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Black Mirror

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Surprise! There’s a whole new Black Mirror to ruin your sleep and make you question your entire existence. And this time, you steer.

If you have not experienced Bandersnatch, I suggest that you run back over to Netflix and do so. If you’ve not explored it to your satisfaction, I suggest you run and do so. But if you’re as done as you plan to be, read on. Because we’ve got a lot to cover today.

Bandersnatch is Black Mirror’s second stand-alone episode, the first being Jon Hamm starrer White Christmas. Granted, Black Mirror is an anthology series, so all episodes stand alone save for some world-building ties. But Bandersnatch is very much its own beast: more movie than episode, more game than movie.

One of my absolute favorite things to come out of 21st century entertainment is Black Mirror. Headed and largely penned by presenter and professional geek Charlie Brooker, the anthology series traces disconnected stories within a sandbox universe similar to our own. The big difference? Technology is much more active and versatile than our own.

It can be gratifying for those viewers tired of Instagram “influencers” and heads hunched over smartphones during social outings to see the wired among us get our comeuppance. Various episodes see social media addicts lose their social standing in a public meltdown. Vicious hashtag games turn around and sting their participants, and talent show addicts swept into the true nastiness of the entertainment industry.

Among dystopian worlds and timelines that show the evils of modern technology, Black Mirror’s “San Junipero” stands alone.

While every other Black Mirror episode left me crippled with fear and anxiety as I shied away from my cell phone and obsessively covered my webcam, “San Junipero” left me in tears. Gorgeous, wonderful, happy-tears. I remember my roommate at the time passing through the living room and shooting me a weird look, to which I pointed at the TV and screamed, “IT’S JUST SO BEAUTIFUL!

Too scared for the rest of Black Mirror? Just watch “San Junipero” and skip the rest. It’s not only the series’ happiest episode, but it’s also it’s most stylish.