Black Mirror Season 7, Episode 1 a Mind-Blowing Masterpiece or a Major Disappointment?

Black Mirror Season 7, 2025

Episode One Review

Black Mirror never fails to successfully transport us into a dystopian future where technology controls us, Charlie Brooker continues to bring realistic representations of the future. Black Mirror is reality adjacent, it feels real but something is off, something makes me feel uneasy and uncertain. 

Charlie Brooker, the creator of Black Mirror is one of the most intelligent and cynical artists and honestly, I admire his view of the world and I am always amazed by his storytelling and originality. 

S7 EP01 | Common People

We meet the happy couple Amanda and Mike, played by Rashida Jones and Chris O’Dowd. The pair are very much in love celebrating their wedding anniversary but tragedy strikes when Amanda suffers a mental emergency and goes into a coma. Scared he will never see his wife again, Mike is convinced to try an experimental procedure which replaces a section in her brain with a synthetic back up.

The episode touches on many themes and motifs, from poverty, desperation, financial crisis, monthly premiums, public humiliation, capitalism and consumerism. The high tech company that implants the back up in Amanda’s brain is called ‘Rivermind’ and Tracee Ellis Ross takes on the infuriating role of saleswoman. Amanda and Mike soon realise that this synthetic brain back up is a monthly cost and as they struggle to make their payments the company continues to grow, expand and upgrade the packages on offer.  

The concept of a monthly subscription to simply keep her alive is terrifying but honestly not that unbelievable. The storyline is also hilariously ironic coming from a streaming platform like Netflix, this episodes whole plot revolves around the greedy company raising their monthly premiums to torture the innocent members and consumers. Without the consumers, the company would be nothing but in this case, they are trapped in the cycle, unable to opt out. 

This episode truly made me think is life worth living if you can’t enjoy it? Working to live, living to work. Being forced into upgrades, backed into a corner and unable to leave the county. Being controlled through money, advertisements and religion. Common People is a terrifying sense of reality, it is a shock to the system but it was also a beautifully poetic storytelling of reality and the struggle of living. 

The never ending extensions of the brain package to Rivermind Plus and Rivermind Lux was comically cynical and the addition of real life advertisements was infuriatingly believable. I was blown away by this episode, it was distinctly original in comparison to previous Black Mirror episodes and introduced us to a brand new form of technology. 

I also want to mention the ‘Dum Dummies’ website which Mike reluctantly uses to make extra money. This site mirrored a sense of reality, if this site existed people would use it religiously and honestly, something like this probably does exist. As our society grows we learn that people will do just about anything for the right price, this episode showcases this concept in the form of desperation and necessity but I would love to see an episode in the future which dives deeper into the concept of this site and the dangers of it. 

Overall, Common People was an incredible first episode of Black Mirror season seven and I was utterly blown away by the execution of the story through visuals and performances. I loved the concept and I was deeply moved and saddened by the storyline and that is why I love Black Mirror so much. It makes me think about the world I live in and it makes me question those around me. 

Finally, I really thought there was going to be a death fee. 

Probe Points

★★★★☆