Summary
- "Common People" explores cloning brains for medical purposes, with a catch of constant ads and limited mobility.
- "Bete Noire" follows a power struggle between characters using a multiverse connection device.
- "Hotel Reverie" examines the potential success of a project splicing old films with modern actors using AI technology.
The sixth season of Black Mirror came out in 2023 with five episodes, and there are some memorable ones there. For example, “Beyond the Sea” saw two astronauts trapped in space with the ability to beam down their conciseness into robot surrogates to live with their wives. There was also the trippy "Demon 79" about a supposed demon possessing a young influential girl.
Fans are still looking for answers about those episodes, but now Season 7 is out, with a batch of new episodes that only raise more questions. Will any of these episodes get a sequel to tie up loose ends?
There will be spoilers ahead.
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5 How Does Exactly Rivermind Work?
Episode One, “Common People”
“Common People” is an episode digging at people who have base subscriptions for things. The episode is largely about a couple who discovers a service, Rivermind, that can clone a brain and then remove unnecessary tissue or diseases like tumors. There are several catches to this miraculous cure.
First, there’s a base subscription fee of $300, which ultimately isn’t bad given the choice between unconscious vegetable and true death. Base subscribers have to stay in a limited zone, so they cannot travel the world, country, or even state easily. Lastly, the occupant will randomly spout ads as if they were queuing up a YouTube video.
Amanda and Mike are the couple going through this ordeal, but aside from them and their contact at Rivermind, Gaynor, no one else is shown with a cloned brain. How prevalent is this technology? What happens when people can’t even pay their base subscription fee? The questions keep piling up, but overall questions regarding Mike and Amanda are moot as they are both presumably dead.
4 How Long Before Maria Gets Sick Of Being Queen Of The Universe?
Episode Two, “Bete Noire”
“Bete Noire” is probably the most high-minded concept of season seven. A character, Verity, builds a device that connects to the multiverse. With the touch of a button, she can warp to a new one without it seeming like a big deal. She can do everything from changing a short color before her very eyes to doctoring film footage to frame someone. It’s a great way to gaslight her enemy, Maria, which brings to mind the episode's end.
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Maria overpowers Verity and takes control of this machine. Instead of stopping at saving her own life, she goes well above that and wishes to be the ruler of the universe. Verity admitted she did this at one point too, but then got bored with it. So, how long will it be before Maria goes mad from boredom? And if she does, will she target innocent people to punish like Verity did?
3 Is Redream A Hit?
Episode Three, “Hotel Reverie”
“Hotel Reverie” is about a tech firm, Redream, headed by a woman named Kimmy. She goes to a crumbling movie studio with a pitch to revive old movies by splicing them with current stars. Their first project involves putting a famous actress, Brandy, into a classic film called Hotel Reverie. While there are hiccups along the way, the Redream team is able to recreate the film like a stage play and release it onto streaming platforms.
It’s unknown if this Redream project is a hit though. Black-and-white movies have their modern fans, but it’s still a niche thing. If it is successful, then it could create a whole new industry of AI-based storytelling by preserving the past with modern actors and new technology. It’s the perfect fit for a sequel Black Mirror episode that could go into different genres of film, from sci-fi to horror and more, as Hotel Reverie was just a romance. Fans may also be curious if Brandy and the AI construct of Dorothy will get along and how that romance will build with just a few phone calls.
2 Is The World A Utopia?
Episode Four, “Plaything”
“Plaything” is a wild concept for an episode as it ends with an apocalyptic event. In the 90s, a game journalist, Cameron, goes to preview a game called Thronglets which he becomes obsessed with. It’s more of a real-life simulation than a game, so Cameron begins to care for the creatures. He is their god and he loves them like a father, making upgrades to their technology through the decades, mostly using consoles like PS3 and Nintendo Switch models. At the end of the episode, Cameron draws a QR code that he shows to a security camera inside the police station, which uploads into the government’s database.
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This causes a singularity event wherein it is presumed the entire world goes into a catatonic state to become one. Cameron says it’s for the greater good, but there are a few questions this event poses. Did everyone in the world pass out? Cameron didn’t, and surely people who were not around technology or were wearing headphones could have been protected. Also, how does this new world work? Is it a hive mind? It would be interesting to dive into the aftermath of this proposed utopia in a future Black Mirror season.
1 Can Nanette Free Her Friends From Her Mind?
Episode Six, “USS Callister: Into Infinity”
“USS Callister: Into Infinity” is a sequel episode to “USS Callister” from season four. That episode ends on a high note as Nanette and the rest of the crew escape Robert’s hellscape into the actual MMO universe. It seems like a good thing for them, but this new episode opens with how troubling it is for this crew of clones. They lost one comrade during this new era and have to fight millions of players for credits to stay alive by buying ammo and fuel.
Through a series of trials and errors, the episode ends with the cloned Nanette getting into the real Nanette’s body and resuming her life as if she didn’t die. There is one big catch though. Her crewmates are now stuck inside her head, posed like a darker sequel to Inside Out. Unlike the characters in that Pixar universe, Nanette can hear everyone inside her head. Will she be able to get them out, or will she have to learn to live peacefully with four cloned AI consciousnesses inside her head?
- 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
