Black Mirror. Copyright: Zeppotron
Black Mirror

Black Mirror

  • TV comedy drama
  • Channel 4 / Netflix

Dark sci-fi fantasy comedy dramas about our collective unease about the modern world. Created by Charlie Brooker.

  • JustWatch Streaming rank this week: 210

Press clippings Page 8

Black Mirror: 2.03 - The Waldo Moment

It seems like Black Mirror Series 2 had barely started, yet it's already over. Never shall we see its like again, at least until the inevitable third run.

Nick Bryan, The Digital Fix, 28th February 2013

In the last of his Black Mirror series, Charlie Brooker pulled off another unexpected turn, setting us up for a crass "all politicians are con artists" satire but leaving you thinking a little harder about the consequences of such blanket cynicism. The storyline featured a melancholy television comic, trapped in the career cul-de-sac of providing the voice for a scabrous animated bear, who conducts Ali G-style interviews with unsuspecting politicians. When his producer decides he should stand in a by-election, he's horrified to discover that the electorate find him more interesting than the issues - his feelings further complicated by the fact that he's fallen for the Labour candidate. Like last week's drama, it felt a little rough around the edges here and there. But I wish we had more roughness like it.

Tom Sutcliffe, The Independent, 26th February 2013

#BlackMirror: Your reviews of The Waldo Moment

There was general Twitter apathy for episode three, series two of Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror. Fans tweeted messages of disappointment that "The Waldo Moment" didn't live up to the first two episodes of the second series, and criticised the "clumsy and obvious" satire.

Daisy Wyatt, The Independent, 26th February 2013

Black Mirror: The Waldo Moment, Channel 4

Second run of Charlie Brooker's dystopian drama gets our vote.

Lisa-Marie Ferla, The Arts Desk, 26th February 2013

Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror (Channel 4) satirical dramas are fast gaining a cult status. Not all succeed, and some are unwatchable, notably the opener of his first series, where the prime minister had sex with a pig. But this follow-up series has, generally, shown more nuance than the first.

Last night's closing instalment introduced us to an interactive cartoon bear, Waldo, who, in the manner of Ali G, did interviews with real-life people. He tangled with an almost equally caricatured Tory party candidate (Tobias Menzies), whom Waldo proceeded to stand against in a by-election. As a mockery of the deeply compromised ideals of modern politics - people who simply hated politics could now vote for Waldo - the satire worked.

This was because Brooker didn't over egg it, at least not until the end, which descended into a hammy dystopian vision of Waldo becoming a means of universal mind control. But before that final five minutes, Brooker didn't let Waldo actually win the by-election, and he made the comedian controlling the bear utterly reviled by his own actions - "He's not real! He doesn't stand for anything!" He also gave the Tory one rather good line: "If that thing is the main opposition then the whole system looks absurd. Which it may well be - but it built these roads." The message that we may complain about our politicians but they're all we've got scored a bleak bulls-eye.

Serena Davies, The Telegraph, 26th February 2013

Black Mirror saw Charlie Brooker nail the zeitgeist

This was no simple swipe at the state of modern politics. 'I wasn't even articulate - or funny. Which is almost worse,' lamented lugubrious comedian Jamie, Waldo's voice and puppet-master.

Keith Watson, Metro, 26th February 2013

Black Mirror series 2 episode 3 review

With its message so prominently in place by the midpoint, The Waldo Moment leaves little else for us to discover; protagonist Jamie is powerless to stop the media juggernaut he's set in motion, and with her brief career in tatters, Gwendolyn eventually shuffles out of the narrative with nothing more to do.

Ryan Lambie, Den Of Geek, 26th February 2013

Black Mirror - 'The Waldo Moment'

As much as the episode wanted us to believe Waldo was a hugely popular figure, the story also didn't sell that very well.

Dan Owen, Dan's Media Digest, 26th February 2013

When failed comedian Jamie Salter (Daniel Rigby) channels his personal and professional frustrations through Waldo, the aforementioned bear he voices, and unleashes his contempt on an unsuspecting politician (Tobias Menzies), he unwittingly captures the prevailing mood of public disaffection. With a by-election approaching and his backers keen to secure a series for Waldo, the stars are aligned for a paradigm shift in electoral politics.

The most successful instalments of Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror have taken latent concerns about techonology and society, infused them real dread and then sent them spinning off in entirely unexpected directions. But The Waldo Project, which closes this second series, springs no such surprises: the execution of the concept is strangely simplistic and linear, while enough jokers get elected these days to make even a blue animated bear running for government barely worth a raised eyebrow.

Gabriel Tate, Time Out, 25th February 2013

Sarah Millican: Black Mirror stays with you

I knew that episode one of series two of Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror was going to be creepy because I watched the trailer and "ooh"-ed and clapped.

Sarah Millican, Radio Times, 25th February 2013

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