Recensioni degli utenti

As much as the episode kept me connected throughout the whole story, feeling Martha's pain and jitters with every scene of the episode; it was also a revelation how much we are allowing the technology and different technical giants to control us. Every single movement, every single browsing history is captured somewhere. In this case clone was created for a loved one and the reason, howsoever illogical was genuine ... but doesn't it allow for digital clones that can be created and misused for any person possible. Texture mapping and tons of data floating around definitely make it very much feasible.

Yes, the idea of being connected even after death was very touching and I am sure it pulled in the audience, because only at the moment you lose someone you want them all the much more, you understand their importance in your life. But at the same time i felt really bad for Martha, she was stuck with a robot for life whom she cannot get rid of out of the respect for Ash memories but that will never ever let her move on with life as well. She will keep clinging to the memories and never be able to make new ones.

Also, the part where she yells at the robot to hit her brings out a very interesting aspect of human psychology. As much as we all want perfect and serving people in our lives, what makes them real and lovable is their imperfections. The imperfections in humans is what makes them different from algorithmically programmed robots; by the time we realize this difference it shouldn't be too late that we are living our lives more in control of the robots than ourselves.

Hayley Atwell shines through in this thoroughly moving, heart wrenching tale of love and grief. Brooker proves that he can tug at the heart strings as well as entertain, as he takes you on a journey of tragedy and longing. The scary thing about this episode is I believe one day they'll have the technology to have something similar to the voice activated thoughts and conversations of someone deceased.

I love the futuristic touches, such as the desktop and the car, really nice glimpses into a possible future.

It's not an episode I'd be inclined to watch over, like San Junipero or Hang the DJ, but it serves as a really engaging, moving piece.

I've not seen the new Spike Jonse film "Her" but watching this episode of Black Mirror which was screened over a year before Her was released in the US does rather make one think that Charlie Brooker would have some reason to be aggrieved at a film doing so well with a similar idea at its core. In the case of Be Right Back, the plot sees Martha and Ash as a couple – with Ash being a heavy online presence via social networks and so on. When Ash dies leaving Martha alone, she turns to a piece of software which will emulate your former partner and they begin chatting online.

Although I did not think the first season of Back Mirror was perfect, I really did like that it is able to take current situations and move them a few steps down a logical or reasonable line and then see what happens in a specific situation. As with the previous season this episode very much sticks with technology as its jumping off point but it is most in common with the third episode of the first season it the way it is driven by an emotional core. The idea in this case is that, just as it is possible already to have software that can just about text you like a person, so, in theory, it should be possible to have software that builds a "you" based on all your emails, texts, Facebook posts and so on; OK it is a few steps beyond Amazon suggesting products based on your purchasing history, but it is effective because it doesn't seem too far away and thus we are not given the comfort of a future far from our own.

With small steps we get to a plot that is far-fetched while being conceivable and with this idea as the narrative device, Brooker builds a story that is emotionally engaging as we can both empathize with what Martha does while also seeing how bad a thing it is in the grand scheme of things – just like it being easy to see the faults of others from a distance while totally failing to see the same in ourselves. It is really moving and the conflict is throughout the story which means that it never stops working on the level it does at the start. The downside is that it ends in the same mould rather than having something dramatic, but still it is effective for what it does.

The direction is good and the tone matches Brooker's excellent writing. If I didn't already know this is the same sarcastic and miserable Brooker we see on Screenwipe, I never would have believed he wrote this. What really seals the deal though is the performance from Atwell, because she is amazing. She really understands her character and she convinces through the story whether she be content, grieving, denying, hurting or accepting. The story is essentially a two-hander but she is the lion's share of it and her success is the film's success. Gleeson is more of a device than character but his performance is also well pitched, convincing in how he needs to be even if Atwell gets the better of the split.

This film will be hard to watch in the wake of Her since thematically they are similar but I'm sure this is just coincidence. It is best to ignore this and focus on the film doing what it does because it is clever, engaging, convincing, moving and sobering. Hard to believe that the guy cursing at his TV would turn out to be such a good sci-fi writer or that the pretty girl from the Captain America film would have such a great performance in her, but BRB is great.

Hayley Atwell's performance in this episode is astonishing. She deserves an Emmy for it. She's the center of this bittersweet bleak episode. You'll feel like being in a journey while she passes from one lovely scene to another that's extremely sad, even you'd cry in a creepy way with her, then moving to an awkward situation, then acting shocked, then being temporarily happy, then going mad, then becoming upset, then ending to be mature. This episode scores 10; firstly for her performance, and secondly for the writers and directors.

Hope this is not our future. Insane. Mindblowing. Intense emotions. I love it.

As someone that has lost a husband unexpectedly, this hits the heart. I sobbed through most of this episode and kept asking "why would you do this thing". To retain a tiny part of who they are and were to you is understandable, but to have a small piece reincarnated is a form of torture. To be unable to move on and reconcile such a tragedy in your life is something I'm glad I never had to do. Time heals, it does, but it takes years. I'm almost 20 years from it and remarried, but you never get over it or forget your previous spouse. To have a physical representation of what you have lost would be absolutely unthinkable.

Black Mirror touches upon the edges of what is possible and where we are heading. It also raises some warning alarms that might seem esoteric and far fetched at first but they ring so true if we just consider the already psychopathic exchange we have with the available technology. New diseases are now being coined as a result of our obsession with the internet and social media; we do not hesitate at all at denouncing someone at chats and obstinately sticking to our opinion without considering every angle; we are slowly but surely moving away from reality to a contrived virtual reality. More powerful technology is certainly going to cause more egregious side-effects.

This episode is so engrossing. The acting and the scenes are convincing enough in relaying the grief and misery Martha is going through. You can relate to her feelings and actions as she takes several steps in the wrong direction. The episode succeeds in conveying the addicting power of such a tech, and how it may adversely affect the terrified human psyche, that with every ounce of its being opposes the idea of death. It wants to cling on to happy memories and is so fearful of moving past.

A few plot instruments might seem inconceivable, but we are not far from the possibility of a virtual avatar with your voice, personality and behavior based on all the digital storage we have of us. But we need to recognize that there is another side to the veil as well.

When the show begins, Martha and Ash seem to have a lovely life and the couple are clearly in love. However, after Ash leaves and fails to return, she soon learns the worst...he was killed in an accident. Martha is inconsolable but a pushy friend insists that she knows something that can help Martha work through her grief. Martha is NOT interested but after receiving a strange email, she investigates and learns that this same friend signed her up for a most unusual service...one that recreates your loved one based on their Facebook posts, emails and videos. Soon, Ash is alive...or at least a computer simulation of him. But there's far more to it than that...

Like almost every episode of "Black Mirror", this show examines current and near future technological advances and trends and tries to predict the dark side of their use. Very clever and well worth see, but I am deducting a point because the show did something I HATE and which is sadly too common...a closeup of a person barfing. Ugghhh...we don't need that.

At what point do we step over the "uncanny valley" and into a simulation of something so real that, even for a brief moment, we convince ourself that it is real?

In this episode, what technology takes away from us when we are living: our concentration and focus on the here and now, it attempts to reinstate when we are dead, all those lost opportunities and moments spent in the virtual world are returned, with interest.

Only what comes back is merely a simulacrum, a reflection of what once was, and when the grief is over and one opens one's eyes again, one realises the shallowness of that before them and any previous feeling of intimacy and thankfulness is quickly soured into resentment and anger.

IS there a difference between life itself and a simulation, thereof? And if a simulation were of sufficient complexity and sophistication, would it become indistinguishable from life itself?

How far can technology take us? As far as, say, talking to a long-dead loved one on the phone, and even creating another physical version of him or her? Creepy, but the main character on this story did those.

This episode is really unsettling...and also very emotional and powerful. The acting by the main character is simply fantastic. Best episode since the pilot.

Be right Back is a great concept, but there was something missing that I am struggling to put into words here?

Don't get me wrong, it is a good episode that realistically toys with a very chilling concept that, in part, may be somewhere in our future (Scary thought!)

I think the first two thirds of this story played out better than the final third, maybe it went a little too far and became less scary when it could have become terrifying!

As much as I enjoyed this, I was left wanting a little more.

8/10.

Imagine if it would have ended with the second-to-last scene.

'Be Right Back (2013)' is the first entry in the second series of 'Black Mirror (2011-)'. Despite continuing the series' trend of exploring what happens when we push technology to the max, the piece is a decidedly character-focused affair. The central sci-fi premise almost doesn't matter; the thing is, first and foremost, an exploration of grief. It sets up an incredibly realistic, somewhat unconventional romance (in that it looks nothing like most Hollywood love affairs) and devastatingly wrenches it from you without any real flair. One minute, it's there; the next, it's not. The film works really well, balancing its existential questions with its beat-by-beat plot. It's well-written, considered and compelling. It has a unique premise and solid execution. 7/10

The episode contains a lot of unnecessary details and even not in the same level of the series I didn't like the ending it was boring

Hayley Atwell and Domhnall Gleeson are superb and sublime in this season 2 episode of Black Mirror. It's very emotional, and demonstrates Charlie Brooker's enormous range in writing. I'm surprised this doesn't have more iMDB votes and user reviews. Still, definitely worth watching. Rod Serling would be proud for sure.