‘Black Mirror‘ is known for its stories on dark, gruesome and disturbing themes. Created by Charlie Brooker, the series premiered in 2011. The show has been credited for repopularizing the anthology format. We must warn you that this article has got some major spoilers if you haven’t watched the series yet.
These 10 episodes are shocking, brutal, and disturbing and truly tell us what ‘Black Mirror‘ is all about. Although the series has got a lot many such episodes we have chosen 10 from them. The episodes are worth watching if you are into anthology series. These are some of the best ‘Black Mirror’ episodes and also the most gruesome ones.
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10. USS Callister – Season 4, Episode 1
The first episode of season 4 opened with a bang. It is based on the co-founder of Callister Inc., a gaming company. Robert Daly often finds himself being bullied by his colleagues when in reality he is the brains behind their superhit game Infinity.
However, Robert creates a version of the game where the crew of the starship USS Callister are clones of his real-life colleagues. After a new girl, Nanette Cole, is added to the game, Robert’s real cruelty comes out. He shows his power and control over the helpless characters as they devise a plan to escape.
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9. Hang the DJ – Season 4, Episode 4
This one episode does not have a sad or depressing ending per se. The episode focuses on Frank and Amy who use a dating app Coach. They date for a very short period of time as set by the app. However, they soon realize that they are perfect for each other and want to continue their relationship. However, Coach does not allow that. But when they meet again, Frank and Amy rebel against Coach and find themselves in a simulated reality.
8. White Christmas – Special
The revelation in this ‘Black Mirror‘ episode definitely blows your mind. Matt and Joe talk about their past lives in a cabin. Matt tells Joe about his online group that used to seduce women through “Z-Eyes”. They would record everything.
But Joe makes an even more gruesome confession. He confesses to killing his ex-wife Beth’s father. When he finds out that the child is not his, he murders Beth’s father and leaves the child to freeze to death.
Just then a big revelation is made by Matt that blows everyone’s minds. It is revealed that they are in a cookie and Joe confessed his crimes officially to Matt.
7. Arkangel – Season 4, Episode 2
This episode messed with everyone’s mind. The mother-daughter relationship in ‘Arkangel’ is as complicated and messed up as it can get.
When Marie loses her three-year-old daughter Sara for a brief while, she panics and takes her to the Arkangel system. This system allows Marie to track her daughter’s vision, hearing and health via a tablet. However, Marie hides the tablet in the attic for a long while and does not use it following the incident. But when Sara becomes a teenager, her mother starts using the tablet again. She finds out her daughter is having sex and using cocaine. So the next morning, she slips an emergency contraception pill into Sara’s smoothie.
However, when Sara discovers her mother is reusing the tablet all hell breaks loose. She beats her mother with the tablet and would have almost killed her. When Marie wakes up she finds that Sara has walked out of their lives.
6. Playtest – Season 3, Episode 2
Another disturbing episode of ‘Black Mirror‘, the ending leaves you shocked. Cooper travels the world and finds himself in trouble over identity theft. So he agrees to a paid offer to playtest an experimental game. He starts with an augmented reality version of Whac-A-Mole.
Later he tries out a horror game as well. But something goes wrong and Cooper loses his memories and awakens in Shou’s office. He realizes that everything that happened was simulated. When he returns home, his mother does not recognize him and he learns that he had died at the very beginning of the game.
5. Shut Up and Dance – Season 3, Episode 3
This episode is one of the darkest and most conflicting episodes of ‘Black Mirror‘. It leaves you feeling disgusted. When Kenny is recorded by a hacker masturbating via his webcam, he threatens to release it. However, Kenny must follow his instructions in order to prevent it. It turns out that the hacker is blackmailing a lot of people.
Kenny has to rob a bank at gunpoint and then fight someone to death in the woods. However, when Kenny tries to kill himself, he finds the gun empty. And as he steps out of the woods, he sees that the hacker has released the video of him masturbating to child pornography.
4. Black Museum – Season 4, Episode 6
This one is undoubtedly a very interesting episode. There are multiple stories in this one episode of ‘Black Mirror’. In this episode, Nish visits the famous Black Museum. Run by Rolo Haynes, he used to hire people for experimental medical technology.
But many of them go wrong. He transferred the consciousness of a comatose mother to her husband which was later transferred to a toy monkey. But the main exhibit at the museum is a holographic interactive electric chair. Clayton Leigh can be executed by visitors by the electric chair and they would receive a souvenir.
But later on, a shocking revelation is made that Nish is Clayton’s daughter and is there to kill Rolo. It is also revealed that she has her mother’s consciousness in her head.
3. Black Mirror: Bandersnatch – Interactive film
This interactive film is one of the best ‘Black Mirror‘ stories. Based on Stefan Butler, a young programmer, the story follows a ‘choose your own adventure’ video game Bandersnatch. Like the game, viewers can choose where the storyline goes.
It has multiple endings. In some, Stefan is seen attending therapy or taking hallucinogens with Colin. He can go back to the past with his mother on the train that crashed, discover his father and therapist are running an experiment on him, kill his father and many more. The ending depends on what the viewer chooses.
2. White Bear – Season 2, Episode 2
‘White Bear‘ is undoubtedly one of the most crooked episodes of ‘Black Mirror‘. When a woman wakes up without any memory, she finds herself being recorded by everyone on the streets. She is soon attacked by a masked man and flees into the woods.
However, she meets another woman there who claims that everyone has been affected by a strange signal and those who aren’t are sadistic hunters. As they pair up and decide to take down the signal transmitter, they are attacked by more hunters. However, when she tries to fire a shotgun confetti comes out.
It is revealed that the woman is Victoria Skillane, an accomplice to a child murderer. As punishment, she is part of a staged performance every day at the White Bear Justice Park. Her memory is wiped at the end of the day so that the punishment and entertainment can begin afresh.
1. The National Anthem – Season 1, Episode 1
The episode with which ‘Black Mirror‘ started is undoubtedly one of the most bizarre ones. British Prime Minister, Michael Callow finds himself in a tough position when a member of the Royal family, Princess Susannah is kidnaped.
The kidnapper demands that Callow must have sex with a pig on a live broadcast. After all, he tries to bring back the princess fails, Callow gives in. However, unknown to Callow and the public the kidnapper released the Princess 30 minutes before the act and hanged himself.
After the deed is done and a year has passed, Callow is still the prime minister and maintains a good position in public. But his personal life with his wife is damaged to an unrepairable extent.
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