Here’s a surprise for ya: Sci-fi/thriller anthology series Black Mirror is 14 years old. That’s right: Series creator Charlie Brooker has been delivering seasons since 2011. It’s old! Netflix took over production in 2016 for Season 3, but the show itself has been up and running since 2011.
I took in the first of six new episodes this past weekend, and things are off to a great start. “Common People” stars Chris O’Dowd and Rashida Jones as married couple Mike and Amanda.
After Amanda has a medical emergency, she winds up with a brain implant that makes her not unlike a cell phone with a streaming service: Part of her brain is reliant upon a server; she can’t go outside of a certain radius; and if she doesn’t pay the monthly premium fees, she’s forced to deliver ads through her own mouth.
Even worse: If she doesn’t keep up with the upgrades and the ever-increasing monthly bill, she will become as obsolete as a rotary phone.
While some of this is funny, the 56-minute episode has a significant horror element to go with the sci-fi, because Mike and Amanda go through true hell to maintain the increasing payments on Amanda’s brain. Mike, who works a construction job, is forced to moonlight on the internet on a strange channel where he must do ungodly things to himself for a buck.
O’Dowd, normally a reliable comic actor, goes a little deeper here and proves he’s up to the task. His somber face is perfect for the role. Jones somehow successfully makes a human being unknowingly spewing advertising slogans both slightly funny and really sad.
One can’t help but fear that what happens to Amanda in this movie isn’t too far from reality, with the Elon Musks of the world stopping at nothing to technologically advance (or destroy) society as we know it.
Black Mirror’s seventh season is now streaming on Netflix.
Great