Content Team 
The highly anticipated sixth season of Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror has arrived on Netflix after a four-year absence. The anthology series explores the dark side of technology through standalone stories and has gained a cult following. Season 6 features big names such as Aaron Paul, Salma Hayek Pinault, Ben Barnes, Michael Cera, and Kate Mara. The show’s episode descriptions promise more twists and thought-provoking questions about our relationship with technology and fans are eager to watch the new season.
We are going to break-down every episode of Black Mirror’s 6th season beginning with “Joan is Awful”, the premiere episode.
Black Mirror Season 6 Episode 1: Joan is Awful
We get to know a character named Joan, who is struggling to take control of her life and feeling like a spectator as she navigates through it. In an unexpected twist, she discovers that her life is being used as material for a streaming service called Streamberry, which has turned her reality into a series.
The episode begins with Joan discussing her life with her therapist and reveals challenges she faces in her personal life. Highlights include her relationship struggles with Krish, her fiance, and her ex-boyfriend Mac who continues to pursue her. Along with her struggles at work, where she feels like an intermediary between the board and her staff.
Later that evening at home, Joan and Krish, stumble upon a new show called “Joan is Awful” through Streamberry and discover that it follows Joan’s real life. Her character is being played by Selma Hayek, but her clothing and hairstyle match and to their shock the episode plays out the same exact day she just had.
The next morning Joan is fired at work for breaking her NDA, and realizes it is due to the show “Joan is Awful” broadcasting the details of her life to the world. She immediately speaks to a lawyer to seek advice on what to do and soon after learns that she signed over the rights to her life story when signing up for Streamberry. It was included in their terms and conditions that she didn’t read, which leaves her feeling helpless.
In an effort to take the show off-air, she plans to perform an outrageous public act which would also require the actress playing her to do as well, to get Selma Hayek’s attention. She goes forward with the plan by ingesting copious amounts of fast-food and laxatives and relieving herself at a church wedding.
Selma is informed of the scene and furiously demands to speak with her lawyers, who explain she is contractually obligated to also perform the scene. Salma then visits Joan to communicate her displeasure with the scene. After Salma and Joan speak about the incident and the situation in general, they discover that they have a common enemy in Streamberry’s CEO, Mona Javadi.
They both decide to visit the Streamberry headquarters to shut down the show. Once inside the headquarters they make their way upstairs and see the “quamputer”, a quantum computer that holds billions of simulated souls from alternate universes. The worker they encounter guarding the computer reveals that Joan is not actually the real Joan (i.e., Source Joan), but a version of the real Joan played by actress Annie Murphy.
Joan then forces her way into the room holding the quamputer with the intent to destroy it. However, before Joan can destroy it, Streamberry CEO Mona Javadi enters and begs her to stop because destroying the computer will also destroy the simulated souls who believe they are real people, including Joan. As Joan realizes she is playing a character, not the real Joan, she also learns that this has all happened before to the Source Joan. Finally, Joan decides to destroy the quamputer which changes her back into the real Joan, while Salma turns into the real Annie.
Explanation: The plot twist is Joan finding out that their world is the first simulated level below the one that contains the real Joan. Our character “Joan” is actually Annie Murphy, who is trying to work with the real Joan outside the Streamberry version of their world. By destroying the computer, all of Streamberry’s programming and simulated worlds were also destroyed, setting the real Joan and Annie free.
Black Mirror Season 6 Episode 2: Loch Henry
The second episode focuses on a couple who visit the man’s childhood home in Scotland to film a documentary. As they delve into a traumatic event in the town’s history, they change the focus of their film.
The episode opens up with our, Davis and Pia, traveling to Davis’s hometown in Scotland. Upon arriving in town they meet Davis’s mother, Janet, and learn that his father was a police officer who passed away when he was young. They meet a bartender named Stuart, who was once a close friend to Davis, and seems to harbor resentment towards him for leaving the town behind.
The town is mostly deserted which prompts Pia to ask Stuart where all the tourists are, as the town is so beautiful. Stuart explains it is due to a name named Iain Adair and Davis hesitantly launches into the story about how Adair had kidnapped, tortured, and killed several tourists back in the late 90s. One couple’s disappearance had caught widespread attention, but there were no leads until Iain got drunk and made weird comments, leading to him being kicked out of a bar. Upon threatening to shoot up the place, the police were called to go out and check on him. Davis’s dad, Kenneth, arrived at Iain’s farm and ended up getting shot right before he killed his parents and then himself. The police found a secret door in his house that led to a bunker where they discovered a torture room and eight bodies, including the missing couple.
Davis proceeds to explain to Pia that his dad didn’t die of the gunshot directly, but from contracting a bacterial infection in the hospital called Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Pia gestures that this is what their documentary should be about, and Davis begrudgingly agrees after further persuasion.
The couple with the help of Stuart begin to work on the documentary, using Stuart’s drone for filming and diligently work on editing the footage. All three of them visited Iain Adair’s old torture room on his farm and recorded footage to use for the documentary. During the return trip while the group is goofing around, Davis crashes into an incoming car and they end up at the hospital. Luckily they only have minor injuries, although Davis is slightly concussed and has to stay the night.
Janet picks up Stuart and Pia from the hospital and drives them home. Pia, now in Davis’ room for the night, begins to review the footage for the day. And what Pia discovers is a shocking revelation!
Upon reaching the end of footage they captured that day, the tape cuts over to previously saved footage from Janet, which is of Iain’s torture room with the tied-up couple from the story. Kenneth is recording the footage and includes Janet appearing in a mask where she is dancing over the couple and begins to torture them with a drill.
Later that evening, during dinner with Janet, Pia becomes disturbed by seeing the same mask hanging on her wall and attempts to call Davis but has no service. Janet realizes something is wrong and tries to find Pia, who has since run away. As Pia is running she attempts to walk through a river and falls, hitting her head and losing consciousness.
Janet, upon returning to the house after searching for Pia, takes out a secret box containing Polaroid photos and old tapes and sets them on her kitchen table. She then writes a note before hanging herself wearing the mask.
The show cuts forward showing Davis being interviewed about a new documentary being released on Streamberry called Loch Henry: Truth Will Out, that details these events. The preview further explains that it was Kenneth who killed Iain and his parents, only shooting himself to look like a victim.
The documentary wins a BAFTA award, and during the filmmaker’s speech, she dedicates the movie to Davis and his late girlfriend Pia. After the award ceremony, Davis returns to his hotel room, sits down and opens up his mother’s suicide note, which reads, “For your film. Mum”.
Explanation: Davis’s parents were the ones responsible for the murders in his hometown and were only uncovered because of their attempted documentary. And Pia is confirmed to be dead, presumably from her fall in the river trying to escape Janet.
Black Mirror Season 6 Episode 3: Beyond the Sea
Our two characters, David and Cliff, work together in a space program and are able to experience their personal lives on Earth through advanced technology. The “link” device transports their machine replicas to Earth while their human bodies stay in space.
The story follows two families, David’s and Cliff’s, who live very different lives on Earth. While David enjoys going out to the movies with his family and being social, Cliff and his wife, Lana, lead a quieter life in the countryside. One night, tragedy strikes when four people break into David’s house, shaming him for being in a program that has him walking on Earth through a robot body while his real body is in space.
The intruders cut off his hand to see what happens, and there is no real blood. The hippie cult then captures David’s wife and children and kills them in front of him, and then proceeds to burn his replica body. He returns to his real body in space and Cliff, his colleague, tries to comfort him but is pushed away. Cliff later discovers that the cult members have turned themselves in, but since David’s replica body has been burned, he cannot return to Earth.
Cliff proposes an idea to David on the spaceship, where he suggests bringing David’s consciousness to Earth in his replica body. He agrees, and finds his first experience back on Earth through Cliff’s replica to be extremely emotional with the realization that it is not his life to keep. Upon returning to space, David thanks Cliff for the beautiful experience and Cliff notices and is impressed with a beautiful drawing he created of his house. In gratitude, David offers to create an oil painting of the house if provided with the necessary art supplies and access to Cliff’s link.
Cliff allows David to use his replica for an hour once a week for his art projects. During David’s repeated visits, he and Cliff’s wife Lana become closer as he teaches her painting skills, and they spend time together. They have a moment of almost kissing, but Lana realizes what’s happening and storms off. Lana’s son Henry has been watching their relationship from afar.
Later, when Henry ruins David’s painting, David hits him on the head, and in response, Lana asks David to leave. When Cliff returns home he sides with Henry, but asks her to allow David one more visit to complete the painting. Lana reluctantly agrees, afterwhich Cliff will find an excuse to prevent David from returning any further.
Cliff, during David’s next visit using his replica, searches through David’s room and
discovers naked drawings of his wife Lana. When confronted David acts like it’s not a big deal and explains that Lana is lonely and unappreciated. Cliff and Lana discuss her loneliness and he apologizes and hugs her.
Afterwards, David asks if he can use the replica again to apologize to Lana, but Cliff denies the request and lies to him, saying that Lana thinks he’s a snake and doesn’t want to see him. However, David stages an emergency on the ship and calls Cliff back.
Cliff returns, and with the emergency pointing to something on the outside of the ship, goes out into space to inspect the situation. He soon realizes that there is nothing wrong. When he tries to come back inside the ship, David initially doesn’t let him in. After a few moments, David relents, lets Cliff back onboard and lies about his whereabouts. Cliff later realizes that his tag, used for the link device, is missing and grows suspicious of David, who eventually pulls it out of his pocket. Cliff rushes to get back to Earth.
As Cliff awakens on Earth, he sees that his hands are covered in blood. After further searching he finds more blood and to his horror the bodies of his wife and child, Lana and Henry. While Cliff was outside the ship on false pretenses, David used his tag to return to Earth one last time – to commit a crime of passion and to force his own feelings of loss and regret upon his shipmate.
Cliff returns to the spaceship and finds David there, both having lost their families and emotionally affected. David invites Cliff to sit with him, indicating an understanding between the two characters in their shared grief.
Black Mirror Season 6 Episode 4: Maze Day
This story details the horrors of paparazzi and media attention on celebrities, the lengths people go through to get their celebrity shot, and capped off with an out-of-blue monster appearance,
The episode begins with our two characters, Bo and Mazey Day. Bo works in the paparazzi business and feels responsible for a male celebrity’s suicide after taking a photograph of him cheating on his girlfriend with another man. She realizes that her work is unethical but still returns to it after hearing of a job that pays $30,000 for one photo. Mazey Day, an actress, has a breakdown after consuming magic mushrooms and alcohol while working on a film in the Czech Republic. While driving to buy cigarettes, high on drugs, she hits someone with her car and does not tell anyone.
Mazey ends up getting axed from her movie because of strange behavior and sent back to her home in America where she remains in hiding. Bo, who is on the lookout for a picture of a mega celebrity looks to find Mazey who is currently in hiding, and is the perfect target to cash in on the $30k photo.
Bo, with the help of a fellow paparazzi Hector, tracks down Mazey to a luxurious rehab center and when Bo and Hector arrive, they discover that two other paparazzi have followed her as well. They sneak onto the property and find Mazey chained up in a bed. While the others take photos, Bo tries to help Mazey but she is too out of it to respond.
Bo unchains Mazey, but that quickly becomes a bad idea. Mazey transforms into a werewolf and goes on a killing spree targeting the paparazzi. Bo and Hector are able to temporarily escape but with WereMazey in fast pursuit find themselves cornered in a local diner. Mazey kills everyone in the diner except Bo and changes back into human form after Bo shoots her. Mazey lying on the diner floor naked and bloody begs Bo to shoot her and end her misery.
Bo takes a gun and places it into Mazey’s hand, and then positions it so it is pointed directly at her own head. But instead of pulling the trigger, Bo snaps a picture on her camera. Finally getting that elusive $30k photograph she had worked so hard to get.
Black Mirror Season 6 Episode 5: Demon 79
The final story is set in England during the 1970s and centers around a quiet character named Nida who unwittingly sets into motion the apocalypse. She has the power to stop the end of the world, but requires her to enact three sacrifices in three days.
Nida, our main character, works in a retail store and as a social outcast, faces racism and abuse from her co-workers and often daydreams of violent retribution against those who have wronged her.
The episode opens with Nida going to work and shows Vicky, one of her rude coworkers as well as a customer named Keith, a known murderer, who comes to the store to buy footwear and often asks for her phone number. We are also shown a conservative politician named Michael, who is giving a speech on Nida’s way home from work, which she doesn’t particularly like.
The following day at work, while eating a South Asian style dish for lunch, her boss suggests she go to the basement due to its strong odor. While in the basement, Nida pokes around at old newspaper clippings and ends up finding a small closed cabinet. When opening the cabinet she pricks her finger causing it to bleed, and afterwards finds a strange stone object with a red symbol on it on the inside . Intrigued, she picks it up and places it in her bag.
Later that night, she retrieves the stone from her bag and is astonished when it begins speaking to her. It introduces itself as the demon Gaap and asks for an invitation into her world. Of course, she invites the demon into the world without understanding the consequences, and he appears in her living room assuming the form of a tv entertainer Nida is familiar with.
Gaap explains to her that since she is bound by blood to the stone, she has three days to kill three people, or the world will end. Gaap also states that he has the ability to look into a person’s past and future and uses this to convince her to kill a local man who is sexually abusing his young daughter. This is convincing enough for Nida and she attacks him with a brick and kills him. Soon after, a missing person’s report is filed for the man, named Tim Simon, when he doesn’t come home, and police officers later on find his body.
With 1 killing down and 2 to go, Gaap and Nida discuss what the next weapon should be and where they should find the next target. They decide the weapon will be a hammer and the place to find the next target will be a bar. While at the bar, Nida sees Keith, who she realizes could be the perfect target. She knows he is a murderer, and she has a relationship with him that can be used to get him alone. When Keith leaves, she follows him, and he agrees to take her back to his house.
Inside Keith’s house, Nida finds the opportunity to strike him with the hammer in his bedroom but ends up freezing instead. Keith, with the guilt of killing his wife and getting away with it, says he always expected fate to eventually catch up with him and freely allows Nida to beat him to death with her hammer.
However, as she is leaving the premises she is surprised by another man who wants to know what she is going there. With no other choice she attacks the man with the hammer, but he stops her. A struggle ensues and only ends when she gets the upper hand and stabs him with his knife. As he dies Gaap tells her that the man was Keith’s brother.
With three people killed in three days, Nida is glad the overdeal is over with. Unfortunately when viewing the stone, only 2 of the 3 deaths have been recorded. After further confirmation, Gaap explains that killing a murderer doesn’t count, and she is still 1 kill shy in the deal to end the impending apocalypse.
The next day while at work, Nida considers her co-worker Vicky as her next target, but when Michael the conservative politician enters the store, she knows immediately that it should be him. As she plots to take out such a public person, the police begin investigating Keith and his brother’s murder.
The cops search the house and upon finding a “making love” cassette tape inserted in the player leads them to the local bar to see if Keith met up with anyone there recently. Once at the bar a number of patrons point to Nida as someone who looked interested in Keith the other night and the police were provided with her home address.
Later that evening the police visit Nida at home and ask her some questions about that night. She says she was at the bar to celebrate her mom’s birthday and when Keith and his brother’s murder is mentioned, she acts like she has never heard of them at all.
Nida, now worried the police are on her tail, ventures out to chase down and kill Michael to end the pact. The police, knowing she is not telling the whole truth, decide to follow her as she leaves her house.
After a game of cat and mouse between Nida and the police and her and Michael, she is stopped by police right before she is able to kill the politician. They take her into custody and transport her to the police station for booking. During questioning, she attempts to explain everything, but realizes that the stone she had been carrying is just a domino. She wonders if this was perhaps all in her head?
Then the clock strikes midnight on the fourth day with only two deaths, and at first nothing happens. But soon afterward sirens begin blaring outside everywhere, signaling the start of the apocalypse. Nida is invited to leave with Gaap and as they walk away, the world begins to burn. Despite the apocalypse happening, Nida is safe with Gaap.
