Black Mirror is back to form in season 7

Posted on: 2 June 2025

2 years ago, I shared my disappointment of season 6 of Black Mirror. I’m a big fan of the series and relish each new season. Season 6 was OK in its own right, but I felt it was a departure from what made Black Mirror great. It lacked something special. Season 6 was great. A roar back to form for the show. If you want to know why, dive in with me (spoilers ahead).

Season 7 opened with “Common People”, an episode that introduces Amanda and Mike, a cute, loving couple who are just getting by financially. I had to lookup to check if Chris O’Dowd and Rashida Jones weren’t a couple in real life because they just seemed to gel wonderfully. Amanda faints and it’s discovered she has an inoperable brain tumour and is unlikely to wake up. Enter: a new technology (we know it all too well in this universe). Amanda makes a full recovery, but has part of her brain powered by this new technology.

The plot felt a little predictable. Their finances are tightened further and further by the insidious technology company. Mike degrades himself on a website where people pay him to humiliate and mutilate himself. Eventually they have to cease use of the technology, effectively turning off life support, as it were. Although oddly Mike chooses a pillow to end his wife’s life. This episode draws stark parallels with medical companies in the US and our growing subscription culture.

“Bête Noire” was the next episode, a smart episode about Maria coming back into contact with an old schoolmate Verity. Verity joins the confectionary company she works at and immediately starts winning over her peers. Maria starts to think she’s losing her mind, as events and memories she’s adamant about start deceiving her. Much to her embarrassment and to her professional detriment.

The way this episode played out clearly hinted to something akin to the Mandela effect. It was a clever reveal though, and as mind-boggling as some of the great Black Mirror episodes of old. Verity, being a computer whizz at school, had somehow harnessed the power of infinite multi-dimensions. Via a server farm in her mansion, she can effectively control the past as she she's fit; all the name of revenge. She was repeatedly rewriting reality for everyone but Maria. The final confrontation abruptly ended proceedings, and didn’t really do the premise justice. One of those "WTF" endings we've grown used to with Black Mirror.

The third instalment, ”Hotel Reverie”, introduces some hardware that's seen numerous times in the rest of the season. It sends the wearer into another immersive dimension which can be custom built with software. In the episode it’s used to remake a classic film with a modern twist. Our protagonist, an accomplished black hollywood actress Brandy Friday is cast in the role of a British male actor.

This episode is a fascinating slow-burn, as a software glitch traps the lead character in the alternate dimension. Her only escape is to play out the movie, with an ever-changing script and a cast of AI actors. A further hardware accident causes the movie to pause and communications with the film crew to halt. The story is of the romantic relationship between Brandy and her AI self-aware co-star. It’s quite touching and very tense in the episode’s climax.

”Plaything” is set in a gritty, yet clean-lined, near-future London. However most of the story is of events in the 90s, as the lead character, played by the excellent Peter Capaldi is being questioned for a past murder. Will Poulter gets another guest appearance, after featuring in Bandersnatch in 2018. Will plays a genius outcast game developer with the most annoying voice imaginable. It’s an intriguing plot, as we learn more about why our lead character has seemingly handed himself in to the police.

This one escalates quickly towards the end and has that classic Black Mirror wow factor. It would’ve been nice to learn a little more about the AI lifeforms that have grown intelligent enough to take over humanity’s consciousness. But I suspect we will in a later season. If there’s one thing Black Mirror loves, it’s a callback.

”Eulogy”, the penultimate episode, is a comparatively calm and serene episode. I found it to be quite an emotive episode. Minimal shock value, and a sentimental use of the technology introduced in Hotel Reverie. The plot follows Phillip, a man living a simple, isolated life, who learns of the passing of an old acquaintance.

Philip is lead by an AI guide in audio form, who invites him to revisit the memories he has of the deceased. With the help of technology, he’s able to step into and explore the scene depicted in a photograph. I enjoyed the change of pace in this episode. It touched on many poignant topics of ageing, love, heartbreak and family. A tearjerker.

They saved the best to last, in the feature length final episode of season 7, “USS Callister: Into Infinity”. This universe was introduced way back in 2017, as Robert Daly’s plaything. The recap at the start of tis episode was much needed as my recollection of the “USS Callister” in season 4 was hazy at best. This episode was an excellent continuation of the exciting storyline of an immersive gaming world, and the controversial concept of digital DNA-cloning.

Daly clones his colleagues without their permission and locks their consciousnesses in his own coded gaming world. In the original episode the crew is able to escape their prison, leading to the demise of Daly in the real world. The crew survived, but found themselves fighting as “bandits” to survive in the dangerous outer universe populated by real world players. Unlike the players, the crew face real peril with each mission to steal credits to survive.

There’s a wonderful whimsy and sharp comedy to this cast and universe; it’s a pleasure to watch this episode unfold. Every minute of the 90 minute runtime is well used and good value. There’s a sharp contrast between the colourful, other-worldly settings and the cold office in the real world. But the back and forth doesn’t feel jarring.

The reveal - that Daly himself was cloned by his co-founder James and is trapped, interminably in the centre of the universe he’s created - is brilliant. The conclusion encapsulates the lightheartedness of the episode; quintessentially Black Mirror.

Season 7 was Black Mirror back to its best. I would happily re-watch each episode again.