The Entire History of You

This is by far the best episode in season one realistic. Drama mixed with real life and science-fiction the script, the events, and the plot are amazing.

Well Done.

(watched 31-12-2020).

For whatever reason, this episode is the most memorable to me of the Black Mirror series. I am not saying it's the best written or acted, but it epitomizes Black Mirror and the dark side of technology. Great pace and tone setter for the series.

In the not too distant future, everyone has implant technology that allows full recall of all memories. After a poor review, Liam joins his partner Ffion at a party where an ex of hers is a guest, Liam obsessed over it.

An early episode, and a definite classic, The Entire history of you is one of the best episodes of this amazing show, it never gets tired. What's so stark and unnerving about this one, is that it could potentially happen, who knows.

Does anyone have the right to personal memories? It's one thing we have that nobody else has access to, a scary thought to imagine losing that one thing.

I think I miss the early years of Black Mirror, a heavy reliance on story and scenario, less focus on budget and star names, hopefully if the show returns again, it'll go back to stories such as this one.

The green eyed monster is the worst emotion of all, there's nothing like it to eat you up inside, imagine having access to memories to stoke the flames, paranoia and envy overdrive or what.

Toby Kebbell is outstanding here, he's so good, and it's one of the best performances of Jodie Whittaker I've ever seen.

9/10.

This Black Mirror episode was released in 2011, at the cusp of Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc. mania, so at the time, the technology depicted in this episode did still feel a bit distant and futuristic. Five years later in 2016 was when I actually stumbled upon this series. Watching "The Entire History of You" for the first time, I was very impressed yet still somewhat shrugged it off as another sci-fi fear mongering. Well now, another five years later, in 2021, I watched the episode again and was blown away by this masterpiece. The future depicted ten years ago is fast approaching now. Given the choice, the average person now is likely to sign up to have that "grain" installed in a heartbeat. It's a much more convenient way of capturing their lives the way they obsessively record everything now on all social media platforms. Privacy is out the window. This accelerated embrace of technology neglects the spontaneity of life and the natural human limitations designed keep our brains sane and functional. Some memories are meant to fade, and life's mundane events are not meant to be recalled play-by-play. Most of all, cherish the idea that today, the thoughts in your mind are still 100% yours. You think what you think, and nobody can force you to play a re-do of it. The way things are going though, it's probably only a matter of time when your thoughts can be put on a show for everyone to watch. And therein lies the true horror.

I have decided to only write reviews on these episodes after I watch them for a second time. I am mid-way through the 3rd season on my 2nd run. As many of my outlooks on various episodes have changed, this one stayed very much the same, which is not a good or bad thing... it's a great thing! It seems a lot of people watch this show for all different reasons. My reason is evolving and changing the more I watch it. As before, I watched it to see a dark foretelling of how technology affects our lives... I am not starting to see that technology is merely the vehicle in this series, and the vehicle drives our human nature. Human nature is becoming the theme to me more and more, and technology is a perfect catalyst to drive our inner most desires, which they can be beautiful, as well as dark and depraved.

This episode is driven by the "Grain" implant that allows us to see the entirety of all the moments we have lived throughout our lives. There are characters shown in this episode on both spectrums; those who live it and find it to now be the only way to live; and those who see how destructive it can be, and prefer to live without it. I think I would be in the latter category myself.

The way our protagonist over analyzes every little element of body language, the way things are said, so on and so forth, the more you see how quickly you can become obsessive with such a privilege. Though many drone-like people (the ones of today who are staring at their Iphone while walking amongst actual beauty in our natural world) might see nothing harmful about this, but instead see convenience, leisure, and after awhile, necessity. However, it is increasingly clear to me that it is a destroyer. A destroyer of our privacy, our humility, our ability to grow and evolve, and ultimately, a destroyer of our sanity. This is done very well by telling an impactful story of what could very easily happen within the lives of many ordinary people.

Again we come back to human nature. If such a thing were to exist, I can think of so many people I personally know who would take advantage of this exactly as our protagonist does, eventually leading to him becoming completely insane, and ultimately alone and depressed. Though human evolution is essential, and I don't wish to go back to the days of being neanderthals... this episode has as strong a message as ever, as well as being entertaining. That message is that although progress is good, perhaps we SHOULD backtrack a bit. I am already seeing that in today's world, 2018, our dependence on technology is so great, that we are approaching a time where we (collectively as a species) don't even know how to live anymore. I truly feel sorry for anyone who has been born in the new millenium. Will we forget how to build a fire, read a map, etc?

Yes, I tend to go on stream-of-consciousness tangents in my reviews... but this is what the show does to me. It makes me think like this, more so than anything I have ever watched, and this episode is one of a few that is the epitome of what Black Mirror is all about, and why I love it so dearly.