Black Mirror: Hang The DJ is a perfect allegory for modern dating and a season four peak

Midway through its fourth season, Black Mirror reaches its highest level with an intrepid exploration of finding ‘the one’.

Hang the DJ begins in familiar fashion in the Charlie Brooker-created sci-fi/horror anthology and continues to get better and better as the touching and relatable episodes progresses.

Warning: Spoiler discussion to follow.

The premise is set in a time where internet dating has advanced. No longer are people spending endless hours swiping left or right – now it’s all calculated and organised by a computer.

We’re teased with snippets of non-contextualised dialogue in the early stages, as our characters Frank (Joe Cole) and Amy (Georgina Campbell) exist in sterile and controlled world of dating. A community that, on the surface, revolves around finding your ideal romantic match via an algorithmic AI that pairs people for a determined period of time to gather and aggregate each ‘relationship’s’ findings to match the perfect partner.

What’s more, both Cole and Campbell play the parts with conviction. Both are at ease with their characters and take the naturalistic approach. The chemistry’s there, too, which becomes a necessity as the plot develops.

As with the best episodes of Black Mirror – season three’s San Junipero and Nosedive stand out for me – Hang the DJ is also one of the most engaging and life-affirming efforts.

Rich in its commentary of modern dating – the uncertainty, anxiety, disposable nature of people and experiences will resonate with audiences; as will its interpretations of the wasted time dating the wrong people, and meaningless, unfulfilling relationships that come with it.

Yet this delves deeper and onto a far more emotional playing field of the human psyche. Much like Nosedive’s all-consuming obsession with 5-star ratings and nothing else, this particular story deals with a physical and emotional need for companionship and what begins as another robotic approach to humanity quickly (and organically) transforms into a poignant search for love and longing for someone.

And there’s a brilliantly conveyed parallel to how people use online dating apps in 2018. Tinder, Plenty of Fish, and Bumble are firmly a thing of the past here. Now, matching is totally out of the individual’s hands and solely the decision of a computer.

With that comes worn down and, ironically so, stripped-of-emotional-attachment participants. Meaningless sex for a predetermined time (according to each couple’s device timer) throws them into something they may despise from the start but they go with it anyway- sound familiar?

It’s a fascinating projection of how 21st Century dating consists largely of casual encounters or people simply using each other to pass the time. Here, one can substitute bedpost notches or loneliness for information gathering. Which is worse, though?

We’re invited to question who makes these rules mandatory. What environment are these people actually living in?

It’s also a great look at the so-called rules of engagement and the basis of people obeying certain conventions in order to ‘play’ the dating game. And just like real-life rules are there to be broken.

If you’ve ever been in the dating game, the story will resonate and in many ways. The feeling of going through an endless cycle of encounters and relationships is often tiresome, and the result is often the same: testing out a number of people in order to find ‘the one’.

Read more: San Junipero deserves its Emmy win

As we learn during Frank and Amy’s interactions, a computer cannot solely determine a person’s match and AI cannot determine chemistry between organic life. Its message, as we learn towards the end of the episode, is abundantly clear: you shape your own future.

When we discover it’s all a simulator, there’s a sense of relief. A sigh safe in the knowledge that it’s a tech advancement and, low and behold, just another dating app – albeit a scarily advanced one.

Amidst themes of AI controlling people and the subservient nature of humanity to do anything – in this case to find that special partner – is a stark realisation of modern life.

Hang the DJ is season four’s undoubted peak. In many respects, it’s up there with Emmy Award-winning San Junipero; affirming it as one of the show’s best episodes for its cleverly conceived concept and how scarily true it is for a semi-futuristic take on the world.

Black Mirror seasons 1-4 is available to stream on Netflix now.

Read more:

Big Little Lies deserves all the Emmys in 2018

Stranger Things 2 was a huge disappointment

Here’s why you should watch Netflix’s The Punisher