‘Black Mirror’ Season 7 Review: Some Good, Some Ugly

Black Mirror is back, and it’s as hit-and-miss as ever before. The show hasn’t had a consistent season since Season 3, and the last very good season it had was Season 4. While this season does have very good highs, it also features very low lows.

“Common People”

“Common People” is a very cool concept brought down by cookie-cutter execution. It feels like how you would expect a very generic episode of Black Mirror to develop.

“Common People” features a couple who, one day, have one of them, Amanda (Rashida Jones), diagnosed with a brain tumor. The solution to that is an experiment that essentially makes her reliant on technology to support her brain. The episode delves into a satire of the subscription model on a life-saving device. Through this angle, the episode is very effective. Tracee Ellis Ross (American Fiction), who plays the company’s employee that the couple deals with, in particular, nails her role.

The other angle is the relationship, which is just fine. Chris O’Dowd and Rashida Jones are good, but the emotional beats are just fine. There’s nothing there to write home about, which would be fine had the episode not hinged on those emotional beats working. There isn’t enough developed there for it to work.

“Bête Noire”

“Bête Noire” is quite a unique Black Mirror episode, mostly for the better—despite missing the mark on being a truly good episode. The episode has a fantastic hook that works on almost every level.

“Bête Noire” features Maria (Siena Kelly), a “know-it-all” chocolate maker who starts to realize that her world is being altered by her new co-worker, Verity (Rosy McEwen), whom she knew back in her school days and didn’t like. Certain events in her life start to change—initially small, but eventually affecting her entire livelihood.

How the episode develops the concept is actually quite interesting. It’s a very strong premise that is well executed until the third act. This is where it gets flimsy. There’s a multiversal twist that yields mixed results. I do very much respect the angle Charlie Brooker wanted to take, but it didn’t quite work for me. It felt a little too cartoonish for the tone of the episode. The ending, I actually really like, even if it’s a bit out there and underdeveloped.

“Hotel Reverie”

“Hotel Reverie” is one of the most frustrating episodes of Black Mirror to date, not because it’s outright terrible, but because the ideas show potential that ultimately goes nowhere. It’s sort of like drafting a high-upside prospect in a sports league: you can see what the player could become if they’re developed well and put in the work. But fast forward a few years, or in this case, 78 minutes, and that player brimming with potential is out of the league. That’s what this episode is.

“Hotel Reverie” explores the concept of remaking an older film with artificial intelligence, where the lead actor is faced with working alongside AI constructs of the past film and has exactly the length of the movie to make it happen. While on the surface this sounds very interesting and the episode even starts off interesting enough, the more thought you put into it, the less it makes sense.

Something like this would realistically be run as a theater production. The lead actor would rehearse endlessly so they could get it right when they enter that world. Instead, Brandy Friday (Issa Rae) is sent in and forced to wing it, which only makes things worse for the AI involved as storylines are altered.

Even ignoring that, the episode has clear weak points. Issa Rae doesn’t match the energy needed for the role, the episode is overlong, and it becomes increasingly uninteresting as it goes on. The romance angle doesn’t quite work as intended, despite the generous runtime, because there’s no real chemistry. Emma Corrin is the only one who truly gives a strong performance in an episode that needed everyone to fire on all cylinders. Conceptually, narratively, and in execution, the episode just feels too forced to work.

“Plaything”

“Plaything” is perhaps the weakest episode of Black Mirror yet, or at the very least, the least engaging. The episode is set in the same world as the interactive spin-off Black Mirror: Bandersnatch and features Will Poulter’s return as Colin Ritman. This is really where the episode peaks. Will Poulter as Colin is easily the best part of the episode, but his inclusion is so brief that it doesn’t help the episode enough.

“Plaything” is about Cameron Walker (Lewis Gribben as a young Cameron, Peter Capaldi as an older Cameron), who gets arrested and accused of murder as he tells his story that led him to commit the crime. 

It’s hard to sugarcoat it, the episode is straight out boring. It’s like you order a fast food chicken sandwich meal from McDonald’s, but when you get the food, you realize they forgot to give you the sandwich, and they only gave you fries and a drink. There’s not enough that works in the episode to even mention. Sure, the fries are good, and the drink is nice, but the hook or in this case, the sandwich, isn’t there. All you can think about is your disappointment. It’s not about what’s there, it’s about what is missing, and a lot is missing here.

“Eulogy”

Eulogy is easily my favorite Black Mirror episode since Season 4. Everything about this episode is great, but best of all, Paul Giamatti is masterful. He gives one of, if not the best, performances in Black Mirror history as Phillip.

Phillip is a lonely old man who receives news that his ex-girlfriend has passed away. He then receives a package containing technology that he uses to revisit his past in order to create good memories of them together. He admittedly doesn’t have many pictures to utilize, but as he remembers more and more, he relives that heartbreak. 

This episode felt very sincere and earnest in its delivery, both because of the acting and writing. It’s very well crafted and executed. Getting into Phillip’s psyche is heartwrenching to watch. The ups and downs of his relationship with her, and how much of the pain he still feels despite it being so long ago. You sort of experience the span of a relationship from beginning to end from Phillip’s perspective in a distinct manner. The ending is also fantastic.

“USS Callister – Into Infinity”

“USS Callister” was a very solid entry in Season 4 of Black Mirror, and its sequel, “Into Infinity”, is almost just as solid. 

“USS Callister – Into Infinity” picks up with another adventure in the Star Trek-inspired universe. Like the previous installment, there is both the element of the in-game universe and the real world. At 90 minutes, this episode becomes the longest in Black Mirror history. It does feel as long as its runtime suggests, but not exactly in a bad way. The original “USS Callister felt more trim and focused, but this one is trying to do more, which does end up working in its favor. 

The original, while better, was far from perfect, which is also probably how I would describe this. The real-world stuff is pretty meh, and how they develop this aspect isn’t great, but inside the Star Trek-type universe is very fun. It feels like a continuation of the previous installment in the best way possible. It expands on the ending of the first while kind of still telling its own story. 

Black Mirror is developed by Charlie Brooker and produced by Netflix. The series is now streaming in its entirety on the platform. Find it below.

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