“If the previous two series felt curiously flat, this one fizzes with invention, humour and love”
Black Mirror, Netflix
“What was once a hard-edged, occasionally malfunctioning cyborg of a show has slowly evolved: Black Mirror 7.0 has a lot of soft tissue around the metal. Tender sentiment flows through the ingenious Hotel Reverie, which stars Issa Rae as a movie actor cast in a new type of remake that inserts her avatar into an AI simulation of the world created by a classic black-and-white romance. Even more heartfelt is Eulogy, with a perfectly cast Paul Giamatti as a man given the chance to step inside old photographs and unlock memories of a great lost love.”
Jack Seale, The Guardian
“In a multifaceted series that features its first sequel (USS Callister: Into Infinity) there will be a surprise for the fandom (I can say no more, but it’s a treat). Some episodes, as you’d expect with a potpourri, are less compelling than others but the series hits the high notes of human loss and love amid our relationship with tech and the search for life’s meaning with flashes of Brooker brilliance.”
Carol Midgley, The Times
“If the previous two series felt curiously flat, this one fizzes with invention, humour and love, and finds the joy in the darkest of corners. Brooker’s back.”
Chris Bennion, The Telegraph
“Series seven is a lighter, more easily accessible Black Mirror than the one that hooked me 11 years ago. The closest thing it gets to darkness is ‘Bête Noire’, in which a food developer is tormented by an old classmate she used to bully – and even that eventually devolves into campy fun. As standalones, the six episodes aren’t bad – but as a collection, they’re a long way away from the Black Mirror that once shocked us into paying attention.”
Emily Baker, The i
“Once again, the pot-luck nature of the show has given way to an overabundance of bilge. Too many episodes rely on logic-straining mechanics, too few have the emotional sucker punch of ‘San Junipero’ or ‘Be Right Back’. The horror too, of episodes like ‘Shut Up and Dance’ or ‘White Christmas’, has given way to a repetitive fear of digital imprisonment. In short, this latest season of Black Mirror just doesn’t carry the same punch that it used to.”
Nick Hilton, The Independent
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