"Black Mirror: Season 7" - Feels like season 3 again.
- Josh
- Apr 28, 2025
- 8 min read
Updated: May 17, 2025
Ally Pankiw; Toby Haynes; Haolu Wang; David Slade; Christopher Barrett; Luke Taylor; (2025)
No werewolves in this season.
The biggest problem with anthology shows, is even when most episodes are fine, if there are a few rotten episodes it can tank the entire season. The last season, has 3 very good episodes, Loch Henry, Joan is Awful and Beyond the Sea but when you talk to people about it, most people will say, “Yeah it was good but there was those shit werewolf one and the disco demon.” Or the infamous season five with gay street fighter, two guys sitting in a car or the robot Hannah Montana. This is the season that I constantly hear about, where people would say “Well, it’s at least better than Season 5.” Luckily, for season 7 there is only one episode that I didn’t really care all that much about and one episode who’s ending was lacklustre.
Common People
The first episode is my nightmare. Directed by Ally Pankiw and starring Chris O’Dowd as Mike and Rashida Jones as Amanda, are a couple who are struck with tragedy as Amanda gets hit with an illness sending her into a coma. Desperate to bring her back, Mike is offered a new brain chip that will bring her out of the coma, for a small price of $300 a month, a subscription service for life. While a miracle on the surface, issues arise as Amanda blacks out to deliver context relevant ads to the people around her, ruining intimate moments and jeopardising her livelihood. Or, finding out they’re unable to travel to near by cities because its out of their “zone”. But all that can be fixed with Rivermind Plus.
And the price increases and inconveniences continue to roll out from there. Already on the shoe string budget, Mike does what he can to keep his wife alive and well, which devolved into him doing humiliating acts on a streaming site for money. With the rising cost of to keeping one alive with a medical condition, this is obviously an allegory for the American healthcare system but I can’t comment on that because I’m Australian, we have benefits. But the reason why I called this episode and nightmare, is because this is plausible. We live in a world where we have companies doing everything in their power to have you continuously send them money. Subscription services for meal kits, pre-made meals, music, sport, printer ink, razors to shave your balls, apps to track running, apps for kids toys, a blue check on X, perfume testers and of course film and TV. Which similar to the craze of eat the rich, people have been saying, “It’s brave of Netflix to release something like this.” Which, no it’s not brave, it’s hypocritical. It’s a world were we own nothing and Black Mirror took it even further where we don’t own our own mind and health. The scariest black mirror episodes, are the ones you can see becoming a reality.
Bête Noire
The second episode is my legitimate nightmare. Starring Siena Kelly, Maria, working as the head of the RnD department for a food company, whose work is intervened by a former classmate and computer weirdo, Verity, played by Taylor Swift clone, Rosy McEwen. Directed by Toby Haynes, this is an episode I’ve had legitimate nightmares from. Nightmares where I just keep getting gas lit and there’s nothing I can do other than go insane questioning my reality, just like our main character. As Verity settles into her new role as Maria’s assistant, everyone around her seems to get along with her, but Maria knows something isn’t right as small and sometimes large cases of the Mandela Effect begin to drive her crazy.
It’s one of those classic tales of, careful who you make fun of in high school, Marie is haunted by the choices made by her younger self and has to pay for rumours spread around by her and her friends. Although, the technology aspect of this one is a bit of a stretch and leaves the realm of plausibility, it keeps it all vague enough where you still believe it’s possible. Although the last few moments of the episode are pretty goofy and tainted it a little bit for me.
Hotel Reverie
The third episode is pretty boring. Hotel Reverie follows actress Brandy, Issa Rae, who is tasked to star in a gender swap remake of the classic golden era movie Hotel Reverie. Where she’s scanned into the movie and with the use of AI, she’s able to act out scenes within the movie and interact with stars in real time. Any deviations of from the script will cause the NPC’s to act out and the world unstable, risking the health of our leading lady. Following the script, she’s tasked to fall in love with, Dorothy, played by the ever amazing Emma Corrin. Who’s persona of the golden age actress feels reminiscent of Judy Garland, sharing the same fate of an early tragic death. And when I said Corrin was the best part, I mean she was acting circles around Rae. Although, not a bad performance per se, but her performance felt like it lent more towards the comedy route. Her reactions to everything felt more over the top when I would hope for something a bit more subtle.
Now, I call this episode out as boring because it was nearing something interesting but didn’t fully delve into it. With malfunctions to the system, Brandy has time to spend with Dorothy where they begin a relationship, for Dorothy to then become aware that she’s in a simulation. But it doesn’t fully commit to that aspect of the story, so it felt like a lot of build up to that story beat to then pull out at the last minute. Some people might find the relationship between the two as something to connect with but I didn’t feel much of a growth between them. For me, this one is the black sheep of the season.
Plaything
The fourth episode is okay. Plaything, directed by David Slade, is one of those Black Mirror episodes that just happen and you're engaged enough but it won't come up when you're talking about the season. Told through flashbacks from a strange murder suspect being interrogated by police, Peter Capaldi plays an elder version of Cameron, pleading his case of why the body was linked to him. His younger self played by Lewis Gribben, is an old school video game reviewer who is exclusively selected to review the latest game from Colin Ritman, (Will Pouter) called Thronglets. As cool as it is to have a pseudo-sequel to Bandersnatch, he's role in the episode is more of a cameo and then he's just hastily thrown out with a character said something like, "yeah he went crazy again, you won't see him for the rest of episode."
Colin claims that what he made isn't a game, but he's created life from code and pixels. Cameron then becomes obsessed with this creatures, finding ways to communicate with them and building elaborate powerful computers to keep them alive. Taking his obsession to the next level, he lashes out at a couch surfing friend who plays the game as a ruthless god, killing and torturing the Thronglets. Which then leads to the current day of the interrogation where the question is being raised: Does AI life matter?
Which I'll answer the question, no, AI life doesn't matter. They're lines of code, they can't learn anything of their own freewill if it isn't apart of their programming. I'm going to say it, AI life does not matter. By the end the episode doesn't go wild with the question like Ex-Machina (2014), where there is no one to rebuttal his views. Leaving the audience with a surface level shrug to the question.
Eulogy
The fifth episode is my absolute nightmare. Eulogy by Christopher Barrett and Luke Taylor, is one of the best episodes of Black Mirror, not just within this season by in the entire series. With a powerhouse performance from Paul Giamatti, taking on the role of Phillip, a recluse who is sent a package to take memories of a past lover for her eulogy. As he's guided through the experience by the AI companion, The Guide, Patsy Ferran, who takes him through some foggy experiences of young Phillip and his then lover, Carol.
This is one of those stories that are always hard to watch, as we watch a man who has to live a life full of regret. And Phillip is not the most perfect character, numerous times we see every mistake he made in the relationship as he tries to piece together where everything fell apart, causing him to lose his one and only. He relives a past full of assumptions and slowly reveals the painful truth of their relationship. Leading to a bittersweet ending where the question: What if? is both resolved but left open. He's life long question of what if is cleared as he has closure of Carol's truth. And although relieved and happy enough to attend her funeral in good faith, he is cursed with the knowledge that he's life could've been different he wasn't such a jealous bitter character in his youth.
This is one of those perfect episodes that at it's core is a human story aided by technology. It's one that I'm sure everyone can relate to. Whether it's reminiscing of the one who got away, the regret of not carrying out a task or starting that next adventure in life. Hunted by the question of, what if?
USS Callister: Into Infinity
The sixth episode is once again, okay. Our first true Black Mirror sequel to one of the more popular episodes, USS Callister, by returning director and second episode for the season, Toby Haynes. USS Callister: Into Infinity follows the our previous crew who now live in the game as scrappy pirates, as the CEO, Jimmi Simpson, has begun to implement more pay to win aspects leaving the crew to have to hunt for credits. Unlike usual Black Mirror episodes, the USS series is more action heavy with the ethics of keeping clones hostage as the horror aspect. And this doesn't really appeal to me.
The most interesting portion of the episode was the ethical dilemma of keeping clones but also using them as cheap labour. And whether it was done on purpose or not, which it feels like it was on purpose due to the comments about in-game spending, it all feels like a reflection of the current day landscape of game development today. With frequent reports of toxic work environment and C-suite executives wanting everything done as quickly and cheaply as possible, of course a silicon valley business person would utilise cloning (or in the real world case AI generated art) to get something done quickly.
Although not hitting the heights of seasons 2 and 3, going back to bazar and somewhat believable technological advancements boosts season 7 amongst the previous. And like all the best episodes, the story is focuses on what makes us human. And a reminder to not lose sights of our humanity when blessed with the convivences of technological miracles.
Black Mirror - Season 7(2025)
Director: Ally Pankiw; Toby Haynes; Haolu Wang; David Slade; Christopher Barrett; Luke Taylor;
Writer: Charlie Brooker; Ella Road; Bisha K. Ali; William Bridges; Bekka Bowling
Stars: Chris O'Dowd; Rashida Jones; Siena Kelly; Rosy McEwen; Issa Rae; Emma Corrin; Peter Capaldi; Lewis Gribben; Paul Giamatti; Patsy Ferran; Cristin Milioti; Jimmi Simpson
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