Wednesday, February 7, 2018

The Review: Black Mirror S4E1 "USS Callister"


Black Mirror USS Callister 9/10

I have decided to try something different. Normally when I watch Black Mirror I wait until I am done with the entire season before I write about it. With this current fourth season I am gonna cover them one at a time instead of being late as hell with my reviews (click these for reviews of season one, two, and three). The first episode of this season USS Callister was very different from previous episodes which I had no problem with. Two of the six from the previous season stunk so I am fine with a change of pace. This one starts off weird as hell. It is like some bootleg Star Trek with Captain Robert Daly played by Jesse Plemons and his crew. They are about to get jacked by an alien spaceship but with some dangerous orders are able to avoid death. Meanwhile in the real world...


Daly heads to work. That adventure was a virtual reality and his job where he is one of the founders. He is hidden away from people and is coworkers either talk mad shit to him or think he is a weirdo. There is a technology that Daly created that lets players go to a world where they can interact in space. Someone new named Nanette played by Cristin Milioti arrives and Daly takes a liking to her. Another employee tells her to keep a distance from Daly which he overhears. I thought that sucked until that same night he stayed after everyone left and snatched Nanette's coffee cup and swabbed it. He then tossed it into a machine and began to “clone” her. After that I was like “Wait a damned minute...”


The crew of his ship are all his coworkers! Nanette wakes up wearing a revealing outfit in a pod. She leaves and finds the rest of the crew who she works with. They explain to her that she is not herself but a copy as are they. They tell her that they play along with Daly as Captain otherwise bad shit happens. Bad shit like being turned into a giant alien bug or having to watch your child shot into space with the possibility to have it happen when Daly wants. Nanette tries to fight back against Daly who erases her face until she gives in. She later figures out a way to attempt to communicate with the outside, real, world as well as try to get Daly to break the rules he has laid out for his wholesome show.


I don't wanna spoil this episode because it did not end the way I was expecting. I think the writers knew what me and others were expecting from a show like Black Mirror and decided to throw a curve ball. This was a really fun and crazy episode. Not super dark like some have been. There has been some talk about social commentaries made during this and blah blah blah. I ain't looking into it that much. I just really liked this episode and hope that the rest of this season is as entertaining. Please don't “Shut Up And Dance” me...

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