Season 7 of Black Mirror kicks off with “Common People,” and it’s… kind of a nightmare. In the best, most Black Mirror-y way. Rashida Jones stars as Amanda, a schoolteacher who goes from collapsing in the hallway to getting an experimental brain implant faster than you can say “Terms and Conditions.” It’s part healthcare miracle, part tech startup horror show, and the whole thing feels uncomfortably plausible in a “this could happen next Tuesday” way.
The only catch? A $300-a-month subscription fee. Because of course there is.
Naturally, things spiral. There are tiered plans. There are ads—literal pop-up ads in her speech. Her husband, Mike (played by Chris O’Dowd, who somehow makes desperation charming), ends up taking to a Twitch-for-masochists platform called “Dum Dummies” to help pay the bills. And it just keeps getting darker from there.
There’s a lot to unpack here—healthcare as a luxury service, the endless creep of subscription models, and how tech companies will monetize anything if you let them. The concept is solid, and the social commentary is sharp, even if it’s not the most original thing Black Mirror has ever done.
Performance-wise, Rashida Jones brings a lot of heart and quiet panic to Amanda, and Chris O’Dowd’s Mike is the MVP when it comes to balancing dark comedy and heartbreak. Their chemistry is believable, which makes the ending land even harder.
If I had one gripe, it’s that the pacing felt a little off in places—it dragged in the middle and rushed toward the end. But the core message? Very effective.
So yeah, “Common People” isn’t reinventing the Black Mirror wheel, but it’s got all the ingredients fans love: bleak humor, tech-induced dread, and just enough realism to make you wonder if this already exists and we missed the press release. It’s a solid start to the season.
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