Black Mirror is finally back after a 4-year absence. The science fiction series, written by Charlie Brooker, offers viewers a disturbing glimpse into the (often near) future. Each episode features a different cast and a different story. That saves us the trouble of diving into a recap in order to get back into the story. Was the first episode worth the long wait?
This article is not only a review, but also a recap. Therefore, it contains big spoilers.
Mixing Things Up
In the lead-up to the sixth season, Charlie Brooker emphasized that Black Mirror needed to keep reinventing itself, and that it shouldn’t be able to fit into predefined categories. We quickly find out what he meant by that, as the episode ‘Joan is Awful’ immediately takes a different path than what we’re used to. Throughout the 58-minute opener, I found myself smiling multiple times. While Black Mirror has always maintained a heavy tone, this episode took on comedic elements at certain moments.
It won’t surprise you, but Joan is Awful is about… Joan (played by Annie Murphy). We see her spend a day at the office where she holds a managerial position and has to fire someone she seems to have a fairly good bond with. Later, she tells her therapist that she’s engaged to her boyfriend Krish (Avi Nash), but she isn’t very enthusiastic about it. Krish is “vanilla,” whereas she had a passionate, intense relationship, involving constant sex, with her ex. She admits that she never fully got over him and feels like she’s not playing the leading role in her own life. The therapist asks if she would like that to change, to which Joan answers affirmatively. Joan obviously never heard of the sentence “be careful what you wish for…”
We’re not even 10 minutes into the episode, and we’ve already heard Joan complain about her coffee (twice) and about her fiancé. On top of that, we’ve seen her fire someone who had even invited her to her housewarming party (that’s cruel). To make it all even worse, she succumbs to a date with her ex, which ends with a kiss. The episode’s title becomes clearer by the minute. However, Annie Murphy portrays the character with a certain playful and disarming charm that prevents us from caring too little about her future fate. It’s also quite evident that the woman is deeply conflicted within herself. We only need to look at her hairstyle to see that.
The Sci-Fi Twist
And then we uncover the sci-fi aspect of the episode. Joan is hanging on the couch with her “vanilla” fiancé, Kirsh, and they decide to open the streaming service called Streamberry (which is basically Netflix). After some relatable discussion about what to watch, they come across a series titled “Joan is Awful.” The thumbnail shows Salma Hayek, sporting the same distinctive hairstyle as Joan. Joan protests, but Kirsh is curious to see what it’s about. They discover that the series depicts the events of Joan’s day in vivid detail.
We even see Salma Hayek, playing the role of Joan, driving to the exact same office. Understandably, Joan experiences a sudden panic attack. Imagine… your entire life unfolding before the eyes of the whole world. Just the thought of it almost triggers a panic attack in me as well, until I realize that it would hardly captivate anyone’s imagination to see me sitting behind a desk all day, gradually withering away. Occasionally making a cup of coffee, browsing the news, taking a dump. No, that wouldn’t be a ratings blockbuster.
Meanwhile, Joan’s colleagues also start watching the series. Joan’s assistant, Eric, brings a humorous touch. He’s not pleased with the actor portraying him: “They’ve made me the gayest man on earth.”
Kirsh tries to calm Joan down, but there’s something he doesn’t know yet. The inevitable rendezvous and kiss with her ex are still to come. When this is depicted, all hell breaks loose and Joan end ups having to deal with this bizarre situation on her own. The situation becomes even stranger when we immediately see that “Streamberry Joan” and “Streamberry Kirsh” discover their own version of “Joan is Awful.” It gives me a sort of Inception vibe, and I was totally lost throughout that movie, so hopefully it won’t get much more complicated than this.
Unread Terms & Conditions
When Joan meets with her lawyer to put a stop to the series, Black Mirror delivers a typical Black Mirror warning: always read your terms and conditions. Let’s be honest; who actually does that? Those endless lists. You just click “accept” to quickly proceed with what you came for, right? Unless there’s an annoying blockage incorporated, where you have to scroll down for a whole minute before the “accept” button finally unlocks. It’s infuriating. And don’t even get me started on captchas.
But I digress. Where were we? Ah right, Joan didn’t bother to read her terms and conditions, and now she has to face the consequences. When she registered for Streamberry, she granted the service unrestricted access to her identity and life. Joan then comes up with the idea of going after Salma Hayek instead. That’s when we find out that Salma Hayek only lent her digital likeness to Streamberry, and that the series is entirely displayed in CGI by using some sort of advanced deepfake technology. This explains how everything can be transformed into TV format almost in real-time.
Joan finds herself in a helpless situation, leading to a hilarious outburst. It’s one of those days when everything that can go wrong goes wrong, up to the point where you even struggle to open the door as smoothly as you’d like. At least that’s something most of us can relate to.
After half an hour, it becomes relatively clear what we’re watching. We see Joan’s actual life, which is then reenacted by Salma Hayek. Okay, interesting. But it’s almost like watching the same episode twice. Just as that thought started to cross my mind, Joan is Awful takes a different turn.
A Creative, but Disgusting Plan
Joan, now completely unhinged, stuffs herself with hamburgers and laxatives, then proceeds to defecate all over the place in a church, during a wedding. The goal: to ensure that Salma Hayek no longer wants to be associated with her. I have to give her credit for being creative. And it works; we switch to an enraged Salma Hayek, whose fiery character reminds me a lot of Sofía Vergara’s Gloria from Modern Family. The only difference is that Salma gets to drop F-bombs, and she does so with great enthusiasm.
A funny conversation between Salma Hayek and her lawyer ensues, reaching pretty much the same conclusion as the conversation between Joan and her lawyer. Salma storms out of the room, struggling to open the door just like Joan did.
Annie Murphy and Salma Hayek Make a Great Team
This sets the stage for a collaboration between the two victims, and we’re immediately treated to that in the next scene. Annie Murphy and Salma Hayek share great chemistry on-screen. The initial irritations toward each other quickly give way to frustrations directed at the system that put them in their disturbing positions.
The style and music of the episode make the whole thing feel much more innocent and humorous than it actually is. At its core, “Joan is Awful” is much scarier than it presents itself. The privacy of many people is disappearing more and more. People agree to everything and expose their entire lives online, where that information will be stored forever. This even happens in more subtle ways. Think about social media trends like “What month and day were you born?” where the combination of numbers leads to a funny or not-so-funny outcome.
In that regard, Black Mirror’s warning is of the same nature as previous episodes, but this time in a different guise. A cheerful and colorful guise, just like Salma Hayek’s yellow outfit.
Destroying the Quam-puta
The two ladies infiltrate Streamberry’s Headquarters to destroy the “quam-puta” (I cringed), a server that enables the series. There, they run into good old Michael Cera. The Superbad and Arrested Development actor explains how it all works to the duo, and to us. Well, he attempts to at least. My “Inception” trauma starts to resurface, but fortunately, Joan and Salma don’t seem to fully grasp it either. The biggest plot twist is that the Joan we’ve come to know is also not the real Joan. She is merely the digital likeness of Annie Murphy, who portrays a version of the actual, living “Source Joan.” Just like this Michael Cera is not the real Michael Cera, but also just the digital likeness. Can you still follow?
Everything we’ve seen so far has taken place on a fictional level. Eventually, Annie Murphy does what she came for: she chops the (remarkably unprotected) “quam-puta” into pieces, putting an end to all the fake versions of Joan. Since we are witnessing a simulation of what has already happened in reality, all of this has already occurred. As the quam-puta (why am I still quoting this cheesy name?) breaks down, Annie Murphy’s Joan transforms into the real Joan, and Salma Hayek becomes Annie Murphy.
Joan is happy with her successful mission, but does get arrested. That doesn’t dampen her spirits; we see a relieved and happy Joan. Amidst the rolling credits, we witness Joan getting her life back on track and saying she’s feeling good. She finally feels like the main character in her own life.
Charlie Brooker wouldn’t be himself without adding some bitterness to the sweet ending though, and shows that Joan wears an ankle monitor due to her house arrest. The same goes for Annie Murphy, with whom she has developed a friendly bond.
Netflix is impatient and wants to automatically skip to the next episode. Hold your horses though, because there is one final after-credits scene hidden here, where we see the original Joan ruin the wedding in a vulgar manner one last time.
Conclusion
Black Mirror is back, and this first episode was quite enjoyable. Netflix serves us an entertaining hour of television. Annie Murphy and Salma Hayek shine in an interesting and funny season opener that is presented differently than we’re used to.
However, I missed the dark tone that used to resonate with me in a stronger way. The true essence of Black Mirror was deeply hidden in this episode, concealed beneath a thick layer of lightheartedness. That layer was okay for once, but hopefully it will be scraped off soon so we can get back to what makes this series so intriguing and disturbing.
The review about the second episode of season 6, Loch Henry, can be found here.
All Black Mirror Season 6 episode reviews can be found here.
