User Reviews

Some people say that "we are defined by our memories" and that "without memory we would lack any perspective" with which to assess the world. Others say that "memories are meant to fade." and that "time heals all wounds."

What if we lived in a world where memories literally own us and where they never, ever fade and are accessible in high definition and slow motion replay... Forever to anyone? What if they could be stored and digitised... or even traded as a commodity? What would memories become then?

They would become our most prized possessions: More irreplaceable than hand-crafted treasures, more valuable than any diamond or gold. Imagine, our very essence and experiences captured (and with liberal editing) all the best parts distilled into a narcotic, addictive stream of consciousness, on tap wherever and whenever we desire.

We could go back, time and time again to revisit out best experiences. We could show these details at will to others on any available screen. Alternatively, we could expunge forever that which we never wish to see again, and be forever distrusted as someone with no proof of what they've done or where they've been...

Or, we could even keep those most painful moments it as a lash with which to whip ourselves while saying a dozen Hail Marys.

This is the story of a family that live in such a world, where things once experienced can be recorded forever and used to wager a strategic, rightful war on those around us. But at what cost to ourselves and our relationships?

Black Mirror's first episode was darkly humorous and suspenseful, while its second was a heartbreaking Greek tragedy. Now we have "The entire history of you", which is neither humorous, nor devastatingly tragic. It is however painful and uncomfortable to watch. The technological aspect of this episode is simple: humans have the ability to recall their own memories at the press of a button. We can rewind, zoom in, and examine every detail of our lives in painstaking detail.

What makes this episode so painful, is that we witness the end of a once loving relationship, in all its sad, pathetic and all too human frailty and weakness. The technology that seemed so useful and essential now becomes a curse and enhances our cruel nature.

As great sci-fi should, it provokes thought about our past and future and our relationship with technology, while still telling an intrinsically human story, with real emotion and sadness.

This for me was the best episode of the two series of Black Mirror, and also the best piece of Television drama over the past 5-8 years.

As a television production student I am critical of drama pieces, but this episode completely blew me away and gripped me from start to end. If anyone asks can television drama be effective over 45-60 minutes , I will always tell them to watch this episode.

This is a masterclass in directing by Ben Welsh. The direction of the cast was perfect, the camera-work suited the feel of the piece , and choice of locations and props for me really added to this film. How they were able to add this futuristic technology to the characters felt 'scarily' believable (especially these days with the development of Google Glasses)

For me this films shows thats you can make an effective drama without making over dramatic and unbelievable plots. As this films grabs its audience, and using its 'gritty' and 'subtle' style makes it for me as one of my favourite dramas ever broadcasted on TV

For the first few episodes Black Mirror has very much been a satire on modern life and technology by way of extending to an extreme scenario while also only moving everything a small step beyond what we already have in life in terms of technology and society. For the final episode of the first season then it was a real nice change of pace to find that this was a relationship drama with technology really just used as part of the human story rather than the target. The technology again is only a few steps away from where we are – with Google Glasses coming soon and this current generation being the first to have their mistakes and lives forever accessible thanks to the internet; implanted enhances are a matter of time and if you doubt this then you're just not paying attention.

The plot here sees a relationship in trouble as the guy struggles to let small things go and obsesses over looks and comments, replaying them over and over again. Other people use their memory implant like Facebook – sharing trivial observations and moments with others. The key thing in the episode is that we are human and sometimes that is for the best. While I enjoyed seeing the worst of humanity being magnified by the satire of the previous episodes, here it was done with sense of humanity – a heart rather than a sneer. The relationship drama is quite engaging and he use of the technology seamlessly becomes part of that.

The performances are good. Kebbell and Whittaker in particular play off each other well and during the shoot they film scenes of fond memories just as convincingly as they show division and hurt. The supporting cast are OK but these two are great. I was surprised in the final credits to see Peep Show creator Armstrong was the writer of this episode, but in fairness he does have a good eye for human realism and then adding a layer of exaggeration to it.

Overall this was a surprisingly human episode in the first season; it engaged me and quite moved me while also showing the dark path of technology. Sobering and engaging.

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.

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).

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.

Loved this episode because it looks too true to not believe. With the revolution that started with cameras and selfies, there are security cameras and drones flying everywhere. Gradually there would be cars and tons and tons of data flying everywhere. There will absolutely be no movement or activity that will be hidden but do we really want to keep rewinding and living the past activities.

Liam hardly seems to be living in the present. all his activities be it sex, drinking viewing or work are carried out by looking towards the past ... thereby no new experience. The grain chip technology is no doubt a great resource for goverment and crime agencies; classic example will be where the security guy allows him to board by looking at his past but I wonder if a human needs access to his history all the time. It will only make a person live his traumas and virtual pleasures over and over again.

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.

If we ever needed proof that some technology is not of help.... this episode shows how keeping ALL your memories can ultimately unravel your life.

From the very start we have the main character obsessing about his interview and literally playing it over and over gain, trying to guess what the interviewrs thought and if he did something wrong.

After having joined his friends for dinner, he starts obsessing about his wife and one of the other guests. One may object that maybe this guy would obsess no matter what, but for sure having technological support to enable his addiction/weakness is not helping.

Further investigation into his wife's past proves to be disastrous. Do one really need to know the truth at all costs?

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.

In the undefined but near future, people have memory implants that record everything we see and hear, so we can access a detailed reproduction of every previous experience at any time, or share it with others on any screen available.

One can no longer forget anything, but neither to hide. However useful and fun certain applications of this implant are for the individual, as well as for society as a whole, because, for example, they greatly facilitate police investigations, possibilities of abuse are endless. Sticking to the most beautiful memories becomes a modern form of addiction, missing the present because of living in the past, invading other people's privacy and intimacy, those are just some of them.

Whether the positive aspects are worth the negative ones and how ethical and cost-effective this violation of privacy is, viewers have the opportunity to judge for themselves on the example of a couple whose marriage is falling apart, because the past no longer remains in the past, nothing falls into oblivion and time does not heal all wounds anymore.

The premise is interesting, quite intimidating, and definitely calls for self-reflection. But, despite the good acting, the episode, compared to the previous ones, left a pale impression, because a strong premise was used for a relatively weak or maybe just insufficiently elaborated story. The potential of this idea could have been much better exploited.

7/10.

The technology (recording everything that one sees) is just a layer on top of a standard jealousy story. This would work the same without the technology. At the same time, the production is very sterile to give it a futuristic look, but it makes everything seem very distant, almost dream-like and the characters are not really relatable because of it.

On top of that, people are not behaving in way that one would expect with technology like this, so the internal realism is lacking.

Instead of critically questioning our technology and the future we are heading into like episode 2, this is just a crowd pleaser without real substance.

EDIT: Even watching it for about 5th time still great and no change in stars.

How many times have you been in that moment when you wish that you could show your other half what they said ? How many times do you wish you could prove that you did remind them to let the cat out ?

Or what about stuff at work ? University? Prove what the police officer said when he pulled you over ?

But more important prove to your loved one that you are right.

The grain gives humans this ability, yeah world problems solved ! Yes ?

No ! Of course not ! What sounds perfect would be a complete head **** in reality.

And throughout this episode you see our prototype tormented not blessed with the tech.

A step to far. Indeed

I always wondered what if our memories are saved or viewed? Finally, an episode about this.

In the future, forgetting is not on the dictionary. They're recorded somehow and you can view it anytime, anywhere. Fantastic as it may seem, it has consequences.

Really great episode and love the drama and all.

Wow. This is a really really great episode of television. It's fairly simple yet extremely effective in the presentation and execution. Razor sharp.

Sometimes memories are meant to fade, not relived over and over, let alone be dissected in front of everybody.

It could've been better, the idea and the concept are on point and promising , but the story is okey not that great and not that bad either

I really appreciate this episode and sadly this was a short episode and I wanted it would be a complete movie for cinema... all 3 episodes of season was really fantastic but this one is really a masterpiece! I can't give its point less than 10...strictly recommend it to anybody for watch!

The first 2/3, up until Liam awakens in his crashed car and reviews what happened, are quite gripping. First, the rather plausible use of this device for security screening are rather chilling. The basic functionality of the device are possible already.

Then it moves into the problem of Liam, who has clear obsessive issues, getting drunk and completely reviewing the memories relating to his wife and a previous lover.

I was completely on edge during this sequence because I've known people like this who get completely obsessed with some minor irrelevant issue and can't let it go, constantly bending language to keep it going. And I knew someone who probably would have driven drunk to the former lover's house.

However, I thought it should have ended very quickly after he awakens from the car wreck. It just slows to a crawl with rather obvious results.

I tried to watch the 3 episodes in Season 1. Could not finish any episode. I am at a loss to understand the terrific review score. One of my favorite actresses, Jodie Whittaker was in episode 3. Loved her in Broadchruch and Assets. What she is doing in this nonsense I do not understand.