Black Mirror : S6

Genres : Sci-fi, Anthology, Psychological 

Writer : Surya Turaga 

Date : 10th July, 2023 

It feels good to have new stories in this show after so many years of silence. Black Mirror continues its anthology style of delivering twisted narratives about people using sci-fi. Sadly, the latest season did not live up to the standard set by previous seasons. It was seemingly made to choose between relevance and theme, and as a result, couldn’t deliver iconic ideas across. 

Black Mirror is a Netflix sci-fi anthology, which means that all the episodes are standalone stories, and have nothing to do with each other. The best episodes are seen in Seasons 1 - 4, with 5 still being worthy of appraisal with Smithereens. Nothing really reached stories like ‘The National Anthem’, ‘White Christmas’, and ‘Shut Up and Dance’. 

In spite of only a few episodes being masterful, the show wasn’t dull in any way. Each episode chose a relevant theme like social media, gaming, virtual reality, etc. to deliver original stories that were able to uncover dark parts of our society. There was an episode for everyone, and some were fun, too. Season 6 just seemed unable to maintain this balance. 

‘Joan is Awful’ is about a lady whose life starts getting live streamed online. That was probably the most “Black Mirror” style episode in the show. The other 4 just seemed like normal entertaining stories. One of the episodes, ‘Demon 79’, didn’t even connect to technology much. 

The main issue is perhaps at the very foundation of this season, with the planning. ‘Mazey Day’ was very relevant, but improperly executed with a predictable storyline and lack of strong content in the plot. On the other hand, ‘Beyond the Sea’ was very dark in nature, but without any relevance for such a theme, the intensity in the plot never felt natural, feeling unnecessarily forced. 

This particular concept is hard for me to explain, since I don’t want to spoil Black Mirror. You have to watch it to understand what I’m saying. The best Black Mirror episodes are those that are visual manifestations of timeless concepts. ‘Hated In The Nation’ deals with ecosystem collapse and online harassment. ‘Shut Up and Dance’ deals with blackmail and a couple other things. ‘White Christmas’ and ‘Black Museum’ are tributes, but done to perfection. 

The stories in season 6 don’t have to be concepts capable of being relevant for a long time. If they were tributes to the genre (which wouldn’t be new to the show), they should’ve taken their time in execution, letting the plot unravel properly. I think the creators got a little impatient when making this season. 

Overall, Season 6 is a fine addition to the Black Mirror collection. However, it was unable to maintain the balance of plot and significance that it usually does. The episodes simply don’t ‘hit hard’ this time. But that may be because of the high expectations placed on the season. Black Mirror season 6 is still a fun watch for sci-fi lovers. I miss the feeling I got when I watched the true masterpieces, though. 

Surya-o-meter : 82%