LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Netflix has taken four long years to answer the ardent wishes of the fans for the next installment of their dystopian flagship show ‘Black Mirror'. But the wait is finally over as the streaming giant is ready to rake in millions of views with the release of the next batch of five episodes that will offer another glimpse of the grim reality of the upcoming future. The previous seasons have garnered unanimous praise from critics and fans alike and the sixth one is on course to become the most unpredictable and enjoyable yet.
The anthology series with its tale of woeful technologies that change the nature of human discourse is a cautionary tale about the illicit consequences of social media, human nature, and machines. The sixth season has five episodes with stars like Salma Hayek, Kate Mara, Aaron Paul, Ben Barnes, Annie Murphy, Himesh Patel, and Josh Hartnett among many others headlining the show. However, the sixth season stands a little apart from its predecessors as it looks to tie all the episodes together. But is that true? Are the episodes connected?
Netflix is known as ‘Streamberry’
In the latest trailer of the sixth season, a fictional streaming service named Streamberry is being used by two people. It has the same color and logo size as Netflix but more importantly, a show on this fictional service gives us a glimpse into the lives of the characters watching this program. This clearly shows that the sixth season is still an anthology where every episode stands different and is not yet interconnected or part of the same fictional universe.
Fans have been making up theories in the past that all episodes of 'Black Mirror' exist under the same universe but it has never been confirmed. There is a concrete argument that ‘Black Mirror’ offer realities of different universes where the planet has gone in a particular sinister direction but all realities of all episodes existing in a single universe is a far-fetched idea that creator Charlie Brooker is yet to address. For him, every episode of ‘Black Mirror’ offers a version of the world, separate from all other versions.
What to expect from the five episodes?
The first episode sees a woman stunned to discover a life on her show at a streaming platform while in another we will witness a young couple travel to a sleepy Scottish town to start work on a genteel nature documentary, but find themselves drawn to a juicy local story involving shocking events of the past. Then there’s an alternate 1969 with two men trying to separate reality from fiction as the troubled starlet is dogged by invasive paparazzi while dealing with the consequences of a hit-and-run incident. In the end, a meek sales assistant is told she must commit terrible acts to prevent disaster.
All of the episodes are a recipe for a master class of ‘Black Mirror'. The themes for which the show is popular are addressed in the episodes so far and for now, it doesn’t seem that the episodes are interconnected or fall within one fictional universe.
'Black Mirror’ Season 6 airs on Netflix on June 15, 2023.
