Black Mirror- Season 7 (review)

Published by Mason Oldridge, 18 April 2025

CONTAINS SPOILERS!

The most mind-bending and thought-provoking anthology series on television is back with five new original stories and its first ever sequel.

Common People, starring Chris O’Dowd and Rashida Jones, follows a woman who must subscribe to a service to remain alive after having a stroke and her husband who goes to desperate lengths to afford the rising costs. The episode serves as a stark commentary on streaming services’ evolving pricing tiers and is particularly clever in its reference to ad-based plans.

Bête Noire follows an employee at a food company whose perception of reality begins to change when an old classmate from school joins the business. The unexplainable events lead to an impatience to discover the truth, though the reveal of alternate universes being used for revenge and bizarre conclusion is enjoyable.

Hotel Reverie sees an A-list actor take part in an AI reboot of a classic 1940s film and subsequently become stuck in the virtual world, having to stick to the script to stay alive. Parallels can be drawn between Emma Corrin’s character Dorothy Chambers and real-life Judy Garland, while the black-and-white set pieces make for a visual masterpiece.

Plaything sees an eccentric reviewer, masterfully portrayed by Peter Capaldi, recall his involvement in a murder and its link to a 1990s video game. While not the most compelling episode to watch, the unnerving performance of both versions of Cameron Walker and the shocking ending of the singularity event make for chilling viewing.

Eulogy is an emotional episode in which a lonely man uses technology that allows him to step into old photographs to recall memories from them. As the episode progresses, we learn his version of events is only one side of the story and the guide is a digital avatar of his girlfriends’ illegitimate daughter, while the tear-jerking ending in which he discovers the letter and finally remembers her face deserves the utmost praise and retrospectively elevates the rest of the episode.

In USS Callister: Into Infinity, the digital clones embark on a mission to survive, while in the real world, the extent of James Walton’s villainy is revealed. This sequel may feel somewhat unnecessary but is a truly cinematic instalment that serves as an epic season finale.

With every episode featuring fictional technology, stories based around real-life tech like in prior seasons are missed. However, with more gripping tales and its trademark innovative endings that could only come from the complex mind of Charlie Brooker, Black Mirror remains as terrifyingly addictive as ever!

9/10