Charlie Brooker’s beloved Black Mirror returns this week, boasting six new episodes packed with fantastical technological advances (and their inevitable drawbacks). Compared to Season 6, this round of episodes hews more closely to the show’s sci-fi roots, even offering the series’ first-ever direct sequel. As a result, this installment of the anthology is perhaps not as new and exciting as previous iterations, but a few of its episodes dig deep and mine the riches buried in Black Mirror. Season 7’s episodes are ranked below from best to worst, starting with a standout star vehicle that you won’t want to miss.
1.) Episode 3: “Hotel Reverie”
Who doesn’t love a classic romance? So goes the thinking of down-and-out studio exec Judith (Harriet Walter) and bright-eyed industry disrupter Kimmy (Awkwafina) as they try to revive the Old Hollywood success Hotel Reverie for today’s audiences. But rather than make the new version a whole production, they use a technology called ReDream. It creates an alternate, artificial reality based on an existing film, and an actor can project themselves into this world that has to adhere to a certain standard of movie continuity. It’s a shock for leading lady Brandy Friday (Issa Rae) when she’s the only person capable of movement or speech until the opening credit roll, not to mention the fact that her world is suddenly in black and white, but she’s soon swept up in the magic of the movie. As the dashing Dr. Alex, Brandy courts the beautifully tragic Clara (Emma Corrin), but her growing feelings and a few movie logic flubs jeopardize the whole thing.
“Hotel Reverie” almost doesn’t work. When Brandy first enters the world, the episode gets chopped up by constant cuts to Kimmy’s control room, techs exclaiming “narrative integrity down!” or “romantic attraction rising!” with every story beat. We don’t need to be reminded that this movie dimension is held together precariously; it feels like the show is scared we’ll forget that this episode is technology-related. But as the story begins to come into its own, it turns into one of Black Mirror’s better romantic endeavors. Clara grows beyond her scripted nature after a few of Brandy’s narrative missteps, and the pair develop true feelings for one another. It’s a spiritual sequel to the beloved “San Junipero,” as the focus lands on these two women, their relationship, and their own personal journeys in this artificial reality. Corrin (who’s non-binary and uses they/them pronouns) does fantastic work as a classic British heroine whose passion and sadness are buttoned up by class and decorum; Clara certainly has some shades of their Princess Di in The Crown, but they imbue her with a different kind of longing. While Rae is not as an accomplished dramatic performer, she nails the episode’s emotional swells (especially one absolutely devastating moment that won’t be spoiled here). The pair take you on a ride through a would-be classic, and it’s enchanting.
2.) Episode 6: “USS Callister: Into Infinity”
The only Black Mirror sequel episode, “USS Callister: Into Infinity” has a lot to live up to. The original is a twisted take on male power fantasies, and the geeky nice guy and incel-adjacent villain (played memorably and menacingly by Jesse Plemons) feels all the more relevant today. But “Into Infinity” finds the USS Callister crew struggling to survive in their post-Plemons world; as clones inserted into the game’s servers, they’re not supposed to exist, and they’re easy targets for any of Infinity’s 30 million players. Led by fearless Captain Nanette (Cristin Milioti), the crew is robbing players of credits in order to bolster their own resources, and this inevitably draws the attention of people in the real world—including Nanette’s counterpart, who already had a sneaking suspicion about her former co-worker’s extracurricular activities.
“Into Infinity” expects you to remember its predecessor very well, to its own detriment. It makes use of frequent flashbacks to go over the most important stuff, but there’s definitely a bit of a learning curve if it’s been awhile since you last watched “USS Callister.” Thankfully, though, the rocky exposition is mostly reserved for the beginning of the episode. Things pick up as the IRL Nanette works to find her clone, helped in part by CEO Walton (Jimmi Simpson), who’s now threatened by a potential company scandal. But given that corporate interests rarely overlap with personal well-being, both Nanettes find themselves struggling to find a solution. It’s a great episode of science fiction, where every technological innovation ties back to a thoughtful theme; it sometimes casts its net too wide, but “Into Infinity” follows through on the promise of its premise. And, given its feature length, it does commit to an epic scale that’s just fun to watch (yes there’s a spaceship battle, and I believe I did hear a Star Wars scream). It’s less compact and cohesive than the original, but it’s an exciting follow-up nonetheless.
3.) Episode 5: “Eulogy”
Sometimes, you just gotta let Paul Giamatti do his thing for 45 minutes. “Eulogy” sees the actor as Philip, an aging man on his own who gets a call with unfortunate news—his ex-girlfriend from decades ago, Carol, has died. The call comes from a company that handles memorial services with a technological twist, where people can immerse themselves in memories provided by the deceased’s loved ones. Though reluctant to participate given how he and Carol broke up, Philip ends up embracing the idea of a trip down memory lane to try to see his lost love as he did all those years ago. He’s helped by the memorial company’s guide (Patsy Ferran), who’s surprisingly willing to challenge him and his unreliable narration of this relationship.
As far as Black Mirror episodes go, this one is pretty simple. Most of it involves Philip wading through memories that he’s long discarded, with the help of photos that he quite literally defaced. He can’t remember what Carol looked like, only the rush of their first night together, the awe he felt when she played the cello, the petty jealousy stoked by an interested suitor. As an extended dialogue between Philip and the guide, the proceedings feel akin to a small, sentimental work of theater, and Giamatti gives it the gravity of an Off-Broadway play. It gets repetitive and some of the revelations are hokey, but it’s an emotionally affective piece of the greater Black Mirror puzzle.
4.) Episode 1: “Common People”
“Common People” gives you exactly what you’d expect out of a Black Mirror episode; it’s quality work, but as the opener to Season 7 it doesn’t offer any real surprises. This episode feels like Black Mirror’s bread and butter, with some good ideas, great actors, and perfectly fine execution. Amanda (Rashida Jones) and Mike (Chris O’Dowd) are a nice, normal, middle-class couple; they go on semi-ironic anniversary trips and are hoping for a happy accident when it comes to expanding their family. But when Amanda’s chronic headaches turn into a life-altering health scare (and somehow not the only coma this season), she has to opt into a cutting edge neurological medical service called RiverMind. As explained by company rep Gaynor (Tracee Ellis Ross), it’s a brain waves subscription service—Amanda can operate at (almost) full capacity for just $300 a month! It’s a little too good to be true, so it’s no wonder that one year later, Mike and Amanda are faced with a choice: either upgrade their subscription and pay more or stay on the standard tier, which makes Amanda sleep for most of the day and deliver targeted ads to those around her. “Common People” takes place in a world not so unlike our own, the only difference being that subscriptions are for survival. With these subscriptions rolling out endless new tiers, the show does create salient parallels to issues like medical debt and quality of life for those bound by it. However, those threads get frayed when the episode decides to comment about the gig economy, adding a sensationalist subplot that never quite gels with the rest of the story. Jones, O’Dowd and Ross are all solid, but they contribute to an episode that is simply just fine.
5.) Episode 2: “Bête Noire”
One of the season’s slighter episodes, “Bête Noire” forces its protagonist to confront her past. Maria (Siena Kelly) is a successful figure in the R&D department of a sweets company, churning out new hit flavors and snack ideas. She’s comfortable, living a stable life in every regard until a familiar face from her school days appears at work for a taste test. It’s Verity (Rosy McEwen), a nerdy, viciously bullied outcast who seems to have undergone a complete transformation, and soon enough she’s found a job in Maria’s department. The world starts seeming topsy turvy for Maria, as things she’s long held true (like the name of a popular food chain, the existence of her nut allergy) turn out to be false, and she insists to everyone around her that Verity has to be involved. So is Maria just feeling insecure and threatened, or is Verity scary good at the gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss thing?
The episode plays with its Mandela effect mystery in interesting ways, but it’s a case of the set up being way more exciting than the pay off. Maria understandably starts to lose it as her entire worldview comes into question, and you have to wonder how deep and dark the show will go—is it about to turn into the Bryce Dallas Howard breakdown-fueled “Nosedive”? But “Bête Noire” jumps the shark with its explanation and ultimate resolution, and all of the genuine tension that the episode generates seeps out.
6.) Episode 4: “Plaything”
Unless you are a Black Mirror faithful who will geek out on callbacks or a Peter Capaldi TV completionist, “Plaything” doesn’t have much going for it. The episode takes some of its cues from the series’ Bandersnatch experiment, featuring returning faces like Will Poulter’s genius game creator and Asim Chaudhry’s gaming company CEO, and it similarly sets its sights on a mysterious video game. In a slightly confused set up, an odd man named Cameron (Capaldi) is taken in for questioning for a murder that occurred four decades prior. As the prime suspect details what his life was like way back when, he reveals an unhealthy attachment to a game called The Throng (think Tamagotchi, but if the pets were an actual species that required human assistance for evolution). It soon becomes clear that these digital creatures are somehow a piece in this unsolved puzzle, but the how and why of Cameron’s actions still remain.
It also becomes clear that this episode is kind of dumb. It’s too easy to guess where the story is going, even when it doesn’t make all that much sense. On top of that, “Plaything” doesn’t have anything to say beyond vague soliloquies about human nature and how it compares to the population of the Throng. At this point in Black Mirror, themes shouldn’t boil down to just “humans are bad” or “technology is dangerous,” but this episode doesn’t offer much else. Aside from some tactile, ‘90s style cinematography, there isn’t much of a point of view, just a slightly creepy techno-horror story. You won’t miss much if you skip it.
