After a four-year hiatus, Black Mirror, which has startled, frightened, and cautioned viewers about the risks of technology for more than ten years, will return with Season 6 on Netflix on June 15.
Black Mirror, which was once envisioned as an anthology series on the British channel Channel 4, debuted on Netflix with Season 3 and has now aired 22 episodes and one movie. Fans of dark, sci-fi drama with surprising conclusions will have five more episodes to keep them occupied with Season 6.
Black Mirror was developed by Charlie Brooker, who has written nearly all of the episodes by themselves with occasional assistance along the way. Every stand-alone novel centres around a near-future technological setting, a dystopian future, or a cultural preoccupation that has a disastrous effect on the lives of the people.
Playtest (Season 3)
The last it was all a dream turn in Playtest is like the cherry on top of a delectably twisted Black Mirror ice cream cone. Cooper, portrayed by Wyatt Russell, receives an invitation to try out a sophisticated virtual-reality horror computer game but ends up suffering far more than he bargained for.
The game provides enough jump scares designed by Dan Trachtenberg to keep you guessing until the very end. It also gets into some of Cooper’s worst fears, such as inheriting his late father’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis.
Bandersnatch (Interactive Special)
Bandersnatch (Interactive Special)
Bandersnatch tells the story of a young programmer named Stefan who is creating a choose-your-own adventure style video game in the 1980s. This Black Mirror episode let viewers interact with the story by making choices that changed how the plot unfolded. It was groundbreaking as Netflix’s first adult interactive film.
Viewers could pick Stefan’s decisions, from small choices to major ones with hugely different outcomes. By the end of the episode, there are five totally unique endings depending on the path chosen. Some endings are grim while others break the fourth wall. Truly, there are over one trillion individual ways for the narrative to play out based on the choice made at each point.
Nosedive (Season 3)
This pastel meditation illustrates what occurs when we let imaginary clout influence society standards. It is set in a near future in which a significant portion of the populace has embraced a type of social-media eye implant that scores individuals like Yelp ratings.
Lacie, portrayed by Bryce Dallas Howard, is a kind citizen with a higher than normal social media following. Following a string of unfavourable events, her standing begins to decline. For some people, what begins as a little inconvenience (not being able to enter certain doors) turns into something more sinister and perhaps fatal.
Furthermore, the more upset Lacie becomes about her circumstances, the worse people around her regard her, which feeds a vicious cycle of social media exclusion. For the premiere of its first season, Nosedive, big-name Hollywood talent was brought in.
White Bear (Season 2)
White Bear tells the story of a woman who awakens without knowledge of who she is or how she came to be in a strange place. Her circumstance quickly becomes frightening as a masked figure begins shooting at her while crowds follow with phones out to record. The episode creates an unsettling world that starts like a zombie film then escalates into total chaos.
Clues are given throughout about the woman’s real identity. Ultimately, a dark truth is revealed that provides one of the series’ bleakest perspectives on crime and retribution. In the last scene – men calmly cleaning a home alongside the woman’s tormented screams – an ominous atmosphere is crafted, showing how Black Mirror can transition into outright horror.
USS Callister (Season 4)
USS Callister takes on a genre-bending sci-fi adventure format uncommon for the anthology. It parodies Star Trek, following the seemingly heroic Captain Robert Daly of the USS Callister spaceship. Jesse Plemons expertly portrays the captain’s true grim nature.
He is actually a disgruntled video game employee who digitally clones and tortures and colleagues. Into this simulation comes programmer Nanette, who he also seeks to demean. Unlike many heavy plot-twist driven episodes, USS Callister has an unusually colorful and fun tone for Black Mirror.
While providing the adventures of space travel, it retains signature dark social commentary. The villain’s just desserts bring satisfying conclusion not often seen in the series. With comedic spoofs and classic thriller elements, this standout episode showed the range possible within the anthology.
White Christmas (TV Special)
One of the first full-length Black Mirror episodes to involve a big-name actor, Jon Hamm, at the height of his Mad Men stardom, was ideal for the role of Matt, a sleazy pickup artist who ends up a prisoner and social pariah.
The excessively long Christmas special is divided into a number of compelling, related vignettes, each of which has a heartbreaking moment and might stand alone as a stand-alone story. There are several heart-stopping turns that readers will enjoy, like as the real reason Matt’s pickup protege is stranded in a cabin on Christmas and how quickly time passes there.
National Anthem (Season 1)
Black Mirror launches with a bang (pun regretfully intended) since its premise is so revolting that even those who watch the first episode of the series blindly will find themselves second-guessing their choice. The basic concept behind The National Anthem is this: What if the Prime Minister (Rory Kinnear) was made to have sex with a pig on TV?
Instead of concentrating on some future technology gone wrong? The episode is more of a dark thriller than science fiction, exploring the unsettling societal ramifications of the crime. The episode will definitely stay with you, whether you love it or detest it for how different it is from the rest of Black Mirror.
The Entire History of You (Season 1)
Written by Jesse Armstrong prior to Succession, The Entire History of You stands out as one of the few episodes not helmed by Charlie Brooker. It presents one of the series’ most emotionally harrowing tales. The world has adopted grains, tech implants that record every memory.
After a tense dinner, where Liam’s wife Ffion interacts cordially with an ex, he grows consumed by jealousy. Demanding access to review her grains for hints of betrayal, the plot delves into an intimate portrait of their fracturing relationship. Toby Kebbell and Jodie Whitaker expertly portray the coupling spiraling towards crisis.
When truth is uncovered, it lands like a blow in this small-scale story with massive stakes. Diving into the depths one is willing to go in pursuit of answers, it highlights the capacity for new tech to both soothe insecurities and dismantle what we hold dear.
Hang the DJ (Season 4)
Even though this is one of the few Black Mirror episodes that concludes with a sense of relief, terror may still be apparent on the streets of London and Birmingham. In the universe of this episode, people are matched by a dating app that calculates, down to the last minute, how long a relationship will endure.
Frank (Joe Cole) and Amy (Georgina Campbell) connect immediately on their algorithm-driven first date, but they soon discover that they aren’t meant to be together for the long run—in fact, they weren’t meant to be together for more than that one night. Despite this, they both go through a number of unhappy relationships, yearning for the other and continuing to believe that the system knows best. Ultimately,
San Junipero (Season 4)
Much like Hang the DJ, San Junipero provides one of the rare upbeat endings in the anthology. Set in the vibrant 1980s nightclub scene, Yorkie and Kelly instantly connect. However, it emerges they inhabit a virtual reality for the elderly or deceased. In truth, the pair are older women reliving their youthful days free from societal restrictions.
The episode poignantly examines death, the afterlife and love in a moving portrayal. Mackenzie Davis and Gugu Mbatha-Raw give affecting performances as souls drawn together yet confronted with a profound choice – whether to pass naturally or stay eternally woven in the simulated paradise of San Junipero.
Arkangel (Season 4, Episode 2)
Arkangel presents one of the series’ most unsettling concepts – technology allowing parents complete oversight of their child’s wellbeing and activities. Marie opts for an experimental implant letting her constantly monitor daughter Sara’s health, behavior and surroundings. However, it also censors anything deemed stressful.
Tensions emerge as the monitoring escalates, inevitably leading to troubling outcomes. Exploring the ethical issues of excessive surveillance within the intimate parent-child dynamic, the episode prompts difficult reflections. Rosemarie DeWitt and Aniya Hodge offer affecting portrayals of a relationship tested.
Featuring children in perilous scenarios understandably resonates strongly. Its dramatic finale provokes diverse perspectives, marking it as a stand-out installment. By focusing on topics close to home within a dystopian high-tech lens, Arkangel sparked important discussions on where oversight could cross lines into counterproductive control.
Loch Henry (Season 6, Episode 2)
Film students Davis (Samuel Blenkin) and Pia (Myha’la Herrold), who are also relatively new romantic partners, are captivated in a deadly local tale when they visit a Scottish ghost town to work on a documentary. They change their minds and decide to focus on the murder rather than their original plan to film a dull documentary on eggs.
Davis experiences terrible things in order to discover the truth, but he quickly discovers that the crimes have had a significant impact on his family and life. Loch Henry frequently presents situations in the manner of the most well-liked documentaries about horrific murders, making fun of viewers’ infatuation with the true crime genre. It pokes fun at this fixation with other people’s misery while telling the tragic tale of its protagonist.
Beyond the Sea (Season 6, Episode 3)
One of the sixth season’s highly anticipated installments was Be Right Back. Set in an alternate 1969, it features astronauts Cliff Stanfield and David Ross embarking on a vague yet perilous deep space mission. Facing immense mental strain from prolonged isolation, they utilize replicas on Earth as proxies to temporarily escape their grueling reality.
Its extended runtime provides ample space to immerse in lavish visuals and nuanced character studies. Aaron Paul delivers a standout dual role performance as the astronaut coping with personal tragedy. Stranded without his replica, he must now share his with his grieving companion.
Joan Is Awful (Season 6, Episode 1)
Things start to come apart around an everyday lady when she finds out that Streamberry, a global streaming site similar to Netflix, has taken events from her life and crafted an eerie version of them. Joan (Annie Murphy), with every new episode using deepfake technology to document her activities and, strangely enough, Salma Hayek’s image portraying her, must to figure out how to stop the corporation causing her pain.
Joan Is Awful reminds viewers of a typical Black Mirror episode from past seasons, complete with cautions about deep fakes, AI, and the decreasing amount of privacy available to the normal person. Despite some people finding its apparently mind-bending twist disappointing, movie is funny overall because of the outstanding performances.
Smithereens (Season 5, Episode 2)
The rewatchable Season 5 episode Smithereens grips viewers with its unfolding hostage situation. Rideshare driver Chris, played compellingly by Andrew Scott, takes intern Jaden captive in his attempt to contact elusive Smithereen CEO Billy Bauer. Chris’ heart-wrenching motives slowly emerge, revealing a grieving man driven over the edge by personal tragedy exacerbated by social media.
A compelling character study, it provides crisp commentary on technology’s influence over public dialog and potentially real-world impacts. Through Chris’ internal anguish, the episode casts a probing light on lives intimately shaped yet fractured in modern tech-reliant society. Topher Grace and Damson Idris round out the talented cast, bringing nuance to all affected.
Conclusion
Over its six seasons, Black Mirror has established itself as one of the most thought-provoking and unsettling anthology shows on television. Each episode tells a standalone story that uses innovative technologies as a lens to explore the dark sides of human nature and society.
From social media ratings to augmented reality implants, the variety of speculative ideas presented continues to spark important conversations. These discussions revolve around privacy, ethics, and our increasingly digital lives, prompting reflection on their implications.
While most episodes depict cautionary tales of dystopian futures, some like San Junipero and Hang The DJ also give viewers hope by showing how technology could be developed responsibly and for the benefit of humanity. As Black Mirror prepares to return for its sixth season, fans can look forward to more brilliantly disturbing tales of worlds not too far away from our own.
