be right back

I'm pretty sure Be Right Back, the first episode of the second season of Black Mirror, is the best thing I've watched in a long, long while. When it finished, I felt as if I'd been through an emotional rollercoaster. 

Black Mirror is a UK anthology series which takes a modern spin on the Twilight Zone, concept, though I don't think that comparison really does it full justice. It explores the near future--a future maybe two, five, ten years away, maybe a bit more. The unexpected/unintended consequences of technology (particularly what we call social media) is the prime driver of all the episodes. But unlike most sci-fi, Black Mirror explores these concepts in a grounded way, with real humans and real relationships. The show feels astoundingly real. Thus far only seven episodes have been produced, of which I've now seen four. All four of have been of high quality, but Be Right Back is on a level all its own. 

Be Right Back is an exploration of grief, and of moving on. I'm pretty sure it's the saddest hour I've watched since...I don't know when, honestly. The acting is excellent, and the couple of points where the script flirts with cliche it gets away with it, because everything feels integral to the story. Everything is real. Throughout the episode, I found myself wondering what I would do in the protagonist's place--the sign of a great story, something that happens rarely. And I found I had no answers, something even more rare. The story could have taken the easy way out and did not. My admiration knows no bounds.

I realize I'm not saying much about the plot here, but that is easy enough to find if you need it (just click on the link above.) The whole point of this post is to not give anything away but to simply say: You need to watch this. Great storytelling--both emotional and full of intelligent, intriguing ideas--is not dead on the small screen. Go watch this now and thank me later.

Note: According to Wikipedia, the third episode of Black Mirror, The Entire History of You, has been optioned by Robert Downey, Jr. to be made into a feature film by Warner Bros. Let's hope this gets derailed before the Hollywood studio hacks take a great story and turn it into a piece of trash. Unfortunately, it also sounds as though there will be an American version of the series made as well, which will most assuredly suck. The problem with actually making something good is the endless pool of suck that is big budget America television/movie making inevitably notices. A remorseless, soulless monster, it devours everything in its path and leaves only a trail of slime. Go watch the original while you can.