Why I’m Done Watching Black Mirror

In all honesty, I watch very, VERY little television. When I do watch, it’s usually PBS. However, I do enjoy Netflix on occasion, preferring to stick with British detective shows. When a friend recently recommended Black Mirror to me – touting it as an edgier, technologically modernized version of Twilight Zone – I was sold. I decided to start with the most recent season, just to see if I enjoyed the series enough to go back for the previous three seasons.

Season 4, episode 1, USS Callister, was actually quite good. I thought it was an intelligent and compelling episode done in a sort of Star Trek style. I was encouraged enough to move on to episode 2, Arkangel. This one was a bit darker, and at one point violent, but the story itself was pretty darn clever. Then, I got to episode 3, Crocodile.

This episode deals with a young woman, Mia, who rides home with her boyfriend after a night of partying. The boyfriend hits and kills a lone bicycle rider on the road. He convinces Mia not to notify the authorities, but to help him dispose of the body instead.

Fast forward fifteen years and we see Mia as a successful businesswoman with a loving husband and son. She has a great life…until…her former boyfriend suddenly shows up to say he’s now sober and his sobriety depends on making things right with anyone he’s hurt in the past – including telling the bicyclist’s wife that it was he who killed her missing husband -  Mia panics. The killing spree ensues with Mia going berserk on anyone who gets in her way, and on anyone whose technologically stimulated memories can implicate her.  All morbidly grotesque, morally deplorable and truly reprehensible stuff. Without going into detail, suffice it to say there’s a baby involved and that’s when I hit the channel changer.

Now, I completely understand that Netflix is popular because viewers know they’ll be watching far less censored content than they’d watch on commercial television. But does this mean that there is no line that can’t be crossed? Since I don’t believe in censorship I’m of the opinion that if Netflix (or Hulu, or whomever) wish to make and broadcast such questionable content and enough people wish to watch it then so be it. I do, however, have the option of not tuning in and warning other unsuspecting viewers and that’s what I’m doing here.

Did you see this episode? Thoughts?