Nosedive is Black Mirror's most underrated episode

With season three’s San Junipero commanding most of the attention when discussing Black Mirror’s finest episode, it’s easy to overlook the superb same season opener, Nosedive.

Warning: Nosedive episode spoilers to follow.

The story follows Lacie (Bryce Dallas Howard, who’s spot on in tackling the role) who lives a painfully fake existence. Desperate to increase her social media score that determines what places she’s allowed into and privileges she gets can access, the singleton gets an unexpected boost when asked to attend old school friend Naomi’s (Alice Eve) wedding as Maid of Honour.

The invite is out of the blue and, as viewers will note, there’s plenty of room for scepticism – only, the hapless Lacie cannot see it. And with her perceived joy comes accompanying bold, pastel tones; largely in terms of clothing which subtly conveys a somewhat plain yet vibrant-looking lifestyle that becomes more drab and grey as things spiral out of control.

Lacie just wants to be loved. But her obsession manifests when this need for adoration is solely based upon ways to bump her social score by dedicating her life to it and is a stark reflection of the modern pitfalls of Facebook and Instagram.

Joe Wright directs this powerful and emotive story that glistens with subtext and serves as a multilayered facet in the Black Mirror anthology. It’s well shot as Wright creates a functioning world with a superb script from Rashida Jones and Michael Schur (The Office; The Good Place).

What’s brilliant is just how strongly the episodes opens and builds upon it. We’re presented with a beautifully framed American suburb. Lacie jogs down the street at sunrise, constantly checking her phone, rating passerby, and performing lunges as she takes the perfect snap to share.

However, the most tragic and saddening scene happens early on, setting the precident for our narrative. She’s stood in front of the bathroom mirror practicing her laughter. It’s heartbreaking the way she blurts out a rapturous series of faux giggle and instantly turns it off to stare blankly at her own reflection. This moment is the perfect allegory for the gloss of social networking: how people create an image of themselves and showing off their supposedly perfect, happy life in the hope of evoking envy.

All the while a sombre piano score plays in the background, setting up one of the best openings to any Black Mirror episode in its catalogue. The music continues to become more and more tragic-sounding, as Lacie queues for coffee as literally everyone is obliviously engrossed in their phones.

But people’s fakeness isn’t restricted to social media as it often is today. Now it’s burst out from the internet to consume personalities and all face-to-face interactions in the real world are sickly sweet attempts to get those desired 5 stars.

Seeing Lacie at a social stats review with a specialist isn’t a million miles from keeping monitoring Facebook analytics today. Learning and knowing how to increase one’s reach and appeal is what individuals and companies do today: the difference being we aren’t physically restricted from doing things based on a star rating.

“You f***ing sociopath!” her brother, Ryan, exclaims after hearing her fawning wedding speech. Lacie is so disconnected from people, including her family, that her humanity and ultimately happiness has been stripped from her – is that an early stage reflection on social media addicts in 2018?

The release of pent-up anger and ungodly frustration has been building up for some time, and Howard excellently portrays that explosion of expressing that honesty while on the verge of an emotional breakdown. Once her flight to the veune is cancelled, which is due to no fault of her own, the cracks begin to appear. Imagine having to grit your teeth for a short period around an annoying relative. Now picture doing that all day, every day, for years on end – it’d grind down even the toughest of souls.

Lacie’s gradual acceptance in unleashing her no-nonsense attitude is liberating and hugely satisfying for both her and us as an audience. The final scene is perhaps the most rewarding moment of the episode, when locked up after causing a scene at the wedding. The man in the opposite cell unlocks that freedom for her to shout and scream and verbally abuse him (and vice versa), as a means of catharsis.

Was this man the one who caused the incident that saw Lacie’s plane cancelled, caused her downfall, in the first place? We’ll never know, but what we do see is her as her true, happy self by the final shot: Lacie removing the chains of societal and social media pressure, and simply saying f**k it.

Nosedive sends a bleak warning of a possible future for anyone consumed by social media. It’s scary and terrifying how recognisable it is and that it’s likely a reality in some form already.

There’s no guarantee that one day someone’s social media popularity will or will not define a person’s lifestyle or choices, but let’s hope we see the light, just as Lacie does, and liberate ourselves from the monotony of relying on being 5-star liked by total strangers.

Black Mirror seasons 1-4 are available to stream on Netflix now.

Read more:

Back Mirror season 4 is a mixed bag of hit-and-miss episodes

Black Mirror’s Hang the DJ is the perfect allegory for modern dating

Black Mirror’s Black Museum is a twisted and fitting finale to the season