The funniest episode of Black Mirror was written by two sitcom legends

Since the very first episode of “Black Mirror” presents a man forced to have sex with a pig, fans will often recommend that new viewers start the show elsewhere. While the debate on which the episode “Black Mirror” serves as a better introduction to the series rages, “nosetive” of season 3 has gradually increased the ranks. The episode takes place in a world where everyone ranks five stars after each small interaction, and this note has an impact on your ability to find a job or buy an apartment. “Nosedive” is dark but not too dark, with a catchy science fiction premise. This is the perfect episode to immerse your toes in the waters of the “black mirror”.

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The other advantage of “Nosedive” is that it is surprisingly funny. It is a painfully relatable satire how much of our online interactions have become superficial. We laugh like LaCie (Bryce Dallas Howard) has the most false conversation in the world with a colleague in the elevator, and later as she judges a 1 star pilot of her 3 -star horse. Of course, each episode “Black Mirror” has a funny humor involved, but few episodes make people burst as much as this one.

Much of this is that the episode was not written by showrunner Charlie Brooker. He wrote the plan, but the script itself was written by Mike Schur and Rashida Jones. Mike Schur is a Sitcom writer famous for having created “The Office”, “Parks and Rec”, “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” and “The Good Place”. Jones, meanwhile, is perhaps best known for playing Karen on “The Office” and Ann Perkins on “Parks and Recreation”. It was a big shock in 2016 to discover that these two Americans with comic history wrote for such a dark British series.

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In an interview with the AV club after “Nosedive” was abandoned for the first time on Netflix, Jones and Schur explained how they had been hired for the position. “We were both giant fans of” Black Mirror ‘, “said Jones,” and I made my way in Charlie [Brooker]the life. He was very, very kind about it. I had a friend who worked at Channel 4; I told him I was a big fan; I asked him if Charlie (Brooker) would agree with me sending him an email. We had a little correspondence. “Jones’ correspondence with Brooker still seems to be strong today, since it has played in the recent episode” Black Mirror “” Common People “.

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Schur and Jones explained how Brooker had given them an overview of the episode, their work being to write the individual scenes. “It was a fairly complete four -page description of the story,” said Schur. “We crossed Beat by Beat and scene by scene. Part of the declared objective was to make it be comical, and perhaps slightly more comical than the” Black Mirror “episode. I think they are all quite funny, but it is a comic idea of ​​a woman slowly losing her place on earth.”

Schur also explained how he and Jones divided the writing process: “There is a point halfway in history, which is essentially that she discovers that her friend does not want her to come. I was like” very well, I will write there and you write after that. So, we each wrote halfway, we folded it together, we mixed and mixed and stuff and we rewritten it together as a team. ”

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In other words, Schur widely managed the part of the episode which was all about the most realistic and socially devoted moments, which we saw it perfect on “The Office”. Jones was in charge of the most dramatic stuff in the second half, where LaCie passed politely by trying to sail the social dynamics to feel daring enough to actively shout the people who annoyed him.

Some fans have complained of the lightest “black mirror” since he moved to Netflix, but it is difficult to complain a lot about the clear “noStive” tone specifically. The concept of the social rating system, although Dark, is a premise that requires being removed from a comic angle. There is a reason why “Saturday Night Live” continues to have fun with the concept, and why “Community” Season 5 would have its own episode based on the general idea (“Development of applications and condiments”).

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The “community” example is notable because it was broadcast two years before the “Nosedive” release. Some fans wondered if there was a unfair game involved here from “Black Mirror”, but it seems clear that the similarities in the plot had nothing to do with the plagiarism; The behavior of performative social media was simply in everyone’s mind in the 2010s. The 5 -star rating system was already used for Uber companies and drivers, and the idea that someone’s social status was connected with the number of followers online that they were even longer.

What television show has better managed the premise? I actually think that “Community” wins this tour. While the “Black Mirror” socket was to be both funny and serious, the explicit sitcom format of “community” allowed it to strengthen absurdity as much as he wanted – which made him ironic even more biting in his social commentary. While the “Black Mirror” takes care of social rating systems ends with the system still in place, but the protagonist finding peace, “community” ends with Jeff and Britta demolish the system. The two are still entertaining science fiction tales, but the rotation of the “community” on the concept seemed the most impressive.

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