Black Mirror is the kind of show that is rolling the dice with its reputation and legacy the longer it goes.
Hailed as groundbreaking and daring in its first two seasons, the show’s rebirth on Netflix last year had some great episodes (“San Junipero,” “Nosedive”) but it also included arguably some of the show’s worst to date (“Men Against Fire,” “Playtest”). The more time passes, the more the show’s tropes get revealed and the less likely it is to be able to circumvent those tropes successfully.
That said, a new season of Black Mirror is certainly a very welcome sight and Netflix has unveiled a first-look at the fourth season of the sci-fi anthology show. While we don’t get full details on what each episode is about, we get episode titles, actors, directors, and brief hints as to what they might be able. All of the episodes were written by series creator Charlie Brooker.
Here’s what we were able to suss out so far.
“Crocodile” stars Andrea Riseborough, Andrew Gower, and Kiran Sonia Sawar, and is directed by John Hillcoat. Very hard to tell what might be going on here but we see shots of snowy mountains and multiple women looking very pensively and/or scared. So, it’s probably not going to be a happy one.
“Arkangel” stars Rosemarie Dewitt, Brenna Harding, and Owen Teaguem and is directed by Jodie Foster (yes, that Jodie Foster). This one looks like it revolves around a mother and daughter. The child has blood on her face and mom isn’t too happy about her using technology. Sounds about right for this show.
“Hang the DJ” stars Georgina Campbell, Joe Cole, and George Blagden, and is directed by Tim Van Patten. We’re going to guess this revolved around some kind of dating app and if we know anything from previous Black Mirror episodes about people meeting online, that never ends well.
“USS Callister” stars Jesse Plemons, Cristin Milioti, Jimmi Simpson, and Michaela Coel, and is directed by Toby Haynes. Uh, you had us at Jesse Plemons (Friday Night Lights, Breaking Bad) as a Star Trek-like captain. At first glance, it appears to be a kind of Star Trek parody but we all know Black Mirror doesn’t do a parody for laughs.
“Metalhead” stars Maxine Peake, Jake Davies, and Clint Dyer, and is directed by David Slade. In what seems long overdue at this point, this episode seems to involve one of those super-creepy Boston Dynamics robots that runs, falls over, and gets back up. That’s gonna be a creepy one.
“Black Museum” stars Douglas Hodge, Letitia Wright, and Babs Olusanmokun, and directed by Colm McCarthy. This episode appears to be about a black girl who visits a “black museum” and…oh man, we’re nervous just typing that much.
The new season of Black Mirror premieres on Netflix sometime in late 2017. Prepare yourself.
