Black Mirror - Rankings of the First 13 Episodes

John Hamm as Matt in the Black Mirror Special "White Christmas"
Originally aired December 16, 2014

Ranking the first 13 Episodes of Black Mirror is easy in the sense that they are all stand alone episodes and some of them are just easy to call out as fantastic.

On the other hand, establishing a criteria to rank an episode is tricky. There are some episodes which are more enjoyable while watching them - often in the way they grab you and keep you hooked (or guessing), while other episodes might be a little more painful to watch but by the time the episode resolves has you reflecting on what you just watched for days.

I've tried to marry the enjoyment and lingering thoughtfulness factor in my rankings below.

And then, there's the unfair advantage of some episodes being well, longer - and in the case of Black Mirror, both episodes that tip towards feature length at 90 or so minutes are two of the best.

Here's my rankings, feel free to suggest that I have it all wrong.

1. "White Christmas" (2.4)
2. "Hated in the Nation" (3.6)
3. "San Junipero" (3.4)
4. "Be Right Back" (2.1)
5. "White Bear" (2.2)
6. "Nosedive" (3.1)
7. "The Entire History of You" (1.3)
8. "Shut Up and Dance" (3.3)
9. "Fifteen Million Merits" (1.2)
10. "The National Anthem" (1.1)
11. "Men Against Fire" (3.5)
12. "The Waldo Moment" (2.3)
13. "Playtest" (3.2)

This post is part of Black Mirror Week on StrangeCultureBlog. See the list of other posts here.