Black Mirror: Season 7 – Review | Netflix

BLACK MIRROR Season 7 is on Netflix, and the six new episodes are absolutely amazing. Not a single bad one in the season. In fact, it contains some of the very best in the anthology. Read our full Black Mirror S7 review here!

BLACK MIRROR Season 7 on Netflix is finally here. Genre fans are getting blessed with six new episodes that are between 45 minutes and feature film length. I know everyone will find their own favorite (or favorites) in the new season, but I enjoyed every single one of them.

We’ve watched all six Black Mirror Season 7 episodes for this review. You can click the episode title below to go straight to a specific episode – all mini-reviews are spoiler-free.

Of course, you can also just read the entire thing from start to finish so you know what to expect.

The Black Mirror season 7 episodes are:

• “Common People” is episode 1
• “Bête Noire” is episode 2
• “Hotel Reverie” is episode 3
• “Plaything” is episode 4
• “Eulogy” is episode 5
• “USS Callister: Into Infinity” is episode 6

Continue reading our Black Mirror Season 7 review below. Find all six new episodes of Black Mirror S7 on Netflix from April 10, 2025.

Common People

When a medical emergency leaves schoolteacher Amanda fighting for her life, her desperate husband Mike signs her up for Rivermind, a high-tech system that will keep her alive – but at a cost….

Director: Ally Pankiw
Writer: Charlie Brooker (Story by Charlie Brooker and Bisha K. Ali)
Starring: Rashida Jones (Amanda), Chris O’Dowd (Mike), Tracee Ellis Ross (Gaynor)

Our mini COMMON PEOPLE Review: I really like Rashida Jones, so I expected to enjoy this opening episode of Season 7. What I didn’t expect was to end up completely heartbroken by its story.

While this is a sci-fi horror anthology (and, trust me, Common People nails both), this particular story feels very real. I feel as if I’ve watched documentaries and stories on the news that are eerily close to key elements of this episode.

Rashida Jones and Chris O’Dowd are wonderful as the married couple, while Tracee Ellis Ross hits every single note with surgical precision. “Common People” has immediately become one of my favorite Black Mirror episodes ever.

Director Ally Pankiw also directed the Season 6 opening episode “Joan is Awful”, which I also loved.

Our rating: 5/5

Bête Noire

Confectionary whizz kid Maria is unnerved when her former schoolmate Verity joins the company she works at — because there’s something altogether odd about Verity, something only Maria seems to notice…

Director: Toby Haynes
Writer: Charlie Brooker
Starring: Siena Kelly (Maria), Rosy McEwen (Verity), Michael Workéyè (Kae), Ben Bailey Smith (Gabe), Amber Grappy (Yudy), Ravi Aujla (Mr Ditta), Elena Sanz (Camille), Hanna Griffiths (Luisa)

Our mini BÊTE NOIRE review: This one is a classic Black Mirror episode, but you won’t know exactly how or why at first. Instead, it’s all about that eerie feeling that this genre anthology also succeeds at.

With Bête Noire, we’re in a world not unlike ours. I mean, it is indistinguishable from our world right now. Except for that sci-fi horror twist that will come. I did not see it coming, but maybe you will. Siena Kelly and Rosy McEwen are the absolute stars of this, and I adored both.

The director of the “Bête Noire” has a whopping four Black Mirror episodes to his name. Two in this season 7 alone. His first episode was in Season 4 with “USS Callister”, then came the Season 6 episode “Demon 79” (which I loved).

Now, in Season 7, Toby Haynes first directs “Bête Noire” and then the sequel to his very first Black Mirror episode, which is the final episode of Season 7: “USS Callister: Into Infinity”

Our rating: 5/5

Hotel Reverie

A high-tech, unusually immersive remake of a vintage British film sends Hollywood A-list star Brandy Friday into another dimension, where she must stick to the script if she ever wants to make it home.

Director: Haolu Wang
Writer: Charlie Brooker
Starring: Issa Rae (Brandy), Emma Corrin (Dorothy), Awkwafina (Kimmy), Harriet Walter (Judith Keyworth)

Our mini HOTEL REVERIE review: Before beginning Season 7 of Black Mirror, “Hotel Reverie” was the one I was most excited about. I recognized early on in the trailer that this would have a “San Junipero” (S3E4) vibe, and it definitely does. Just not quite in the same way.

There’s even an address with San Junipero in it to connect it all even further. Don’t get me wrong, I did love “Hotel Reverie”. I just loved it for different and more reasons than I expected. As a fan of movies (all kinds), I loved the love of movies and the lore surrounding classic films.

Also, as a gay woman, I loved the love story between Brandy and Dorothy. Issa Rae and Emma Corrin have wonderful chemistry, but it seems doomed to end in heartbreak. It is an impossible love story. Not unlike the 1980s classic Somewhere in Time.

Then again, love was also doomed in “San Junipero”, so maybe one shouldn’t be so quick to lose hope for “Hotel Reverie”. What I will reveal is that I really felt like rewatching Casablanca after this episode. Okay, and I also wanted to rewatch San Junipero. Again!

Director Haolu Wang (Bodies) has created a new classic with “Hotel Reverie”. I suspect I could fall a little more in love with it upon a rewatch. I hope we’ll get more Black Mirror episodes from her in the future.

Our rating: 5/5
(more like 4½ out of 5, but we don’t do halves and it’s better than “just” 4 to me)

Plaything

In a near-future London, an eccentric murder suspect is linked to an unusual video game from the 1990s — a game populated by cute, evolving artificial lifeforms.

Director: David Slade
Writer: Charlie Brooker
Starring: Peter Capaldi (Cameron Walker 2034), Lewis Gribben (Cameron Walker 1994), James Nelson Joyce (DCI Kano), Michele Austin (Jen Minter), Will Poulter (Colin Ritman), Asim Chaudhry (Mohan Thakur)

Our mini PLAYTHING review: The “Plaything” episode plays out mostly in an interrogation room, but with such an intriguing story that you won’t hardly notice. Of course, we do also get flashbacks, so it’s not “all talk”.

I don’t want to give away too much as “Plaything” evolves, as Cameron Walker (Peter Capaldi) is telling the story of how he ended up where he is. This episode is heavy on sci-fi and horror, but you won’t know how until the end.

Well, okay, there is also a very non-sci-fi murder in there somewhere.

“Plaything” comes from director David Slade, who is known for hard-hitting stories in his movies. He directed the 2005 psychological thriller Hard Candy and also directed the “choose your own adventure” Black Mirror movie Bandersnatch.

Our rating: 4/5

Eulogy

An isolated man is introduced to a groundbreaking system that allows its users to literally step inside old photographs — stirring powerful emotions in the process.

Director: Chris Barrett & Luke Taylor
Writer: Charlie Brooker and Ella Road
Starring: Paul Giamatti (Phillip) & Patsy Ferran (The Guide)

Our mini EULOGY review: With “Eulogy”, we’re getting one of the more emotional episodes of the season. However, sci-fi is still heavily featured in this story. A person has died, and in a roundabout way, Phillip (Paul Giamatti) is encouraged to help remember the deceased.

It’s meant for the funeral, where people can relive both their own memories of the deceased and share them with others. And vice versa, you will experience their memories as well. For Phillip, this proves more difficult than he ever anticipated.

Most of all because it puts his own life – and the choices he made along the way – under the microscope. Maybe everything he believed wasn’t quite the way he remembered after all. To guide Phillip on his journey to memories is a guide (Patsy Ferran) who can get a little tough.

And he needs it, as he is clearly used to backing down if things get hard. “Eulogy” is an episode that focuses on the benefits of technology. However, it also highlights how it will show you the truth, even if you don’t want to acknowledge it.

Music video directors Chris Barrett & Luke Taylor are co-directing this episode, just like they co-direct music videos. Hopefully, this is the beginning of their directing careers outside music videos. Their style is certainly perfect for Black Mirror, as shown with “Eulogy”.

Our rating: 4/5

USS Callister: Into Infinity

Robert Daly is dead, but now the crew of the USS Callister – led by Captain Nanette Cole – are stranded in an infinite virtual universe, fighting for survival against 30 million players.

Director: Toby Haynes
Writers: Charlie Brooker, Bisha K. Ali, William Bridges, and Bekka Bowling
Starring: Cristin Milioti (Nanette Cole), Jimmi Simpson (James Walton), Billy Magnussen (Karl Plowman), Osy Ikhile (Nate Packer), Milanka Brooks (Elena Tulaska), Paul G. Raymond (Kabir Dudani)

Our mini USS CALLISTER: INTO INFINITY review: Full disclosure ahead of this mini-review of “USS Callister: Into Infinity”: I was not a huge fan of the season 4 “USS Callister” episode.

It was the opening episode of Season 4, and I loved Season 3, so I expected something different. After letting it marinate for a bit, I managed to see the brilliance of that season 4 episode, which means I was absolutely ready for this follow-up. After all, it did end on a very open note!

With “USS Callister: Into Infinity”, we are getting a feature film-length episode, so it’s more like a movie sequel really. The “USS Callister” episode was 76 minutes, while the “USS Callister: Into Infinity” is 88 minutes.

WATCH THE SEASON 4 EPISODE FIRST

If you haven’t watched the episode this is a continuation of, then you absolutely should. And if you can’t remember it too clearly, then there’s a recap at the beginning of this sequel episode in Black Mirror Season 7.

Also, there’s a USS Callister recap from Netflix on their YouTube channel here >

Just like the first time aboard the USS Callister, this sequel is full of sci-fi and horror but also well-timed comedy. It’s a Cyberspace survival story with Cristin Milioti in the absolute lead role. Fresh on the heels of her amazing turn in The Penguin.

The role of Nanette is obviously very different, but Cristin Milioti is equally brilliant in Black Mirror. Despite the crazy world and many dangers of the game featured in Black Mirror, it does look like something I imagine many of us would like to try out.

Yes, even after watching this episode, which may be the definition of madness.

Our rating: 5/5

Discover your favorite Black Mirror Season 7 episode

Of course, we’ve rated each episode in the above mini-reviews, but overall, we are also thrilled about this season. Black Mirror never truly disappoints (not in my experience, anyway), but for this seventh season, Charlie Brooker has gone above and beyond.

Each episode is its own little world while also being a part of the greater whole. I loved that. Also, I am amazed at how natural and relevant it all feels. Particularly the very first episode, “Common People”, which broke my heart with the realism of it all.

If you’re already a fan of this sci-fi horror anthology, then prepare to be very happy with Season 7. For me, it has made me fall in love with this anthology all over again.

Was it worth the wait? Oh, yes, absolutely!

Also, I really hope we won’t have to wait another two years for Black Mirror Season 8. However, with the overall impressive quality of this latest season, I’m willing to wait that long again.

Black Mirror S7 is out on Netflix with all six new episodes on April 10, 2025.