Black Mirror: Ranking Every Episode From Worst To Best
16. Metalhead
Even though he's only directed two episodes, David Slade feels like a major part of modern Black Mirror's style. Bringing over the same grounded bleakness that made his films (including the best Twilight movie - yes, really) so hauntingly memorable, Slade's abilities have only added to the texture of Brooker's show. Unfortunately, his first episode, Metalhead, didn't quite have the script to really allow him to let loose.
The story itself was still good, of course. As streamlined as BM gets, the ep was essentially one long chase sequence, following a group of survivors attempting to escape virtually invincible human-hunting robots, all set against the backdrop of a dystopian British countryside (so, just the regular British countryside, then). From the opening minutes, Slade ensures that the premise is as tense and suspenseful as it should be, and the lethality of these killer robo-dogs is enforced at every step. Violence is quick and nasty, to the point where death actually seems preferable to survival.
It's the rare Black Mirror episode that doesn't have any subversive twist hiding up its sleeve (bar an ambiguous final reveal, anyway). While that might make it seem a little basic compared to some of the show's best outings, in the case of Metalhead, simplicity isn't necessarily a bad thing.
[JB]