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Black Mirror – Season 2, Episode 2 White Bear

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Black Mirror – Season 2, Episode 2

White Bear

Aired Feb 16, 2013

Sci-Fi

Drama

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Popcornmeter

89%

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18 Reviews

A young woman, Victoria, wakes up and cannot remember anything about her life; everyone she encounters refuses to communicate with her and enjoys filming her discomfort on their phones.

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Critics Consensus

"White Bear" makes up for its blunt social criticism with its intense scare factor and final twist.

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Charles Bramesco

New York Magazine/Vulture

10/04/2018

There may be some larger point about voyeurism or exploitation or how annoyingly fast phone batteries drain, but it's lost beneath a simplistic twist that pulls a switcheroo and fails to do much else.

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Jackie Strause

The Hollywood Reporter

10/03/2018

A commentary on many aspects of society - from the media to violence and human empathy - the ending shows just what Brooker is capable of along this Black Mirror ride, and is a story that tends to stick with those who make it through.

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Mark Monahan

Daily Telegraph (UK)

10/02/2018

3.5/5

This was an exciting and efficient piece of narrative rug-pulling that mocked, above all, our insatiable, voyeuristic, neo-Medieval thirst for supposedly "real-life" pain and humiliation repackaged as entertainment.

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Miles Surrey

The Ringer

07/18/2023

What makes “White Bear” so visceral is what it reveals about the characters who willingly engage in sadistic torture generously framed as government-mandated capital punishment.

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Gina Carbone

CinemaBlend

06/10/2019

It's sick. But Black Mirror expertly shifts sympathies back and forth, revealing Victoria to have been complicit in the torture and murder of a child, filming her boyfriend in the act.

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Aliya Jones

Film School Rejects

06/10/2019

The presence of these hypnotizing devices can easily deceive us into thinking that "White Bear" is yet another cautionary tale against being too attached to technology, but this episode's intentions are far more unnerving.

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Synopsis

A young woman, Victoria, wakes up and cannot remember anything about her life; everyone she encounters refuses to communicate with her and enjoys filming her discomfort on their phones.

Executive Producer: Annabel Jones, Charlie Brooker
Screenwriter: Charlie Brooker
Network: Netflix
Rating: TV-MA
Genre: Sci-Fi, Drama
Original Language: British English
Release Date: Feb 16, 2013

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