Black Mirror season 3 episode 1 review: 'A temporary puppeteer of your thoughts'
Joe Wright directs a heightened world in the brand new season of the dystopian series
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That's a quote from Nineteen Eighty-Four, the George Orwell novel set in a totalitarian dystopia ruled by symbolic figurehead Big Brother. It can also be applied to Black Mirror, the futuristic anthology series from the minds of Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones that's returning later this month.
Across its previous two seasons (only seven episodes have aired since it began in 2011, including a Christmas special in 2014), the series has fast become a forewarning of how the advancement of technology (or more specifically, how we use it) will be our downfall. Five minutes into episode 3 of the new run of six episodes - which will arrive on Netflix on 21 October - and it becomes clear how, in five short years, the world has unsettlingly moved closer to the ones it depicts.
The series' unprecedented transition from Channel 4 to the streaming service has placed it on the global map in a positive way. Episode three, "Nosedive," is directed by Joe Wright (Atonement), stars Bryce Dallas Howard (Jurassic World) and boasts a writing credit for Rashida Jones and Michael Schur, the co-creator of Emmy award-winning sitcom Parks and Recreation; it's Brooker's drafting in of such dynamic talent that'll keep Black Mirror 's originality intact.
The episode is set in a world where an app permitting you to rate everything out of five is so essential to everyday living that people judge you socially by your personal rating, whether low or high. Every act you commit is judged by all you encounter, whether it's co-workers you greet in a lift or the barista in your local coffee shop.
"Nosedive" is in no way emblematic of its title. In fact, despite bearing a striking similarity to a Community episode (see: MeowMeowBeenz), this outing is a unique treat - and one that's a joy to unpack on a visual level. The episode's setting is initially presented as serene, its suburbia captured blissfully by Wright's regular cinematographer Seamus McGarvey (Anna Karenina, Pan); this is a world where the streets are litter-free, houses are tidy and the lawn is forever trim.
The pastel colour palette only adds to this sense - so much so that when things start to, ahem, nosedive, the feeling of dread is heightened. The music from Max Richter - composer of HBO series The Leftovers - lends a hand, at times blending the diegetic sounds of the app with the non-diegetic score evoking our protagonist's struggle to determine reality and fiction.
"Nosedive" becomes a temporary puppeteer of your thoughts long after it's denouement. As the credits roll, this particular instalment may not leave you feeling as fraught as previous outings "The Entire History of You" or "White Bear," but one step outside your front door and its memory will be yanked to the fore. Whether it's through people Instagramming pictures of their food or pinning hopes on more than 30 likes on their next Facebook status, "Nosedive" is more prescient than you first suspect.
Just wait for your next Uber driver to request a five-star rating.
Black Mirror season 3 will be released on 21 October
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