Black Mirror is an important part of my culture. I watched the show for the first time in high school, when the original Channel 4 episodes were put on Netflix. It seemed like some of the most important art of the 2010s at that time. It made its mark on the world as big as it should have been when the streamer became its permanent home. It’s hard not to compare Black Mirror Season 7 to The Twilight Zone, which is another genre-influenced collection show. I think Black Mirror will be remembered for a long time. People who haven’t seen an episode can still understand what the show’s name means.
It’s really cool to see a show like that try to change. There will always be things that are outside the limits of a variety show, and people have been arguing about what a “Black Mirror episode” is since the first season on Netflix. But season 6 tried to go beyond the show’s popular definitions, which are tech-focused, bleak, thought-provoking, and (most of the time) a real gut-punch. The results were mixed. I’d like to see more stories with the Red Mirror name, but supernatural stories set in the past might be going too far.
At first glance, Black Mirror season 7 may look like a return to the basics. But a clear focus on its own past is really just a way to keep testing, with smaller amounts of change. There is something fundamentally different about these shows, whether it’s the tone, the style, the subject, or all of these things put together. We no longer have the instinct to be emotionally or morally offended; even plots that were obviously sad didn’t make me want to leave like they used to. What’s left is thoughtful, creative, and still not always constant, but it might work best when it tries something new.
Black Mirror Season 7 Ends on a High Note with Its Episodes:
Around the middle of Black Mirror season 7, takes an interesting turn, and the next three episodes are its best. I’ll break my promise to deal with them in order to explain why. Episode 4: “Plaything” is a lot like Bandersnatch, the interactive Black Mirror movie set in the 1980s about a young man who tries and fails to make a choose-your-own-adventure computer game. In the near future, a man named Peter Capaldi is arrested after being caught shoplifting and tied to a murder that has not been solved. He has to start by talking about the 1990s, when he was a young video game reporter (Lewis Gribben).
He was once given the job of covering the new game by producer Colin Ritman (Will Poulter), who also had a bad encounter with Bandersnatch’s main character. The game never made it to stores, which was a good thing because this man became totally obsessed with it. The excitement in the filmmaking makes it clear that the people who made this episode were really excited about it. “Plaything” is a mix of the retro past and the advanced near future. Black Mirror season 7is trying to say something about how our past experiences with technology have changed how we use it now. In 2025, this is definitely the way they like to say it.
Episode 6 “USS Callister: Into Infinity” goes from being a spinoff to a straight sequel, which is a first for Black Mirror season 7. As the first episode of season 4 left off, Robert Daly (Jesse Plemons) was already dead, and his virtual copies of coworkers were free to roam the world of the online game he made. It’s the biggest episode of the Black Mirror season 7 (almost 90 minutes), so it’s clear that Netflix put a lot of work into making it. Also, there’s no doubt that this is the season’s funniest show.
That may be an odd word to use to describe Black Mirror, but it did kind of fit the original “USS Callister,” which was pretty scary. In their Star Trek parody, both episodes have a sci-fi adventure feel to them. The first episode was more scary, but this one is more like a movie. Along with serious themes that are explored in more depth, the story has funny parts and action scenes. Nanette Prime’s (Cristin Milioti) continued investigation into Daly’s actions outside of the game is a lot like a detective story. It could destroy Daly and James Walton’s (Jimmi Simpson) entire business.
Both of these episodes show a new way for Black Mirror to go: as fun science fiction. The same disturbing and strange ideas, but with some emotional punches pulled, lead to a very different response. The fifth episode of Season 7 called “Eulogy” is my favorite of these new shows.
Black Mirror Season 7 Episodes, Ranked:
- Episode 1, “Common People”
- Episode 2, “Bête Noir”
- Episode 3, “Hotel Reverie”
- Episode 4, “Plaything”
- Episode 5, “Eulogy”
- Episode 6, “USS Callister: Into Infinity”
Eulogy Is the Most Groundbreaking Episode of Black Mirror Season 7:
“Eulogy” is the most dramatic show Black Mirror season 7 has ever made in terms of how it makes you feel. Phillip (Paul Giamatti) gets a call one day telling him that a woman he knew many years ago has died. He didn’t even recognize her by her married name. Through a tool that lets people relive and share memories, he has been asked to add to an interactive memorial.
The episode only deals with a small part of a very strange world; it doesn’t take a look at any other, more bizarre worlds. A digital presence called “The Guide” (Patsy Ferran) is the only other character. She walks Phillip through this process and brings up a memory he’s been burying for years, to the point where he can’t even picture this woman’s face. Giamatti does a great job in this. It moved me a lot, and it’s without a question the most memorable episode of the season.
One big difference from most shows is that this one is never suspicious of the technology being used. There is a clear desire to tell different kinds of stories in these last three episodes of Black Mirror season 7. I’m especially interested in how the past, present, and future are linked. But “Eulogy” and how well it works show that we can think about our connection with technology in very different ways. If “San Junipero” showed that these stories don’t have to be always sad, then “Eulogy” shows that they don’t have to always be scary.
I don’t know if there will be more episodes, but the show still doesn’t feel finished to me, even as it goes through its own past. Instead, Black Mirror has given itself a real way to grow beyond what we know it to be, and I can’t wait to see how whatever comes next continues to change things in that way.
A Look Back: Black Mirror Season 7 Travels Through Its Own History:
This season has six new shows, and I’ve already seen all of them. I’ll talk about each one in the order they suggest, but I won’t give away too much of what happens. But I need to talk about how they feel in order to talk about how this show has changed over time.
The good and educational beginning “Common People” was what tipped me off. Many people will likely think it’s the Black Mirror-like show of the season: Chris O’Dowd and Rashida Jones are a normal, happy couple whose lives are turned upside down when an accident forces the husband to agree to an experimental treatment that could save his wife. As new wrinkles show up, we see them fall deeper into a hole that, in typical Black Mirror style, we know has no bottom. As you might expect, “Common People” starts off by showing that there are still more tech nightmares to be found in real life.
Even though it recalls things we know, it’s not quite the same. This show would have taken the idea further or made us feel worse ten years ago. There’s no use of our humanity as a weapon here that would make us question our own morals. We only know these people who have to make tough choices and are affected by the bad things that happen when corporations are greedy and people don’t care. Things they’ve done wrong or given up that would have been harshly judged in previous seasons are now seen with compassion, as if they have no choice because of the situation they’re in.
While there are some good parts, like the acting and the camerawork, I think this is the least successful show of this group. This idea should have been taken a little further than in “Common People,” but the old knife is dull and doesn’t cut like it used to. There are hints of past stories big and small in this season, which I think is part of the journey through the show’s history. This season has shown something that doesn’t fit with how creator Charlie Brooker’s tastes have changed over the past 14 years.
Though “Bête Noire” isn’t very good, “Hotel Reverie” is the worst. In this world, the title is shared with an old movie in the style of Casablanca that a struggling legacy company wants to cash in on for as little money as possible. Here comes Awkwafina, whose company can make a game with artificial intelligence that would let the movie be “remade” with the same cast and look. If everything goes well, the only thing that will be different is that Issa Rae as Hollywood star Brandy Melville would play the (originally male) love lead.
It’s the funniest show, which can be good or bad depending on the situation. This season’s effort to follow up on the happy ending of “San Junipero,” Black Mirror’s happy exception that proved the bleak rule, is another thing I don’t like about this plan. I understand what “Hotel Reverie” is trying to do from a dramatic point of view, but the way the tones and acting styles jump around makes it hard to follow. There is still a lot to like about this, especially Emma Corrin’s performance as a remade 1940s starlet, which is always great.
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