PLOT: In these two episodes of “Black Mirror”, an American tourist (Wyatt Russell) tests-out a dangerously realistic new game, while a teenaged-boy (Alex Lawther) finds himself blackmailed into a series of dangerous tasks after being – literally – caught with his pants down online.
REVIEW: At TIFF this year, I was lucky enough to sample two episodes of “Black Mirror’s” current third season, the first commissioned by Netflix. While I loved both episodes, “San Junipero” and “Nosedive”, I was surprised at how amusing they were. Yes, “Black Mirror” has always been fun, but at times these episodes were even upbeat – something very rare for Charlie Brooker’s grim series. Could it be that “Black Mirror”, with its new big bankroll, was getting a little – mainstream?
Having caught-up with two more episodes, “Playtest” and “Shut Up and Dance”, it’s clear my fears were unfounded. As many suspected, the TIFF offerings were chosen due to their accessibility and big stars. The next two episodes were vintage “Black Mirror”, meaning disturbing and bleak as hell. “Playtest” is probably the more ambitious, but not necessarily the best, of the two. Wyatt Russell (EVERYBODY WANTS SOME) plays an American backpacker who finds himself stranded in London without enough money for a plane ticket home. Not wanting to contact his estranged mother, he signs up to do some game testing for a new hyper-realistic virtual reality game, only to find – “Black Mirror”-style, that there’s no such thing as easy money.
Directed by 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE’s Dan Trachtenberg, this is a well-produced, slick episode that exploits the potential pitfalls of a “too-real” videogame system, although as it goes along it becomes even darker, with Russell’s character not only having his sanity threatened, but also the prospect of losing his very soul – in a manner of speaking. While the multiple fake-out endings are a little much, this is another well-done episode, with Russell especially good as our affable hero. This is rare-enough for “Black Mirror” as often their protagonists deserve the grim fate that awaits them. Here, he’s truly a victim (albeit a morally compromised one) and someone we want to come-out OK in the end.
By contrast, “Shut Up and Dance”, directed by THE WOMAN IN BLACK’S James Watkins, is “Black Mirror” at its absolute grimmest. Alex Lawther, who played the young Alan Turing in THE IMITATION GAME, plays a teenaged boy who, after being caught masturbating to porn via his webcam, finds himself blackmailed into completing a series of tasks around the city. Sounds a bit like NERVE, right? Dead wrong – as this becomes absolutely horrifying as it goes along. He’s teamed-up with an adulterous businessman (“Game of Thrones’s” Jerome Flynn) and forced into a series of criminal, violent situations. While it’s initially hard to believe Lawther would be willing to risk his life to keep from having a masturbation session discovered, as it goes along more and more layers are peeled back, with this eventually turning into an online take on “Crime & Punishment” that’s sobering in exactly who it gets you to sympathize with.
Taken together, both episodes represent peak TV. If this is the kind of show Netflix is allowing Brooker to produce, clearly they’re letting him execute his vision however he deems fit – and you can expect this to become one of Netflix’s signature productions before long. I’ll be back with reviews of the next two episodes soon!