Every Season 1 Black Mirror Episode Ranked Worst To Best

3. The Entire History Of You

The Entire History of You has a fantastic yet simple concept at its heart: we all have a grain implanted in us which allows us to replay and save all our memories. In classic Black Mirror style it is only a few minutes into the episode when it becomes clear how this innovative piece of technology will harm humanity and our protagonist.

An anomaly in Black Mirror, this is the only episode of the series where creator Charlie Brooker did not have any story credit. Jesse Armstrong, of Peep Show and recent smash hit Succession fame, who penned the episode chose to focus on the impact of the grain within the lives of husband and wife Liam and Ffion rather than the worldwide impact of the new technology, something which the previous episodes explored.

This may be to the detriment of the script as their troubled relationship feels less interesting than questions of how the device has altered society. Brooker admitted there was an early idea "about people going to cinemas to have clandestine conversations or affairs, because the recording technology is automatically disabled on copyright grounds." However, this sadly had to be scrapped due to budget and not being able to narrow down the story's focus.

Perhaps the main problem with the story is that our protagonist Liam is an unlikable character from his first scene, obsessively replaying a job interview and forcing his wife to weigh in on it. After he starts drinking he is only more insufferable, whether it be threatening his wife's ex boyfriend with a broken bottle or verbally interrogating his wife about him. The plot is interesting but of all the situations Black Mirror could have examined this dangerous technology in, it feels rather stale.