It’s a tale as old as time: two young people hit it off. They’re living in a vaguely future-ish, vaguely retro world, with the technology to read potential couples for compatibility within the accuracy of a percentage point. A match, and you’re golden; a declaration of romantic doom, and why waste time? These two young people have results they believe, but don’t necessarily trust. What do you do when science doesn’t align with the heart?
If this sounds to you like the premise of a Black Mirror episode, you would be correct. That’s loosely the synopsis of Hang the DJ, the fourth installment of the British futurist anthology series’ fourth season, released on Netflix in late 2017. It’s also the basic summary of Fingernails, a new Apple TV+ film released this month and the latest in a string of underbaked yet overdone emulations of the show which presaged the future with varying levels of clarity.
