Summary
- Black Mirror Season 7 explores technology's control over humans through ominous scenarios.
- Rivermind Technologies offers solutions but at a price, introducing eerie consequences for Amanda and Mike.
- Common People delves into the dark side of technology, highlighting how even love can be manipulated for control.
It's that time of the year when viewers will get to learn how technology is being used negatively against them. Netflix has finally come forward with the seventh season of its highly popular series, Black Mirror, which doesn't shy away from scaring viewers with how technology is becoming the real boss and humans are merely subjects. In the prior editions of the series, it has already been established that technology, however helpful it is, seems to be taking away a lot from us, and Season 7 is not different. It begins with an episode that is subtle, yet horrifying, and explores how the well-being of the human race is now being controlled by these big tech companies.
The first episode of Black Mirror Season 7 is titled Common People and begins with a look at the perfect lives of Amanda (played by Rashida Jones) and Mike (played by Chris O'Dowd). They are a happily married couple celebrating their third wedding anniversary and planning to go to Juniper to celebrate their anniversary. Mike works in the manufacturing sector, while Amanda is a teacher who teaches children about autonomous drone insects. Those insects are being used for pollination. However, they don't know that their perfect little life is going to be turned upside down soon. Let's take a look at what happened in Common People and how the episode ended.
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What Is Black Mirror Season 7 Episode 1 about?
The first episode makes it clear that Amanda and Mike are trying to have a baby. However, they haven't been successful. But soon, it is revealed that Amanda's health is deteriorating, and she is admitted to the hospital. He gets to know that his wife has a tumor in his brain, which is growing. However, the doctor tells him that a tech company, Rivermind Technologies, could help his wife with surgery that could give her a second life. The company would provide them with free surgery, and, after the surgery, a cloud-based platform would help Amanda live like a normal person. However, it would cost them $300 per month. After the surgery, Amanda seems fine—until one night she suddenly freezes while they’re driving outside the network zone. Gaynor, a rep from Rivermind, says it can be fixed by upgrading to Rivermind Plus. Amanda begins speaking in strange, robotic voices, unknowingly repeating ad-like phrases, as if she's picking up machine signals.
For Rivermind Plus, Mike needed extra money and joined the shady online platform "Dum Dummies" to earn money. However, things go from bad to worse for her when she starts spouting advertisements and causes problems. Mike is able to get money from Dum Dummies for the upgrade and gives Amanda a surprise. Mike continues doing weird tasks, like putting his tongue in a mousetrap to earn more. At the same time, Amanda starts sleeping for over 12 hours, always waking up tired. When the couple meets Gaynor, she says they will have to subscribe to Rivermind Lux, allowing users to have an extraordinary experience. It even allows users the ability to enhance their senses and feel at their optimum levels. But that subscription tier is $1000, and if the couple can't afford it, they could take temporary boosters as well.
Mike buys a 12-hour temporary booster for Amanda as an anniversary surprise, and it makes Amanda feel everything at the highest level. On the other hand, Mike's adventures on Dum Dummies are now known to his colleagues, which made him mad, and he ended up being fired. When he gets home, Mike tells Amanda he was fired. Amanda, confused and worried, asks how they’ll pay for Rivermind Plus now, as their once-hopeful future seems to be slipping away.
How Does Black Mirror Season 7 Episode 1 end?
In the last few minutes of the episode, Mike and Amanda go to Gaynor, asking her to give some credit. However, she can't do that. Things change when Mike says that he doesn't want to use the "baby money." As soon as he says that, Gaynor asks about their plan and when they were planning to get pregnant. Amanda says they have been trying, and as of now, they haven't been able to do it. Gaynor hits the final nail in the coffin when she says that pregnancy will cost extra because it alters the brain. The duo storms out of the office and decides to do nothing about it, dropping the technology. The episode takes a one-year leap and sees Mike finally selling the baby bed that they had for some extra cash.
Conversely, it seems Amanda's health is worsening, and it seems that she is in her final moments. They sit in the backyard and talk to each other. Amanda tells Mike to do something, but only when she is not around. The timing of her subscription's overdue is coming to an end, and it seems the couple has decided not to put Amanda in more pain. As a result, he kills Amanda and goes back to his room, where Dum Dummies is open on his laptop, and he has a cutter in his hands. The episode ends with Mike closing the door.
A hauntingly intimate Black Mirror episode that blends speculative tech with raw human emotion, revealing how even love and self-care can be twisted into tools of control.
- Release Date
- December 4, 2011
- Network
- Channel 4, Netflix
- Showrunner
- Charlie Brooker
- Directors
- Owen Harris, Toby Haynes, James Hawes, David Slade, Carl Tibbetts, Ally Pankiw, Bryn Higgins, Dan Trachtenberg, Euros Lyn, Jodie Foster, Joe Wright, John Hillcoat, Sam Miller, Tim Van Patten, Uta Briesewitz, Colm McCarthy, Jakob Verbruggen, James Watkins, John Crowley, Otto Bathurst, Anne Sewitsky, Brian Welsh
- Writers
- Jesse Armstrong
Cast
-
Cristin MiliotiNanette Cole -
Jimmi SimpsonWalton
