“Black Mirror” fans have been divided since season 4, which aired the end of 2017. The show took a gamble and released “Bandersnatch” in 2018 which was not the homer they expected and then a very shortened and heatedly debated season 3 in summer of 2019. Charlie Booker took over 4 years to deliver the 5 episode season 6, which strayed from it’s sci-fi and technology themes to the more mystical, which again divided fans. After almost a 2 year break, we were finally given another six episode season of the show that definitely paid homage to the themes that made it so popular.
Although there will always be critics, the response to the new season of “Black Mirror” are overwhelmingly positive. We Binged every episode in order although we imagine some people just couldn’t wait to see the sequel to the fan favorite U.S.S. Callister episode which was a whopping 90 minutes long (the softest episode clocks in at 46 minutes). Warning there are spoilers for “Black Mirror” season 7 ahead.
After almost a 2 year break, we were finally given another six episode season of the show
that definitely paid homage to the themes that made it so popular.
Each episode effectively dimes it’s narrative excrement all over big tech companies and our real-life advanced dependency on increasingly newer and more unstable technologies. The first episode starts with 2 actors more well known for their comedic performances, Chris O’Dowd and Rashida Jones, but it’s worth noting both have had recent turns at sci-fi series – “The Big Door Prize” and “Sunny”, respectively, The duo manage to win your heart and gain your empathy as they end up at the mercy of a soulless corporation that has them trapped in an increasingly unfair subscription service which one of there lives is dependent on.
Episode 2 starts off innocently enough, with a researcher for a popular chocolate company iso n the verge of hitting her career goals when a face from her past shows up…and it becomes obvious that face isn’t friendly. It’s subtly revealed that our protagonist at one time bullied this newcomer and that maybe the newcomer is making things happen outside of our understanding of reality. The main character of the epode, played by Siena Kelly, goes through a period where she feels ‘The Mandela Effect’ in an eery way, but the plot twist is worth the wait for the surprise ending we got there.
Episode 3 has the second longest runtime of the season at 77 minutes. This one puts Hollywood on Center Stage…with a technological twist. Issa Rae and Emma Corrin end up in an unlikely romance while trying to recreate a classic black and white film. Awkwafina provides tech support with her team who monitor the narrative in a cool, real-time type scenario that really pushed the boundaries of technology in a believable and fun way.
Episode 4 brings back beloved “Bandersnatch” character Colin Ritman, who designs a ‘non-game game’ that Cameron, the protagonist of this story, receives a beta copy of. Ritman goes crazy pretty early in the episode (sadly off-screen) and destroys every copy except for Cameron’s Beta, The game contains digital lifeforms that might remind older viewers of the Tamagotchi digital pets from the 1990’s. The anti-social Cameron forms a deeply symbiotic relationship with the digital lifeforms which leads him to alter his own brain to communicate with the creatures better which ultimately leads to a massive twist at the end, which we don’t want to spoil but again – it was worth the wait.
Episode 5 may be the slowest in the season and somewhat depressing to anyone who’s ever fallen hard for a summer fling and then lost the, but still a strong outing and one of the happiest ending in the series (but it still ends at a funeral). Paul Giamatti does a great job of interacting with photo-memory technology that helps him remember the one that got away, who’s face becomes increasingly elusive to him and his AI assistant.
Episode 6 was the long anticipated sequel to the “U.S.S. Callister” episode, and it did not disappoint, We don’t want to spoil much of this, but the plot is a direct continuation off the original episode, which shows the victimized digital clones becoming the aggressor in a hostile universe in order to survive,..but survival for them is becoming increasingly difficult as factors in the real world start to close in on them, some having every intention of deleting the digital beings from existence. This episode brings up so many questions of ethics and cloning aside form just being an entretaingin return to one of our favorite installments in Charlie Booker’s dark universe.
What did you think? Was season 7 worth the wait? Or did we need more than what they gave us? Will we get a season 8 anytime soon?
Did you see every episode? Let us know your favorite and what you think in the comments below!
