First of all, this was a great concept for a Black Mirror episode, although the show had touched upon dating and relationship stuff before in various ways, this episode brings new ideas to the table and develops them very well in a way that is fun to watch.I believe it still isn't on par with the best of Black Mirror however, mainly because of the predictable ending with the weird Big Brother knows best message and feel to it that seems sort of contradictory to the classic Black Mirror stuff (we are just left to accept that there are no ulterior motives of the makers of this perfect compatibility testing simulation, there are no extra factors in play, there are no actual mistakes made by this dating system) but also due to the fact that the way it is revealed to us that the main couple is in a simulation was kinda obvious, there wasn't really that much clever foreshadowing or subtlety to it, a bit disappointing.I just suspected a bit more would be in play near the end than "In the future we will be able to simulate relationships in advance and have a perfect idea of compatibility before even meeting" and I was left saying "Oh, that's it?"

This was truly a masterpiece in Black Mirror.As far as how sweet the ending was, the episode actually want to bring us a message.The lyrics of the music in the ending: Burn down the disco Hang the blessed DJ Because the music that they constantly play It says nothing to me about my life Hang the blessed DJ Because the music they constantly playIf you link the music to the show, the disco was the arena the digital clones dating in the simulations, the DJ was the app itself while the music means the 1,000 simulations that the app has made to match the pair.Similarly to "USS Callister" and "White Christmas", this episode was exploring the concept of digital clones and the moral sense behind. Yes, in the real world Frank and Amy were using the dating app that showed 99.8 percent match, but this comes with a cost of torturing the 1,000 digital clones of themselves in the simulations to obtain the outcome.Matt told Potter when they were discussing about how Greta torturing her own digital clone to be her housekeeper "She's only made of code, she's no real, screw her" when Potter expressed empathy to the digital clone who was tortured and broke down to finally agree to be Greta's housekeeper.This share a similar situation in Hang the DJ, where 1,000 of the digital clones were used as tools just to search for a perfect match for the hosts. The digital clones, like in the White Christmas and USS Callister, clearly have their own emotions and independent mind and were the subject of abusing by the hosts. That is why the title was called "Hang the DJ" because the lyrics can be match perfectly to the show:Burn down the disco (Burn down the simulations) Hang the blessed DJ (Close the dating app) Because the music that they constantly play (The simulations in the apps) It says nothing to me about my life (Has nothing to do in my real world) Hang the blessed DJ (Close the dating app) Because the music they constantly play (The simulations in the apps) On the Leeds side-streets that you slip down (The things that the digital clones go through) The provincial towns you jog 'round (The emotions that the digital close have) Hang the DJ, hang the DJ, hang the DJ Hang the DJ, hang the DJ, hang the DJ Hang the DJ, hang the DJ, hang the DJ Hang the DJ, hang the DJ Hang the DJ, hang the DJ Hang the DJ, hang the DJ, hang the DJ Hang the DJ, hang the DJ Hang the DJ, hang the DJ Hang the DJ, hang the DJ, hang the DJ Hang the DJ, hang the DJ Hang the DJ, hang the DJ Hang the DJ, hang the DJ, hang the DJ Hang the DJ (the 1,000 simulations)Is it really moral to torture or toying our digital clones who have the same mind and feeling as us just for our own pleasures or making our choices? Is it really good that technology make choices for our whole life even in love situation? These are the two topics that Black Mirror trying to explore throughout the whole series and really a food of thought for everyone.

Who else was confused by the end on this one? Was it just showing us that our modern day iPhone apps are sorta acting like the episode we just watched?

The fourth season of Black Mirror has mostly been a mixed bag that tends towards disappointment; the last couple of episodes in particular were overly simple or overly bleak (in that order). Hang the DJ is one of the episodes that everyone seemed to rate, and that is how I found it too. The plot sees a walled city where people use dating technology to go through a series of relationships on their way to getting their perfect match. More or less like we try to do in real life, but in this episode each relationship is given a defined period of time, is then ended, and the data used for the later matches.This device mocks the Tinder generation in a way that is realistic but also exaggerated for sci-fi effect, but what the episode does well is produce an engaging relationship at the core of the story. Amy and Frank are delivered with good chemistry, and in particular Campbell does well to contrast her time with Frank with the pointlessness of the casual sex relationships. This builds well, and I did get tied up with the idea and the specifics of the characters. The ending is pretty good, even if it has a bit too much of a feel of simple tidiness (the type of ending that makes you go "oh, right" as opposed to being twisted by it). That said it is a positive and cleverly written episode and while it doesn't compete with the best Black Mirror episodes, it is easily the best one of this season so far.