10 Bad Episodes Of Otherwise Perfect TV Shows

As an anthology show that tells its stories using a range of different styles, Charlie Brooker’s warped Black Mirror is remarkably consistent. The vast majority of episodes leave you both simultaneously entertained; and slightly ill at ease about where our society’s mass addiction to technology is leading us. However, if there’s one offering that doesn’t quite hit the satirical mark, it’s The Waldo Moment in the show’s second series.

With a decidedly lighter tone than the rest of the series, The Waldo Moment asks what would happen if a failed comedian ran for political office under the guise of his alter-ego - a crude cartoon bear whom he provides the voice and movements for. Airing in the innocent day of 2013, viewing it retrospectively one has to ask - is an animated blue bear really a more ridiculous electoral prospect than a certain bronzed, scampy-handed misogynist?

The fundamental issue with the episode is that all Waldo himself does is swear and make crude jokes and doesn't seem to campaign for any particular political issue. He would struggle to entertain teenage boys for 15 minutes, let alone capture the hearts of the British electorate. When the episode ends with a 1984-style dystopia with Waldo's face on every screen, it's just too radical a shift to really get behind.

While worth watching in light of recent political events, it's a heavy-handed piece of television that feels below someone as scathingly observant as Brooker.