My Review of Season 3

I somehow feel Men Against Fire was the weakest of the lot. With a fairly straight moral message of 'War is bad'.

Black Mirror usually tends to leave the viewers thinking after each episode. Which was not the case with Men Against Fire.

Personally:
Nosedive 8/10
Playtest 6/10
Shut Up and Dance 7/10
San Junipero 8/10
Men Against Fire 6/10
Hated in the Nation 7.5/10

That's the shortest "review" I've ever read.

It's funny - I loved the endings of the two episodes you mentioned. They're also the only ones I've cared for this season so far (haven't seen Hated yet).

I agree with you completely about Playtest and Shut Up and Dance - and I would add Men Against Fire. Really average. Although so is the whole second season, so... not sure I would say that the show is "above" them.

Nosedive - 7 great idea, great atmosphere, good acting, below average execution, lame ending.

Playtest - 3 average idea (the horror game that develops based on your reactions/fears is great but nothing was done with it), not much going for it in general, very forgettable

Shut Up and Dance - 9 solid concept, great execution, very good and important topic and way they approached it

San Junipero - 7 idea is ok, it was made really well, I originally liked it much more than after I cooled off from it a bit, don't hate the ending, since it relies so much on their characters I am not sure if their relationship really had the depth it required

Men Against Fire - 4 simple point, but they beat you to death with it, ending kind of dumb

Hated in the Nation - 7 pretty good apart from the end, but the impression fades with time


As for the three sevens, I'd say this: Despite its many flaws Nosedive stays more memorable than Hated in the Nation which was technically better, and makes a better overall point. I didn't like it right after watching and would actually rate it higher as the time goes by as opposed to for instance San Junipero which I initially loved but then found more and more flaws with.