Watch These 10 Essential Black Mirror Episodes Before Diving Into Season 7

Are you a die-hard Black Mirror fan? Or are you catching up with previous seasons in anticipation of the newest season of the dark anthology series? Then, you don’t want to miss the classic episodes that have received high praise from fans and critics alike.

Get comfy to be uncomfortable with these 10 essential Black Mirror episodes that you can watch to set the mood for the newest season.

10

Fifteen Million Merits

Life Is Like Riding a Bicycle

Starting with a classic Black Mirror dystopian episode, Fifteen Million Merits is set in a world where society cycles on exercise bicycles to earn “credits,” or this society’s version of currency. With these merits, they can buy food and necessities, and eventually, their freedom. Participants in this society wake up every day in a cell encompassed by screens that play advertisements that need merits to be skipped. The protagonist, Bing, convinces his friend Abi to participate in a virtual talent show that could help her get out of this endless cycle, but this leads Bing and Abi to a path neither expects.

Fifteen Million Merits has been praised for its portrayal of capitalism and the exploitation of reality TV talent shows, with society’s hyper-dependence on technology and thirst for fame being center stage.

Related

Looking for A Weekend Netflix Binge? Try These 10 Limited Series

Skip the cliffhangers.

9

USS Callister

To Infinity and Beyond

This Star-Trek-inspired sci-fi episode is a Black Mirror episode that, unlike its counterparts, uses plain comedy as part of its storytelling. USS Callister is a special-effects-heavy episode that follows Robert Daly, a lonely programmer who creates a space adventure game with a twist: the characters in this game are clones of his co-workers, created with their DNA. As part of his game, Daly lives out his fantasy of mistreating his co-workers and being in total control. But the arrival of a new hire (and her introduction to the game) sets the stage for a revolt of the clones against Daly and his abuse of power.

USS Callister is one of Black Mirror’s most praised and awarded episodes, with four Emmy wins and three nominations under its belt.

8

Nosedive

When Validation Becomes Social Currency

Nosedive is a unique juxtaposition in storytelling: despite its soft, pastel colors, it is one of Black Mirror’s bleakest episodes to date in concept. Set in a world where a person’s socioeconomic status is determined through a technology where people rate interactions with others through eye implants and their mobiles, the protagonist, Lacie Pound, is trying to bump up her rating above 4.5 to avail a discount on her dream apartment. She plans out her next steps: to get a good rating from someone with a higher rating, she secures a wedding invite from her childhood friend. However, on her way to the wedding, Lacie faces several obstacles that threaten her ratings and, ultimately, her status in the eyes of society.

Nosedive served as an inspiration for Instagram’s move in 2019 to give users the option to hide likes.

7

Hated in the Nation

If Cancel Culture Had Deadly Repercussions

Hated in the Nation is one of the longest and plot-heavy episodes that Black Mirror has to offer, with a premise that catches the eye of any Nordic noir fan. The episode tells the story of two detectives as they investigate a string of deaths involving the most hated personalities on social media. These deaths have one commonality: they involve autonomous drone insects (ADIs), which are meant to substitute for endangered bees. Each day, the most mentioned person on the “#deathto” hashtag is killed by ADIs, and the detectives have to race against time to stop more deaths.

Related

If You Love True Crime, Watch These 10 Netflix Original Documentaries

These will have you on the edge of your seat.

6

Shut Up and Dance

The Unreliable Narrator

Shut Up and Dance is a dark thriller episode from the third season, which has been widely discussed for its chilling plot twist. The episode follows Kenny, a teenage boy who is being threatened by strange hackers as he conceals a dark secret. Kenny has to carry out dangerous tasks, along with other blackmail victims, as the hackers threaten to spill his secret to his family.

Shut Up and Dance has an intense pace, with the true nature of Kenny’s secret being revealed at the end of the episode. It subverts audience expectations and, like many Black Mirror episodes, ends on an uncomfortable, intense note that either has you scrambling to the next episode or calling it a day on your binge-watch.

5

San Junipero

An 80s Love Story Set In the Future

If you’ve been a long-time fan of Black Mirror, then you know that happy endings are few and far between in the series’ dystopian graveyard of bitter endings. San Junipero is one among those few which does a neat job of combining a sweet love story with the essence of the show, with the usual effect of leaving you pondering about how technology can affect society.

This episode revolves around Yorkie and Kelly, two women who fall in love during their time at San Junipero, a 1980s-style beach resort town that is, in reality, a simulation town built on the consciousnesses of older people in society. They grapple with their love and its conflicts in this town and are faced with life (and death)-changing decisions. San Junipero is a classic love story with all the ingredients: introvert-meets-extrovert, a dose of angst, and a bitter-sweet ending, with a story that earned it two BAFTAs and two Emmys.

4

The Entire History of You

When Memories Become Curses

Set in a future that uses grain technology to record people’s memories that can be revisited, The Entire History of You is a dystopian story about Liam Foxwell, a lawyer who starts spiraling after he starts suspecting his wife, Ffion, of infidelity. Known to obsess over her past lovers, Liam begins to question Ffion’s relationship with her friend Jonas, with whom she had a relationship. This leads him down a path where he obsesses over memories and getting to the truth of the matter.

Unlike some of the more dark comedy episodes like Joan Is Awful, The Entire History of You is a bleak story that alludes to the impact of technology and how easy it is to record daily events and memories. The episode has often ranked high on critics’ lists of the best Black Mirror episodes to date.

3

Black Museum

This Museum Is Not What You Think

Black Museum is the final episode of Black Mirror’s fourth season, with Letitia Wright (Black Panther) in the lead role. The episode, which is also a commentary on race and medical technology, follows Wright’s character as she visits a lone museum at a deserted station, where she meets the eccentric proprietor. He takes her through three different artifacts and the story behind each one, with his involvement in each instance becoming a highlight. These stories involve a doctor who finds pleasure in feeling his patients’ pain after using hairnet technology, the case of a comatose woman whose consciousness is transferred to her husband’s brain, and the main attraction: a murder suspect whose holographic consciousness undergoes the torture of the electric chair upon use of a lever.

Black Museum is a pessimistic episode with a plot twist that grips your curiosity.

2

Hang the DJ

A Foolproof Dating System

Another episode from Black Mirror’s small roster of happy narratives, Hang the DJ is set in a world where matchmaking technology, Coach, determines how long you are matched with a certain partner. Protagonists Frank and Amy participate in this dating system. After their limited time together, they find themselves craving each other’s company despite being matched with other partners. They must fight the system to make their love work or succumb to the Coach’s expiry date on their relationship.

The episode’s name is inspired by the song “Panic” by The Smiths, with the central theme of the story being rebelling against the norm. Hang the DJ is highly rated, given its interesting plot, twist, and satisfying ending.

Related

You Can Binge One of Netflix’s Best Shows in an Afternoon

From start to finish in under five hours.

1

White Christmas

Three Stories Tied Together With a Bow on Top

The highest-rated Black Mirror episode to date, White Christmas is a story filled with icy twists and turns. In a remote, wintery cabin, Matt and Joe, who have lived together for five years, begin sharing stories from their past lives. They talk about Matt’s experience with Z-eyes technology (similar to The Entire History of You’s grain tech) and how he uses it as a pick-up artist helping clients, and his experience with cookie technology that creates miniature personal assistant clones susceptible to manipulated time, before diving into Joe’s murky past.

The episode takes a sharp turn once the stories tie together for one of Black Mirror’s best endings. With themes such as artificial intelligence and online blocking (in real life), White Christmas is a must-watch if you’re looking for a well-rounded Black Mirror episode.

Season 7 of Black Mirror will see the addition of six new episodes to the anthology series. This season also includes a surprising sequel episode to a Black Mirror classic while tackling concepts like AI and video games.