7) Black Mirror
In this age of serialized streaming surplus, it’s hardly surprising that Black Mirror has emerged as something of a dark jewel in the crown of cerebral, small-screen storytelling. Its grim, introspective approach to narrative is as indelible as it is off-putting, and the show’s anthology format has allowed it to evolve from a cynical exploration of humanity’s relationship with technology into the closest thing this generation has to The Twilight Zone.
While season 3 did, admittedly, see more inconsistency than previous outings, the episodes presented were still miles ahead of almost any other TV show around, offering up some great material that rang true in many ways. And really, there were only two episodes that could be considered subpar by the show’s standards.
At its best (“San Junipero”) though, the third season of Black Mirror rivals its previous heights, spinning meticulously thought-out and deeply interesting dissections of human behavior and the ways in which our reliance on technology has warped both our understanding of emotion and our ability to experience it.