Black Mirror: Ranking Every Episode From Worst To Best

17. Crocodile

Season 4 is when it started to feel like Charlie Brooker was, to an extent, running out of fresh ideas. There were still some excellent episodes, but a few too many were simply mired in the show's usual fatalism without much new to say.

Crocodile is one such offender. It tells the story of Mia, who woman who helps her friend cover up a hit-and-run. Years later, he wants to confess, leading her to murder him as well, and things spinning further out of control. A new device allows the person investigating these crimes to see the memories of the person they're interviewing, uncovering the past traumas.

The episode, which is set in Iceland, is one of the best looking of the entire series, but it never does much with its setting, characters, or Recaller technology beyond complete bleakness for bleakness' sake, relying upon that and violence to shock viewers rather than telling the complex stories we've come to expect.

[JH]