Black Mirror has been a show that i’ve been quite fond of for a while. After being turned on to it by my mom, I found myself falling deep into the world that is Black Mirror. It was to the point that I was considering it the only good anthology of our current time. After the very disappointing Season 5, I started to wonder if this show had any steam left. When Season 6 was announced, I was ecstatic about the possibilities of what we could get from another season. I hoped that possibly we could return to the glory days of Black Mirror. I binged all of the episodes in one day and I have some thoughts. Here are those thoughts episode by episode.
Joan Is Awful
This episode was a breath of fresh air for me. After a pretty middle of the road season last time, it was nice to get an episode that was truly Black Mirror in the best way possible. It looked at a current fad in technology today and pinpointed the possible problems associated including how humans and companies with power could use it for evil. The episode was funny and it made me wonder as well how long it would take for certain companies to try and implement this technology in this way. The lead performance from Annie Murphy was stellar and I would even consider it one of the best in the series. It kept me guessing as it went on and took so many left turns. By the end, I was marvelling at how top tier this episode was in terms of Black Mirror as a whole. This episode is a perfect example of when the Black Mirror formula works to perfection. This will definitely be put into my regular rotation along with San Junipero and some of my other favourites of the series. This was a great way to start a new season and felt like a breath of fresh air from the past mistakes present in the show recently.
Loch Henry
This episode is an interesting one on certain levels. On the basis of a story in an anthology, it’s not bad and actually pretty decent. On the basis of a Black Mirror episode, this one doesn’t work very well. The performances are decent and it has some great cinematography, but the issue lies in the story itself. Black Mirror works on two levels as a concept, one being a look into current and modern technology and the possible negative ramifications of said tech while the other concept being human nature and how we could use technology to fulfill our deepest and darkest parts of ourselves. Black Mirror works best when both of those concepts are in use. The problem with this episode is that it does the former well, but really isn’t in tune with the latter. The episode feels more like a lower budget serial killer mystery as opposed to a Black Mirror Episode. This episode showcases a dark part of humans, but it doesn’t include a technology that makes me scared for the future. The best episodes are ones that make me not want to touch my devices for a bit and this one isn’t that at all.
Beyond The Sea
I have similar feelings about this one as I did with Loch Henry. As I stated during that episode’s blurb, Black Mirror works on two levels as a concept, one being a look into current and modern technology and the possible negative ramifications of said tech while the other concept being human nature and how we could use technology to fulfill our deepest and darkest parts of ourselves. Black Mirror works best when both of those concepts are in use. The problem with this episode is that instead of missing one of those elements, it does both but neither feel super strong. Yes this episode has a new technology and shows how humans can abuse that power, but it didn’t leave me frightful of the future of technology or had me thinking deeply about what I just saw. The biggest issues are the runtime and the storyline. The problem with the runtime is that this episode is way too long. It could have been 50 minutes and got the same point across. The other problem is that the plot is very predictable and I kinda guessed how it would turn out when the inciting incident occurred. It was clearly gonna be a story about infidelity and obsession, and the ending was exactly like how most of these stories end. I liked the technology showcased in the episode, I just wish it got a more original and refreshing story to go with it.
Mazey Day
This is a new low for the series. I thought that Striking Vipers was bad, but this episode almost vindicated Striking Vipers. The best thing about Black Mirror and what everyone associates with the series is how it dissects our connection with technology. The best episodes look at a piece of technology that is from our present or our possible future and examines the way these technologies can be used for evil. This episode lives in a special place in hell because it does neither. At least Striking Vipers and the Ashley episode showed off futuristic technology that you could relate to and see present in our own world. This episode has nothing to do with technology as it’s set in the early 2000s and focuses on the story of a paparazzi photographer who is hunting down a star who has went missing. The problem here is that the show doesn’t contain any of the characteristics of what makes the show special and to make matters worse, the episode takes a turn that moves this story into the realm of B Movie Horror. The ending twist has got to be the worst twist in the history of Black Mirror. The message could have been interesting if they zeroed in on maybe something to do with how celebrities are treated, but this one throws it all away with an ending that frankly ruins the little tiny amount of positivity that I could have garnered from this episode. It would have been much more my cup of tea if it focused on technology, human nature and how those things dissect in the most evil of ways, but they instead decided to make an episode so devoid of Black Mirror’s true purpose and flair that it makes this episode unworthy of having the name “Black Mirror” connected to it.
Demon 79
If Charlie Brooker turned this into a 70s throwback UK horror flick like Censor was a couple years back, this would have worked really well, but as a Black Mirror episode this doesn’t really work at all. It has less to do with technology than Beyond The Sea, but it was way more interesting to watch than that episode. The simple premise is about a girl who doesn’t feel like she belongs in her area in the 70s and begins to see a spirit who leads her to do terrible things. This would have worked well as an A24 horror flick, and they probably would have let Brooker work his magic, but as an instalment in the Black Mirror franchise, this feels super mismatched. When Bandersnatch dropped, it seemed like they were trying to experiment with the brand of Black Mirror, but that instalment still had a connection to technology and how it makes its way into our lives. This one, along with two other episodes from season 6 feel like they have drifted too far away from the world that Black Mirror has been building. Similar to my criticisms of most of Season 6 and Season 5, this episode doesn’t really make me scared to use my phone or make me question where we’re going in the future when it comes to technology as a whole.
So the question stands, was this worth waiting through a very unfortunately bad Season 5? Not really. While Joan Is Awful was a great addition to the cannon, it could have been a fun thing on its own like Bandersnatch was. My mom and I even joked about how it should end with a fake Netflix menu that shows your account as a show. The rest of the season is completely mismatched with the Black Mirror brand and should have all been apart of completely different anthology series’. From Tales From The Crypt to The Twilight Zone, four of the five episodes fit elsewhere and didn’t ignite the love for Black Mirror that i’ve felt before. After two unsuccessful seasons, i’m unhappy to say this but it’s the truth, Black Mirror needs to end. It’s clear that Brooker has his mind on other types of projects (like what he did with the Death To specials on netflix) and he should focus on those. I just wish that we would have ended the series on a high note like Bandersnatch. Black Mirror has unfortunately fallen into a trap that many other shows fall into and that’s overstaying its welcome. It’s quite unfortunate that this show has suffered that fate since I feel so fondly about the series all the way up to Bandersnatch. Black Mirror had a great run, but every good thing needs to end at some point.
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