Hotel Reverie

This episode had the potential to be amazing, but it was ultimately let down by a major casting misstep. Issa Rae, unfortunately, brought zero charisma to the role and felt completely miscast-she just didn't suit the character at all. It really pulled me out of the experience.

On the brighter side, Emma was absolutely wonderful. She brought so much charm and warmth to every scene she was in, making her a true standout. It's a shame the rest of the episode couldn't rise to her level.

That said, the cinematography was stunning, and the rest of the cast did a great job. With a stronger lead performance, this could have been something truly special.

I'm only giving it a 5 and not a 1 because the girl who played Dorothy had a 10/10 performance and sadly it was wasted having to act along side Issa Rae. Idk who decided to cast Issa Rae in this but she lacked emotion and was a terrible choice for a lead. Anyone else would have been better, hell even Akwafina would have been a more suitable choice. Great idea for a plot, could have been amazing but super disappointing. Dorothy was fantastic and I hope she does more amazing movies and shows because she had talent. Black mirror take note next time that you don't need to hire popular stars for your shows. Just hire the best option.

Some really nice moments and the concept was entertaining. But there were many illogical moments that were very frustrating to watch. E.g. With Redream; it's a company with 'state of the art' technology, which hires A List actors, but it gets the actors to run through their scenes live, with absolutely no ability to pause, cut or rewind? Its unbelievable that they would use a system that would waste resources like that and risk scenes and storylines not going to plan.

As many others have said as well, Issa Ray as Brandy was so oddly awkward, her speech and facial expressions and tone of voice did not fit in place here. She is supposed to come across as a bit odd and out of place as she's a modern woman in the world of 100 years ago, but her interpretation of this is jarring and unnatural to watch. It makes her look like she is just a bad actor or was given terrible direction.

Which takes me back to my first point, as if the producers and directors of Redream would allow the kind of bad acting (of the character Brandy) to continue in the scenes without doing a second take! There was no pause button built into the million dollar system used to record??

Emma Corrin was wonderful and the concept of acting within a virtual AI world was really interesting though. I hope they give this concept another go but improve on it.

This was actually a good episode ruined by a single character that is Brandy Friday, i didn't mind Awkwafina that much, she was bland but she did nothing to ruin the episode. Hats off to Emma Corrin, she single handedly carries this entire episode on her shoulders, mesmerizing performance. Dear showrunners, you need to get the casting right when you have such a good premise. Brandy Friday was horrible, i have never seen the actress before, maybe she's a fine actress in her other works but dear god she was insufferable in this episode. An easy 8 and above episode brought down to an average 6 for me.

This episode presents the interesting idea of placing a new character into a classic movie with AI. Unfortunately, the main character simply does not fit the role at all, while the supporting cast acts circles around them.

The bright spot in this episode is Emma Corrin. She absolutely nails the period-piece role to the point where it makes the main character seem like she's not even in the same film.

I have no problem with Issa Rae. But she made approximately zero effort to play the character differently than the one she always plays. Dumping her into a 1950s era setting with her modern accent and mannerisms just didn't work at all. It boggles the mind how they let this one slide. Honestly, they probably should have swapped Issa with the confectionary girl from the previous episode, and let Issa do episode 2. At least she would have fit into the setting.

Akwafina is also there for some reason. She doesn't fit very well either, but it's a smaller role so it doesn't quite stand out as much as Issa.

There are a lot of cool ideas that could spawn from this concept. It's a very clever idea that has legs, it just needs a cast that fits the setting.