Black Mirror isn't known for lighthearted content, but the first episode of the new season in fact could pass as a comedy. And it's encouraging!
Imagine you come home after a long and probably shitty day of work, sit down with your significant other for Netflix and chill. No, really just watch a series, and the series you're watching is a dramatized version of your day. That's pretty f*****up. And that's exactly what happens to Joan, in this episode. How does this take a turn into an encouraging story? Let's start from the beginning.
Black Mirror S06E01: Joan Is Awful – A Quick Recap
Joan had a tough day. She fired an employee, discussed her feelings with her therapist, and received texts from her ex. Despite being engaged, she still carries lingering heartbreak from their past. Ignoring her inner voice and giving in to his textes, she meets with him, but leaves soon after he makes a move on her.
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Joan returns home to her loving partner Krish, who had already prepared dinner. While Krish is kind, Joan finds him a bit too vanilla and bland, as she discussed with her therapist. As we all do, they don't talk about anything during dinner but just chill on their couch watching Netflix – I mean, Streamberry, of course.
Streamberry is Netflix' own dupe of itself and they stumble across this show called "Joan is Awful" with Salma Hayek playing Joan. What at first seems like a weird coincidence soon leads to a panic attack for Joan, as she is depicted as a quite horrible person and the show is mirroring Joans day – only worse.
Shit Hits The Fan
After that she loses her job the next day and and Krish breaks up with her and leaves as he finds out about Joan's thoughts and her ex. Devastated by this turn of events, Joan is eager to figure out what the hell is going on and meets with her lawyer. She explains that through the terms and conditions of Streamberry Joan signed a contract, enabling Streamberry to do what ever they like with her name and story, or well... life.
Joan discovers Salma Hayek's portrayal of her is CGI and AI-generated and she draws the conclusion, that Ms. Hayek wouldn't be pleased if she was depicted doing some filthy stuff. So Joan goes batshit crazy and, as she predicted, Salma isn't happy about Joan losing her mind. But she also learns that she signed a contract with Streamberry, allowing them to do everything with her face and voice.
The two women team up, and want to destroy Streamberrys quantum computer in their HQ. Of course, the two sneak into the office of the Streamberry CEO. There they overhear her (the CEO) discuss her plans of making an "Is Awful" show about everybody. Every. Single. Streamberry. User – I think this is a good point to check Netflix' terms and conditions.
Me reading the terms and conditions of Netflix after Joan is Awful #blackmirror pic.twitter.com/pLLLadnboK
— 7 (@alliesonoh) June 15, 2023
But why make a series about people being awful? Because nobody wants to see people who are good. We're not watching reality TV for the happy scenes. Admit it, no one is watching The Bachelor to see some guy finding his soulmate (or best friend). It's about the tears and the drama, and maybe about who's going to be the next Bachelorette. But we're not going down this rabbit hole today. I said this episode was fun and encouraging, so hear me out!
Explained: A Well-Known Black Mirror-Esque Plot Twist
Do you remember the Truman-Show? Or the Matrix? That's the kind of plot twist we're getting from Black Mirror, and it gets a bit complicated, so stay with me here:
In the server room with the quantum computer, the women make another discovery: they're in a multiverse. Salma's Joane in her series is played by Cate Balnchet, that is known, but also, Joan isn't Joan. Joan is just the AI-generated version with the face of Annie Murphy (who's playing Joan, but... actually herself?). The real Joan, the source-Joan, is just a random woman, with a pretty normal and shitty life.
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While at this point, we could talk about the illusion of free will and stuff like that, as Murphy's Joan does for a second before smashing the computer and destroying the multiverse, instead let's talk about the real Joan.
Because after the computer is destroyed by source Joan, with Annie Murphy's help, we see a few scenes with her. How she now runs her own café, treats her employees well and still is friends with Annie. She's still single, but fine with that, seeing someone but taking it slow. Joan now feels, like she's the main character of her story. And I think for once Black Mirror didn't want to depress us, with way too realistic dystopias.
Joan's struggle isn't something deep about free will, or the possibilities of misuse of AI-techniques. It's simply about going your own way, even if that's not something colossal, nothing that thousands of people would watch. Because you should do things for yourself, not for the potential watchers and maybe, take a step back from watching other people living their lives and start your own story.
We, completely unexpected, get a happy end with this episode, that isn't as dark as it could have been and even made me laugh sometimes. Even though you now know the plot, give it a try. There are many brilliant references in it and it is delighting to watch.
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