I really love anthologies, the concept of having an entire season of different stories with different characters and endings is just so beautiful, Black Mirror has been one of my favourite anthology series because of that and it being a sci-fi just makes me love it even more, we’re now at season 7 and have we gotten better or worse?
Black Mirror is an anthology series that explored various genres set in the near future and some episodes further. The series uses themes of technology and the media to comment on social issues.
Today I’ll be giving you a review of the seventh season of this beloved series, I’ll tell you what I liked and didn’t like and end it off with my rating out of 10.
What I Liked
The stories
This season was not the heaviest in terms of the story qualities or anything like that but it had some really really good stories especially the first episode which was more emotional and aimed to pull at your heart strings and it really did. The first episode was a really lovely and tragic story that took you on an emotional rollercoaster and was also able to keep the dark humour of the black mirror series, I enjoyed that story and how it was able to balance being funny and sad without throwing off the tone of the whole thing.
The Cast
The cast in Black mirror have become the most important of the series now more than the earlier seasons (I’ll explain later) and in this season the cast was pretty good, we have a few Hollywood big names including Issa Rae, Rashida Jones and Tracee Ellis Ross with some cast members making a return to the series like Will Poulter and Cristin Milioti.
I think the cast was really good and still solid and yes they are still the most important thing of the recent seasons so yeah I enjoyed them.
What I Didn’t Like
We’ve kind of lost the plot
Like I said in the intro, The series uses themes of technology and the media to comment on social issues and for this season we’re not like that to be honest, there are a few of the episodes in this episode that are still that but a majority of the episodes just look like “Oh hey imagine this” and a Hollywood celebrity. There is a total of 6 episodes in this season and only 3 of them are still kind of moving the same way the first season was, the other 3 felt unnecessary or lacked that wow factor and one of them was a follow-up to an older episode. I feel like looking back at the previous season, this season sort of lacks what the others had, imagination and creativity in the story writing.
Check out my review of Netflix’s The Electric State here.
My Rating
Season 7 of Black Mirror is more than anything a shadow of what the series was. I’ve loved the series for a very long time and felt like it’s commenting on social issues was very creative and although dark it was very very good.
Season 7 tried to do that but it stops trying immediately after the first episode which many people are hailing as a return to form. It’s disappointing to see what the series has become and I unfortunately have to say it’s time to wrap it up.
I’m giving Season 7 of Black Mirror a 6/10, while it’s not as good as the season before it or even the earlier seasons in the series it still has some ups that are decent. The cast and the stories that hit deep really do hit deep but those that fall flat really really fall flat.
My ranking of the episodes in this season from best to worst would be:
- Common people
- Bête Noire
- Eulogy
- Plaything
- USS Callister
- Hotel Reverie
You can share your thoughts on the series down in the comments.
