So deliciously, hilariously meta, especially as it piles on the layers towards the end. I imagine Salma Hayek having a grand old time delivering some of these lines lol "I am a dyslexic, talented actress with questionable English! ...Doesn't my asshole have any rights?!"
If the terms of an APP are illegal, even if you click "Agree," it is still invalid.
I loved this one, it's meta, it's hilarious and it has an unexpected Michael Cera appearance.
I did assume that the Joan we watched was also a show but I still found the ending interesting and fun.
Not bad but I expected more. Still glad to see a new season though.
Note to myself, read before sign!!!
At first, thinking of how this show once consisted of (and was catapulted by) fairly unknown actors, I was a little perturbed by the abundance of celebrity appearances. Then the twist happened… and that was actually all really clever.
A pretty funny episode overall, not quite up there as one of Black Mirror's best, but definitely a step above anything we got in season 5. A good start to the season.
very twisty and meta but sadly reminded me way too much of DONT LOOK UP, where it just overexaggerates its points to make it seem like society wouldnt care about such a big thing (people went batshit against Netflix because of an unknown french film about kids in a dance crew, theres just no way in hell that everyone would ignore something like the show Joan is Awful). I do appreciate Charlie Brooker lowkey Trojan Horse-ing Netflix with this though
Awful, Netflix / American influence has ruined once a great show. No more suspense and intrigue, just half baked ideas and crude bottom of the barrel shock scenes
OK! Now i really wanna see George Clooney as Thomas the Tank Engine xD
First episode looks like crap.
Loved the extra layer reveal at the end.
Ridiculous to the point of unbelievable, and not very funny to boot. Salma Hayek's acting was very poor. 4/10
A bit too on the nose in their attempts to poke the issue on darkly designed terms of service and deepfake, especially in light of the Hollywood actor and screenwriter protest (perhaps even inspired by it). The episode leans heavily toward being a meta humor, but it doesn't really work well. Annie Murphy does her best, and I believe Salma Hayek too, but they were given a rather one-dimensional, uninspiring script. As the episode ended I realized Charlie Brooker is the writer. That kinda explains the weak episode.
so, now black mirror is a "feeling good" show ?? what a load of crap !!!
Episodes like this is the reason Black Mirror stands out in this genre. They write a story that might seem like dystopian science fiction about a future far far away to the average technology consumer. However, if you are working in the technology industry, you will be utterly terrified to realise that this is neither fiction nor from a future that far away.
As of June 2023, the AI generated deep-fake TV show portrayed in this episode (using data sourced from smart homes and social media) is 100% technically feasible. AFAIK there's no law preventing us from producing one. At least not one that can't be bypassed by retaining a talented lawyer. :wink:
There's no real punch, no real hurt. The idea here is so superficial, easy, shallow and obvious.
Coward writers, coward show makers.
Please return BBC Black Mirror!! American Black Mirror is so weak !!!!
timely and apt fuck you to netflix but doesn’t push far enough or use its concept as well as it could, also really poor dialogue in this kinda cringe
The main trope of the show is quite popular; it's been used many times before in sci-fi works. Imho though, the flow/execution was better in a short story I read years ago "I don't know, Timmy, being God is a big responsibility ": https://qntm.org/responsibility
Joan is Awful had some good moments. Unfortunately, having read the short story first, the climax had practically zero impact because in the show it's a watered down, low-stakes version of the original.
The best episode out of the 5 this season. Funny and relatable social commentary. I enjoyed how the writers chose to explain it all in the "quam-puta" room . Really enjoyed this episode. The rest were barely even worth sitting through.
Cheers!
Better than multiverse of madness. 8/10
This was a fantastic episode. The mixture of fear of technology. Annie Murphy and Salma Hayek are amazing.
one of the weakest episodes of the series
ohmygod no! How did that happen? I just watched an episode of my own life played by Kayla Lorette!!?
It's amazing how they foreshadowed the episode to be awful. It started well and turned to well.. S--t.
I’m sorry I shat in a church. Good episode as in being close to reality with AI, but very American comedic as opposed to the original British dark episodes. Please return it to the BBC.
I have a new found respect for Salma Hayek, great idea for a episode.
I enjoyed this more than I expected. Very very interesting concept with fast growth of AI technologies and very on the nose for those T&C we never read...
Awesome
Delightfully crazy and nice to see Netflix taking itself for a ride.
The metaverse realised. But who really has time to read all the T&Cs.
How technology can be used to exploit and exacerbate our anxiety and self-loathing.
The concept was really good...
Incredible use for a quantum pc...
Every story beat reeked of Hollywood privilege, like when actors decided to sing "Imagine" during the COVID-19 lockdown.
Apparently, Joan needed to give up her career in tech and become a barista in order to feel like the "main character to her own life story"...
That's what Hollywood thinks is relatable to regular people? :laughing:
Also, I find it troubling that Charlie Brooker thinks that because people don't fear God anymore, they behave awfully, so they need technology to expose their immorality to everyone, in order to be shamed and kept in line...
“Let’s kill this quam-puta” has easily been the best quote this week.
I enjoyed this for the most part, there were a couple of issues with the logic that had to be McGuffin'd to get through.
The characters belief that their lawyers claims of them having no avenue to sue was absurd. Salma would have people to read her contracts and they would be paid well to do it... but the characters believed it which allowed the story to progress. The logic of the conversation with Michael Cera seemed flawed because I couldn't understand how level one Joan would be having such a conversation given that she was real so it made no sense. The idea of making shows tailored to individuals was funny but really stretched the plausibility.
It was really only because the tone of the show was more humorous that some of these things can be forgiven, if it had taken itself too seriously then it would have fallen flat (as it did for some anyway, judging by the comments)
It’s been soooooooooo long since we’ve been blessed with a good black mirror episode
Yeah. No, that’s a great question, Fatima. I’m, we did try more affirmative content in the test cell, but we found that, I’m, our subjects just didn’t buy it. It didn’t chime with their neurotic view of themselves. What we found instead was when we focused on their more weak or selfish or craven moments, it confirmed their innermost fears and put them in a state of mesmerized horror. Which really drives engagement.
Perché proprio quella donna? Cosa avrebbe di speciale?
Assolutamente niente! Stavamo cercando una persona del tutto ordinaria, una signora nessuno, soltanto.. per testare il sistema. Il punto è che Joan è terribile è soltanto l’inizio. Il nostro obiettivo è lanciare contenuti unici e fatti su misura su ciascun individuo del nostro database, 800 milioni di persone creare in un lampo dal nostro sistema. Contenuti in cui ci riconosceremo.
Ah.. perché “terribile”? Perché è tutto così negativo?
Questa è un’ottima domanda, Fatima. Abbiamo proposto contenuti più positivi nelle celle di prova, ma abbiamo notato che non facevano presa sui nostri soggetti. Non combaciavano con la visione nevrotica che avevano di sè. Invece abbiamo notato che quando ci siamo concentrati sui loro momenti di debolezza, di egoismo o vigliaccheria, le loro paure più intime venivano confermate e piombavano in uno stato di terrore ipnotico. Che fa impennare il coinvolgimento.
Therapist: So, maybe now, do you feel..
Joan: Yeah, uh, like the main character in my own life?
Therapist: Mh-mm
Joan: yeah, I…. I think I do.
Therapist: And you don’t fell too confined?
Joan: Oh, the house arrest? You know, there’s good days and bad days. I guess that’s so be expected.
Terapista: Quindi magari ora ti senti…
Joan: Se mi sento la protagonista della vita? Sì, io credo.. di sì.
Terapista: E non ti senti troppo limitata?
Joan: Ah, per i domiciliari? Ci sono giorni buoni e meno buoni. Ma immagino che sia normale.
Joan: «You know you are always talking about, like, the life story? I was thinking about it, and I.. Ifeel like I’m not the main character in my own life story.
Therapist: «And would you like that to change?»
Joan: «Hmm»
Joan: «Lei mi parla sempre della storia di vita. Ci stavo pensando, e io sento di non essere la protagonista della mia storia di vita personale».
Terapista: «E vorresti cambiare questa cosa?»
Joan: «Hmm»
Interesting but also quite flawed IMO.
I liked the concepts but found it to be too unbelievable.
I immediately started wondering how they surveilled Joan to get the data/input to produce the show and it took me a while but I finally also got to the conclusion that it's her phone before it got revealed. That's something that is already a big thread/problem in our current time. Phones and other digital, connected devices could theoretically surveille us really well. Our private conversations, what we browse/search for, our location history (Google does this btw, I recommend looking into that and potentially disabling it (I disabled my locating/search/YT/etc. history as I fear data leaks/abuse/sharing/etc. too much)), even things like if we're speeding when driving.
In Joan's case, I would've simply got rid of my phone (and potentially other such devices) or even better: Tried to stop the data sharing to Streamberry (there should at least still be other phones around where they cannot get the data and stopping the data flow temporarily should already be enough for them/viewers to loose interest).
The whole terms of service thing is also really relevant but I don't think I need to go into details here. Luckily most ToS are fine-ish but IMO we really need to enforce much, much shorter ToS that are really comprehensible.
The concept about digital clones of actors is currently becoming relevant so it's also interesting that this episode touches on it. I'd probably only sign such a contract if I have full power over the result, i.e., I get to review everything before publication and must accept it, request changes, or may reject it entirely. One must be aware of the fact the the digital clone could get leaked / fall into the wrong hands but at least one can sue then and (somewhat) limit the distribution.
My issues with this episode:
Misc:
The only episode of the entire season that feels like a Black Mirror’s.
Papercuts in your anus…
Epic…
Great episode! Really makes you think about all the terms and conditions sheets you signed without reading. Plus a very relevant story given the strikes in the writing and acting industry right now.
As for the new season, after the first episode, only disgusted.
The series is full of female chauvinism and cheap somber tracings based on Inception, Matrix, Brazil, or The Thirteenth Floor. In a word, plagiarized feminist crap ((
The "Joan is Awful" Streamberry show had me laughing my ass off.
Great episode and very funny until the happy ending during the credits... that took the show down for me.
Christopher Nolan says hello! BM never disappoints.
The second-level twist at the end of this one is terrific, but Hayek chewing on every piece of scenery is a problem.
a bit cheesy & cliche at times but i would be lying if i said is wasn’t invested! decent episode
I guess this is what it must feel like for famous people watching biopics about them; you will nitpick the accuracy. The funny thing is, they even cast people who look nothing like the people they are playing.
I bet this episode will be more relevant soon, with all the AI and such.
Love how Netflix (kind of) puts itself in the firing line this time!
Excellent start to hopefully another great black mirror season.
Classic Black Mirror with that ending twist, bringing us back into the fold. This episode feels very grounded to our reality and cautions against how advanced our technology has become. The commentary on terms and conditions was clever and also hit close to home. The big twist was actually pretty great and I didn't see it coming, so the final like 10 minutes was maybe my favorite part. What holds this back from being great was actually the comedy they threw in and the lighthearted tone, just less of my taste for Black Mirror. It still did have those unsettling moments that I expect from the show, though. I also weirdly thought Salma Hayek was not good in this, which is probably a hot take but I just didn't love her performance. Maybe it was a choice she made given what is revealed about who she is but I still just didn't think she was very good, or maybe it was the dialogue she had to work with. Annie Murphy was much better, though, even if she also had some not great dialogue written for her. Still, this one brought me right back into the show and satisfied enough.
7.4/10 -- Good
Now i’ll read all the terms and conditions
"This is not my hair."
So meta! So Black Mirror! This is basically a view of what the future will look like when everything on TV is A.I. Not at all a new concept but very relevant for the times. Makes me feel awful for never reading the terms and conditions for anything. Very comedic and easy to watch, I only wish it was more bleak and true to the horrifying reality. That one scene with the CEO of Streamberry explaining the reason behind it was quite philosophical and bleak though, it's so true, we find the negative approach stuff more entertaining. I wanted them to push it a bit further with the commentary though to really have a memorable impact but it never reached that level. The twist was unexpected for me but I can see a lot of people predicting it. Salma Hayek was a treat, she's so funny.
Everyone go read terms and conditions now!
Not the best of Black Mirror, but at least not something you probably expected by now from it. And technology-wise, it doesn't feel that far of (except the part from the endin).
Also, time to actually read the Netflix ToS?
Wow, this is so meta already. A great start to the series, I loved it
Horrifying, yet crazy meta and funny.
If you loved Annie in this, I recommend you to watch Kevin can f:asterisk_symbol::asterisk_symbol:k himself
Exactly the kind of episode I want to see when I watch Black Mirror. Goes by the ranks of USS Callister or Ashley Too.
Hilarious and terrifying. An absurdist, satirical humour win. Welcome back Black Mirror.
The best Black Mirror since the ill-judged move to Netflix, but that's not saying much really. It may not be original, but the execution was excellent, and didn't take itself at all seriously, unlike Brooker's worst moments in recent, utterly forgettable, seasons.
Dark, fun, horrific, serious, liberating - absolutely brilliant episode, I am rarely amazed by anything, including films and TV shows, but this has left me grinning of how simple and complex and slick it is, all at the same time.
I mean they hired Salma Hayek to play as her own virtual version in a virtual world that's depicting a virtual TV show universe.
Moral of the story: don't be a tech nerd whose CGI image would be Michael Cera and watch where your data goes. It's not like we mere mortals can do much with AI and deepfakes (well, there's maybe an axe?)
It is the final moments of this episode that are pure genius. Hence the rating.
quick note :
for the "quanputer" to produce/select a story in which it has to create the substory of it doing that again, yep, looks like a big indeed! (either that or it had a "self-destruct"-wish)
Good execution, but still adds not a lot to the topic of matrix and simulation. The critics to deepfake and the industry elevate it a little.
nice one, interesting topic indeed
Shitt's Creek is awesome, indeed.
Shout by LucanBlockedParent2023-06-15T16:01:43Z
"This is not my decision,
This is Joan's."
The idea is actually really good in my opinion and I think is Charlie Brooker's way of saying technology is quickly and dangerously replacing God, even if he is a self-proclaimed atheist.