CAST: Salma Hayek Pinault, Anne Murphy, Himesh Patel, Avi Nash, Anjana Vasan, Samuel Blenkin , Myha’la Herrold, Zazie Beetz, Paapa Essiedu, Aaron Paul and Josh Hartnett
CREATED BY: Charlie Brooker, Bisha K Ali
The release of a new “Black Mirror” season invariably creates a buzz, more so since Netflix adeptly acquired the series in 2015. The latest installment, arriving four years post Season 5, strikes gold with two out of its five episodes but inclines more towards horror. It fails to fully live up to the lofty expectations that the series has set for itself.
On the bright side, “Joan is Awful” emerges as an almost immediate gem. Annie Murphy steals the show as Joan, a human resources employee shackled to a dreary job and a mundane boyfriend. She stumbles upon the fact that her life is being re-enacted almost in real-time on a popular streaming service named “Streamberry”.
The reason behind this eerie occurrence is ingeniously thought out, albeit the execution is not as impeccable. The fact that Joan is portrayed by the vibrant Salma Hayek Pinault leaves her in a quandary. Notably, “Joan” most aptly embodies the series’ characteristic disquiet regarding the potential distortions that technology can inflict on our lives.
Coming in second, “Beyond the Sea” stretches across 80 minutes and sails into science fiction territory reminiscent of “2001: A Space Odyssey”. It follows astronauts, portrayed by Aaron Paul and Josh Hartnett, who possess the ability to project their consciousness back to Earth. This enables them to commune with their loved ones. However, when an unexpected turn of events back home shakes the foundations of their relationships, the mission’s success, contingent on both astronauts playing their parts, is compromised.
The quality drops markedly beyond that, with “Mazey Day” featuring a conflicted paparazzi (Zazie Beetz) who begins pursuing a famous actress and bites off more than she bargained for; “Loch Henry,” in which a pair of young aspiring filmmakers (Samuel Blenkin and Myha’la Herrold) return to the former’s Scottish home town, where she learns of a sordid past that propels them into the world of true crime; and “Demon 79,” easily the weirdest and most polarizing of the bunch, in which a quiet sales clerk (Anjana Vasan) is the unlikely conduit chosen by a bureaucratic demon (Paapa Essiedu) to save the world from annihilation.
As usual, producer Charlie Brooker handles the writing chores (teaming with Bisha K Ali on “Demon 79”), and the episodes are generally both playful and provocative, including the aforementioned poke at the platform that feeds it. Still, “Black Mirror” has distinguished itself as, at its best, “The Twilight Zone” for our times, adept at tapping into the apprehensions associated with issues like social media, gaming, and artificial intelligence, among other modern distractions and conveniences. The new season strikes a few glancing blows on that front but otherwise appears content to be creepy without being consistently distinctive in a way characteristic of its best installments.
In essence, the new season of “Black Mirror” exhibits sparks of brilliance but doesn’t consistently hit the mark. The season leans into horror, with “Joan is Awful” is a standout example of what the series is renowned for – thoughtful examinations of the societal impacts of technology. However, the season as a whole doesn’t quite reach the high bar the series has previously set.
Brooker remains an astute observer of the modern age, with a sharp ear for the current nexus of pop culture, politics, and technology.
But where “Black Mirror” once felt bracing and new, the latest season only occasionally rises to the level that would vault it to the top of one’s Streamberry – er, sorry, Netflix – watch list.
The five-episode sixth season of “Black Mirror” streams June 15 on Netflix.
