The highly-anticipated—and somewhat of a surprise drop—sixth season of Black Mirror, the acclaimed Netflix anthology series from Charlie Brooker, has finally arrived. Here’s our overview of what to expect if you haven’t already binged the whole thing:
How Long is the Season?
There are five episodes to binge in the sixth season of Black Mirror:
1. “Joan is Awful”
In which an average woman’s life is stolen by a global streaming platform to turn into a prestige tv drama adaptation of her life called “Joan is Awful”. Salma Hayek Pinault shows up. Disaster ensues.
2. “Loch Henry”
A true crime thriller following a young couple trying to make a hit documentary in a sleepy Scottish town. They stumble across a juicy local story and decide to ditch their original plan of making a genteel nature documentary, hoping to strike gold.
3. “Beyond the Sea”
This episode follows Aaron Paul and Josh Hartnett as astronauts in an alternative reality in 1969. They must overcome the detachment from their bodies and lives back on Earth as they deal with the consequences of an unimaginable tragedy.
4. “Mazey Day”
A troubled starlet suffers from the consequences of a hit-and-run incident and invasive paparazzi.
5. “Demon 79”
A meek sales assistant must come to terms with having to commit terrible acts to prevent widespread disaster, set in Northern England in 1979.
They’re all about an hour long, but “Beyond the Sea” and “Demon 79” add on 10 or 20 more minutes.
Who’s In It?
A LOT of people you’ll recognize are in this new season. “Joan is Awful” flaunts the biggest cast of famous actors. This first episode includes Annie Murphy (Schitt’s Creek), Salma Hayek, Michael Cera, Ben Barnes (Prince Caspian from Narnia), Jaboukie Young-White, Ayo Edebiri (breakout star from The Bear), Himesh Patel, and many more. “Loch Henry’’ includes Peaky Blinders’ Samuel Blenkin and BodiesBodiesBodies star Myha’la Herrold, as well as Daniel Portman (Podrick from Game of Thrones), and famed Scottish and Irish actors John Hannah and Monica Dolan. “Beyond the Sea” brings Black Mirror’s second Breaking Bad actor into play with a lead role for Aaron Paul (Jesse Plemons is the first actor from Breaking Bad to appear on Black Mirror as the main character in “USS Callister” from Season 4). Kate Mara and Rory Culkin also appear in this episode. “Mazey Day” stars Zazie Beetz and Danny Ramirez, while “Demon 79” utilizes mostly unknown actors, harking back to the early seasons of the show.
Is it Similar to Earlier Seasons?
It is and isn’t. This season focuses on the past in a way other seasons haven’t really. Though “San Junipero” from Season 3 famously dives into the 80s, multiple episodes in this season are grounded firmly in the past, either working outside of the show’s expected technological frameworks (“Loch Henry”) or operating in an alternate reality (“Beyond the Sea” and “Demon 79”). Other episodes, including “Loch Henry” which brings past technology like VHS into the digitized present, seem to give us stories that could very well happen right now. Black Mirror has always walked a thin line between terrifying-but-seemingly-far-off-into-the-future and oh-this-is-happening-right-now technological powers, but this season seems more firmly attentive to the present, especially in “Joan is Awful”.
Black Mirror seems to be taking advantage of its past popularity to criticize the major streaming platform that bought it back in 2015: Netflix. Season 6 episodes “Joan is Awful” and “Loch Henry” both directly criticize and arguably vilify their in-universe Netflix equivalent, “Streamberry”.
Perhaps the show’s hiatus brought with it a reality check; we are far closer to the dystopian realities they have been warning us about than we previously thought. It is much sharper, it seems to them, to criticize the blatantly “now” than the foggy “soon”.
Do We Recommend It?
Yes, for the most part. Season 6 feels quite different to the earliest seasons of Black Mirror that drew many OG fans to the show, but there are still parts of it to enjoy. Though it may not feel as shocking as fan favorites like “Be Right Back” or “Nosedive,” it still has something to say. And overall, it has more familiar Black Mirror tropes than I may be giving it credit for.
Plus, a couple of the episodes still make connections and leave easter eggs to other Black Mirror episodes, which is fun for fans of the larger Black Mirror universe.