Black Mirror, for me, went through a different phase each season. I will use these phases as building blocks to review the series as a whole.

Start-up: At this point, the series was new, wild, very confronting and, unfortunately, completely unknown to the outside (read: non-BBC) world. Everything was right. The creator had an idea and he made it happen on the small screen. In my opinion, the best episodes were created in this season for just that reason. While underrated, the brilliance caused the series to earn a second season.

Growth: This is when I picked up on the series because it got better and more reviews overall. I really enjoyed every episode except the very first one and I could only hope for more brilliance from the creators. The writing was excellent and the concept was still incredibly cool and unique.

Maturity: The series achieved its peak with the White Christmas episode. The show got a broader fanbase and Netflix decided to throw money into the concept to scale it up to six episodes a season. This was the moment I, and with me probably many more, got very excited for the future of the series. However, the new episodes were still enjoyable but every fan knew this was not the rebellious and brilliant series it used to be. It lost its touch with its core, which mostly showed in the unusually happy episode San Junipero. Don't get me wrong, that episode was brilliant, but not as 'Black Mirror' as the striking episodes in the beginning (like Five Million Merits) used to be.

Decline: I watched the fourth season right when it came out, and I let it sink in for a few months before I wanted to write this review. There was not a single episode that got me on the edge of my seat, and there was not a single episode that really got me thinking. What I loved about Black Mirror was the challenge it gave us to look differently at (all our behavior with) technology. However, this season, more than ever, let the good guys win, had inexplicable and unreasonable plots (instead of technology, it were the people causing bad events) or it was outright not 'black' at all (Hang The DJ, which I will review separately because of its wasted potential).

For me, Black Mirror has ended. It was great as long as it lasted. But every great concept like this was great because it was what it was at the time: a niche. A niche talking to a specific audience that wants to be challenged. When Netflix wants to produce more episodes in a shorter time window, it comes at a cost. The cost of the niche that I valued so much at the beginning of the series. So right now, it is time to find a new niche series to enjoy.