Black Mirror : Season 1 | Canadian First Time Watching | TV Reaction | Review | Commentary 

"What the fuck is wrong with people?" You've just asked the question that is the backbone to this show.

There is an English folk story called Lady Godiva, in which the titular noblewoman makes a deal with an evil lord to riide naked on her horse through the streets of London in return for taxes being waived for the poor. In the story Lady Godiva was so loved and respected by the common folk that, despite her famous beauty, everyone stayed indoors to avoid seeing her naked, letting her maintain her dignity. IMO "The National Anthem"" episode is an inversion of this story. People were asked not to watch the broadcast, but everyone did. And because everyone was watching it, no-one realised the hostage had been released until it was too late for the PM.

The real genius about Black Mirror is that no matter the fancy tech it introduces, the stories are always ultimately about the flaws of humanity, not the technology. I can’t wait to follow you through the series of this amazing show. I really hope you do the Bandersnatch one too!!!

Can't wait for Simone's reaction to USS Callister.

George "The phone screen is a black mirror?? Like when it's turned off? Why would anyone do that??" Exactly the type of guy this show is made for 😂

“I really don’t trust this show”. Good instincts

One really interesting bit in The Entire History of You that I'd never noticed until this reaction is how Jonas's girlfriend, the one without the "Grain", has trouble getting the cops to come to the house when he's assaulting Jonas. After calling them to say she's witnessing a serious assault, in the background she says "I don't have a Grain Feed to throw you! I told you, I don't have Grain." 48:00. It sounds like when you call 911 they would automatically just want you to show them what you're seeing, which makes obvious sense, but also seems to mean they won't believe you so easily if you can't show them.

An extra bit of possible tragedy to The Entire History of You: the lady at the dinner party was said to be lucky she didn't go blind when her grain got ripped out. Then he rips his out at the end and it cycles through a bunch of images and cuts to black. Maybe cause it was the end of the episode and that's how episodes end. Or maybe cause those were the last things he ever saw.

Can't believe that first episode is nearly 13 years old. Love Black Mirror. Simone, there's a certain forth season episode I'm sure you'd enjoy.

I’m so unbelievably excited to start this journey with y’all (as a RU-vid subscriber) thanks for uploading this on RU-vid guys!!

Simone's looks of horror during the first episode were gd hilarious

for me, the time adjustment in White Christmas is what gives me nightmares still

I remember back when this first came out, when it was just a new Charlie Brooker show on Channel 4, before it became a big worldwide Netflix thing

Charlie Brooker: "Here's the dream tech you thought you wanted...oops, it's nightmare tech!".

Best part about this series is that Charlie drops hella breadcrumbs that proves [even tho he insisted at first that each episode is an anthology] that this universe IS related almost in every episode... for instance the news ticker thingy in the pilot mentions cutting edge things that are coming up, then in a future episode that very same cutting edge thing is featured... makes rewatching fun, because how would you know when it's the first time you've seen the show. All part of his marketing plan I'm sure.

Holy shiiiid.. I can't believe someone is finally reacting to this. This show is clearly one of my favorite anthology TV shows. The special guests. The characters. The twists. The tech... and especially it's consciousness and ability to satire on current topics with just a pinch of near-futuristic ingenuity. A pleasant afternoon click!

I love the final irony from "The entire history of you", where the man who can see it all rathers to be blind.

This isn't the easiest show to try and guess/predict your way through. You'll be exhausted before the season is half over. Best to watch and just let it happen.

Dear Simone, we all are thankful for your current existence!

Charlie Brooker is great fun. He was a video games reviewer for PC Zone in the 90s, which had a really irreverent sense of humour, and that vibe has been a part of everything he's done ever since. His first show, Dead Set, is about a zombie outbreak at the Big Brother house. It's worth checking out.

Commenting of the line "if it gives brings you joy, its not wasted" regarding buying virtual stuff for avatars. I think the episode is questioning why it gives you joy. Is it actually joy or a empty dopamine rush meant as a distraction. I'm not singling out game purchases the same could be said for most consumerism.

CineBinge drop 1st Black Mirror reaction and Me get big dopamine hit. Yay

Sometimes i feel like im living in an episode of Black Mirror

Yeah, when I first started watching the Entire History of You, I assumed it would be like a more depressing version of Minority Report. Turns out, it was a more depressing version of Eternal Sunshine.

my favorite episode is "Shut up and dance" i am waiting for you guys to reacting to that however long i have to wait 🤣

Black Mirror is a double entendre. The first meaning -- you're right Simone -- refers to the screens (phones and computers but originally TVs) before they are turned on in which we see ourselves. On a deeper, psychological level It also refers to that reflection of who we are but the darker aspect of our natures. Given that mirrors can also be scrying devices it has a note of the oraclular to it, as well.

"I immediately dislike everyone in this room except for him" Oh, it'll be everyone inside this room soon enough

I love the actor who plays Liam, if you want to see him in another thing watch Dead Man's Shoes - it's a British crime film with Paddy Considine!

Brooker is very into calling out spectatorship as collusion and accessory to crime, and if you think about it, we are not that different from the audience in National Anthem. Some of us watched in glee to see if the PM would really go through with it, and others of us were sickened from the start but still watched to see if it would happen -- and are we ever sorry for it now! 😂

OMG!!! I love that you guys decided to post on RU-vid, especially as a binge! This is so exciting omg

The Entire History of You is one, if not the best episode of the series

Entire History of You is my favorite episode. Seeing a man's slow descent into madness and a woman's lies slowly unraveling. It had me at the edge of my seat the whole time

oh wow can't wait to relive David Cameron rumours 😭💀

Toby Kebbell, the star of Entire History of You, is a tremendous VO actor almost on the level of Andy Serkis.

Im super excited to see you get into Black Mirror! It's one of my favorite shows ever. It's cool how the fans have so many different favorite episodes. I hope you'll enjoy all of it! I think it right be right up George's alley.

There's a really cool detail I never noticed before. In the first episode, when the PM is woken up, there are cigarette burns on his night robe, on the lapel and shoulder. Tiny thing, but really cool.

Welcome to Charlie Booker s mind, the man is the best commentator of this modern distopia we live in

I’m so excited to watch this with you guys. I hope you continue through the entire series 🙂

What a treat to see you guys react to this. I'd always just assumed you'd already seen it.

oo yay! it's my birthday today so this is extra fun :) excited to watch the whole show with you!

"It's biggest weakness is people's weakness" - remember this.

It's called Black Mirror because it's meant to be a dark reflection of our own reality

You wait till you get to "White Christmas", brilliantly messed up.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SHOW?" -Simone @ 3:03

Toby Kebbell the lead in the last one was brilliant in _Dead Man's Shoes_ next to Paddy Considine. It's a huge film over here and should come up in your list at some point.

sooo excited for these reactions omg. i used to be obsessed with black mirror

*The Entire History of You* is, to this day, one of my absolute favorite episodes of TV in general. The idea that our technology advances so quickly and becomes so prolific that our human culture (the nature of our traditions, our psychology, our inherent tendencies and how we interact with each other and engage with ourselves in private) simply cannot adapt in time in a healthy way. The idea that as an audience we get caught up in the "oh my gosh, did he kill him?" because we're _an audience,_ that we forget that the black mirror is a reflection of ourselves and our relationship with our technology. When our screen is off, we'd see our reflection. When the screen is on, we're engaged and indulging in the content, able to avoid reflecting. In this episode, we are witness to inescapable reflection with such scrutiny that the conflict of simple technology with our chemistry clashes in ways we weren't designed to navigate -- that we haven't taught ourselves how to navigate. We're _supposed_ to be able to let time soften the edges. We contemplate, and we reason, and we rationalize, and we grow, and our perspective changes, and we can _try_ to heal from wounds of our past. We can't grow, otherwise, as individuals or within a community. The Entire History of You wields our nature against our inclinations, and these simple conveniences of technology could unravel us. It's one of the first pieces of sci-fi that really helped me comprehend the idea that there might be some things that we simply cannot navigate without the cost simply being too great... And we wouldn't, maybe even _couldn't_ recognize that pitfall until we're already trapped in the hole.

A lovely surprise not having to wait until monday night for my dose of cinebinge. Great stuff guys

One thing I love about Black mirror is that so many of the episodes make you step back and actually think.

Glad that you're reacting to these - they are so original and unique.

"What is wrong with people!?" That sums up the Black Mirror series.

Can't wait for y'all to watch all the seasons!!

I’m incredibly ecstatic to see you guys reacting to this show!!

I love the episode with the social media thing everyone uses. Can't wait to see you watch that one. And the episode "hang the dj." That one is really sweet.

The mere fact you're discussing the moral, ethical and social issues means the show did exactly what it was made to do.

If you like this, you will love Love Death & Robots. It’s also an anthology series about bleak futures, but the episodes are short (most are less than 20 minutes) and most are quite funny.

I am soooooo happy you are watching Black Mirror!!! Can't wait to go on this journey with you!

Shows on British commercial TV have title cards at the start and end of commercial breaks. Hence the End of Part One and Part Two interludes.

The social commentary of the first one, the fact that he knew no one would be in even the busiest part of central London so he could release her 30 mins before the prime minister did it, is depressingly true about society 😂

You’re right that usually technology is not good or bad until people’s personal choices intervene but when it was designed a decision was made about what to incentivize. The grain episode makes us think about how harmful memory access could be but we don’t have to stretch our imagination that hard because we already have an early version of that in the conversations we keep in our messaging apps and we already see it being used in negative ways

So excited that you're watching these!

This is amazing you guys are doing these from season 1!!! This shit blew my mind, so well done, so interesting

I’m so excited to watch you two react to this! I grew up on 80’s and 90’s horror anthologies, and nothing has ever quite unsettled me the way this show does. Season 3, episode 1 gives me waking nightmares, because I see it coming true daily.

I love the way this show encourages important discussions about our present and future.

Really taking 'I can't forget about them/I can't get them out of my head' to the next level there!

Back mirror refers to a mirror held to where humanity is heading particularly regarding tech and it's black, also like a screen that's not turned on and just reflects you.

I remember when this first came out, the first two series will always be my favourite. Its so jarring.

The 'End of Part one' and 'Part Two' screens are the buffer screens each side of the commercial breaks in the original broadcast of the show on Channel 4 in the UK. This was obviously before Netflix took over production.

Toby Kebbell (the main character from The Entire History of you) also plays Koba in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

Don't worry. Its just a TV show. Nothing like Black Mirror could ever REALLY happen. Hehe (nervous laughter)

David Cameron is that you???

Just because you are paranoid does not mean you are wrong.

that second episode DESTROYS ME EVERYTIME

The thing I love about black mirror is how it works in the grey areas. And how the black mirror....shows us what we are or could be.

By accident I watched season 3 episode 1 (titled "Nosedive") of Black Mirror first, and absolutely loved it, so that got me into the series. If I had seen season 1 episode 1 (The National Anthem) first I don't know if I would have wanted to watch more. Just brutal, and unfortunately not separated from reality enough to make it less disturbing. While also brutal in its way, Nosedive remains as my favorite Black Mirror episode.

yes please keep uploading these to youtube!

The first 2 series and the Christmas special were shown on Channel 4 here in the UK which has adverts, that's why you see "End of Part 1" and so on. Another fun fact, Jordan Peele wanted Daniel Kaluuya to be in Get Out because of his performance in this.

I wish I could re-watch the first ever episode of this show for the first time again. Something changed with what TV could be when this show got commissioned.

You've narrowed in on one of the subtler themes of the show - In the majority of episodes it isn't technology that is the main driver of the conflict, it's people and the problems that we've been struggling with since time immemorial. Technology in the show is generally only a facilitator or an amplifier of those problems.

I personally think that was a brilliant choice for the first episode of the series. We all watched just like everybody in the episode glued to their TV and we came back for more of the show even after _that_ .

The first episode TRAUMATIZED ME, I felt sick for a few days when I thought about it (and I tried very hard not to think about it lmao).

The reason there are breaks in the programmes is because there were advertisement breaks at these points 👍🏼 🇬🇧❤️🇨🇦

I dislike the recent discourse online that pre-netflix Black Mirror is 'bad' or technophobic. Pre-Netflix bleak Black Mirror is the best, and its least regarded episode, The Waldo Moment, is the most prophetic. Also, the White Christmas special is peak bleak and I've never been able to rewatch it.

The show gets a lot less depressing when it stops being a British show which I think was mistake, but every season has at least a couple of phenomenal episodes

Awesome Really hope you continue I’m not completely caught up but have seen 4 or 5 seasons

Black Mirror in a nutshell: Here's some interesting new tech. See people use it to f everything up.

I love how people who react late to Black Mirror are like "Oh look, it's the guy from Get Out!" , when back when Get Out came out, all of us were like "Oh look, it's the guy from Black Mirror!" 😅🤭🤦‍♂️

“White Bear” on season 2 is phenomenal. Probably my favourite episode of the show.

An underrated gem from Charlie Brooker was A Touch of Cloth. It's a spoof he wrote about British cop shows but you don't need to have seen any to find it funny

This show is amazing. Every episode. Sooooo well cast, written, produced.

one of my favorite shows of all time

Yeah, this show took a massive swing right out of the gate with that first episode. Incredibly ballsy to lead off with The National Anthem as your series premiere.

Fun idea for the Bandersnatch Black Mirror is you host a poll and have pateron vote for one of you to be in control of the choices made during the movie.

Black Mirror representing a screen with no signal is new to me and it's intriguing, thanks Simone.

Hope George is recovering well from his surgery 😊

Black Mirror is such a GREAT show. And this first episode realy sets the tone for it. Also might be a small dig at Cameron and the story about him at the Piers Gaveston Society at Oxford, but also about how as Geroge talks about how people love to see people fall down and how we all watch social media

Jessica Brown Findlay did Hamlet a few years ago, the girl in the second episode. Her interpretation of Ophelia is my absolute favorite I have ever seen and I've seen a lot. Not an obsessive amount but enough to have thoughts on Shakespeare interpretations :). It always seemed very hard to me to make one of Shakespeare's female roles stand out but she nailed it. Up there for me with Emma Thompson in Much Ado About Nothing. If you can find it. I implore you. If you have any interest in Shakespeare at all, or even if you don't. Find it and watch it. Her and Andrew Scott in the "break up" scene, their acting got so stuck in my head I think I watched that scene daily for almost 3 months. The nuances from them both was just epic.

I've been waiting for this for so long.

The Entire History of You is one of my all-time favorites from Black Mirror. So damn haunting

Black Mirror will always be my all time favorite show. The early seasons are some of the best you will ever watch. I just remember when I first discovered it back in 2014 I was so mind blown and intrigued I couldn’t stop watching it. I never took it as hard as they did because I like grim shows. I don’t remember it having parts though? Where did that come from?