I had really high hopes for this episode. Its premise is fantastic. A service that lets you see your child's exact location and even see through their eyes? But it just didn't deliver. Don't get me wrong, this wasn't a bad episode. But it doesn't stack up to Black Mirror's other episodes. The ending was also predictable and somewhat bland. 7/10

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The initial premise of this episode had me filled with great anticipation for another thought provoking gem. However as the story rolled on it became as predictable as spinning a 50 pence piece on a table. It never quite got to the edge and inevitability spun to a flat and foreseen ending.

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I'll admit to being initially underwhelmed by this one, but as it went on it got better and better, with the story becoming more and more compelling and the agenda of Sara's overbearing mum Maria becoming more controlling. With all the enhancements in technology and society's craving for more and more technical integration the real scare here is this felt like something that could perhaps be a reality one day. The arguments for and against the implant device are well balanced, you see things from viewpoints of Sara and Maria. Superb performances from Rosemarie DeWitt and Brenna Harding, and wonderfully directed, bravo Jodie Foster. Another sizzling episode. 9/10

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A good idea badly executed.The story makes perfect sense in the first half of the episode: an over protective mother enroles in a beta program for child surveilance that involves a chip being implanted into her 6 y.o dauhter's brain and a tablet on wich said daughter cand be located any time (GPS tracking is implied). As extra features, the device also sports real time surveillance (live retina video feed) and parental control filters (violent or explicit images are blurred/pixelated, audio is scrambled). This feature is optional and clearly a very bad idea to begin with, but the mother ends up abusing it, pushing her daugheter into developing a very predictable deviant behaviour (stabbing herself with a pencil just to see blood). At a doctor advice, she then decides to switch off the parental controls and puts the tablet away for what should've been forever.Fast forward to the second half:The action resumes with a 15 y.o teenager and a suspiciously unaged mother (they really should've done a better job in the first half, making the actress look younger - but this is just a small mistake). Predictably, the girl starts shagging her childhood friend, that now grew up to be a furniture delivery guy/drug dealer. The mom finds up her daughter is lying to her so she powers on the old tablet and catches a live porn feed involving her daughter and the before mentioned boyfriend, drug abuse, etc. Instead of confronting her daughter, she decides to do some cyber helicopter parenting, blackmails the boyfriend into dumping her daughter and drugs her with an emergency second day pill so she will lose the implied pregnancy. The daughter gets sick at school from the pill and finds up this way that her mother is still using the tablet to spy on her. Goes home, finds the tablet and beats the life out of her mother with said tablet, then runs away leaving her mother in a very poor state.
What's wrong with all that?In the first half, the doctor says to the mother that the Arkangel program is already banned in Europe and will be shut down in the US later that year.You also don't have to be a software engineer to figure out that the Arkangel application needs to communicate with a server in order to work. It's also subscription based, but she was admitted as a trial in the beta testing.All these considering, the audience is forced to believe that the tablet based surveillance system still works 9 years after it was banned in the US.Further more, the daughter finds the tablet and just acceses the application without any kind of login security (when they show the mother how to use the tablet, the operator shows her that she must enter a PIN to use it).So, basically, the whole second half action is based on a false premise that the Arkangel system still works, and anybody that can get his hands on the tablet (that's just lying around under the pillow) can access what was supposed to be a very secure app without any authentification.

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Ok so, this story is all about an over protective mother, who since the beggining is shown how scared she is that her little girl gets hurt in anyway , her mother is way too f-up . AND i love it! It's realistic, there are real overprotective parents all around the world and that's ot the kids fault ,its the parents where they invade their childs privacy.the mother doesn't let her daughter make her own mistakes ( cause well thats called evolving amd learning) and ultimately makes her child have issues ( as is shown in the chapter as how she wants to see and taste and touch everything, cause for so long it was denied to her) leading up to a perfect ending, where you can see the value of this episode ' if you pull too hard on a leash, it will eventually break'

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Without giving spoilers, the story in itself is rather simple: it is about a mother worried about how she will manage her daughter´s education all by herself. She therefore becomes overprotective and resorts to technology to follow her everyday activity. The acting is good, the direction is excellent as it really leaves the suspense of knowing whether the daughter actually needs to be kept under protection. The end is a very good lesson to learn for any parent who would want to know a bit too much about their children.

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After the brilliant start, this second episode is a major downer. Possibly the worst of the whole series. A scary DeWitt, with an ugly haircut, plays Marie, a woman in her late 40s who becomes the single mother of baby Sara.
IVF is my guess, because Marie does not look like the type of woman who welcomes male attention. I read somewhere Marie described as a 'young' single mother. DeWitt is 46 and looks like it. Nothing wrong with that, but 'young mother' is not.
Anyway, Marie one day almost loses her precious child in a playground and decides to have a chip implanted in Sara's head so that she can check Sara's location and see what Sara sees, via a tablet.
Lots of reviewers claimed that it was 'too easy' to foresee where the plot was heading. That's a lazy way to follow a story, just trying to guess what the plot twist could be. For me is the whole narrative that matters, with or without plot twist.
What I disliked in this episode is not the predictability. It is easy to guess trouble ahead with a teenage daughter and an over-protective mother without a life of her own. I disliked: Sara's excessive bad behaviour, Marie hypocrisy and cowardice of not confronting her daughter, and the over-melodramatic ending.
Not to mention the creepiness of Marie spying on her child's sexual activity and interfering with her life, without saying a single word about what is going on.
In short, I disliked the whole narrative and not its predictability. I saw at the end that Jodie Foster directed and I was definitely underwhelmed.
PS and yes, the actress playing teenage Sara looked older than 15 - the whole episode had a problem with age.

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In this episode, a mom gets the power she thinks she wants. A chip embedded in her daughter's head allows her -- mom -- to see everything her child sees, and even pixilate out anything disturbing her daughter might encounter, like blood, or an argument.
This is the kind of power tech is actually close to giving parents today. Already there are apps that let you watch on a map where your child is walking, see what they're looking at online, read their texts, scan their photos and even tell their temperature and blood pressure from afar. A new app being developed by a company called Kiddo promises to compare the food your child eats with the exercise their Fitbit shows them getting. If calories consumed are greater than calories burned, the app then lets the parent prescribe a certain amount of extra exertion: 'That sundae means you have to do 23 more jumping jacks, Olivia!' We are told we can and must control everything our children do/see/think/worry about and, apparently, eat.
Parents are just starting to understand that with great power -- in fact, with superpowers never before afforded to human beings -- comes great angst. After all, if we CAN watch everything our kids do -- must we? What about our relationship to the child? What about trust? Privacy? Our own happy memories of time we spent far beyond our parents' eyes and ears? Are our kids our prisoners, to be constantly supervised? Our patients, to be constantly monitored? Or are they our pets -- beloved, but wholly dependent on us? That all feels bad. And yet: What if something 'bad' happens and we could have prevented it with more vigilance?
That's the push the marketers are giving parents: Now that you CAN see all and prevent all -- why wouldn't you?
Kudos to Arkangel for showing us, in Gothic detail, exactly where that could lead.
And let's hear it for trust.

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I'm only giving this episode 2 stars due to how entertaining it was to make fun of. I'll start off with the sheer creepy stalker vibes that the mom radiates. Then you have that same damn dog she passes every day for like 10 years.. How old is that damn dog! Along with the fact that she started watching porn with a creepy boy in elementary school, it does not surprise me that she was hooking up with guys in the back of a van at age 15. Overall, black mirror really dropped the ball on this one.. plot holes, scattered, slow, and didn't really go anywhere. Started with a good concept, ended poorly.

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Marie is an overprotective mother of Sara since she was born. When Sara is a little girl, Marie loses her in a playground and decides to experiment a new technology to control what Sara can see or not and track her, implanting a chip in her. When Sara is a teenager, Marie promises to remove the parental controls from the device and put it aside. One night, Sara stays until late hours making love with her boyfriend Trick in his van by the lake and Marie restarts the device, seeing what her daughter is doing. What will Sara do when she discovers what her mother did?
'Arkangel' is an episode of 'Black Mirror' that makes any father or mother think of how far he or she shall control his or her kids using technology and keeping their privacy. There are smartest ways to do that not necessarily using a parental control of an electronic device, but with dialogue. The conclusion is absolutely predictable, despite of Marie best intentions. My vote is eight.
Title (Brazil): 'Arkangel'

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One brilliant thing about Black Mirror is that despite each episode having a common thread- technology- no two episodes are the same. Sure, there's the 'typical' Black Mirror episode like White Bear with its mindf***ing ending, but not even any of those episodes stick to a formula. ArkAngel is different in tone and style to any other Black Mirror episode, yet still retains the essence of Black Mirror.
There's more focus on characters, with the main focus being on Sara's development and her relationship with her mother and her boyfriend. And that's good, because without the characterisation it would fail at achieving its purpose. Its tone is more emotional, less dry than the black humour of most Black Mirror episodes. That's not to say there isn't any black humour here though.
ArkAngel is a warning against overprotective parenting, an issue that's relevant in the era of the 'snowflake generation'. Should children and even teenagers be shielded from every aspect of the real world that might be dangerous or uncomfortable for them? This fable suggests attempts to protect children from reality will ultimately backfire. As the ArkAngel device eventually isolates Sara from other kids, her mother turns it off. But the real world is a scary place and entering it is a sudden change. Though Jodie Foster does a pretty good job of showing this (along with a few laughs as Sara is introduced to porn and violence) perhaps a slightly larger emphasis on how disturbing this change would be would have been more effective.
The really great parts come in the second half as an older Sara does things typical teenagers do and her overprotective mother interferes into her most intimate moments through her device. This results in a great showdown between Sara and her mother, although a proper wrapping up of her relationship with her boyfriend would have been good. It's an unusually open-ended ending for Black Mirror, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
So what can be said about ArkAngel? It's an excellent Black Mirror episode, with a tone and focus that helps it feel fresh and different to any other episode (as well as the awesome concept).

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Black mirror has made a reputation for itself by creating and presenting captivating short stories with dystopian sci-fiction as the backdrop. It has always inspired awe and mix of many other emotions for its viewers. But, this episode directed by Jody Foster has failed completely in all fronts. You can skip this one. Discontinuous movement of scenes, weak story and lazy scripting was evident with every failed attempt to build any character. I wish Black Mirror hadn't included this one.

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The idea for the story is interesting. An overprotective mother buys an all knowing surveillance kit for her daughter, making it possible for her to see what the daughter sees through a tablet, and making it possible to blur out everything not suitable for children. As soon as the surveillance kit - called the Arkangel - is installed, you start wondering how this little piece of device will turn everything upside down.
Unfortunately, everything turns out exactly how you expect it to. It's the mother's overly protective parenthood and the 'little girl's' rebellion against the her. We've seen it times and times before, and it doesn't fit the format of Black Mirror.
The acting is fine, but not anything worth noticing. The characters are made very flat and uninteresting. They are all extremely sterotypical - the overprotective mother, the daughter who wants to be free and the 'dangerous' drug selling boyfriend.
Overall, the episode is not necessarily bad, it's just not good either. A mediocre episode not on par with some of the other excellent stories from Black Mirror.
6.5/10

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The second episode in the fourth run of Black Mirror was already known to me on the strength of Jodie Foster directing it; quite something for a British guy I knew from his scathing takedowns of Big Brother episodes in The Guardian all those years ago. Putting the gender milestone (first episode directed by a woman) to one side, Arkangel is surprisingly run-of-the-mill, even though it has a lot of potential. The concept is easily within reach in many ways, and as a parent my first feeling is to protect my child from anything that might upset them, and to want to know where they are at all times. At the same time though, I see that stopping them being exposed to anything in the real world will probably do more harm than good in most situations.
As a result, most of us should be easily hooked into the dilemma posed by this technology and the extended version we see here. The episode though, doesn't really make the viewer feel that conflict; it is very clear wat is felt and it plays out in a way that is far too on the nose for the most part, and doesn't really cause conflict, or the shivers - in fact it does just what you know it will. This in itself is a weakness since, we know overprotection will go bad, but yet I didn't connect to that challenge from it - it let me off the hook with the way it is straightforward in its narrative. The production standards, ideas, cast, etc are all of high quality, but in the end it is too simplistic in what it does and the message it is delivering.
A surprisingly disappointing episode considering the potential in the material, and the talent behind it.

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The negative reception this episode is receiving is honestly baffling to me. While the season 4 opener, USS Callister took a much more out there approach; for me Arkangel is classic Black Mirror and Charlie Brooker, and its simplistic and stripped down approach works to great effect. Upon hearing that this episode had an indie feel to it - along with having Jodie Foster directing - I couldn't have been more stoked.
Here we follow Marie, a single mother who, after losing her three-year old daughter Sara at a park, decides to take part in a prototype technology. The company, Arkangel allow Marie to take part in a free trial; this includes her daughter being chipped, which gives Marie access to not just Sara's location, but the ability to see through her eyes. However, as her daughter ages, Marie finds that the added feature with the Arkangel product - the ability to shield Sara from so-called 'harmful' images - becomes an issue after finding Sara self-harming. From here, the relationship between mother and daughter is strained as Sara's curiosity grows, and Marie's obsession deepens.
This may be one of Black Mirror's most thought-provoking episodes. It tackles the topic of helicopter parenting in such a dark yet wholly realistic manner. It's definitely the acting that aids in this; Rosemarie DeWitt is incredible as struggling mother, Marie - and the actresses who portray Sara throughout the years are great, too.
Unlike USS Callister which, while fantastic, lacked the deeply disturbing factor that many Black Mirror episodes include. Arkangel includes a good dose of downright uncomfortable imagery and scenarios; most notably in the powerful yet wholly traumatising climax - which demonstrate just how dangerous helicopter parenting can get when a child's privacy is imposed upon. And as for the final scene? Well, that's one I'll be thinking about for a while.
All in all, Arkangel is a classic episode of Black Mirror - despite some predictability. With great direction by Jodie Foster, a poignant story to tell, and a climax that made me feel weak. Arkangel is an episode of Black Mirror that won't leave me for a while.

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This episode is another meh. A poor start to season 4. Watch the first 5 minutes and you can easily predict the remainder of the episode. Overall, this is 10 minutes worth of content in a 1 hour show.

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Anyone who has seen the previous episodes would tell you that this is the worst episode of Black Mirror. I was cringing all the time at the acting and the plot. It was so predictable that you could tell within the first five minutes what was going to happen next. I had assumed that all the predictable portions of the episode would be sub-plots, and I was waiting for the actual plot to begin, but unfortunately, that was the actual plot. It felt as if it were written by a 14 year old for a homemade movie.This episode taints the reputation and name of Black Mirror.

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This was an episode that could have been shortened to ten minutes. Black Mirror is an amazing television show, but Arkangel fails to live up to the standard set by previous episodes. The ending was bland and predictable. The story line lacked depth. Usually Dark Mirror episodes make me feel some emotion(s), not this one.

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Honestly I was anticipating this episode the most since watching the trailer to hearing Jodie Foster was directing, but I had many issues with this episode and I'm just going to lay it out how I saw it.
The first half was fine, it immediately drops you into the story of mother, daughter, grandfather, a small family unit but loving unit. Sara, age three, disappears from a park her mother brought her to which starts the plot line going forward. She is brought to this company who implants a small device in Sara's head, which allows her mother to track her location, view her vitals/statistics, view exactly what her daughter is seeing as she's seeing it, and is actually able to filter things from her vision; all on a handheld tablet. You can almost immediately tell what the conflict of this episode is going to be, and it happens, the over protective parent and this device results in this kid to be bullied/made fun of, unable to identify conflict/emotional distress, and worst of all shows the girl so morbidly curious about these negative feelings that she proceeds to injure her hand for blood (which she can't see as it's filtered/blurred out) and even attacks her mother. Thankfully, the mother makes the decision to remove the controls from the device and lead a new normal non-surveillance life. And that is where the story ends, personally.
What I found trouble with accepting in the later half of the episode is how ridiculous the parenting/relationship with the daughter was. I do NOT mean to come off as preachy, judging, or anything of the sort, but in what world is it acceptable for a FIFTEEN years old girl to be having sex and trying cocaine of all things? I do not think the mother was overreacting to any situation to be honest, I find the only thing I was surprised was that she didn't give a whooping on her daughter like she was yelling at the boy. I know if my child was lying to me about where they were, having sex with an adult at age fifteen, and then later trying coke with the dude I would have kept my daughter locked in the house until a new season passes. The mother's behavior in the second half could be considered helicopter parenting, I do not disagree, but if the daughter was not acting irresponsibly in the first place literally none of the later plot would have happened. Sara should have answered her phone/checked in with her mother, or just not lied about where she was going in the first place. Marie called Sara's friends, their mothers, and used the tablet as a last resource when her daughter was unheard from and had no known whereabouts.
The ending of this episode definitely made it come full circle, but instead of a message of 'Overstepping parental boundaries' I found 'You did not discipline your child enough here she goes off the walls'.

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A boring, pedantic story about the dangers of helicopter parents that was completely unnecessary. It doesn't really fit into the series, it's completely predictable, and not worth watching. Considering how amazing the first episode of the new season, this is even more disappointing.
Everything about this episode is bland; boring performances by boring actors, a dull, plodding story that has more in common with a Lifetime movie than any of the other episodes from the series. The only thing 'genius' about this episode is the new levels of banality it manages to reach.

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So, wow. I don't get how this is getting so much hate. I really have no idea.
This is a very down to earth episode about the human mind and helicopter-parents pushed to a Black Mirror standard. I can get behind everything unfolding in this episode and at all times am mesmerised at how interesting it all is.
I loved it from beginning to end. Fun to analyse, but I'll do that for myself at some point when rewatching. I'm sure there'll be a lot of videos online doing just that. I hope this doesn't become more hated on than it already is. I mean wow, it's a touchy subject for sure but .. give it a chance. Some of the flaws in here some see I just don't. Heads off to all the people involved and to Jodie Foster.
One of my favourite episodes of this whole series. Also, the age thing with Sara - I do not think it is an issue. But that'll be a spoiler if I elaboreted on it further. I think there are theorys that could clear that up or she just looks four years older. That is life, that happens, nothing bad or flawed about that.

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If I had never watched black mirror before and didn't know what to expect of the TV Show I would say it's a good episode. The problem is that it doesn't stand for the Hype we were all waiting for. The episode is just to predictable..

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There was the emotional punch I associate with black mirror and the usual spiral of tension and fear..sadly much of the dark, grittiness of this show has been lost in it's netflix ownership. The utter despair I felt and the wrenching of my guts is now more glossy and closer to a typical US crime drama.
That said; this is far closer rthan the first episode of this season which was ..ugh
I have kids and can see how this could easily take off for some parents. The utter panic of losing a child looms large.It would be extremely tempting to think a small, painless procedure could be the ultimate in protection for them (see s02ep02 White Bear) but in your care you'd be blinded, as Marie was, by the long term ramifications for your child. Also, Marie was unable to have the chip removed due to the demise of the Arkangel company.
I'm wondering if Sara's fate will be revealed to us later in the season or a future season perhaps?
I hope things continue in this way for the show as another SS Callister or San Junipero is far from welcome by me

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I'll try to keep this review short.
Basic premise of this episode: Helicopter parenting in the future and its moral and ethical consequences depending on age.
If seeing what your 2 year old does is fine, is seeing what your 4 year old does, too? When does it stop? When is it fine to see everything, when is it fine to be alerted of stress events, when is it fine to see narcotic alerts or health alerts?
How much does this help a parent? How much does this destroy privacy?
Watch this episode and you will have trouble answering every one of those questions.

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Once the overprotective mother has an implant installed, she has set things in motion that can only get worse. Sara, in an opening scene, chases after a cat and her mother becomes obsessed with protecting her. She has kind of iPad that can be used to check her heart rhythms, her nutrition, and most of all, what she sees. The kicker is a device that blocks anything that may be traumatic, so the girl grows to adolescence having a totally sheltered life. When the plug is pulled, she begins to experiment like crazy with her peers. Soon the mother resurrects the device with horrible consequences. The episode is really hard to watch. The mother is really the central character in that she can never accept her daughter being on her own.

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