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Perhaps conceding that he can no longer stay ahead of the curve in our stranger-than-fiction times, Charlie Brooker has pivoted his prophetic, tech-sceptic satire Black Mirror from a show that looks forward to one that harks back.
In the latest six-story season — the fifth on Netflix and seventh overall — the futuristic collides with the nostalgic. There are tales here about people haunted by or pining for the past, 1990s reminiscences, odes to old Hollywood and the anthology’s first sequel (to the 2017 episode “USS Callister”).
The first episode meanwhile marks a return to form after a shaky genre-switching sixth season. A terrific tragic-comic take on both exploitative private healthcare providers and the “subscripification” of everyday life, “Common People” revolves around an ailing woman whose consciousness is backed up to the cloud for a monthly fee. The trouble is, $300 only gets her the “basic” package. Soon enough Amanda (Rashida Jones) begins spouting adverts in the middle of conversations and starts getting priced out of her own life once upgrades are offered.
The collection’s other standout is “Eulogy”: a poignant piece about a middle-aged man who is given a chance to virtually walk around old photographs in search of memories of a lost ex-lover ahead of her funeral. Having long blamed his ex for their bruising break-up, embittered Philip (the ever-brilliant Paul Giamatti) finally begins to see things through her eyes. The past, we’re movingly reminded, is not fixed, but something that becomes elastic on re-examination.
But this is a season as uneven as any since the switch to Netflix from Channel 4. “Bête Noire” — an uncanny revenge thriller about a woman psychologically tormented by a bullied former schoolmate — is atmospheric until it comes undone in an uninspired final act. “Plaything” — a tale about a recluse (Peter Capaldi) who finds insights about life in a 1990s computer game — is at once overwrought and incomplete.
The two feature-length chapters prove more solid but too safe. “Hotel Reverie” is the latest of Black Mirror’s bittersweet “virtual love stories” (see also “San Junipero”, “Hang the DJ”, “Striking Vipers”). Following a contemporary actress (Issa Rae) who is inserted into a 1940s movie and falls for its star (Emma Corrin), it has moments of charm and tenderness but seems like a missed opportunity to tackle cinema’s use of AI. “USS Callister: Into Infinity” brings us back aboard the titular simulated-reality spaceship for a new voyage through (digital) space and into the darkest corners of the human mind — only to largely end up going over similar storylines, themes and metaphysical quandaries as the first film.
The same can perhaps be said for Black Mirror as a whole. While episodes such as “Common People” and “Eulogy” show that Brooker is still able to deliver a satirical bite and emotional punch, the once far-seeing series now feels a little predictable.
★★★☆☆
On Netflix from April 10
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