'Black Mirror' just righted itself for Season 7
A review of sorts
“Black Mirror’s” been sucking for the past three or four seasons, ever since attracting world-wide (read: Hollywood) notice.
Every time a show or movie becomes big, everyone wants in, especially entitled celebrities trying to cut in line and cash in.
I watched it happen on soap operas back in the early 2000s, when I covered ABC Daytime for Jeff Jungblut’s SoapZone/PCO. Primetime’s no different. It’s actually worse.
If you don’t believe me, look what happened to Marvel. Samuel L. Jackson was such a comic book fan that as soon as the movies and series started catching fire with more fans, he couldn’t wait to horn in on that action, effectively breaking that fourth wall and ruining the virgin spirit of countless unknown comic fans all over.
Same with “Star Wars,” “The Office,” and “This Is Us,” to name just a few examples.
Despite what it looks like now, “Black Mirror” debuted in Dec. 2011 on Channel 4 in the UK as a very British series, featuring relatively unknown British actors, delving into dystopian themes, much like America’s “Twilight Zone” did in the ‘60s.
But “Black Mirror” was theirs, not ours.
Somewhere around “Nosedive,” an admitted favorite indictment of social media, and Miley Cyrus’s Season 5 “Ashley O” episode, the show went downhill, delivering empty promises and tepid plot twists that fell flat — or over viewers’ heads … the tragic inevitably of the cult hit going mainstream.
As with any TV show/movie relying heavily on celebrity stunt casting, “Black Mirror” turned into a typical Hollywood remake, coasting on mannequins posing the part, rather than saying or doing anything important.
Not this season. It’s been two long years since the mostly forgettable, sometimes alarming, borderline snuff film-esque Season 6, most notably “Loch Henry.”
Season 7’s a lot better, more or less.
There’s still a dud or two in the bunch (“Plaything”), some heavy-duty PC PSAs in a cheap COVID shot (“Eulogy”) and DEI hiring for hiring’s sake, lowering storytelling, character standards. But…a lot better.
The first episode, “Common People,” is as scary as it gets, taking the ever-evolving premium streaming packages to a very human/inhuman level — I hardly recognized Rashida Jones; she actually disappeared into a role!
It’s a thoroughly terrifying, what-if indictment of those streaming packages that keep moving the goalposts, but it’s also an indictment of all those streaming podcasters who, in the middle of commenting on the news, start talking like an ad.
We’re already turning into tampon commercials, might as well go the extra mile and benefit medically from it.
I almost liked “Bête Noire” better, because of the Mandela Effect/parallel universe themes, and a seamless incorporation of white privilege/bullying into the mix. I felt just as frustrated as the main character getting gaslit by a former classmate and the bane of her high school existence. The “Empress of the Universe” nod to Beyoncé was dumb, though, and unbecoming of “Black Mirror’s” gravity.
“Hotel Reverie” would’ve been better with a better actress playing Brandy. I don’t know who Issa Rae is; apparently a big deal in PC Hollywood. But her speaking voice didn’t match the black and white movie, 1940s time period, or even modern-day-worthy cinema. No offense, but the dumbed-down casting miss felt like Daffy Duck on “Gone With the Wind.”
I know you’re supposed to believe today’s modernity/diversity added a fresh twist to the vintage, but it was a stretch for me, and I’m willing to suspend my disbelief — provided the actresses live up to their roles.
It’s why the #1 most loved “Black Mirror” episode, “San Junipero [third series]” ultimately failed for me: the actresses weren’t all that good playing tragic-noble.
Besides, what’s the point of re-doing “Hotel Reverie” with the same cast, sets, and storyline — minus the injection of the hot, new 2024 property? Doesn’t make sense.
I also didn’t buy the two female leads’ chemistry, although both actresses tried their best to create something out of nothing in that rushed atmosphere. I needed more from Brandy, maybe two more scenes where she’s had time to digest what’s happening and pay more attention to Dorothy Chambers.
It took too long for Issa Rae to get there. So, by the time she does, it’s too late, and I couldn’t. Sorry.
This could be a stand-alone movie, given the right casting. Keep Emma Corrin, though. She’s a timeless gem who almost made me care about Brandy caring about Dorothy, without Brandy getting involved.
“Plaything” is boring, the perfect example of an Easter egg gone too far (ooh, it’s “Bandersnatch’s” Colin Ritman in a cameo!). The Thronglets look like ‘80s blobs. I kept waiting for Cameron — it’s Cameron, right? — to upgrade with more realistic versions, so it was hard to care much when Lump started dropping virtual boulders. Also, what happens after the Singularity???
They got me, though, in “Eulogy,” with actor Paul Giamatti (Phillip) alone and the tension he creates in his voice and expressions with an A.I. that resembles his childhood love Carol’s grown daughter.
This could also be a stand-alone movie, deserving of an Emmy.
“Eulogy” subtly, brilliantly weaves the theme of “Black Mirror’s” advanced technology (and its side effects) and tones down the horror in favor of the woefully flawed and romantic.
Phillip, puttering away in his Cape Cod garden, is asked to contribute his virtual memories to an A.I.-enhanced, immersive memorial for Carol in Britain. At first, he is reluctant, dismissive even, that he could contribute anything since he suspiciously, yet convincingly, even to himself, insists he barely remembers the woman. But his eyes say different.
As he searches half-heartedly for mementos to help jar his memories, prompted by the A.I., we tag along, noticing the growing passion…shame, rage, hurt, and eventually, helpless love — his only love — drip-drip-pouring through those photos. Not one has her face in them.
In fact, he, like many of us, has cut or blacked out her face in order to not remember the pain she caused him.
Even he can’t help but notice how thorough he is in wiping away all traces of her.
Halfway through, I realized with a start that the A.I. humanoid is either Carol or her daughter Kelly (the latter), as she takes on more and more of an opinionated, protective stance on behalf of her mother and the side she never got to tell.
Neither of them did, really.
It’s a beautiful arc, filled with great regret and soft, emotional closure, as encompassed in Carol’s cello song, even though the characters never get to truly clear the air.
The only off note in “Eulogy” is when the A.I. daughter recalls her mom’s one-night stand with an orchestra musician, which produced her. Kelly describes the one-night stand, with cold disdain, as a man given to conspiracy theories and then, he died of COVID, as if the two correlated.
I didn’t need the cheap COVID shot inserted there to enjoy the fictional story. It almost tainted the story for me.
Otherwise, it was hard to shake off “Eulogy” for the rest of the episodes.
Season 7’s finale, “USS Callister: Into Infinity…” played more like a “Star Trek” episode than a “Black Mirror” one, and I didn’t enjoy it as much as the majority probably did. The “USS Callister” episode from the fourth series also bombed with me.
Maybe because I’m not a Trekkie, or a gamer. Maybe because it didn’t contain enough of an A.I. dystopian twist. Maybe because I expect to be horrified and shocked and fucked with, like in one of the scariest past episodes of all — “Fifteen Million Merits,” which kind of set the stage for the premise of all the “Black Mirrors,” IMHO.
All in all, Season 7 of “Black Mirror” served as a welcome respite for me and my husband’s own real-life black mirror this past weekend. We’ll take any help we can get.