A new season of my favourite series is about to be released. In anticipation, I reviewed the IMDb ratings of all previous episodes. While the data suggests a noticeable decline in quality over time, my affection for the series remains undiminished. Data source: IMDb. Tools used: Tableau for data visualisation; Figma for design refinement; ChatGPT to write this text.

Posted by paustovsky

26 comments

  1. Hang the DJ is a great episode but I don’t understand how it has the 2nd-highest rating of the entire series when it’s just San Junipero’s reheated nachos with a slightly different setup/twist.

  2. You had chatgpt write the text? What text? Labeling the episodes?

  3. While I definitely want to see this show match its peak around seasons 3 & 4, I do find that it’s harder to “surprise” audiences anymore considering how wild real life and tech can get. Some of my favorite episodes are just super well made and are not futuristic at all….such as Smithereens.

    I will definitely say the Miley Cyrus episode and Mazey Day were truly awful. I need to watch the “Devil” episode again soon because I honestly don’t remember anything from it.

  4. *data shows a noticeable decline when it was acquired by Netflix

    The show, to me, worked because it was gritty. It’s all far too polished now it’s on Netflix.

  5. Man, the show might as well have ended with Black Museum as a conclusion to the series.

    And I even LOVED Bandersnatch, but I was watching with my siblings & cousins over Christmas so being in a group surely made it more fun. But S5 was just very disapointing, and looking at the S6 ratings, it looks like this is the averaque quality we can expect

  6. surprised Entire History of You isn’t the highest rated episode, but I suppose fewer people watched the original two seasons.

  7. Surprised to see that Demon 79 is below average, I thought that one was solid

  9. Metal head is the lowest rated in S4, but I think about that one more than most of the rest – except San Junipero, plug me in when the time comes.

  10. You’ve labeled the episodes with the highest rating, but you can’t leave us hanging on that 5.3 episode, OP. That needs a label as well!

  11. I really liked Hang the DJ but it isn’t discussed much. It’s such a beautiful and thoughtful piece about love and finding the right person to share your life with.

  12. 15 Million Merits is by far the best episode and I refuse to accept any other opinions about it

  13. Implausibly low rating on Be Right Back. That’s all I have to say

  14. First list I’ve ever seen with San Junipero not listed as the clear #1

  15. The show has definitely been on a downward trajectory, which is a shame as there are some absolute banger episodes in earlier series. I can’t think of anything in the latest series that warranted a rewatch, sadly.

  16. Surprised that the pig one ranked low, It is the best in the series for me

  17. Play test and shut up and dance were the best of episodes of S3 and should have the highest rating.

  18. When I first discovered it they had a couple seasons out and it was so good. Every time they released a new season it was always disappointing. This graph checks out

  19. Surprised that series 6 is so lowly rated. I thought Loch Henry and Beyond the Sea were both good and a nice return to form for the show

  20. Beyond the sea is top 10 of the serie at least that’s crazy

  21. Honestly surprised S6 is rated even as high as it is: I found the season vapid compared to the rest of the series.

  22. Some great episodes in those first few seasons.

    White Christmas really fucked me up though. I had numerous shrooms trips around the time of watching that and it helped contribute toward a lot of bad trips. That whole ‘we can punish you by flicking this switch and in an hour of our time passing, you’re suffering for multiple years’ really played a number on me.

    I remember checking my Alexa app the next morning one time to see exactly what I’d asked and multiple times a minute, for about an hour straight was just me saying “Alexa, what time is it?” over and over again.

    San Junipero took me a couple watches to really appreciate, but fully stands out as one of my favourites.

    Oh and season 3 episode 3 – Shut up and Dance purely for the cast. Jerome Flynn is just phenomenal.

    Could say I quite align with these scores.

  23. I must be in the minority but I felt like San Junipero was just meh.

  25. The Jodie episode is the best for me. Even then it showed the insanity of everything being recorded…

  26. A little surprised that season 5 episode 3 is rated that low and the second lowest of the series – I remember liking it. Although I am obviously not a celebrity, it basically predicted the Free Britney movement that immediately months after then.

    White Christmas being that high doesn’t surprise me, it’s a great episode. Severance’s creator said that he was inspired that episode to eventually create Severance, so it’s had a lasting influence

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