I’m giving an Honorable Mention to an episode of Television that would be here at #280. Black Mirror has made the list before, Hated in the Nation holds one of three special slots reserved at the bottom of the Top 100. I justify its inclusion because it is Feature-Length and the story stands apart from other episodes of the show. This also tells its own story, but is only 42-minutes long and since I already removed Black Museum, White Christmas and other episodes, this no longer belongs on the list. In terms of content and artistic achievement, it very much belongs.
Initially seen as one of the lower-ranked episodes of the series, White Bear has grown over time because it contains perhaps the best concept for discussion. It’s look at justice connected to social media has gone from being too out there to being something that would probably be horrible to put into practice, but it now seems like a possible bad idea. On first viewing, the episode is terrifying and more than a bit odd. A woman is being hunted in front of a live studio audience unwilling to help her. We watch the day play out until we get to an audacious reveal, and now that we have full knowledge it’s easy to have conflicted feelings as the day comes to a close. Some people feel absolutely one way or another, and that’s worth talking about too. A very divisive idea written and filmed with great skill, it’s the episode I find myself returning to the most, and it gets my emotions worked up every time.
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