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Nightmare Fuel / Black Mirror Series One

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Nightmare Fuel
Series OneSeries TwoChristmas SpecialSeries ThreeSeries Four

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All spoilers will be unmarked ahead. You Have Been Warned!

  • The National Anthem:
    • The National Anthem contains the Prime Minister being forced into having sex with a pig, which may sound silly but it goes sour quickly. Even those watching in-universe are horribly disgusted and wind up feeling sorry for him.
    • While probably not as disturbing as the demand, there is what happens when they try to bypass it. Princess Susannah's finger is sent to the press. As it's revealed as an extreme bluff, the finger wasn't Susannah's. It was the kidnapper's.
    • People watching the stream are not horrified: they are delighted. They are supposed to feel powerless to stop what is essentially a terror act, with the future of their country taken hostage; instead, they revel in seeing this as a Black Comedy (until they actually see the act and grow disgusted). Which is basically the whole point of the kidnapping: show them this.
    • The reactions to the show are basically what an old saying describes: it's like looking at a train wreck, horrible to look at yet for some reason being unable to avert the gaze.
    • The Prime Minister is not very well received and loved by the public (not until he proves himself, at least), which, combined with the sheer absurd audacity of the demand, makes most viewers chuckle at the idea. Imagine the public reaction (in-universe and in real life) if that was not played for laughs. For example, by switching the Prime Minister and the princess around.
  • 15 Million Merits is an emotionally shaking experience throughout, but one of the worst moments comes when the protagonist Bing is Forced to Watch his love, Abi, now a porn star, essentially being raped in an advert. He can't skip the advert due to lack of 'merits', and when he closes his eyes, the room he's in emits a piercing tone till he opens them. Just imagine yourself in his position.
    • Then there's the unsettling slow shot as he looks at a broken, nasty-looking shard of glass after he broke his room screen, listening to a distorted, warped version of Abi being raped and select notes of her song on a continuous loop. He picks up the shard, aims for the tattoo on his wrist, and makes a deep incision.
    • Just the idea of being perpetually surrounded by obnoxious adverts that you cannot escape even by closing your eyes is pretty nightmarish in and of itself.
    • Abi never contacts Bing after she begins a new life. It's never explained, and all of the possible reasons are equally heartbreaking. What is worse, Bing himself does not know the answer, making it all just all the scarier for him. Does she blame him for essentially being forced to sign her own cabal contract? Is she held there against her will, and possibly not lucid enough? Or did she immediately forget him, showing zero gratitude (even if that did not end up very well, Bing did sincerely want to make her life better)?
  • The Entire History of You ends with Liam apparently wiping his memories, which he does by messily removing his Memory Grain from his neck with a razor blade. And there's not a Gory Discretion Shot in sight.
    • It's easy to miss, but the "gashed" party guest mentions suffering very little aftereffects, saying she retained her sight. One might wonder what other horrible effects Liam is risking, and what the black screen at the end means for him.
    • The Memory Grain seems innocent enough, but seeing Liam clinging on every memory he has to support his claims or even the more humorous character who simply whines about the carpet shows how resentful people can be when they can review perceived slights over and over.
    • The opening sets the tone. There is no longer any privacy left in the world: whatever you do, wherever you go, you must show that your memories are clear or be driven out immediately. Every sin, every slight will live forever with the Grain. Not only that, but it's also how people judge you: in the introduction, Liam basically has to prove that he really is an Amoral Attorney to get a better job.
    • Adding onto that, Ffion's obsessive and abusive boyfriend vibes serve as creepily realistic Nightmare Fuel.
    • While calling the police during Liam's assault of Jonas, the woman calling can be heard telling the operator that she hasn't got a feed of the crime to show because she hasn't got a Grain. Then we hear her repeatedly calling out: "Hello? Hello? Are you still there?" And then cursing. Emergency services hung up on her because she doesn't have a Grain. And how can we be sure they don’t do this to everyone who’s Grainless? Just how many horrible crimes have slipped by the wayside solely because the witness or victim didn’t have a Grain?

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