Summary
- Black Mirror's seventh season showcases likable characters facing bleak technological hells.
- Memorable figures like Cameron, Verity, and Mike drive the season's most engaging narratives.
- The talented cast delivers compelling performances, making the new season highly discussable.
Fans had to wait a bit, but the seventh season of Black Mirror is finally ready, and with it come six new looks at how technology can be manipulated into horrific situations. While these scenarios can be bleak, there's a lot of good viewers that can take from them.
For example, the characters can be instantly likable — which makes their downfalls into technological hell all the more troubling. They can be easy to empathize with or just plain funny. Among them, these are the characters who rise to the occasion and makes this season of Black Mirror the most worthwhile to discuss.
There will be spoilers ahead.
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Black Mirror brings all sorts of intriguing concepts to life with every episode, but these are the best episodes in the entire series.
7 Cameron Walker (Peter Capaldi)
Episode Four, “Plaything”
Cameron is the central figure in “Plaything,” an episode that cuts between his present self, and the backstory he's narrating of how he came into possession of a simulation game called Thronglets. It’s not just a sim game though, as the little creatures are technically alive, which makes Cameron go a bit mad.
Cameron is a meek individual, picked on by others his whole life except for these creatures that got him. While unhinged, it is easy to sympathize with Cameron on some level. He may go about it the wrong way, but his plan to create a utopia via a singularity event is a good thought.
6 Verity Green (Siena Kelly)
Episode Two, “Bete Noire”
Verity is the villain of “Bete Noire” but it’s hard to figure out exactly why. Somehow, Verity was able to create a machine that allowed her to teleport things from other universes, just to mess with an old high school bully named Maria.
For example, Maria is wearing a yellow in the final scene, but with her device, Verity can turn it red. Getting to the whole plot reveal is twisted, but deeply engaging thanks to Siena Kelly's performance. It’s a bit unfortunate more time isn’t spent diving deeper into the many lives Verity has lived.
5 Mike (Chris O'Dowd)
Episode One, “Common People”
“Common People” is one of the most heartbreaking episodes of the season, as it centers on a couple going through a ridiculously complicated process. Amanda (Rashida Jones) suffers an accident at work, but through a new brain-cloning company called Rivermind, she can live on.
To pay the subscription fees required, her husband Mike goes through extra shifts to make Amanda happy. When the subscription service increases its price to get rid of ads, Mike does something more drastic by going on a streaming service wherein viewers can pay money to force him to do stuff, ranging from pulling out teeth to kissing a mousetrap. He does it all for Amanda, which is an admirable husband trait. Yet even after all that, he is forced to do the unthinkable in the end: kill Amanda to save her sanity.
4 Phillip (Paul Giamatti)
Episode Five, “Eulogy”
Phillip is practically the only living character in “Eulogy.” Paul Giamatti has a commanding presence onscreen as he always does. A memorial service called Eulogy calls him on the phone one day, asking him to help put together a fitting tribute for a lost love named Carol. Philip fights his feelings for Carol, with this AI construct helping him go through photographic memories. The more it continues, the deeper his backstory with Carol gets. The revelation helps put Philip at ease, but it’s not an easy pill to swallow and again, Giamatti sells it 100%.
3 James Walton (Jimmi Simpson)
Episode Six, “USS Callister: Into Infinity”
James is a returning character who first appeared in the premiere episode of season four, “USS Callister.” Like that initial episode, he plays two versions of himself in this new one. James is the CEO of a gaming company, and then there’s a cloned version of himself trapped inside an MMO. Both versions offer different sides of the same coin, with massive egos flowing through both. Watching CEO James fail to understand how video games work, or Clone James eat a giant squid, is infinitely entertaining.
2 Dorothy/Clara (Emma Corrin)
Episode Three, “Hotel Reverie”
Dorothy is an actress from the 1940s who died in that same era in the third episode, “Hotel Reverie.” In the in-universe movie of the same name, Dorothy plays a character named Clara.
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The episode is about a company re-filming Hotel Reverie with one new cast member, Brandy, playing the love interest through AI-based reconstruction. It’s a bit hard to understand, but either way, Corrin fits in well with the 1940s era, giving Dorothy/Clara a haunting portrayal.
1 Nanette Cole (Cristin Milioti)
Episode Six, “USS Callister: Into Infinity”
Nanette was a standout character when "USS Callister" aired in 2017, and she’s just as good, if not better, in the sequel, “USS Callister: Into Infinity.” Like James, the episode features both a real version and a cloned version of Nanette.
Unlike last season, Nanette is now a woman in charge, trying to help her crew survive in an MMO hellscape filled with murderous players. She has some hard decisions to make in her episode, but Nanette comes out on top every time thanks to her quick wit. She even passes a morality test with flying colors.
- Release Date
- December 4, 2011
- Network
- Channel 4, Netflix
- Showrunner
- Charlie Brooker
- Directors
- Owen Harris, Toby Haynes, James Hawes, David Slade, Carl Tibbetts, Ally Pankiw, Bryn Higgins, Dan Trachtenberg, Euros Lyn, Jodie Foster, Joe Wright, John Hillcoat, Sam Miller, Tim Van Patten, Uta Briesewitz, Colm McCarthy, Jakob Verbruggen, James Watkins, John Crowley, Otto Bathurst, Anne Sewitsky, Brian Welsh
- Writers
- Jesse Armstrong
Cast
-
Cristin MiliotiNanette Cole -
Jimmi SimpsonWalton
WHERE TO WATCH
- Seasons
- 7
- Streaming Service(s)
- Netflix
