[FridgeSeal]

Black Mirror got way less nuanced after Netflix picked it up.

“Nosedive” was the most surface-level take of that idea, the “pain chip” episode was basically just shock-value, the “trapped in the weird guys computer simulation” episode was “Whiteout” but derivative. The killer robot bees episode was…an episode of tv I guess?

Possibly it’s a format that just inevitably “wears thin” quite quickly, but it did feel like the early episodes had far more “existential dread” and interesting-exploration about them.

[throw310822]

Exactly. The first two seasons were mostly a dark humour satire of our times and obsessions rather than a grim depiction of possible futures. The first episode is not even SF like also "the Waldo moment". 15 million merits is a metaphor that is not taking place in any real future.

It got much more commercial and literal after that.

[ahoka]

Every episode is just "What if people are forced to wear IoT butt plugs?" or something ridiculous stretched over an episode.

[jijijijij]

Well, you have to go slow for wider reception.