Black Mirror is back after a long hiatus, and many believe that season six has been a solid return to form for the much-loved Netflix anthology series. Arguably the strongest episode of the five new ones is the second offering, Loch Henry. This isn’t a traditional tech-focused Black Mirror episode. It’s more of a tribute to the booming true crime genre that has flourished in the streaming era.
LOCH HENRY: Every Loch has its Monster pic.twitter.com/RTW4EwTzAG
— Netflix Geeked (@NetflixGeeked) June 5, 2023
The Theme of Episode May Startle Some Viewers.
Viewers will have noticed the word Loch when looking at the episode title for the second entry to the sixth season of Charlie Brooker’s mind-bending series. However, it wasn’t followed by Ness, the word that most mainstream audiences would associate with it. Still, seeing that word may have had people speculating about what the episode could involve, with ideas about monsters coming to mind.
Of course, that’s because the Loch Ness monster is famous worldwide. Aside from the numerous documentaries and passed-down tales about the Scottish beast, it’s also prevalent in entertainment. For example, one of the top mobile games is Loch Ness Attack, and one of the best real slots online is Loch Ness Loot. The latter features the mysterious creature on the thumbnail, which is instantly recognizable as the legendary monster.
Loch Henry steers away from these traditional Scottish horror tropes, though, and serves up something completely unexpected. Instead, it deals with a true crime story that happened in the area many years prior to the protagonists’ arrival. The two filmmakers at the heart of the story decide to make a true crime documentary for Netflix-inspired Streamberry and, in the process, unearth some dark and disturbing secrets that would have been best left buried in the past. Loch Henry does have a monster, but not the one many people may have expected.
Where Does Loch Henry Stack Up Against Other Scary Black Mirror Episodes?
Black Mirror episodes are often frightening, as they tend to give viewers a glimpse of what the future could look like when technology takes a firmer hold on society. The result is often disastrous and usually reads as a lesson to be careful what you wish for when it comes to devices. Some episodes are designed to be pure horror stories, imagining the worst possible situations to do with technology. Loch Henry could easily be considered the scariest Black Mirror episode that veered away from traditional tech themes, but it might not be the most horrific of the lot.
Some would say the season three episode, Playtest, holds that crown. The 2016 offering was a depiction of the deadly potential of virtual reality and went down as one of the best psychological horror episodes on television in recent years. Another Black Mirror entry that was voted among the scariest is White Christmas. It plays with the idea of criminals being banished to never-ending purgatory simulations where they are haunted by their crimes.
Loch Henry is a truly disturbing episode of television that true crime fans will enjoy. It’s not a typical Black Mirror episode, but that shouldn’t deter people who love Brooker’s series. If you haven’t seen it yet, you are in for a few shocking twists.
