“Joan is Awful” follows a fairly simple conceit (for Black Mirror, that is): what if you saw your life playing out before you on TV? For Joan (Annie Murphy), what starts as a confusing recommendation on Streamberry (a cheeky Netflix analog) soon consumes her whole life-mostly because it’s showing her whole life, from risky text exchanges to her therapy session. Annie Murphy in “Joan is Awful.” Nick Wall/Netflix 4.) Episode 1: “Joan is Awful” The episode doesn’t provide a message through these two figures so much as a twisted sense of catharsis, which is a refreshing choice. It doesn’t fully commit to that kind of fun, and it certainly gets bogged down by its 74-minute runtime, but Vasan and Essiedu make for this season’s most watchable pair. Elements of ‘70s slashers make their way in to add some genre flare, from the opening titles to a grainy camera to some throwback prosthetic gore. The episode is a good time, albeit not one you’d expect from Black Mirror. As the microaggressions build, so too does Nida’s own suppressed anger towards the perpetrators. The year is 1979, racist, fascist politics are on the rise in Britain, and Nida’s fellow townspeople are happy to trod on her as one of the few brown people around. The more successful of this season’s supernatural episodes follows mild-mannered retail worker Nida (Anjana Vasan) as she falls into a deal with the devil-rather, a deal with Gaap, a well-dressed demon played with all the charm in the underworld by Paapa Essiedu. Paapa Essiedu in “Demon 79.” Nick Wall/Netflix 3.) Episode 5: “Demon 79” In the end, “Loch Henry” gives true crime lovers plenty to chew on, both as a self-contained story and a warning about the personal costs of these tales. The episode’s big twist may be easy to spot, but it does lead to a genuinely tense sequence that holds up against any slasher favorite (although it ends a bit anticlimactically). These stories are the bread and butter of many streamers, a point that Black Mirror is cognizant of (at one point, to the question, “What was that Netflix thing? About the guy who killed women?” Pia knowingly responds, “Maybe narrow that down”). The processes of shooting, digitizing, and editing are shown in a montage that understands the passion and excitement behind these projects, but it also demonstrates the kind of sheen that true crime plasters over tragedy. While Davis and Pia work on their film, the audience is treated to a mixed media affair, from filmed re-enactments to old news reels to police evidence. The episode bounces back and forth between a mildly ironic appreciation of the true crime genre and a condemnation of it. Naturally, it’s hardly a case closed kind of situation, and they uncover secrets that bring them dangerously close to the crimes.
BEST BLACK MIRROR EPISODES RANKED SERIES
“Loch Henry” gets deep into the heart of our obsession with true crime, as young filmmaker Davis (Samuel Blenkin) and his girlfriend Pia (Myha’la Herrold) go to his small Scottish hometown with the intention of making an impactful nature documentary, only for girlfriend Pia to find an opportunity in the local lore about a series of sordid murders. Samuel Blenkin and Myha’la Herrold in “Loch Henry.” Courtesy of Netflix Media Center 2.) Episode 2: “Loch Henry” “Beyond the Sea” does succumb to an overly schlocky ending (not every episode needs an insane twist, Charlie!), but it offers a disquieting finish to a heartbreaking episode. It’s not an episode about deep space or robots or the danger they present it’s about a difficult marriage and a man experiencing near-insurmountable grief. Paul pulls double duty, deftly distinguishing his portrayals of Cliff and David and crafting a clear emotional journey for each, and Mara is more than game to juggle her character’s complicated relationship with her husband and his colleague. It brings three adults and their own heartbreaks together, serving as a meditation on loss, toxic masculinity, and the terminal ennui of being a mid-century housewife. While the circumstances that lead to the plot are a tad outlandish and rapidly lose relevance, the body-swapping story is the main event.
Both are able to return to their lives on Earth thanks to robotic replicas that they can upload themselves into, but when an unexpected tragedy hits David and his replica, Cliff and his wife Lana (Kate Mara) agree to let the grieving man take a spin in Cliff’s body. “Beyond the Sea” fits that brief, as it focuses on Cliff (Aaron Paul) and David (Josh Hartnett), two men on a space mission in a futuristic 1969.
Kate Mara and Aaron Paul in “Beyond the Sea.” Nick Wall/Netflix 1.) Episode 3: “Beyond the Sea”īlack Mirror is at its best not when it drops its characters in worlds with unprecedented technological risks, but when it uses its sci-fi premises to tell deeply human stories.
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