Black Mirroris a sci-fi series known for tackling how technology affects and impacts human life. In that perspective, it can also be considered a horror series, sinceit often shows how the use of tech advancements can go wrong. Though we’re all more than familiar with the impact technology has had on us thus far,Black Mirroris exactly that, a mirror reflecting human behavior we tend to ignore.
Because the show often verges on horror,some episodes in it arepretty intense, even becoming scary. The ten most intenseBlack Mirrorepisodes are tense for both their sci-fi intensity and emotional impact, and overall, they provide chills with how close to reality they come sometimes. These ten have been pretty intense so far.
Black Mirror
10"Men Against Fire" (2016)
Season 3, Episode 5
One of the most intenseBlack Mirrorepisodes is “Men Against Fire,” which aired as part of season 3.The sci-fi intensity and the emotional impact scale are at about three and a half out of five,and the episode raises plenty of questions about the widespread dehumanization in war. The plot is about soldiers with implants that give them AR-enhanced vision, called MASS, to fight against enemies. Since MASS shows them fighting mutants, the action and the intensity of the episode are enhanced in every scene with a confrontation.
However, the reality of what’s really behind AR-enhanced vision is much darker and grittier. The protagonist of the episode, Stripe (Malachi Kirby), starts experiencing a malfunction in his MASS implant,realizing that his squadmates are shooting at healthy, regular peoplewho are being ethnically cleansed and presented as mutants to soldiers. Though viewers found this plot twist predictable and the entire episode full of clichés, it’s undeniably intense as the fighting often crosses a line.
9"Smithereens" (2019)
Season 5, Episode 2
In season 5, episode 2, “Smithereens,” there’s no sci-fi,but the thrills and intensity come from the real world,having a deeper emotional impact. Everyone wishes they could confront the evil CEO of a tech or social media giant, which is what the protagonist does in this episode. “Smithereens” is grounded in reality but truly intense, a psychological and emotional roller coaster that has a realistic, though unsatisfying, ending. This is another episode people found predictable, but it’s still a strong contender for being one of the more intenseBlack Mirrorepisodes.
“Smithereens” follows cab driver Chris (Andrew Scott), who kidnaps an employee of the social media network Smithereen, Jaden (Damson Idris). Two police officers witness this and follow Chris, who wishes to speak with the Smithereen CEO, Billy (Topher Grace). The episode tells how social media were created to be addictive and distracting, all while the saga with Chris' hostage situation is being watched online.Chris' intentions go back and forth, from wanting to hurt Jaden to wanting to hurt himself. Brooker wrote the episode to remind viewers that technology impacts us without the desire to use sci-fi tropes.
8"Crocodile" (2017)
Season 4, Episode 3
“Crocodile” is one ofthe bleakest episodes ofBlack Mirror, and there are plenty of those. However, the plot of “Crocodile” is based on one woman’s descent into darkness—an emotionally numbing, morally bleak journey down a rabbit hole of terrible decisions. The episode emphasizes the shocking violence that the protagonist succumbs to out of necessity and panic, not calculated thoughts, and the overall emotional intensity is ramped to the max. It’s not totally sci-fi, but it is devastating and intense.
“Crocodile” shows Rob (Andrew Gower) and Mia (Andrea Riseborough) driving under the influence and hitting someone with their car. Rob and Mia conceal the body and move on with their lives;15 years later, Mia is a successful family woman, while Rob, although sober, still harbors guilt. Mia prevents Rob from contacting the victim’s family and spirals into decisions that she can never, ever recover from. The episode’s sci-fi elements hide in the technology investigators use to solve crimes, called the Recaller. The Recaller can rewind the memories of an individual and thus learn about the perpetrators of different crimes. Mia gets caught in the most unexpected way and after a rampage that will haunt her for good.
Season 4, Episode 5
One of the coolest episodes ofBlack Mirroris “Metalhead,” although it’s also a highly depressing and hopeless one.It was shot in black-and-white, with the intention of amping up the bleak and unforgiving natureof the world the protagonist lives in. This indeed makes “Metalhead” have a more intense emotional impact, though its sci-fi elements carry plenty of intensity on their own. The episode is set in a post-apocalyptic world, where people are hunted by robotic dogs.
“Metalhead” follows Bella (Maxine Peake) after she loses her group of survivors to killer robot dogs. One dog shoots a tracker into her leg, and Bella removes the tracker, though perhaps too late.After finding a compound to hide in, Bella’s still found by the robot dog, and she does her best to get rid of him. This episode doesn’t end happily, either; the idea behind it was to evoke some intense chase movies out there, fromDueltoThe Terminator. The episode is very minimalist but has a strong emotional core, and it’s one of the most excitingBlack Mirrorepisodes on the roster.
6"The National Anthem" (2011)
Season 1, Episode 1
Another episode without any sci-fi elements, “The National Anthem” is intense for other reasons. It’s what kickstarted the entireBlack Mirrorjourney we’re all on today and what made the show so popular anyway. WithRory Kinnearin the lead, there was no doubt that the episode would be anything less than great; he’s a superbly talented actor andhis performance alone makes “The National Anthem” as intense and shocking as it is. So, no sci-fi intensity, but high rates on the emotional intensity scale, for sure.
“The National Anthem” follows the British prime minister, Michael Callow (Kinnear), being woken up by the news that a member of the Royal Family, Princess Susannah (Lidya Wilson), was kidnapped. The condition for the Princess' return is for Callow to have sexual intercourse with a pig on live television. The entire episode is followed by Callow’s attemptsto get out of the act, to find the kidnapper before it, and to make the request seem more logical and acceptablein his own mind. The episode is a satirical look at how quickly information gets out of hand in the era of social media and what a powerful figure would do to keep their power, besides plenty of other themes, of course. “The National Anthem” is uncomfortable to watch and thus intense.It’s an amazing episode, no doubt about it.
5"Black Museum" (2017)
Season 4, Episode 6
“Black Museum” isa must-watch episode ofBlack Mirror, and let me tell you why. It’s a three-part horror anthology neatly wrapped into a very sensical episode about punishment, revenge, and exploitation. The protagonist, Nish (Letitia Wright), and the antagonist, Rolo (Douglas Hodge), have intense interactions, and we know both are hiding something behind their seemingly friendly exterior.The sci-fi intensity is amped up high in “Black Museum,“showing even tech artifacts from previousBlack Mirrorepisodes asa tie-in to the universein which the show exists.
“Black Museum” follows Nish, who stops at a gas station and stops by the roadside Black Museum, run by Rolo.Rolo keeps plenty of tech artifacts in the museum, explaining each to the visitors as they come in. There’s a hairnet tech that allows people to feel others' pain, a technology that allows people to transfer another person’s consciousness into the other’s brain, and a hologram tech that takes a picture every time it’s triggered. Nish has personal reasons for being in the Black Museum, and the end is as devastating as it feels just and correct.
4"Playtest” (2016)
Season 3, Episode 2
Whenever I think of the words “intense” and “Black Mirror,” I think of “Playtest,“one of the scariest episodesso far. It’s fair to claim that"Playtest” might even be the most straightforward attempt at jumpscare horrorin the entire franchise (which is no small feat). Big on the sci-fi intensity levels and pretty emotionally impactful, “Playtest” is terrifying considering a similar sort of tech is widespread and loved (VR, I mean). The psychological terror of the episode meets good-old tech horror;the twist is deeply messed up, and the episode is visually nightmarish.
“Playtest” follows Cooper (Wyatt Russell), an American, traveling across the world and finding himself in London with a woman, Katie (Hannah John-Kamen). After becoming a victim of theft,Cooper realizes he can pay for his return home by participating in a game test. The people conducting the test put an implant into Cooper’s head, and he finds himself in a haunted house. The implant begins showing Cooper his worst fears manifesting in front of him, which is a terrifying premise altogether. The ending of this episode is quite devastating, too.
3"White Bear” (2013)
Season 2, Episode 2
In the earlier seasons, we can see how the influence ofNetflixwasn’t impacting the look and feel ofBlack Mirror. It was gritty and felt a lot more grounded, though an increased production value is not a complaint at all. Still, episodes like “White Bear” show the difference between the older and the newerBlack Mirror,with the older episodes carrying more intensity as they went further. “White Bear” is, honestly, devastating; it’s sci-fi, but not as much, though it is emotionally difficult to process once you see the ending. The twist does a brilliant job of completely flipping the narrative,leaving viewers disturbed and unsurewho to cheer for.
“White Bear” opens with a woman (Lenora Crichlow) waking up in an unknown cabin in the woods. She sees a picture of herself, a man and a little girl on the table and leaves the cabin to ask for help. However,all of the passersby stop to film her on their phones rather than do anything to help, and her life spirals out of control completely. Of course, this episode is an allegory for the Internet and tabloids, especially in cases of sensationalism and coverage of tragic events; other themes include loss of empathy, purposely crafted witch hunts, and vigilantism.
2"Shut Up and Dance” (2016)
Season 3, Episode 3
The low-tech thriller “Shut Up and Dance” is arguably among the most shockingBlack Mirrorepisodes. It flips the viewers' perception on its head so well that it’s still considered a powerful and psychologically brutal tale, whilethe common thread is tech, malware, the Internet, and the effect of always being online. The protagonist is caught in a vulnerable moment, whose identity and the audience’s perception of him evolve as the episode moves forward, too. It’s a pretty dark and somber episode, reminiscent of the earliestBlack Mirror, like the aforementioned “The National Anthem” and “White Bear.”
“Shut Up and Dance” follows 19-year-old Kenny (Alex Lawther), whose laptop gets infected by malware, and he gets notified that he was filmed in an intimate act by hackers.The hackers threaten to leak the footage unless Kenny does what they want, and so he is forced to do a series of humiliating tasks that instill dread and panic in him. The episode’s intensity lingers even as the end credits roll, leaving us wondering who else has dark and twisted secrets around us.
1"White Christmas" (2014)
Season 2 Special Episode
The most intenseBlack Mirrorepisode doesn’t even belong to a season, though IMDb places it in season 2, since it was released the same year around Christmas. “White Christmas” isa sort of anthology of stories connected by a common thread, just like in “Black Museum;“in this case, the common thread is two men sharing the stories with each other, Matt (Jon Hamm) and Joe (Rafe Spall). The themes of this one include isolation and punishment, though the most important theme is the corrupt and morally bankrupt behavior some people engage in out of anger, blind ambition, and when given absolute power.
Matt and Joe talk about their involvement with various technologies and how it impacted their lives and the things they did to affect others' lives.The two men’s stories go from sympathetic to reprehensible, presenting an intense roller coaster of emotions. “White Christmas” is the magnum opus ofBlack Mirrorin a way; if you want to recommend the show to anyone, starting with the special is a good option, though it’s miserable, bleak, and ominous at best—just like the rest ofBlack Mirror. Still, this one is probably the most morally complex, emotionally devastating, and brilliantly constructed episode of the entire series.
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