Charlie Brooker's Netflix series "Black Mirror" has constantly made us rethink our relationship with technology with every episode. And although the new season, which premiered on June 5, 2019, takes a slight step away from the tech theme, it still continues to make us scream at our screen with each ending.
The first episode, "Striking Vipers," follow two longtime friends (Anthony Mackle and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) that reconnect after an old game they played in college gets re-released into a VR version. As they binge-play the game, they begin to form an intimate relationship with each other through the game's playable characters, making them question their relationship in real life.
"Smithereens" is the next episode, and in my view is one of the show's greatest episodes next to "Shut Up and Dance." It follows an Uber driver (Andrew Scott) who kidnaps an intern of a social media company, all in revenge for the fact that he was looking on that social network and got into a car accident that killed his girlfriend. Topher Grace guest stars as the CEO of the social media company.
The last episode features Miley Cyrus reprising her role as an undercover pop star, Ashley O, in "Rachel, Jack, and Ashley Too." After they hack an artificially intelligent toy, the toy comes to life telling them that Ashley is deliberately being held in a coma by her manager in order to make money off of her music.
All three episodes of the new season are invigoratingly suspenseful and breathtakingly clever. Charlie Brooker once again gives viewers brilliant stories, multifaceted characters with fascinating personalities, and technologies that are so frightening that it makes you lose sleep over the fact that these technologies might become reality sooner than you think.
"Smithereens" and "Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too" have the potential to become some of the top episodes of this series. Never before have I ever literally been on the edge of my seat watching something like these two episodes. They join my personal favorite "Black Mirror" episodes alongside "Shut Up and Dance," "Hang the DJ," and "San Junipero."
"Black Mirror" is a cult classic perhaps for obvious reasons. It's understandable why this show is so addicting and buzzed about on social media: because it challenges the vitriolic habits we have with our relationship with technology and how that affects our real life interactions. For these reasons, "Black Mirror" season 5 is essential watching for this summer.
All episodes of season 5 of "Black Mirror" are streaming on Netflix.
