S1E1 - The National Anthem: I really enjoyed this episode, but I wonder what the intent of the kidnapper was. I thought it was to humiliate the PM to enact change in the government, but the only negative consequence appeared to be his relationship with his wife. I did like the use of technology and how real it felt that once something is out there, it's very difficult to keep a lid on it. Small gripe - the guy that was in bed all day, they kept cutting to him so I thought he was more involved that it appeared. I wonder if that was intentional to throw us off as he didn't do anything else or add to the story in any way. Was the story that griping to spend 8 hours without getting out of bed?
S1E2- Fifteen Million Merits: I enjoyed this episode as well. The concept reminded me of the movie "In Time". I wonder what happens if you run out of merits. Also, I didn't understand why the other bike people didn't really talk to each other. I guess what is there to talk about, right? I understood the "jerk" character, but the other characters didn't really add a whole lot, so it was up to Daniel Kaluuya to carry the story, which he did. I never watched Downton Abbey, so I didn't know who the other actress was until I looked it up afterwards. She did a good job as well. When Daniel Kaluuya's character smashed the glass in his room, did he get in trouble? Did it cost him merits to fix? I was expecting that he'd get punished. There was no show of organization, it just was what it was. The characters made a joke about generically engineering the food, so I'm surprised they didn't mention or allude to "Compliance" being put into their food as well. Gripes aside, I thought the overall message was pretty powerful. I'm surprised Daniel Kaluuya's character could live with himself selling out. I kind of expected him to end his life at the end. Also, was their a pornography channel for the women?
S1E3 - The Entire History of You: A really cool concept, but it felt wasted that the writers decided to focus on a failing marriage. How about a doctor failing at a surgery and having to replay it in his mind to try to figure out what went wrong so he doesn't lose any other patients? They established a main character who couldn't land a job, but all of sudden he's Sherlock Holmes with his grain and puts together the pieces to figure out what was going on. My favorite scene was when they were making love, but actually just watching videos of themselves while being in a catatonic state. It felt like the writers envisioned that powerful scene/comment on society and built the episode from there. Out of the first season, this was the weakest I thought, but only because the concept felt slightly wasted on a weaker plot.
