Not Enough People Are Talking About the Most Prophetic Ep of "Black Mirror" Yet

Have you watched "Metalhead"?

In a world where technology is constantly advancing, life fifty years from now could be entirely different from our wildest dreams. We could be heading towards a reality where our social standing is based on a global rating out of five, or where our consciousness can be removed from our body and placed inside another person or object.

And the anthology TV show Black Mirror is more than happy to show us the dark side of these potential futures.

Black Mirror captures our nightmares and turns them into episodes (each a standalone mini-movie). While some may seem far-fetched, one episode in particular may be the most prophetic yet. Netflix recently debuted the fourth season, containing the episode "Metalhead", which was different from the pack. And frankly not enough people have spoken about it.

Instead, reviews have favoured episodes with more detailed and playful plots, and there are many more tweets about other episodes in the season.

I feel like I can’t watch anything now that I’ve finished ‘Hang The DJ’ episode of Black Mirror. What a glorious, stunning episode.

— Rossalyn Warren (@RossalynWarren) January 3, 2018

‘Black Museum’ on Black Mirror is hands down THE CREEPIEST episode

— California Culture (@Lordgirgis_) February 8, 2018

Though the post-apocalyptic setting of "Metalhead" may never be a reality in our lifetime or our grandchildren’s (fingers crossed), its killer robot dogs (which can open doors now, btw) could be here sooner than we think.

In a Forbes ranking of the season, "Metalhead" was named the worst episode, mentioning that it was "not terribly deep, kind of boring". But "Metalhead" should be viewed as a break from the drama of previous episodes, for viewers to focus on a singular character’s fight for survival.

The episode, written by Charlie Brooker and directed by David Slade, was shot in black and white, and begins with three scavengers on an unexplained mission to a warehouse. They intend to capture something for an unnamed character. Soon, three become one, and a crazy killer robotic dog is on the hunt for the remaining survivor, Bella (Maxine Peake). However, these dogs are merciless and will destroy anything in their way.

(Though chilling twists have occurred countless times in the series, the conclusion to "Metalhead" was especially heartbreaking, revealing—spoiler alert—that the scavengers’ mission was to simply find a teddy bear for a young child. End of spoilers.)

By far, the season-shortest "Metalhead" contains a minimal plot, but it’s arguably the most intellectual and thought-provoking episode of S4.

Consider how Boston Dynamics, an engineering and robotics design company, is producing four-legged robots (which can open doors now, btw), with the aim of using them in the military. It’s scary to think that, someday, they could become commonplace in our world, and we could potentially be heading in the direction of "Metalhead".

More terrifying is the fact that, in this dystopian future, it seems humankind is responsible for the creation of their own undoing, and now isolated, with individuals fending for themselves. Black Mirror often utilises a dark sense of humour to comically portray the world we’re heading towards. By singling out "Metalhead" by shooting the episode in black and white, Charlie Brooker might want us to pay a little more attention and actually take action.

To me, "Metalhead" was a depiction of the harsh future we could be facing if our society doesn’t change our ways. It was beautifully simple, and terrifying too. And if you haven’t guessed, I rate it higher than the other instalments in the season. Whatever happens in the coming century, let’s just hope Charlie Brooker can’t see exactly into the future.

Jess Lambert is one of Student Edge’s student contributors. See more student contributions here.

Photo: Netflix