In a fateful confrontation with the psychologist Arquette (Michael Kelly), Stripe learns that the MASS alters his perception of reality.

Positive reviews praised Kirby and Kelly's acting as well as the relevance of the episode in a time of rising xenophobia in Europe and America.

"Stripe" Koinange (Malachi Kirby) and "Hunter" Raiman (Madeline Brewer) are squadmates in a military that hunts roaches—pale, snarling, humanoid monsters with sharp teeth.

After further malfunctions the following day, Stripe has his MASS tested and consults a psychologist, Arquette (Michael Kelly), but neither visit reveals any problems.

They reach a cave in the woods where the woman, named Catarina, explains that the MASS implant alters soldiers' senses to show people of her ethnic group as inhuman "roaches".

Arquette reveals that MASS alters soldiers' senses so they can kill without hesitation or remorse, and that Stripe consented to this when he enlisted before having his memory wiped.

Arquette forces Stripe to rewatch the sensory feed of his farmhouse raid, where he now sees himself gruesomely killing people.

[7] A trailer for series three, featuring an amalgamation of clips and sound bites from the six episodes, was released by Netflix on 7 October 2016.

Marshall and On Killing by Dave Grossman, the episode's focus gradually shifted to a war where combat is censored to soldiers, and it was renamed "Men Against Fire".

[1] Michael Kelly plays psychologist Arquette, having previously worked with Verbruggen on the American political thriller House of Cards.

Though intended to look "gritty" and foreign, perhaps in an Eastern European setting, the production was constrained to the United Kingdom for economy of time and budget.

Adult actors were given black contact lenses, while the eyes of a young boy featured were altered using visual effects in post-production.

[1] Both Kelly and executive producer Annabel Jones compared the episode to what they saw as rising xenophobia in Europe and America, exemplified by media descriptions of refugees as "swarms" of people, the Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign and Brexit coverage.

[13][15] These comparisons were also made by critics:[16][17] Matt Patches of Thrillist summarised the episode as a "catch-all metaphor for how we deal with the disenfranchised members of our global society",[18] whilst Christian Holub of Entertainment Weekly described it as a "thought-provoking parable about the military's role in genocide".

[17][14][19] Sophie Gilbert of The Atlantic commented that the episode's depiction of eugenics links to "prejudices still rife among humankind" such as "institutionalized racism, tribalism, and fear of refugees".

[20] Alissa Wilkinson of Vox found that the episode was about the past rather than the future, as it explores crimes against humanity from 20th century history.

[19] Andrew Liptak of The Verge wrote that in the episode, the "government perpetuated a holocaust by literally demonizing its enemies".

Kirby suggested an interpretation where Stripe chooses to keep his memories, but enable the MASS system, so he knows his vision is a lie.

Alex Mullane of Digital Spy and Charles Bramesco of Vulture made comparisons with the 1997 satirical film Starship Troopers, for the soldiers' "macho talk of ending the Roach menace" and the work's "thinly veiled commentary on the culture of virulence that warring nations have to cultivate".

Club,[24] a B− grade from Christian Holub of Entertainment Weekly[14] and a score of three out of five stars in Tristram Fane Saunder's review for The Telegraph.

[24] Saunders enjoyed the scene with Stripe and Arquette alone in a cell, commenting that them "discussing ideas of right and wrong" was "by far the finest part of the episode".

[17][20] Handlen noted that Stripe is a passive character, and opined that Kirby did a good job in keeping "our interest and our sympathies" throughout the episode.

[24] Bramesco believed that Kirby's performance introduced "a grounded component worthy of the audience's emotional investment" to the episode.

IndieWire authors ranked the 22 Black Mirror instalments excluding Bandersnatch by quality, giving "Men Against Fire" a position of 18th.

[37] Additionally, Proma Khosla of Mashable ranked the same instalments by tone, concluding that "Men Against Fire" was the eighth most bleak.