A mind-bending anthology series from a dystopian era ‘Black Mirror’ where overwhelmingly advanced technological breakthroughs play havoc in the lives of regular people.
Since 2011, when creator Charlie Brooker first introduced the world to his twisted tales of extremely bizarre yet disturbingly possible sci-fi innovations in ‘Black Mirror’, the excitement about the show has never dimmed. Now, in its sixth and highly anticipated season that premiered on Netflix today, four years after its last season, the show continues to throw surprisingly unsettling plots at its viewer. And it all starts with a bang in the very first episode ‘Joan is Awful’ featuring Salma Hayek (as herself) and others. Without giving any crucial spoilers, let’s just say, Brooker takes on Netflix itself with a disruptive tale of a greedy and manipulative streaming service called Streamberry that uses advanced tech to pry on its own audience and generate voyeuristic, unethical but widely entertaining content based on their own lives. He even uses Netflix-like brand packaging and elements to drive home the point.
The far-fetched story of this episode (like the rest of the episodes) tries to explain the unthinkable series of events by justifying it through quantum computing, Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality and such other technical mumbo-jumbo. And, we won’t blame you if you still remain slightly unconvinced of just how it is all possible but that surely doesn’t come in the way of enjoying all the suspended reality which is an all too familiar calling card of this show. Salma Hayek is a hoot playing herself as a superstar trying to find relevance by all means possible.
Rest of the episodes feature lesser known actors but equally unsettling themes and performances with solid conviction. In fact; one thing that separates this season from other seasons is how well Brooker intertwines characters from different seasons within an episode – making him almost seem like he wants to create his universe of some sort that is rich in thematic brilliance than larger-than-life characters.
This season is also quite diverse in its timeline and landscapes. So, while the second episode ‘Loch Henry’ explores a young couple’s imminent doom after they decide to make a feature film on a gruesome local crime reported years ago in a sleepy Scottish town, ‘Beyond the Sea’ is about two astronauts on a risky high-tech space experiment. The first episode ‘Joan is Awful’ reflects the uncomfortable prying of our phones and TV sets into our lives while the last episode ‘Demon 79’ is set in 1979 Northern England and yet tells an equally bizarre dystopian tale. As always, each episode is a stand-alone story that doesn’t require you to catch up on other episodes or seasons. The high production values and a mystifying background score adds to the overall impact.
The beauty of ‘Black Mirror’ lies in its ability to push the envelope and tell us stories that make a deep connection with our insecurities. It basically makes our worst fears about the technology we use come alive on the screen and yet we just can’t get enough of it.
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