After two long, agonizing years, Black Mirror‘s seventh season is set to be released this week. Charlie Brooker’s dystopian sci-fi series will have six new episodes, complete with new and familiar faces viewers may recognize from previous seasons — or perhaps a very specific interactive Netflix special.
For those of you unfamiliar, Black Mirror episodes are stand-alone. Each story explores some not-so-out-of-reach technology disaster, like relying on a 5-star rating from others to qualify for an apartment or having your consciousness forever trapped within an Alexa dupe. But once each episode ends, so does its intricate storyline and characters. Although there are some indicators that each episode may occur within the same universe, none have ever interacted with each other, nor have they had a sequel — until now.
For the first time since the show’s 2011 premiere, Black Mirror will show a continuation of two fan favorites: Bandersnatch and “U.S.S. Callister.“
The Bandersnatch sequel, “Plaything,” brings back the highly successful video-game creator, Colin Ritman, played by The Maze Runner‘s Will Poulter. Similarly, we can expect most of the original cast of “U.S.S. Callister” to appear in its sequel, “U.S.S. Callister: Into Infinity,” including Cristin Milioti, who plays Nanette Cole, and Jimmi Simpson, a.k.a. Walton.
We don’t have many details on each episode just yet, but here’s what we do know.
- Common people
-
Season seven will start with “Common People,” which welcomes Parks and Recreation‘s Rashida Jones, Black-ish‘s Tracee Ellis Ross, and Bridesmaids’ Chris O’Dowd to the Black Mirror family.
After Amanda, a schoolteacher, experiences an unexpected medical emergency, her husband, Mike, is desperate to try anything to save her life. This leads them to try Rivermind, a high-tech system described as “a revolution in neurological science.” But of course, as with any Black Mirror technology, something goes terribly wrong. The trailer ends with Amanda asking, “You’re running ads through me?”
From the limited information available, the episode appears to explore the outrageousness of ad placements, specifically at the cost of someone’s life.
By watching this five-minute ad, we’ll throw in an extra hour of serotonin!
- Béte Noire
-
Have you ever met someone and immediately sensed something was off about them? You bring it up to a friend or a coworker, and they convince you that you have it all wrong — “But Becky is so sweet!” they say. They get along with everyone, and they all seem to adore them, so am I the crazy one?
That seems to be the case for Maria when her former classmate Verity suddenly starts working at Maria’s company. Starring Rosy McEwen and Siene Kelly, “Béte Noire” may be the new gaslight, gatekeep, girl boss episode of the century.
The trailer doesn’t give us too many hints as to what dystopian theme the episode could explore, but I’m excited to find out.
- Hotel Reverie
-
If you’ve ever wanted to be a character in your favorite movie, this episode might be a dream come true. In what appears to be similar to Westworld, an A-list celebrity must stick to the script if she’s ever to escape from the highly immersive remake of a vintage British film.
The characters in the film are sentient, saying, “I’m as real as you are.” With the rapidly growing evolution of AI, sentience is definitely a forefront concern. I don’t know about you, but I always thank Chat GPT and Siri. I’m not trying to make enemies. And it seems like our protagonist Brandy, played by Issa Rae, may be taking it a step further — Her style.
One of Black Mirror’s core concepts is the exploration of the ethics and morality behind the futuristic technology the characters create, so I’m excited to see how this story plays out.
- Plaything
-
In a continuation of the interactive Netflix special Bandersnatch — where viewers make decisions on behalf of the protagonist, Stefan Butler — “Plaything” investigates how a “cute” video game is related to someone’s death. Allegedly, the innocent-looking characters in the game have become sentient, which seems to be a common theme this season.
The episode brings back Bandersnatch‘s Colin Ritman, a famous game creator at Tuckersoft. In the interactive special, Colin offered Stefan the opportunity to take acid. For the viewers who chose “yes,” Colin gave a monologue about how life is similar to Pac-Man. It’s the matrix; there’s no way in and no way out. Once you die, you come back. He proves this by jumping off his balcony to his death.
I suppose his theory has been proven correct since he returned. Let’s see how he’s involved in the chaos this time.
- Eulogy
-
Immortality and death aren’t exactly new concepts for Black Mirror. We’ve seen them in episodes like “Be Right Back” in season two and “San Junipero” in season three. But we haven’t seen this.
“Eulogy” dives into the all-too-familiar dread of life moving entirely too fast. This story of loneliness, nostalgia, and human connection features Paul Giamatti as Phillip as he’s introduced to a system allowing users to step inside old photos. As an isolated man, he’s suddenly entirely submerged in a different moment in time, surrounded by people he used to know, music he used to listen to, and clothes he used to wear — but what’s the point if he can’t see his loved one?
This episode doesn’t seem nearly as out of reach as some of Black Mirror‘s other stories. It sounds remarkably similar to Apple’s new spatial photo concept. What could possibly go wrong?
- U.S.S. Callister: Into infinity
-
Arguably the one fans are most excited about, “U.S.S. Callister: Into Infinity” continues the story of the space crew trapped within a Star-Trek-like video game created by Robert Daly, who stole his coworkers’ DNA to put video clones of them into his game after becoming bitter over his “lack of recognition” at work.
The space crew fights tooth and nail to communicate to the outside that they are trapped. The only problem is that the episode ends with Robert’s death, killing the crew’s only means of communication.
“U.S.S. Callister: Into Infinity” shows the original space crew trying to survive in this virtual universe, which has since seen an influx of about 30 million players. It looks like their goal of escaping just got 30 million times harder.
Many of this season’s episodes hit close to home. As the world’s technology rapidly expands, Black Mirror becomes increasingly realistic. And if there’s one thing the show accomplishes every season, it’s giving viewers something to think about. By the end of each episode, viewers are left staring into the true black mirror: their TVs after the credits roll.
So, are you ready for your next existential crisis?