Black Mirror Is Coming Back for a 6th Season and a Shot at Redemption After an ABYSMAL Season 5
In a somewhat surprising announcement today, Variety is reporting that Black Mirror IS coming back for a season 6 on Netflix:
VARIETY — A new series of “Black Mirror” is in the works at Netflix, Variety can reveal.
It’s been almost three years since Season 5 of the dystopian drama premiered on the streaming service in June 2019, but sources indicate that a new anthology series of “Black Mirror” is shaping up, and casting is now underway.
It's been 3 years since the abominable season 5 of Black Mirror…allegedly. *Allegedly Black Mirror. I mean the screen did say it, and Netflix did call it that, but I'm not fully convinced that what I watched was actually Black Mirror, THE Black Mirror of the previous 4 seasons. It's possible it was like one of those hackers who makes you send them a bunch of iTunes gift cards, where they put a 1 instead of an I or a 0 instead of an O in their gmail address: BLACK MIRR0R had to be behind that Miley Cyrus episode, there's no other explanation. Possibly it was the same hacker collective that inexplicably kept convincing Barstool employees that Erika was in urgent need of 50 iTunes gift cards and THEY were who she turned to to carry out this crucial task.
That delusion was very helpful in beginning the healing process, which entailed convincing myself season 5 was illegitimate and Black Mirror was, and will always be, the unbelievable stretch of episodes that made up seasons 1-4.
So I can't say I was super enthusiastic about this news today. The last I heard, Charlie Brooker was strongly hinting that the show had run its course. His reasoning was that people weren't really looking for shows about society falling apart while they were living it IRL. Maybe that's true; maybe he too watched the Miley Cyrus episode. Whatever the true reason, it did not seem like there'd be any more Black Mirror.
Brooker himself threw doubt on “Black Mirror’s” future two years ago, telling the U.K.’s Radio Times magazine at the height of the pandemic that, “At the moment, I don’t know what stomach there would be for stories about societies falling apart, so I’m not working away on one of those. I’m sort of keen to revisit my comic skill set, so I’ve been writing scripts aimed at making myself laugh.”
Evidently, a deal was finally reached, and Banijay Rights — the distribution arm of the company that holds both the format and finished-tape rights to “Black Mirror” — has licensed its hit show to Netflix.
Obviously, a more….what you could call "optimistic and positive" person could see this as a shot at redemption. A truly original and important and expertly done show unable to let things stand the way they did. A chance to wipe Hologram Miley Cyrus from living memory.
I hope so! I'll try to think that way. What gives me some pause is in the quote above—this part:
I’m not working away on one of those. I’m sort of keen to revisit my comic skill set, so I’ve been writing scripts aimed at making myself laugh.
I love laughing—it's one of my very favorite activities. Black Mirror is not where I ever want to, or ever will, turn to for my daily dose of humor. If it's going to be reimagined as a comedy—a 2022 comedy, that has to be approved by the Netflix content staff of woke warriors no less—I'm out. I want no part of that.
The second red flag comes from the Variety article breaking the news:
A source close to the production tells Variety that the latest season is even more cinematic in scope, with each instalment being treated as an individual film. This is, of course, in line with recent seasons of “Black Mirror,” for which episodes usually exceeded 60 minutes and had incredibly high production values.
Not to go all Black Mirror Hipster here, but it does happen to be backed up by the facts— the biggest Black Mirror stumbles are the episodes that feel TOO produced and TOO cinematic. While those are almost always good things, the crucial part of the show's effectiveness is a clearly futuristic society that eerily resembles the one we're already living in. Losing that sense of reality because you feel like you're watching a movie is crippling.
I am now at the last line of the blog, which is when I go search for the links to include — and where I find out this was the headline of my last Mirror blog:
(I don't know why I call it season 5 in that headline while this article says season 5 is the one coming out. I think when it went to Netflix they combined two of what were previously called seasons? More likely I'm just stupid.)
Wish I had a functioning memory. Could have saved myself an hour arguing with myself about whether I want to watch or not. Obviously for a man of principle, the decision doesn't exist — I retired. Case closed.
As I am not a man of really any principles, it's still up in the air. I'll probably watch I think.