Black Mirror has long held a place in my heart for its experimental stories, unique direction, and commitment to keeping its ideas grounded in the inspection of human interaction. Over the years it’s grown and evolved beyond its original idea, pushing the envelope to tell stories other than those of futuristic societies. However, the series came to a screeching halt with season 5, its most controversial season yet. Many people, including myself, felt unsatisfied with the direction of where it was going. I also found this season contrived, lazy, and as if the shows’ creators Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones had just run out of ideas. The show went on hiatus during the pandemic, and there was speculation that the show would never return. However, 2023 rolled around, and along with it came a new season! To say I was skeptical after season 5 was an understatement. However, I must say this season surprised me more than I could express, so let's unpack each episode.

Joan is Awful 

Joan is Awful starts out with an interesting concept. What if you just had a terrible day at work, and after going home to relax you stumble onto a new Netflix show that steals said day nearly word-for-word, enabling the entire world to see the worst parts of you? That’s what Joan (Annie Murphy) goes through in the beginning of this episode, and she would be the first (er, maybe second) to tell you that it is horrific. Annie Murphy plays the role of Joan incredibly well as she struggles with the societal repercussions of this show and the toll it's taking on her mental health. Salma Hayek plays Joan in this TV show in AI form, as that is the only way Netflix is able to get this show out as fast as possible. Salma also doesn't agree with what is happening and they try to join together to stop the production of the show.

The concept is intriguing and the episode does a solid job of laying everything out immediately to get you up to speed, but the script is a massive letdown as the episode rolls along. Instead of diving deep into our characters and how this situation is affecting them, the episode is bogged down by weak humor and terrible comedic timing, especially from Salma Hayek. The episode somewhat explains why this is, but it comes across as an excuse for bad writing and is not enough to save the episode, which noticeably drags by the end.

Rating: 6/10

Loch Henry

Loch Henry is a slight departure from the typical Black Mirror episode. It starts with college students Davis (Samuel Blenkin) and Pia (Myha’la Herrold), a couple traveling to Davis’s hometown in northern Scotland to film a documentary about an egg protector. Sounds riveting. However, there is a massive dark cloud hovering over his hometown due to a gruesome set of murders that occurred years earlier. Pia convinces Davis to turn their film into a true crime documentary. Their financier tells them they need a new bombshell for them to buy into their film. So Davis and Pia start digging for clues, and the more they do, the more they find information that changes everything they know. 

Loch Henry is absolutely exquisite in its portrayal of this small town, its authentic characters, and its tense writing. It left me on the edge of my seat from the moment it started, and did not let up until its conclusion, which left me squirming in my seat. Though it departs from the typical Black Mirror episode of futuristic consequences, it is still grounded in criticizing our society and why we make the decisions we do. By the end, the episode illustrates a very real issue in the world of true-crime documentaries. We may eat each one up, but we also tend to forget the people on the other side that actually experienced these gruesome events. 

Rating: 9/10

Beyond the Sea

Beyond the Sea is a massive undertaking of an episode. Its 79 minute runtime makes it one of Black Mirror’s longest episodes. In it, we follow Cliff (Aaron Paul) and David (Josh Hartnett), 2 astronauts who are traveling a long distance in space, but are also trying out a new technology where they are able to send their mind back to Earth to a robot replica of themselves to avoid losing their minds stuck on the spaceship. Two years into their trip, a tragedy befalls the astronauts, and David’s replica is destroyed. This forces him to be stuck on the ship, and he begins losing his mind. The main conflict from this episode comes from Cliff offering his replica so that David can get a break. This begins to create an ugly tension between the two, as David wants an increasing amount of time in Cliff’s replica.

This episode starts off extremely slow as the show has to get the viewer up to speed with our lead characters, their motivations, and the technology. Aaron Paul is absolutely exquisite here as we see him play a wide range of emotions and two different characters. I never felt confused as to who I was watching, though, as Paul played each character convincingly and with different mannerisms. Unfortunately, the writing lets this episode down a bit, as it was somewhat obvious where the story was taking us. The worst part of all is the ending, which struck me as extremely unnecessary. Beyond the Sea starts out as an amazing episode, but really tails off by the end.

Rating: 7/10

Mazey Day

Mazey Day features Zazie Beetz as Bo, a struggling paparazzi who is becoming increasingly disillusioned with her career of choice. It also features Clara Rugaard as Mazey Day, a struggling actress who recently has gone into hiding after being at the wheel of a hit-and-run. This lures Bo back into the life of a paparazzi, as there is a massive payout waiting for whoever can get a photo of Mazie. With some difficulty, Bo eventually finds Mazey, but all hell breaks loose immediately afterwards.

This episode is a clear weak point of the season. The topic of choice is interesting, but its execution leaves a lot to be desired. The “twist” is weak and doesn’t really say anything other than “paparazzi is bad”, which is pretty universally known at this point. Nothing really happens until the final 10-15 minutes, and the ending is markedly sloppy. Had these characters been more fleshed out or nuanced, this episode might have felt more fulfilling, but honestly the entire concept of the episode should’ve just been left on the cutting room floor.

Rating: 4/10

Demon 79

Demon 79 starts with a killer hook: timid sales woman Nida (Anjana Vasan) meekly goes about her day before stumbling upon a talisman of the demon Gaap (Paapa Essiedu), who tells her she must kill 3 people in 3 days or else the entire world will suffer a nuclear apocalypse. I’m sure your immediate thought is something along the lines of “is she just crazy?”, but that actually ends up being the entire point of the episode. What would you do if you were on the other end of this? Do you risk a nuclear apocalypse just to believe someone is crazy? Do you sacrifice your morals, not to mention human lives, to supposedly save the world?

The episode is a stark departure of Black Mirror, but it's a welcome one nonetheless. It’s very tense yet always entertaining thanks to the witty and sharp writing and the superb acting and enjoyable chemistry of our leads Vasan and Essiedu. The humor and comedic timing in this episode is much much improved from episode one of this season, and it helps balance the weight of the story it's telling. Though it may not be classic Black Mirror, I will happily welcome more episodes that have nothing to do with technology if they can retain Demon 79’s quality. 

Rating: 9/10

Overall, this season of Black Mirror followed the formula of a typical Black Mirror season. There are some stunning high points, some mediocre entries, and some abject disappointments. However, coming off of season 5, where all 3 episodes were weak in comparison to the rest of the series, this season feels like a return to form for the show. With fantastic episodes of television like Loch Henry and Demon 79, I hope Brooker and Jones continue to push the boundaries of this series and create more episodes that don’t necessarily have to deal with technology. 

7/10