Scroll below to see how we rank this season’s six episodes.
Netflix’s beloved sci-fi anthology series Black Mirror is back on Netflix with its seventh season, comprising of six episodes ranging from 45 – 90 minutes in length.
Ahead of its release, we got a chance to check out all of season seven. And in our view, the new episodes make for Black Mirror’s best season in years – maybe since season three all the way back in 2016.
For those curious about our opinion on each individual standalone episode in S7, we’ve ranked them all from best to worst below:
1. Bête Noire
This feels like Charlie Brooker’s take on an ’80s or ’90s ‘blank from hell’ thriller – in this case, it’s all about the workmate from hell.
But is new workplace revival Verity (Rose McEwen) purposely trying to mess with Maria (Siena Kelly) or is it all in Maria’s head?
The humour and thrills are devilish, the sci-fi twist is inspired, but the whole episode really succeeds thanks to McEwen’s gloriously enigmatic turn. It’s probably the performance of the season.
2. Eulogy
Another standout performance of season seven is Oscar nominee Paul Giamatti (The Holdovers), who headlines what might be Black Mirror’s most delicate, intimate episode to date.
In Eulogy, he plays a curmudgeonly older man who – with the help of an AI assistant (a striking Patsy Ferran) – is able to step inside old photos.
In the process, he reawakens memories of a romance that ended decades ago and comes to new realisations about what caused it to fade away.
There are no sharp stings in the tail or attempts at societal commentary and the episode is all the better because of that.
Instead, Eulogy breaks new ground for Black Mirror in how it lets the raw emotion of its story – a man realising he was more at fault for true love slipping away than he thought – take centre stage.
3. Common People
If you miss the classic Channel 4 days of Black Mirror, when the show often used the sci-fi genre to more explicitly critique modern society, Common People is the season seven episode for you.
Chris O’Dowd and Rashida Jones star as a happily married couple.
One of them is diagnosed with a terminal illness but is given a second chance at life through a groundbreaking new technology.
However, the couple’s efforts to pay for the ongoing treatment slowly put a strain on their marriage and quality of life.
The allegory may be obvious but the episode’s blend of caustic wit and righteous anger still hits devastatingly hard.
4. Plaything
A spin-off to the Black Mirror movie Bandersnatch – with director David Slade and several cast members returning – Plaything asks: What do an eccentric petty thief (Peter Capaldi having fun), a body in a suitcase and a revolutionary video game have in common?
The answers are creepy, thrilling and surprising.
5. USS Callister: Into Infinity
Here is where the episodes dip slightly in quality. The long-awaited sequel to Black Mirror’s beloved Star Trek-inspired USS Callister still boasts gorgeous production design, a winning lead turn from Cristin Milioti (The Penguin) and plenty of ingenious details.
That said, the increasingly convoluted plot and an extended 90-minute runtime prevent this follow-up from soaring as high as its predecessor. Overall, it was probably worth making – just about.
6. Hotel Reverie
The second-longest episode of this season at 77 minutes is Hotel Reverie, which sees a frustrated modern Hollywood star (Issa Rae) and a frustrated old Hollywood star (Emma Corrin) form an unusual but powerful relationship via a new technology for making movies.
Corrin does stellar work evoking the elegance of old film stars and the episode looks lovely. Yet, in Brooker trying to mix a romance story with a Hollywood satire, both elements wind up feeling undercooked – something only highlighted by the episode’s extended length.
That said, Hotel Reverie is always watchable and if it is the worst episode in Black Mirror season seven, it is only because most of the others were of an extremely high quality.
