Black Mirror : Season 2 | Canadian First Time Watching | TV Reaction | Review | Commentary

Simone & George are reacting to Black Mirror Season 2 for the first time! Canadians React!
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00:00 - Episode 1 : Be Right Back
15:15 - Episode 2 : White Bear
28:33 - Episode 3 : The Waldo Moment
38:46 - Episode 4 : White Christmas
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[@Invinci-NeD]

BACK TO BACK!?!? Y’all are legends

[@HanSolo]

Back to back? I like that record.

[@Hi_Chris]

@@HanSolo imma get back to that for the record …. Literally the first thing I thought of when I saw the back to back comment 🤣🤣🤣🤣 Kdot got into our consciousness 😵‍💫

[@barowt]

I'd go back to back with one of y'all

[@HanSolo]

@@Hi_Chris he's what the culture feeling

[@Kayjee17]

I watched a few of them back to back when they first came out on Netflix - usually because I ran into one of the few episodes that had a "good ending," relatively speaking. However, most of them either had me thinking so much that I couldn't deal with another episode that day, or they skeeved me out so badly that I needed something so wholesome to power-wash my brain from the residue. I still haven't watched Bandersnatch or anything since... because my brain hasn't recovered from the real-life Black Mirror episode that was the 45th presidency, and I'm in existential fear that the 47th will be 45 × infinity worse.

[@canceltheapocalypse8190]

My take on White Bear was that the criminal was forced to endure the crime she committed against the little girl: Kidnapped and observed with indifference as no one came to her aid-pretty much what she did to the little girl while her boyfriend killed her.

[@Shyknit]

Problem is they're wiping her brain tho so she's not remembering what she did in the first place. Also they publicized it and made it for entertainment. It's no longer her or her victim but for them

[@CarlosRamirez-wb7zu]

Since they wiped her memory, they weren't even punishing the person, just the person's body. They might as well punish an unrelated person that just looks like her.

[@thereject505]

​@@CarlosRamirez-wb7zu, what she and her boyfriend did was to a child. Children are the essence of innocence, wipe her memory, and for all she knows she's as innocent as a child. The child didn't know what was happening or why it was happening. It was just happening. They made the punishment pretty much the exact same but exploited it for a profit which then makes it go from immoral to extremely immoral. An eye for an eye, leaves the world blind.

[@carladavis1473]

I think the problem is that little girls suffering didn't last forever. To Do this to someone indefinitely is my issue. Punishment, even for the worst crime, should have a reasonable end.

[@ofthenearfuture]

Ya I agree with you on this one, George had some bad takes in this series

[@sharqane]

The point of White Bear is that it's not about punishing the person anymore. It's that punishing a criminal has become an entertainment, and to the public, is the same as going to watch the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. It doesn't matter that the actors at the ride suffer, as they can just be wiped and used all over again to the breaking point at the next showing. It's about using criminals as toys to fuel your profits in the name of entertainment, not about punishing them.

[@harish123az]

Its a good commentary on people who want criminals to be tortured and want revenge instead of justice. In a blood thirsty society this is what happens, people become worse than criminals

[@daved2352]

@@harish123az yeah I've always thought that people who express that kind of bloodlust are way more into the idea of harming people they see as deserving harm than they are into any kind of idea of justice. Problem is they only ever see your criticism of their bloodlust as defence for the crimes of those they want to punish. I spent too much time arguing with people on facebook about this as a younger man who was bad at explaining my thoughts. lol

[@Dularr]

It is the next step on reality TV. Instead of watching reality TV, you can show up and record your own video.

[@obdiane]

IMO. I think It's still about punishing them, but with a profit.( Instead of the taxpayers paying for the incarceration ) They wipe her memory to make it more entertaining because if she knew, she wouldn't be confused, or submissive. Plus, they want her to feel the same level of trust, fear, and betrayal as the child did.

[@kizzgizz]

​@obdiane that's how I take the mind wiping also, putting her in her victims shoes to punish her I'll add that in doing so, it's a fresh horror for her each day, waking up to all the craziness that ensues. Black mirror showcases a lot of dystopian futures, in this one, I'm guessing this is an alternate sentencing, going through this for what the calender suggests as a full month instead of years in prison. Most of the early black mirror episodes were written to be interpreted in many ways, so discourse like were all having here was the exact goal lol

[@HollisLopez26]

One does not simply guess what a Black Mirror episode is about

[@sdaniels160]

The problem with voting for Waldo isn't that you are throwing away your vote. It's that there is a company behind Waldo. That company would not just sit back and be inactive. It would use power for it's own interests.

[@blacklite911]

Exactly, that’s how it became that dystopia because basically the corporation is in power through Waldo now. I always wanted a sequel to that tbh. Because I think they created an interesting world

[@anonymes2884]

I mean there're a _bunch_ of problems with voting for Waldo IMO. Mostly, he's kind of the personification of populism (one of the big problems with _that_ being, as we see, that populism can be _very_ easily co-opted by other interests, like large corporations).

[@alexross111993]

@@blacklite911 White bear is apparently set within the same timeline as Waldo, so that gives an idea of some of the creations under that government/new world order

[@ennesshay5040]

'EVERY' party is OWN£D or atleast INFILTRATED by CORP$E$ !!!!!!!!

[@IceMetalPunk]

And... individual candidates don't use the power for their own interests? Remember: companies are not entities, regardless of how the legal system classifies them. They're just groups of people, each individuals making decisions for their own gain. A company screwing you over for their gain isn't much worse than an individual screwing you over for their gain.

[@tyklug2013]

White Christmas is possibly my favorite episode of television ever

[@zhen3142]

It is really the best. Too bad they were too tired to appreciate it fully

[@CatsinHatsBand]

Been on a roll George! thanks for editing all of these!

[@victorsixtythree]

14:10 - I think the point of the first episode (Be Right Back) was not whether or not the artificial recreation could ever be "perfect" or not but rather that having such a recreation available would prevent you from ever properly dealing with grief and moving on. In the end, she stuck him up in the attic and was never able to move on.

[@anonymes2884]

Personally I think the artificial Ash's imperfection is _very much_ part of the point of the episode because one of the things it's talking about is online "mediated selves". Your online footprint will _never_ be you, even if you're, as in Ash's case, _literally_ "terminally online" because online presences are managed and consciously created - in real-life people get your _genuine_ responses, uncontrolled, warts and all. Online, not so much. (of course it's _also_ about grief and moving on - as with S1's "Entire History of You", this episode kind of makes the point that sometimes our biological "imperfections", like human memory becoming less vivid or grief dissipating over time are actually _strengths_ and "fixing" them with technology may not be the best idea. A thing can be two things :)

[@IceMetalPunk]

@@anonymes2884 Yep. But to be even more precise, even in-person interactions are controlled and curated. As long as other people are around, we always choose what to do, what not to do, what to say and what not to say, how to say it, etc. Either to avoid hurting others, to avoid judgment, to fit in, etc. And what we present also changes based on who we're presenting *to.* There's so much in our brains that others have never seen or heard, but they still may influence our behavior in subtle ways, or burst out one day. Without a full upload of your brain, anything that learns who you are only from external indicators will never be 100% identical to you.

[@cthulhuwu_]

No, the machine being imperfect was a huge part of the point. The climax is literally her fighting with Ash, and he can't fight back because he literally doesn't have it in him. He is a pale reflection of a real person and that's vital to the theme.

[@Ferrant621]

Ah, two of my favorite reactors; Simone and The Administrator!

[@lukaskubik4698]

"I'm so torn." Should be the tag line for this show.

[@yugytomm]

"I don't like it, it makes me ill. " "God, that is depressing. "

[@TheSofkujepanen]

Also ”This is not right”

[@Meee-ye7sr]

And George his darn '...open wound...' quotes. Ha! :-)

[@JBiggs54442]

If you're torn, you are not human.

[@jeremyphillips7827]

_Be Right Back_ is on of my favorite episodes. I tear up every time I watch it, and that scene on the cliff that ends with her scream gives me goose bumps.

[@whyit6158]

might be the best episode of the show IMO. there are others that I enjoy the plot more, but the acting and writing and all other aspects of be right back are just *chef's kiss*

[@msaadmin123]

Also, another sad thing about the white bear, is when her memory is wiped she thinks that girl is her daughter and she wants to find her. This is a great indication of her being that clean and innocent, so yeah they are not punishing the past criminal mind even.

[@tipigi3570]

In White Bear - the reason they wipe her memory is so that she can feel what it's like to live in terrifying fear and not understand why someone is filming you and NOT helping. It puts her in a place of hopelessness..."Why aren't YOU helping me?!?", just like her victm felt.

[@MrNihilist74]

I think the idea of wiping her memory was that they are making her feel like the little girl who was murdered who didn't know what was going to happen to her from the 2nd episode of this reaction.

[@russellward4624]

But then they're just punishing another innocent person. What's the point?

[@raghvendrapratapsingh2585]

@@russellward4624 Not Really.... The one thing she is not, is innocent.

[@Eidlones]

@@raghvendrapratapsingh2585 Whats the point of punishing her if she doesn't know what she's done? Then it's purely for the enjoyment of the punisher. She doesn't get to reflect on what she's done, or know that her actions resulted in this happening to her. It comes down to why do you think a criminal should be punished. For your own/society's enjoyment, or to make the person reflect on their actions. One is vengeance, the other is justice.

[@raghvendrapratapsingh2585]

@@Eidlones Punishment should be proportionate to the crime. Some crimes you can commit where as society we can focus on reform. But there are crimes where all your philosophical bullshit doesn't apply. She kidnapped a child , who was unaware of what was happening to her and why. She helped in brutal murder of that girl. And actually was thoroughly enjoying it while it was happening. Her punishment befits the crime. That's Justice. She has to spend rest of her life in the shoes of that little girl. The people filming and cheering are also the representation of what she was doing during the crime. The theatrics of it all is the actual commentary on society.

[@8104587]

@@Eidlones There's the Deterrent factor to consider as well though. "If you do what she did, then this is going to be you !"

[@OneColdMonkey]

Black Mirror is the best existential depression you could ever want, lol

[@Truekingr6]

At least the original seasons before Netflix took over it.2 words. Killer Roomba 🤢🤮

[@OneColdMonkey]

@@Truekingr6 Yeah it gets real hit or miss in the Netflix era. The stuff before that is right up there with the original Twilight Zone in my opinion though!

[@northeu]

@@Truekingr6 seasons 3-4 are Netflix era and still solid, you get the feeling after bandersnatch the money was too good for Charlie not to write something so 5-6 can be hit miss.

[@BarryHart-xo1oy]

Very true.

[@faureamour]

​@@northeuI actually liked most of season 6. It's not as good as the first 2, but Loch Henry had some solid existential dread. 5 was completely forgettable.

[@zwatchtowerz]

You might know already, but yeah. even if the episodes are a story each, there are things that can connect them and watching in order makes you go like the meme pointing at the things you recognize, like the song and the tv show from 15 million merits.

[@Cau_No]

There are so many connections, reused items and technologies that show that the 'Black Mirror' episodes are something like a shared universe or timeline.

[@KWin246]

@@Cau_No Charlie Brooker has said they're more like small Easter eggs rather than confirmation of episodes being in "the same universe".

[@AndyBestHP]

I think In White Bear it's not relevant if the person remembers it or not in the long run. if we enjoy watching suffering, even of a bad person, then that's what we are, a person who enjoys watching suffering. What I take from it is how close we are to the tech to do it, and how closer we are as a society to then allowing it.

[@ge2719]

except youre phrasing at enjoying suffering, but it very much hinges on the fact the person is a murderer. most people if they were in that situation and they were asked if they want to watch an innocent person go through the same thing they would rightly be disgusted. there in a difference between an innocent person being subject to something against their will, and a guilty person being subject to it as a direct result of the things they chose to do. i really don't get how so many people don't understand this very basic fact, that theres a difference between the innocent, and the guilty.

[@Shyknit]

​@@ge2719there is a difference but it still can say something about the person inflicting or watching it. If someone murdered your mom would you murder their innocent mom as a punishment? If they r worded someone would you r word them back? Why not they're guilty. It still says something about watching someone suffer and inflicting that suffering. Also she was guilty but they keep wiping her memories. If they really wanted to punish her for what she did and not just watch someone running around scared they would make her remember what she did from the beginning.

[@ge2719]

@@Shyknit " they would make her remember what she did from the beginning." right, except that only doesn't happen because its supposed to be a sci fi show, so there needs to be a sci fi element, so they add the "blank her memory" thing to make it sci fi, only that ruins the whole message. " If someone murdered your mom would you murder their innocent mom as a punishment" d you want to have another think about that. think about what the crime is exactly in that scenario. here's a hint, its not "killing someone's mum", as if its not a crime to kill someone if they aren't someone's mum.... the punishment should be they experience what they put others through, yes. also, saying words isn't a crime. even more bizarre that you use saying a word at a person as if that would in any way be some sort of cruel and unusual punishment... oh no, don't say words at a person. Yeah go on, make saying words at someone be the punishment for them saying words at someone else, lets get nuts... 😄

[@Shyknit]

@@ge2719 for the second paragraph I only used that as an example, it could be anyone but most people have a mom so I'm saying if they killed a person's mom should someone kill their mom? Also for the last one saying r worded is a way of saying r*pe without having to spell it out because KZbin might not post the comment, so I'm not taking about words...

[@ge2719]

@@Shyknit so you seriously don't understand that if someone kills someone's mom, the crime is murdering a person, not murdering as persons mom...? if a murderer goes to trial, the case isn't "the crime of murdering jims mom" If someone kills an innocent person, their punishment should be them being killed in the same way they killed that person. Why are you trying to make it about the criminals relatives? don't you see how nonsensical that is? literally everyone has a mom, you want to punish every criminal by punishing their mom? the more common way of subverting youtube censorship is to say grape. if you say "r word" that already has a specific meaning. and yes, ,they should be graped right back, in the same way they did it to someone else, and i'd even build the f&%$ machines to do it You have an issue with grapeists being punished?

[@JamesWhoMakesGames]

Oh man. I had the exact same reaction to White Bear when it was first broadcast. "What is this? How is this commentary?" And then... Yeah.

[@JamesWhoMakesGames]

Oh noooo, did you do White Bear and White Christmas in one sitting?? I'm so sorry 😩

[@RageMojo]

It was about making her feel the way her victim felt over and over. Her knowing wasnt relevant to their bloodlust.

[@KyleS3m3noff]

My wife and I were watching Black Mirror as it originally aired (being huge Brooker fans at the time), and on Christmas Day 2014, we ruined our friend's Christmas... at their insistence. A group of about 5 of our closest friends came down to our place to spend Christmas Day at the beach (Australian Summer) and have a meal. After dinner, one of my friends asked me if I "had a chance to watch that show you were waiting for" and if I liked it. My wife and I look at each other and essentially say that we really enjoyed it a great deal and it exceeded expectations. One of the best things we watched all year... but it's not really the kind of thing they would want to watch on Christmas Day. Well, that got everyone's attention and so they all *insisted* that we watch it right then and there. One episode later and the entire room is full of traumatised friends alternating between cursing the show and cursing me. It's been 10 years now and I still haven't been forgiven for "that time you ruined Christmas".

[@natson7580]

@@KyleS3m3noff You should change your friends then. It wasn't your fault at all, they brought it up and they wanted to watch it even when you warned then not to do this on christmas.. if they really blame you after 10 years you should find new friends

[@KyleS3m3noff]

@natson7580 friends tend to have long running jokes with each other, mate. I thought the use of quotation points made that clear, but I guess I should know better in 2024...

[@natson7580]

@@KyleS3m3noff well if they're only joking and your ok with that then it's fine. Sorry if i didnt get that it was just jokes, english isn't my first language and it looked to me like they were seriously blaming you for ruining christmas

[@stephenzepp6536]

White Bear has two basic points: The girl is being punished for her crime with the most literal sense of "an eye for an eye" possible: they make her live through the crime as best they can through the eyes of the child (no idea what is going on, just that she is suffering). The second point is what happens to a society when "an eye for an eye" punishment becomes entertainment.

[@joey_dangerously]

The John Hamm episode was the Christmas special which came out after series 2. Which is why it's longer and a bit different.

[@SirForwyn]

Oh they're spoiling us with these

[@shadypelican]

Bryce Dallas Howard had a viral "breakdown" video over a Black Mirror episode where she was just sobbing uncontrollably afterwards. Although she never stated which one, it's suspected to be "I'll Be Right Back". In any case, it led her to be involved with the show, and she stars in the first episode of Season 3, "Nosedive", which is probably one of Black Mirrors simplest premises, but it's beautifully tragic. I can't explain why, but it's my favorite episode (along with 'Hang the DJ')

[@jculver1674]

Nosedive also feels incredibly prophetic in the age of cancel culture.

[@therealjoemonroe]

Nosedive is the most horrific episode of this entire show because it's happening, right now, in China. And I'm afraid it will spread worldwide.

[@Riddler0603]

Nosedive is great, comes right after San Junipero for me.

[@DIGGERfromAR]

The positive message to take from "Nosedive" is to not allow yourself to be defined by the opinions of others. Find your own happiness.

[@HomoErected]

@@jculver1674if only cancel culture was real

[@chrisnorman1902]

You should react to Inside No 9!

[@businesssecretsofthepharao8901]

@@chrisnorman1902 I second this! Inside number 9 deserves a much bigger audience.

[@likecrazyhorse]

"Painfotainment" is an episode of Hardcore History about public torture and execution. We are barely 100 years away from people renting hotel rooms to watch the condemned get punished

[@toolfan985]

52:54 George's surprise causing him to choke and then him taking a swig out of a giant mug all while locked into the screen has me dying😂

[@Darth-Lesbian]

I couldn’t just replace a loved one with a copy, no matter how realistic. It’s just not the same them, even if it is in every other way. The way I explain it is imagine cloning someone and implanting all their memories while they’re still alive, and then imagine going welp, there’s a copy of you guess it doesn’t matter if the original is still around. Imagine it from your perspective, sure there is a perfect copy of you but YOU you is still there, would you suddenly not be afraid to die? Of course you would. I want the ORIGINAL them, not a replacement. Plus I would feel like I am disrespecting the one I love by not properly mourning them. If they were truly loved they deserve people to be in pain at their loss, I don’t want to try and avoid it, it hurts like hell but they deserve to be hurt over. If any of that rambling made sense

[@burstingturtle]

As an American, the idea of a brash television personality becoming the leader of a country doesn’t phase or shock me one bit.

[@stevenbrodin112]

If she had the capacity/desire to do it the first time, she would still have the capacity/desire to do it again.

[@t2kittel]

I never comment, but I gotta say that I’m definitely looking forward to season 3. By far the best season in my opinion!

[@17thknight]

Somehow the murderer is the least evil person in White Christmas

[@DanThomp]

White Christmas is by far one of my fave episodes of BM. John Hamm is so brilliant at towing the line between likeable and awful

[@zhen3142]

Best episode hands down. Sad how most of the comments here are about white bear which is a far inferior episode

[@brockchavez6029]

I absolutely love this series, so happy you guys are taking this show on🤟🏽🤟🏽

[@vighneshpillai7996]

Can't wait for "Shut up and dance" & "Crocodile" also "White bear" and "White Christmas" are absolute bangers!! And "USS Caliper" and that one too with two female leads love story.....so many good episodes in this show man.

[@daved2352]

I can't wait for George and Simone to be super tense through San Junipero waiting for it to go bad.

[@vighneshpillai7996]

​@@daved2352San Junipero!! There the name.... exactly....😂😂. Im also awaiting for them to react to Nosedive which is in my top 3 Black Mirror episodes

[@zackgallardo]

San junipero

[@MightyPee]

USS Callister though, not Caliper :P

[@flightdub6056]

Hang the DJ is my personal favorite for some reason, that ending made me cry

[@dadante2536]

Waldo was a digital animatronic/ muppet controlled by its voice actor, which makes it basically a vtuber. At first companies thought of vtubers like cartoon characters that can be played by different actors, but when they tried that with Kizuna Ai then the fans were not having it. At first I thought the real world example disproved the Waldo episode, but that character is so nihilistic that its fans would probably turn on Waldo and everyone behind it if given a chance. In conclusion, it's not as grim as I thought, it is worse.

[@tonygriffin_]

Charlie gave us the tech we dreamed of back then...but it turned out to be more nightmare than dream! Just like in reality!

[@samworf6550]

"White Christmas" brings to mind two other, similar stories: "To See the Invisible Man", an 80's Twilight Zone episode that takes the mass-blocking thing and expands it to a whole story, and the Stephen King short story "The Jaunt" which touches on another aspect of "White Christmas" but I won't say which (spoiler). Both worth checking out.

[@scotthewitt258]

"To See the Invisible Man" is my absolute favorite episode of ANY sci-fi series ever!

[@winstonmarlowe5254]

Longer than you think, Dad!! 🤪

[@lobokurg2786]

A philosophical theme this season was the question of identity. Is a person the sum of their memories, and if not could they still be considered the same person if deprived of those memories?

[@OldLadyReacts]

You'll never be able to hear that Christmas song again without thinking of this episode.

[@5calambres]

Her memory got whiped yes. So she was afraid and didnt knew why everybody was so cruel. Like the little girl. Thats how the girl felt. But at the end she got told why. The girl died.

[@jrod1591]

“No lock jaw” 😂

[@LMarti13]

It's not resurrection or a ship of Theseus. There's nothing remaining of the original for it to be the former and there was no simultaneous transference for it to be the latter

[@bredincummings4381]

When i was in jr. High, my church youth minister told us he and his friends nominated Howard the Duck (of Marvel fame) for his High school class president, and he won! Second runner up ended up getting it because they were a real human person. The Waldo episode always reminds me of that story

[@IrishPieceofTrash1]

'White Bear' is one of the most ethics driven episodes of Black Mirror (if not all of Television) and to me, that's what makes it such a stand out. It's basically exploring the question of "Should the punishment fit the crime?" In this case, the punishment for the woman is exactly what she did to the little girl - stood by and watched her suffer at the hands of her partner, doing nothing while she pleaded and screamed for help. So now that is her punishment, screaming and desperately begging for help while everyone just stands by and watches. Plus while they do wipe her memory, the technology isn't perfect so it actually hurts and causes her even more mental harm by getting constant flashes that only hint at her past. Most people have either thought or even said out loud when hearing about a horrendous crime, that the one who committed the crime should be made to feel exactly as their victim did "The punishment should fit the crime." "Let them suffer the same way", yet this episode actually says "OK, here's what that looks like. Do you still think that now?" only it pushes it that little bit further and turns it from being a "just punishment" into entertainment. But the big question then is - When does it stop being about punishing the person or "getting justice" and it becomes purely just torture and getting revenge? There is a very fine line between the two and 'White Bear' crosses it.

[@IceMetalPunk]

Woooo! "Be Right Back" is one of my favorite episodes from when I used to watch Black Mirror! There's definitely themes about grief and moving on and letting go, but the biggest takeaway is that who we are is different from who we allow others to see. The collection of everything we've ever written, recorded, sent, etc. is just the performance we do for others to see of us. It's at best 75-90% of who we are, and even within that, it's a skewed version of that percentage: we misrepresent how we feel and think about things to avoid "bringing others down", for instance, or to avoid judgment. But the way we *really* feel is what motivated our behavior, and we don't let most people see all of that. Certainly not publicly. So anything that learns who we are from only how we present ourselves to others? It'll always be missing something, always just "close but not enough". George's suggestion of combining the tech with the Entire History of You tech would definitely help -- it'll give the AI more info about your experiences and your responses to them to learn from -- but there will still be thoughts, feelings, and beliefs you keep to yourself and don't ever act on or speak about, and those won't be captured. Which seems irrelevant at first: if you never speak or act on them, then they won't change the copied behavior anyway, right? But the truth is, sometimes those things affect your behavior in more subtle ways, or they build up until you finally *do* act on them. Without knowing what they are, the best predictions of your behavior that can be made are always less than 100% accurate... less than 100% of "you". Which just means we need to hurry up and get mind uploading -- 100% copies of the synapses of a brain -- to be real 😁

[@dIggl3r]

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY! 😁

[@Scallycowell]

White Christmas introduces the concept of ‘Cookies’ to the show which is great because every episode revolving around Cookies is an absolute nightmare that gives me overwhelming existential anxiety about living in a simulation and OH GOD NO IT’S HAPPENING AGAIN NOOOOOOO

[@jackwatson6887]

“Second time this shows made me feel bad for a politician” oh my god the world’s ending 😅🙃😂🙄

[@3DJapan]

Waldo reminds me of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, who was on Conan O'Brien's show.

[@Grindstone3838]

I always thought there was a missed opportunity in episode 2. I expected because the personality was based on his online behaviour, it would be revealed he was actually a horrible person online in secret and the clone would reflect that.

[@Darth-Lesbian]

I always say what I really believe in real life but because of online censorship have to watch what I say online so I fully expect internet clone me to be nicer than real me 😂

[@user-hc2tu7ul7j]

This! Or it would create someone who is nothing like him. Our comments don’t necessarily reflect who we are, especially if you go back years. I think most of us millennials have Facebook, but stopped actively using it years ago but were very active in our teen years. If someone made a robot out of me using that, it would have the mentality of a teenager who loved british boy bands

[@DaviniaHill]

Waldo started as an episode of Nathan Barley, which Brooker rewrote because he was under pressure to save money. Nathan Barley was co created with Chris Morris, who directed Four Lions and he was a director on Veep.

[@ericwallace3175]

"Are you alright there?" "OH no"

[@Kristine_202]

It's interesting to see Canadians react to "The Waldo Moment" because it's already come true in America. We elected a TV character because people were sick of "traditional politicians." And he even incited violence when he lost. The Waldo Moment has already happened. (And could, God forbid, happen again.) It's funny when you said, "Who would actually like this guy?" and "Elect me because I'm funny" because you're basically describing Trump. I ask myself every single day, "Who would actually like this guy?" but people do. I'll never understand it. But at least those of us who are terrified of him can spend a lot of time laughing at him. He is funny. (Even though he doesn't mean to be.) He's late night fodder. When he was talking about running years ago and then decided not to, Jon Stewart said that he was bummed because it would have been comedy gold. And, to be fair, it has been, but I don't think we realized how terrifying things would become. I'm a liberal, so I'd like to say, "I knew," but I laughed when Jon Stewart told that joke. Now? Now I look back on it and say, "That's not funny."

[@Kristine_202]

This was such a great season. I'm excited to watch you guys react to this one.

[@stygggian]

The woman with the braids on the Waldo episode is the security officer on Star Trek Strange New Worlds.

[@3DJapan]

The black and white symbol kind of looks like the turret from Space Invaders on the Atari 2600.

[@RicoSoprano_]

White Christmas will always be my all time favorite episode

[@RobWVideo]

The best description of Black Mirror I ever heard was "What if technology... but too much?"

[@jthomann71]

White Bear definitely has a bit of The Running Man vibe to it.

[@ThomasReeves-s7u]

Neat watching people comment on White Bear without knowing the ending. Also "Be Right Back" was maybe the first time I saw someone play an android as truly inhuman. Like you could tell he was just a blank simulation of a person and there was no "there" there. (I've since seen this on the show "Humans" and maybe elsewhere.)

[@ChristiofromMauritius]

Can't wait for San Junipero and Arkangel

[@Needler13]

Arkangel is good. San Junipero is american slop, pure crap episode

[@DIGGERfromAR]

@@Needler13 Agreed. "SJ" is overrated IMO.

[@soruffsotuff6214]

I literally saw both their brains melt trying to grasp and rationalize what they were watching...especially episode 4 !

[@nessaarandur7740]

White Bear and White Christmas were two of the heavy hitters for me in this season. Especially the effed-upedness of the way they ended White Christmas. But they have similar themes - at what point does punishment become just torture? In the next season Shut Up and Dance and San Junipero were my favourites. I think you guys would really enjoy Philip K. Dick's Electric Sheep series - it is very similar to Black Mirror in that each episode is stand-alone, but each one explores the perils of technology in the near-distant future. And if you haven't see it yet, you ABSOLUTELY ABOVE ALL THINGS should check out Love, Death & Robots. I don't know if you would be able to react to it as not many reviewers have, which leads me to believe the copyright juju is prohibitive. Also most episodes have very NSFW images (sex and nudity). They are also only about 10 minutes long each (the longest in season one is about 20 mins). They are very cool though. Each episode was created by a different animation studio from a variety of different countries. If this is already someone thing you have on Patreon, please let me know because I would join just to see you buys react to that!

[@bellehatespapayas]

with episode 2 I always felt like they wiped her memory to force her to understand the terror that the little girl had felt not understanding why these terrible things were happening to her. Still crazy fucked up

[@atomic_hok]

White bear is one of the most insane episodes of the series, it really makes you think who is the monster? Is it Victoria, Is it the people torturing Victoria, is it the people that pay money day in and day out to watch Victoria being tortured, or is it everyone? White bear really showcases the idea of everyone in the black mirror universe is just inherently bad

[@atomic_hok]

@@vicentegeonix but isn't everyone else the monster too? Sure what Victoria did was beyond horrific and she should be punished but just put her in a cell and let her rot. How can she ever begin to have remorse or regret for her horrific crimes if she gets her memory erased every single day? She's getting tortured just for the people's amusement and entertainment. Everyone is bad in this episode.

[@neilcherian257]

@@vicentegeonix She is a monster but this isn't a punishment anymore because you have practically erased the person who was responsible for the crime and replaced her with an empty slate who as far as she's concerned has done nothing wrong.

[@robertcarlyle6102]

It's obvious to sadists

[@lemons_s]

Yes, it's a commentary on the dehumanizing nature of capital punishment and how it turns everyone into a monster.

[@atomic_hok]

​@@vicentegeonixit's not about feeling bad for her because nobody does, it's that she's not even being punished at this point because she doesn't even remember what she did for more than 24 hours at a time, she can never begin to have remorse for her crimes. It's just a money making attraction for sick people.

[@connorpeters9764]

I have been loving this Black Mirror marathon hopefully you both keep going it's only gets better and by better I mean worse and darker for those involved

[@jb55364]

How prescient the first part of Be Right Back is even with today’s AI capabilities. I would be surprised if the email and even voice AI interaction doesn’t become a thing in some form in the next couple years.

[@guyr.6053]

Exactly. And watching the lateset Cinebinge reaction for "Her" (such coincidence considering Simone and George probably watched those at different times), it seems today that these premises for applications for gerenrative AI might be over the corner sooner than BM writers have thought.

[@Oh_Its_That_Weirdo]

Look up the history of Replika (pretty much the best-known, though no longer best quality, current AI companion app). Replika CEO Eugenia Kuyda basically made step one of BRB a reality, when her best friend suddenly passed away (creating a chatbot on the basis of all of ther chat, email, and social media interactions), and got the idea for what would become the Replika app by working on said "memorial chatbot".

[@matteoantonini177]

About the Waldo episode: check out the Italian party “movimento 5 stelle” (five stars movement). They started with anti-politicians rallies in 2007 called Vaffanculo Day (F* you Day). They became the most voted parties at 2018 elections with around 30% of the votes. The end is much less grim but…

[@AFMountaineer2000]

White Bear was my favorite episode of this season

[@GarmrsBarking]

yeah the one about texting with a deceased loved one... has actually been done... and now they are trying to involve IA in it… can only see problems arising from it....

[@blacklite911]

Yes most of the black mirror episodes are in the same shared universe but I don’t think all of them are, some people do and it’s a debate. It’s a cool thing to stitch together.

[@wakkadakka9192]

White Christmas episode is a masterpiece! Great acting, excellent storytelling, and the concept of torture of the copy of consciousness is so realistic and grim.. so many controversial thoughts after this episode. And it's not fun how close we are to that. I mean such methods like be banned from all social media already exist. And scientists already testing brain implants on animals. Now combine this and you get the ending of the episode but in real life, and much sooner than you think. And something tells me not only a criminals gonna be banned. Just say something against the modern agenda or the government - and you are banned.

[@iannoelcamilotes1003]

As I said in the first video, a lot of these themes get revisited in different ways for different reasons. White Christmas has one of the most key things in the series.

[@xzuljinx1191]

As far as the second episode and your comment. Of her not knowing or remembering what she did. The little girl she killed didn't know what she did or why things were being done to her so they are punishing her making her feel the same way the lil girl felt, innocent and not knowing why this is being done to her.

[@MarianaSantos-bw2jj]

This season's favorites: white bear and white Christmas❤️

[@egg43002]

White Christmas was so good. So creative.

[@BadWisdom523]

And, also Network for another look at some of the ideas about media in the third story

[@patrickfoster8335]

That Christmas episode.... Amazing. Yeah...

[@jojo4me791]

Speaking of Jon Hamm, Mad Men would be a cool reaction for you two to dig into. Would be curious to see you analyze those characters. George mentioned X-Files yesterday, that would be awesome.

[@mike200017]

George asking "Is that how you become an MP in the UK? You just do an interview." Dude, that's how it's done in Canada. Were you born yesterday?

[@Slobbbb]

White Christmas is one of my favorite episodes ever for any show

[@Fett411]

“It’s a very odd episode” They’re all odd! Lol

[@geolitube]

The second one is how karma works from one life to another

[@crazyjoedavolla636]

Please keep watching these please. They’re not all as messed up as the first one. They shouldn’t have made that the 1st one.

[@jhornacek]

Once they get to San Junipero that should give them enough warm fuzzies to go through the other sad episodes.

[@manzell]

IMO the point of the White Bear is like a twisted version of The Golden Rule - the character should feel the terror of their victim, it's "fair".

[@CanadaDan]

I forgot how great Black mirror is. Gonna have to watch it again

[@BadWisdom523]

On the subject of unusual punishment - i highly recommend alarming seventies fake documentary movie Punishment Park. Very different, but almost certainly an inspiration

[@anonymes2884]

I'd never heard of it but that sounds really interesting, thanks for the rec (even if you mostly meant it for Simone and George and I just benefited from a "ricochet rec" :).

[@deadrufio]

For me I think white bear is about privatized for profit prisons, which we do have here in the states, idk if that was their intention, because the show is British, but that’s how I took this particular episode

[@heavycritic9554]

A major problem with voting for a populist is that it's inevitable that popular opinion will be against your own interests. It's just a matter of time.

[@MrPagan777]

Hated In The Nation Metalhead USS Callister and White Christmas... those are my favourite episodes. So glad you're enjoying this series. Can't wait to see more.

[@breespahr]

cant wait to hear you opinions on Arkangel and Black Museum.

[@Warlock_UK]

Yeah, that is actually similar to how you become an MP; you join the party and either run in your constituency or get allocated a place to run. More or less. I think running, even as an independent just costs about £500.

[@anonymes2884]

Not "costs" necessarily, it's a deposit. If you get at least 5% of the votes you get it back.

[@Warlock_UK]

@@anonymes2884 Aye, that's just to put off timewasters. :)

[@TwinStripe]

@@Warlock_UK You do realise we're talking about politicians, don't you, :) ?

[@Warlock_UK]

@@TwinStripe yeah, fair

[@johnturner8286]

The perils of Jell-O Bots...

[@jannneumann5766]

"All men are equal when their memory fades." Motorhead, 1986.

[@JulietteReacts]

I remember when I first watched White Bear, I was lay in my bed at uni in 2013. I felt sick throughout and when the episode ended I had my first actual~ Black Mirror moment. The credits cut to black and I saw my own expression of horror in my laptop screen. Grim. I adore Charlie Brooker. Would love to see you guys react to his show A Touch Of Cloth. It's laugh out loud funny in my opinion. It's fun seeing his bizarre range of comedy and horror and political satire. Dead Set too! That was basically the precursor to Black Mirror and starred Riz Ahmed - the first time I'd ever seen him on British TV.

[@ofthenearfuture]

It's always a good video when we get a cat cameo lol

[@TimpanistMoth_AyKayEll]

Oh wow that IS Trent Crimm! I did not at all recognise him in Ted Lasso.

[@praxistallyogarro]

16:02 George your sarcasm is lost on her sometime

[@EShelby2127]

Humanity has evolved... TV takes the place of Church sanctioned executions - Now Tech takes a turn...