Black Mirror typically revolves around exploring a piece of possible future technology to its most nightmarish conclusion. It is an anthology show that features stand-alone stories that mostly end up being very bleak and very not-feel good. Season five only had the three episodes and none of them was particularly amazing. This led to me beginning to think that the show had run out of any really good ideas. Because of this, it was only with the release of season seven this year that I decided it was high time I get around to finishing up watching season six. This season was made up of five episodes and thankfully, it not only has mostly decent ones, but it contains a departure from the typical formula that ranks up there as one of my all time favourite Black Mirror episodes.
'Joan Is Awful' starts the season and also happens to be the worst one. I can't even really remember it too much, it felt very Black Mirror by numbers. The idea here is that a normal woman (Annie Murphy) discovers that a hit TV drama has been released which shows her life in exact detail, the fictional version of her being played by Salma Hayek (Dogma). I seem to recall this was a bit of a farce rather than anything too serious, as the real Joan tries to find a way to stop her life being copied on TV. It features Michael Cera (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) in a small role that was at least fun to see.
Next is the excellent 'Loch Henry' that takes a more realistic approach to its central idea. A young Scottish man, Davis (Samuel Blenkin - The Sandman TV show, Peaky Blinders TV show) returns to his sleepy loch side town with American girlfriend Pia (Myha'la) in tow, on the way to make a documentary for a university project. There, Pia learns of a dark tragedy involving kidnapped tourists that indirectly resulted in the death of Davis' policeman dad when he was a child. Pia convinces Davis to turn the focus of the documentary they are making into one looking at this dark event, unaware of the traumatic consequences this digging up old dirt would bring to David, Pia, and those around them. The technology here is current day and old VHS recorders, and the idea is to take an ironic look into the unhealthy fascination people have with true crime documentaries. I loved the more grounded look, and despite not using any type of future technology this fell into the Black Mirror format well, with a most bleak finish. Special mention to Daniel Portman (Game of Thrones TV show), John Hannah (The Mummy), and the excellent Monica Dolan (Kick-Ass 2).
It was after that second episode that I took a year long break from watching the show. I got so distant from it that I had in my head it was another three episode season, when it was actually a five episode season for this one. Someone I work with in my day job kept insisting I had to return to at least check out third episode 'Beyond the Sea', and while it wasn't my favourite of the season, it was still a strong one. Following the remit of season five seemingly trying new things, this episode takes place in an alternative 1969 in which technology has been invented that allows people to mentally control artificial surrogates of themselves. Two astronauts on a deep space mission are therefore still able to spend time with their families back on Earth using this technology. After David (Josh Hartnett - Trap, The Faculty) is helplessly forced to witness his family being brutally murdered and then his surrogate destroyed in a home invasion by an anti-surrogate group, he understandably falls into a deep depression. With fellow astronaut Cliff (Aaron Paul - Breaking Bad TV series) concerned that David might do something drastic in his grief, his wife back on Earth (Kate Mara - Morgan), convinces Cliff to let David borrow his surrogate, in the belief this would help the man heal. Of course, this results in typical Black Mirror darkness and horror. I loved the time period here, and I also appreciated the open ending that left me with a lot of questions.
'Mazey Day' is the penultimate episode and did something so unexpected that I found myself delighted with the silly twist. In this one, the titular Mazey Day (Clara Rugaard) is a troubled A-list celebrity who vanishes from the public eye after abandoning a film project in Europe. Former paparazzi photographer Bo (Zazie Beetz - Joker, Deadpool 2) is convinced to return to her former job with a huge cash reward should she be able to take a photo of the missing Mazey. Again, the central idea is grounded in reality, with the story being about the detrimental effects that sleazy elements of the press can have in their desire to get money and recognition. Personally, I loved the direction this ended up going in, bringing some genuine horror to the show while still keeping this unapologetically Black Mirror in style.
Finally is the fantastic 'Demon 79' that immediately sets itself apart by being termed as 'Red Mirror', the first purposely pure horror episode to appear in the show. It takes place in 1979, where mild mannered department store worker Nida (Anjana Vasan - Spider-Man: Far from Home) inadvertently forms a demonic pact with a friendly demon named Gaap (Paapa Essiedu). She is convinced by this being that unless she murders three people within three days the end of the world will occur. I thought this was an amazing episode, it featured a great soundtrack of songs from that time period, and made the two protagonists really likeable. Both outsiders, they come to form an unexpected bond that was a joy to see play out on screen. I also liked how it wasn't clear for the majority of this episode whether Nida was simply insane and hallucinating Gaap (who only she can see and hear), or if there really was something more going on. Set against the backdrop of the Cold War, this had plenty of strong elements to it, from the casual racism of the time, to the captivating David Shields whose role as the villainous and cold politician Michael Smart not only allowed for elements of The Dead Zone to appear here, but also (as Black Mirror often does) pre-empted real world events, in this case, Elon Musk's ill-advised Nazi salute. A very strong ending as well it has to be said.
From a dull start, season five soon proved itself to be one of the best seasons of Black Mirror. This has all the qualities I have come to expect from the show, while each episode after the first, tried new things and was mostly successful each time. 'Loch Henry' and 'Demon 79' in particular were strong entries, I would actually recommend people who have never watched the show to still check out that last one, it really was fantastic. Black Mirror is streaming on Netflix.
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