the franchise it’s riffing on by introducing a mind-bending premise, a challenge that calls for creative problem-solving, an emotional component rooted in the characters, and a thrilling adventure culminating in an exciting climax.
The story sees Robert Daly, a video game programmer and CTO for a gaming company (founded with a friend who stole all the credit), retreating to a simulation of his favorite, Trek-like television show. The episode leans into the lovable loser tropes, framing Daly as friendly and unseen in his work life, and pathetic but pathos-ridden as he lives out a fantasy where he’s loved and respected the digital simulacra of his real life peers in his virtual playground. “USS Callister” initially seems like it’s a redo of “Hollow Pursuits”, the episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation where lowly, awkward Lt. Barclay creates holodeck simulations including versions of the TNG crew where he can be a champion rather than a doormat.
But “USS Callister” gives us two twists, each a little more horrifying than the last. The first is that the people inside his game world aren’t just static simulations, programmed to fill the roles of his space fantasy. Instead, they are sentient individuals, exact DNA-based replicas of their real world counterparts, who are forced to participate in this charade against their will.
The second is that Daly is less Lt. Barclay, the squirmy little guy nicely (if creepily) playing out his dreams in a safe space, and closer to Q, Trelane, or the Platonians -- an all-powerful being who treats sentient life forms as playthings who are beneath him. It’s truly horrifying when he removes Nanette’s face or turns Shaina into a bug creature or, worst of all, brings Walton’s son into the simulation only to kill him cruelly while his father watches.
The episode explores the the dark side of these sorts of safe spaces, turning the ubernerd given to diving into his fictional escapes from the hero, a la Ready Player One, into a chilling villain, whose calm demeanor makes him all the more unnerving when he cooly deploys his punishments and threats.
And yet “USS Callister” is, apart from all the weight stuff that makes it powerful, an exciting and tension-filled adventure. Even apart from the nerd culture deconstruction, the notion of sentient, digital life forms having to combat and outsmart a real world enemy is the stuff that great sci-fi stories are made of. The episode balances the challenges in the flesh and blood world and the challenges in the video game world nicely, and even finds novel ways to bring them together.
There’s something inherently tragic about our heroes (led by Nanette) not wanting to best Daly, not wanting to beat him, just wanting to die so that they don’t have to participate in his sick games anymore. That goal colors each step they make toward it, adding that hint of tragedy and sense of release to even the most minute actions.
The episode also cleverly frames those actions in service of the story and its themes, while creating a smart plot. Treating the “update patch” as a wormhole that can give our protagonists the release of death fits the stakes and tone of the setup. The scheme to use sexting pics of the real life to Nanette to enlist her in the effort to make sure Daly can’t just start this whole thing up again even if their mission succeeds finds a plausible hook between the game and the real world and adds another layer of suspense. And the team’s means of distracting and delaying Daly stem from his known hangups, from seemingly voluntarily receiving the things he had to force before, whether that’s romance or apologies. It all adds up to an episode of television that succeeds as much in telling a compelling story as it does in delivering a parable or deconstruction.
The end of that stories sees our heroes succeeding in a way they couldn’t have imagined. Daly is stuck and stymied; they escape into the cloud, and are freed from the restrictions and restraints that their tormentor placed upon them. They have their freedom, an infinite universe to explore, and their full selves to be once again. It is the dream that Gene Roddenberry evoked more than fifty years ago -- the ineffable promise of a galaxy to be discovered with all its wonders and new life to seek out.
Except that the only life our heroes find is Gamer691, another player who either wants to trade, exchange rude gestures, or blast the good guys out of the sky, with the slacker patois that Aaron Paul delivers like no other. Nanette and her “crew” have escaped one brand of toxic nerd, with a foot stuck in the past who hasn’t figured out how to upgrade his ideal of masculinity from Captain Kirk’s, but they’ve entered into a sea of a different kind, who make up for Kirkian bravado with their own brand of dismissive solipsism. Freedom is freedom, but this frontier isn’t so peachy either.
Well, I have to admit I was already biased here before I even started watching this episode. I don't like Sci-Fi and especially space settings, so that's why it took me more than three months to get started with this season. And I have to say I didn't really like this episode. It seems like I'm in the minority with that though.
- First of all the plot/idea felt too similar to other ideas we already had - Being trapped in a game/virtual reality is just not original at this point.
- Then I was a bit thrown off by seeing so many actors I know - I was constantly thinking about Westworld and Breaking Bad. I only knew one actor from the previous three seasons and I really liked they used more unknown actors.
- I was also weirdly thrown off by the references to old Black Mirror episodes. It felt a bit too much "in your face" to me.
- I didn't like the female lead. At first she seemed interesting, but as soon as she joined the game I found her rather annoying. Bonus shoutout to the line "Stealing my pussy is a fucking red line" which made me cringe so badly that I had to take a deep breath and already knew I won't be able to like this episode.
- Actually the whole writing seemed bad. There were one or two good jokes, but the rest seemed so weirdly... cheesy and predictable.
- The ending was so unspectacular. If I recall correctly the happiest ending we had so far was San Junipero which was a "bittersweet ending" because both old women died, but they could stay together in San Junipero forever. This just seemed like a happy ending where the bad guy has to stay forever in his own cruel world and all of the other characters can escape.
- Speaking of the bad guy - I still don't understand what even happened at the end - Why did he have to fly with a random ship through the asteroids and we had such a lame chase? He was supposed to be in control of everything. He teleported everyone around before and changed their appearances and stuff. Why was he unable to do anything when they flew away with the ship? Why couldn't he stop the whole program and think about a plan, teleport to them or just straight out delete them?
All in all I'm just disappointed by this episode.
Wait, what?! this Black Mirror episode has a happy ending. I did not expect that at all.
You can really tell the writers had their fair share of the online gaming community.
I'm surprised Pizza is still delivered in person.
And that kids, is how I left your father.
Good Episode. But not a good Black Mirror episode. It doesn't have anything to do with the sense of dread that the older episodes (especially the first two seasons) made you feel.
I felt so uncomfortable the entire episode.
This is a masterpiece. Video game killed it's creator.
Are the creators running out of ideas? I've just been served a mix of White Christmas episode with some stuff from 1x03 and 3x02 and Star Trek ;)
well, if the spaceship only works when he's playing he could easily just have exited the game before that happened
Very nice start of the season.
I wasn’t sure to watch it at the time I started to play... And when I started, I couldn’t get myself and watched it till the end. Wow! What a great episode it was!
I like the way they’ve written it! Applause to the writers and also the director.
The worst episode of the entire series. Extremely boring, very bad acting and absolutely nothing surprising in the story. In short, nothing to do with "Black Mirror".
why you lot saying that this episode has a happy ending?
it is not.
the "real" bad guy still lives
"Yeah, uh huh you better run! King of Space right here. King. Of. Space." goddamn that tiny little bit was better than anything else in the episode
I'm surprised he didn't make a porn game :)
I'm sorry but Meh!
I don't like this episode... they supposed to be dead or erased by daly...
"Any of the last nine would do." Heh. Still, those images looked way too tame to be sufficient motivation to get Cole to do what she did with regard to that whole DNA recovery mission in the real world. And Daly? You'd think that an experienced gamer would know to quit and load an earlier save point long before the Callister made it to the wormhole. But those are minor quibbles given a show that consistently provides fresh and original stories like this one -- as opposed to offering up the 9,183rd rendition of the same police procedural that I routinely complain about and refuse to watch. So with that in mind, perspective and gratitude are definitely called for and gladly given!
Holy shit what a great way to open the season. This episode manages to hit my nerdy blockbuster spots so well.
It also really dissected the toxic parts of our current nerd culture climate. Also it's an episode with a good ending too! Amazingly well-done episode.
Great start to a new season I missed this show!!
episode has 85 minutes not 55
There were so many great themes and things to this episode.
- Power dynamics between male and female employees and the rise of a woman to power
- Characters who have flaws (note: the impetus of them being on USS Callister) developing into better, toughened characters
- Metaphors between space and the internet that I haven't fully fleshed out
Great episode--everything I want in a Black Mirror ep!
I like how this episode tackles many ideas in one story.. watching it made my mind go back and forth in many ideas like the simulation theory, Human immortality, Ethics of AI.. and so on.. fantastic episode!!
great first Episode of the season
This episode doesn't premier until November, date is wrong :(
I absolutely loved this episode! I think it might be my favorite so far out the entire series. I would love to see a spin-off show about the travels of the crew after the end of the episode.
And was it me or was that Aaron Paul at the end who was the gamer jerk?
An excellent premiere. The tech used seems to be a call back to Black Mirror's "White Christmas" and "San Junipero" episodes. What I notice in the ending of this episode and "San Junipero" is a shift towards a happier, more hopeful endings.
Great episode! If you think about it she just killed her boss (or put him in a coma or something) because of a blackmail...
This is feature-length, so I'm counting it as a film.
Excellent distillation of so many Star Trek tropes, with a genius move from "classic" to "modern" Trek (notice how generic it all suddenly feels?). The attention to detail was amazing, clearly there were fans involved.
Outside of that, this was strong for a Black Mirror episode and felt unique in the same way 'San Junipero' did. It re-wrote the rules somewhat for what the show can be, and was wonderfully ambitious. Excellent production values, too. This could have been a mess of mixed tones, but it balanced the dark, uncomfortable stuff with the comedy and adventure really well.
Jesse Plemons continues to walk the line between creepy and sympathetic with his performances (and does a dynamite William Shatner rip-off), but Cristin Millioti steals the show with a great ranged performance. She needs to be a bigger star.
Always look forward to this series. Good episode but expected a bit more for the season opener. Looking forward to the rest of the season.
Love how it simultaneously uses in earnest and parodies Star Trek tropes. And the flip to exploring toxic masculinity/"Nice Guy"/fanboy culture is clever. One of the funniest Black Mirror too, and Cristin Milioti is always awesome. Maybe the first episode of the show that I wish will get sequels, as I could watch the further adventures of Milioti-clone and her crew.
Amazing start. Very well done sorta Twilight Zone's "Five Characters in Search of an Exit".
I'm actually impressed that the virtual people were better than their sources, or at least when put under the right circumstances. Hopefully Nanette can be a good leader and that ordeal will prevent them from falling back to their "old selves".
It starts out a 9/10 and is one of the most cinematic and high-budget-feeling TV productions I've seen, but once it actually tries to explain itself it just gets brain-meltingly stupid, which kills any suspension of disbelief. Not to mention the fact that it also fails on the social commentary aspect by going after the wrong type, when we know it's always the Waltons that turn in to the Jeff Bezoses, the Sam Altmans, the Elon Musks, and not the Steve Wozniaks. They also give Cristin Milioti a shark-jumping line that bleach-blasts the tone and seriousness they'd cultivated up until that point. But the actual sci-fi elements and their explanations were the thing that made my brain leak out of my ears. It's bewildering how scientifically illiterate writers are regarding basic elementary school and high school scientific concepts to write drivel like this and try to pass it off.
I wish I could play like this...
I hope it doesn't take so long for this technology...
10/10
All Gold
What a Stellar
Season premiere,
I loved every single
second of this
Outstanding episode.
everything worked and
it was genius in it's
creation. One of my
all time favourites episodes
of the entire show.
The performances were
phenomenal and the thought
behind it all was
Frickin Awesome.
With such high production
and move level story
and script this was that
Good it actually could
have been it's own show.
if this is the standard for
this season then we are
in for a real treat.
A really good episode, interesting from start to finish.
Looks like they will be closed down because their founder died or something.
How does the DNA know everything about itself.
anyway great one .
Very fun but knows when to keep it dark too. Jesse Plemons plays a nerd and the episode does one hec of a job going into the mind of a raging incel in the position of 'misunderstood genius', a concept the episode very clearly demolishes throughout.
Escapism that only leads a man into more despair and self-infatuation. A worldview that only a lonely soul could possess, A dream that only a dreamer could soak in and enjoy. When you invent something with no sense of self then it becomes larger than you. Trapped forever through a disdain for the real world.
Oh, and I've only seen Jimmi Simpson as Liam McPoyle in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and between that and his performance here he is one truly exceptional performer. He's so fucking good here, both comedically and dramatically.
Should’ve just told Nanette to call the police and told her what he was doing
Absolutely loved this episode. What a change of pace - we don’t expect the sinister element until the end. BRAVO
I kinda felt identified. What would I do? :sweat_smile::crazy_face:
Those suckers in real life
Still alive.
But nice :ok_hand: story.
An accurate look of how I view gamers in general.
Having watched trailer i thought this was going to be out of point and that it had nothing to do with black mirror.Damn i was wayy wrong.One of the best and darkest episodes of the show.Great job what a way to start a new season 8.5/10
Too short but amazing storyline.
Good plot and story, but I'mmissing some more debate and though on AI, cloning... more reflection. I just feel like they're giving me just the title of a debate and if I feel like it I can talk more about it later after the episode with my friends, like an optional assigment.
An accurate look of how I view gamers in general.
This was so fucking amazing . No words!!
Really strong episode. I liked how you go into it with a thought and come out totally different. Interesting plot and a nice pace in storytelling. Cool characters too.
Who said Black Mirror don't have happy endings!
I've not watched all of Black Mirror at this point (up to Ep 3) and so far this is the best. The imagery is nice and retro and the ending sufficiently Black Mirroresq even if the storyline is rather predictable.
i never even considered having a favourite black mirror episode before but this is defs it
I was blind and now I see. This was so good that it unbored me.
The need to escape into a virtual world to replicate a system of oppression that they feel in life? Like he repeats things he has heard in real life just to get a shitty power trip?
I've just begun the 4th season of this series. I have been a fan from the very beginning. Each episode is stand alone but all of them revolve around the series theme of life darkly altered by technology. The writing is brilliant, and I don't say that lightly. Some episodes are truly perfect while a few don't quite hit the mark, but I give the series a 10 (truly ingenious) out of 10, and, it is one of my top ten TV series of all time. This particular episode opens the season with high marks for its tongue in cheek take on a TV SciFi classic combined with swirling dark undertones that lie just beneath a mundane reality. It begins as quirky and ends with a brilliant (there is that word again) resolve. This first episode I give a 9 (you guessed it - brilliant) out of 10. The series is considered a UK production, produced now by Netflix, but has episodes shot all over - the UK, Toronto CANADA, Iceland, Spain, etc., with an international cast from both sides of the pond. Have I gushed enough? Needless to say, I will be binging this season. *Binge complete - with the exception of episode 5, I was completely satisfied by this season. The writing is intelligent (if somewhat fond of expletives and sex), the acting is top notch and the twists at the end of each episode is that "just a little extra". Well done! Can't wait for the next season - thank you Netflix for rescuing this series.*
best thing ever happened to my televesion
Loved the video game setting. Felt sort of like an adult Toy Story almost.
Shout by Fabrizio CirnigliaroBlockedParent2017-12-29T10:39:00Z
"Stealing my pussy is a fucking red line"