Crocodile

“Sophie, I agree on “Arkangel,” which I initially admired for its indie-movie approach, though it couldn’t follow through on the advantages of that form. “

“For the episode to work, I needed to be invested in the mother-daughter relationship, which Jodie Foster’s direction tried to enhance—the story was very light on dramatics and pretty real.”

“But I don’t know if I’ve ever been as frustrated by an episode of Black Mirror as I was by “Crocodile,” a miserable hour that left me both emotionally and intellectually unfulfilled.”

“I’d be willing to venture that my appetite for pure nihilism has diminished in recent years—partly because so many shows have explored that territory in the prestige-TV era, and partly because the real world has felt so bleak of late. “

“But I don’t think that was my only problem with “Crocodile.” It is, undoubtedly, relentlessly depressing. And yet it also didn’t seem to have much of a deeper point.”

“After dominating the first part of “Crocodile,” Mia disappears from the action until the final act, but her one-dimensional heartlessness looms over the whole thing.”

“The other storyline is far more engaging, almost by default, and much more focused on process in a way that many tech-centered Black Mirror episodes are.”

“I’ve always liked Brooker’s skill with worldbuilding, and explaining how each episode’s fanciful technology works, be it the transactional universe of “Fifteen Million Merits” or the augmented reality of “Men Against Fire.” “

“In “Crocodile,” the new tech is a sort of memory reader, a receiver that someone can pop onto your forehead to visualize what’s going on in your noggin on a dinky little television. It isn’t exact, and it involves triggering your recollections via specific sensations (like sounds or smells), but it’s a way to reconstruct a crime scene by consulting the viewpoints of every possible witness.”

“I did enjoy watching Shazia put things together, methodically but with empathy and care; her character was a fundamentally decent person despite having truly powerful technology at her disposal, which is a rarity in the world of Black Mirror.”

“Perhaps Brooker is trying to suggest that intense surveillance creates crime as much as it stops it.”

“That’s an argument I’d be happy to hear more about, but it would need to be centered on a character whose pathology makes more sense than Mia’s.”

“The lead of “Crocodile” is too nakedly evil, too lacking in redeeming features, to make that idea remotely compelling. “

“Were you as disappointed and grumpy as I apparently am, Sophie?”