We Ranked All The "Black Mirror" Episodes By How Fucked-Up They Are

One thing's for sure, this show will leave you shook.

13. "San Junipero"

Netflix

Most fucked-up moment: That people can choose to live in a virtual purgatory after they die.

Episode synopsis: Yorkie and Kelly meet in the virtual world and fall for each other, only for it to be revealed that they are actually both elderly women living vicariously through the program. Eventually, Yorkie dies and is allowed to live in the simulation, full-time. She asks Kelly to join her and, after some deliberation, she does, and the pair live happily ever after.

12. "Playtest"

Netflix

Most fucked-up moment: A man finds himself subject to a virtual reality experiment that has gone too far, as it creates multiple inception-like memories and results in his death.

Episode Summary: In an attempt to make some money, Cooper signs up to test virtual reality software. When the test begins, his mother rings him, but he ignores it. He enters a highly dangerous simulation based off of his deepest fears, only to wake up and discover that he never left the initial testing room. Cooper goes home to his mother, but she doesn't recognise him. It's then shown that Cooper actually died 0.04 seconds into the experiment, when his mother's phone call interfered with the technology.

11. "Men Against Fire"

Netflix

Most fucked-up moment: The military is messing with soldiers' minds, so they unknowingly kill innocent people.

Episode Summary: The military are tasked with killing out a breed of monsters known as "Roaches". An implant in all the soldiers' heads cause ordinary people that the military have deemed "genetically inferior" to look like Roaches. Stripe's implant, however, malfunctions, and he can see that the roaches aren't actually monsters at all. Stripe attempts to fight back, but is caught, and given the option to lose this memory and start over, or have the memory of him killing innocent people looped forever in his mind. The episode ends with Stripe, decorated with war medals, standing in front of a beautiful woman and a beautiful house. The scene shifts from his perception, and the audience sees that the house is actually a run down, decrepit shack.

10. "The Entire History of You"

Channel 4

Most fucked-up moment: When Liam cuts the implant out of his head.

Episode Summary: Everyone in this world has a "grain" implanted in their head, that allows them to record and rewatch everything they've ever done. It's because of this that Liam is able to learn that his wife, Ffion, cheated on him, and that his daughter was actually the result of this affair.

9. "Hated in the Nation"

Netflix

Most fucked-up moment: That trending hashtags on social media are causing people to actually die.

Episode Summary: A series of deaths occur with seemingly no connection, except that the deceased had been victims of online hate. It turns out that the most hated online person of the day, determined by a trending hashtag, is being attacked and killed by hacked robotic bees meant to help artificially pollinate. However, an attempt to deactivate the bees actually kills all 300,000+ people who were part of the online hate database.

8. "Nosedive"

Netflix

Most fucked-up moment: That people rate each other like they would their Uber drivers.

Episode Summary: In this world, people's lives are dictated by how other people rate them. Lacie gets invited to a wedding that will be surrounded by highly-rated people, which will help up her rank. However due to a series of accidents along the way, Lacie arrives late to the wedding with an incredibly low rating. She loses the plot, is rated down to zero, and put in jail. There she meets another man with a low rating, and the pair realise that this is the first time they can speak freely without fear of losing their ranking. The episode ends with them insulting each other.

7. "Be Right Back"

Channel 4

Most fucked-up moment: When a widow realises she's gone too far by bringing her dead husband back to life, so she locks him in the attic forever.

Episode Summary: It's not long after Ash dies that Martha realises she is pregnant with his child. She comes across a virtual software that allows her to communicate with a simulation of him, that later turns into a life-like android. Whilst the replication is close it's not the same, so Martha condemns him to life in her attic where she allows her daughter visitation on weekends.

6. "15 Million Merits"

Channel 4

Most fucked-up moment: When the guy who spent so long trying to fight the reality TV system became the biggest victim/success story of it.

Episode Synopsis: The world is dominated by advertising, porn, and reality television. The greatest thing a person can do is star on any of these programs instead of being subjected to it. Bing gifts Abi enough credits to perform on a reality television show, where the judges convince her to instead enter the porn industry against her will. In revenge, Bing works up enough credits to enter the competition himself, where he threatens to kill himself live on television. The judges offer Bing a spot performing his rant live every day, and he takes it. He's shown living in luxury, but perhaps with less happiness than he has ever had.

5. "White Christmas"

Channel 4

Most fucked-up moment: This episode has like three different stories, but the winner is probably that people use torture to train digital versions of themselves to become slaves or confess to crime.

Episode Summary: Matt and Joe are stationed in a remote hut in the middle of nowhere. They strike up conversation about how they ended up there, with Matt revealing he used to be a dating coach but had to leave that life when a date turned wrong and two people died. Matt also explained that he had another job creating miniature, digital slaves for people. After hearing Matt's stories, Joe opens up, and remembers that he killed his partner's father. It is then revealed that Matt is actually interrogating Joe's digital self, and has just gotten a confession out of him. The episode ends with Joe's digital self tortured with the same Christmas song for eternity.

4. "The Waldo Moment"

Channel 4

Most fucked-up moment: When a cartoon character almost wins a seat in parliament. What makes it even more fucked up is the similarities it has to the current political climate, considering the episode aired in 2013

Episode Summary: Waldo is a cartoon bear voiced by a failing comedian, who features on a late-night talk show where he riles up politicians. Against the comedian's will, Waldo's producers get him to run for a parliament position. He wins the hearts of the British population with his brutal honesty, and comes second in the election. The comedian retires and is later seen homeless, with Waldo dominating the screens of the world around him.

3. "White Bear"

Channel 4

Most fucked-up moment: The last five minutes of the show, where you realise a lady filmed the murder of a child she abducted, and her torture is being put on display like a tourist attraction.

Episode Summary: A woman wakes up with amnesia, surrounded by hundreds of bystanders who do nothing but film as she is hunted. She finds help from people that later turn out to be actors. It's revealed that the woman's fiancé killed a child that they abducted while she filmed, and she is now being tortured for the amusement of visitors.

2. "Shut Up and Dance"

Netflix

Most fucked-up moment: You realise a kid you've mostly felt sorry for is actually a pedophile.

Episode Summary: A teenager's computer is hacked, and he is recorded masturbating. The hacker uses this as blackmail and gets the teenager, Kenny, to perform a series of tasks, including robbing a bank. The final challenge is to compete in combat with another person who is being blackmailed. Kenny wins, but receives a message of a troll face showing that the hacker has still sent out the video. He gets a call from his mother who received the video, and she is shocked and disgusted to find out Kenny was actually masturbating to child pornography.

1. "National Anthem"

Channel 4

Most fucked-up moment: The prime minister fucks a pig.

Episode Summary: A beloved member of the royal family is kidnapped, and her captor demands that the prime minister must have sexual intercourse with a pig on live television, to a series of unfakeable technical requirements. Despite trying to get around it, the prime minister is left with no choice but to perform the act. Unbeknownst to the prime minister, the captured Duchess is let go before the actual broadcast begins, as her captor has committed suicide.

(An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated that in "White Bear", the child killed was the woman's daughter, when in fact it was actually an abducted child.)