Black Mirror Season 3 Episode 1: Nosedive

The episode of Black Mirror “Nosedive” is set in a world where everyone is connected to their phones and they rate each other from one to five stars for every interaction they have, which can impact their socio-economic status.

The main character is a young woman named Lacie who is consumed by her ratings. She gets an opportunity to make her ratings skyrocket by being the popular childhood friend’s maid of honor for her wedding. Her obsession leads to several mishaps and causes rapid decrease in her ratings. In this world you need a high rating if you want to buy the nicest houses or the nicest cars which is almost like having good credit. Even something as human as accepting coffee from anyone who is below a 3 could bring down your own rating.

I really enjoyed watching this episode because it makes you take a step back and realize how obsessed our generation really is with technology, our phones and social media. This episode teaches you that we should not always care what people think about us or how they perceive us. We should let loose and scream a little sometimes. Which is exactly what Lacie does toward the end of this episode. Once Lacie arrives at the wedding she sneaks in and manages to say a speech, but she becomes extremely upset to the point everyone negatively rates her and security comes and arrests her. She is taken to prison; the rating system is removed from her eyes and they placed Lacie in a cell. She gets into an argument with a man in a separate cell who’s in the same position as her, and both realize how liberating it is to speak your mind without worrying about being rated.