Warning: spoilers abound!
Every season of Black Mirror brings with it a healthy dose of AI nightmares, moral dilemmas, and the sinking feeling that our reality is creeping closer and closer to a tech-fuelled apocalypse. This latest season does the same, but there’s something…different about its six episodes. Each one seems more emotionally devastating than the next: from couples willing to do anything for each other to tender AI romances caught short, Season 7 has left fans wrecked and in tears.
But which one will crush your soul the most? We’ve ranked the six episodes of Black Mirror Season 7 from least heartbreaking to absolutely gut-wrenching. While we wait to see if Netflix will renew the horror anthology for another season, let’s look back on how Season 7 left us shell-shocked and emotionally traumatized.
Bête Noire (Episode 2)
Let’s start with the least soul-shattering episode. Bête Noire follows Maria (Siena Kelly), a successful food scientist whose life starts to fall apart when Verity (Rosy McEwen), a former high school classmate, joins her company. Verity hasn’t forgotten a cruel rumor Maria spread years ago — and now she’s using her custom-made supercomputer to rewrite Maria’s reality as payback.
Out of all six episodes, Bête Noire ends the happiest or with the least trauma. Maria figures out what Verity is doing and breaks into her house to confront her. Things go awry and Maria ends up murdering Verity and uses the supercomputer to alter reality so that everyone believes she’s the empress of the universe. Nothing too sad, except for one dead body and a former bully winning.
Plaything (Episode 4)
The loose follow-up to Black Mirror’s game-slash-episode Bandernsatch, Plaything centers around video game reviewer Cameron (Lewis Gribben) who becomes obsessed with a sentient game created by the Colin Ritman (Will Poulter). Although Colin has a nervous breakdown soon after making the game, Cameron spends decades helping the game evolve — until it becomes fully aware and sets its sights on taking over the world.
While still not the most emotional episode of the season, Plaything ends on a grimmer note than Bête Noire. The game has downloaded itself into everyone’s brains, essentially welcoming all human life into its fold. The episode leaves you with an overall sadness about where humanity’s heading, but perhaps not enough sadness to break out the tissues.
USS Callister: Into Infinity (Episode 6)
Picking up where Season 4’s USS Callister left off, USS Callister: Into Infinity follows a group of digital clones led by Nanette Cole (Cristin Milioti) as they navigate life trapped in the video game Infinity. Out in the real world, the real Nanette figures out that the clones are sentient (meaning they could really die in game world) and tries to save them. However, Infinity CEO Walton (Jimmi Simpson) is out to kill the clones, as they bring with them major ethical issues that could destroy his company.
The episode ends with one of the bleakest lessons of the season: no matter how hard you try, everything still falls apart. While the clones make it out of the game alive, their consciousnesses end up downloaded into the real Nanette’s physical body. They are trapped in Nanette’s mind, forced to spend the rest of their days as silent passengers.
Hotel Reverie
Hollywood A-list star Brandy Friday (Issa Rae) is on the hunt for a more challenging role, and she finds it when she signs on to join a remake of the vintage rom-com classic, Hotel Reverie. The catch is that the entire production takes place in an AI-generated simulation, where Brandy is the only real person there. Things take a turn when Brandy begins to develop feelings with her AI co-star Dorothy (Emma Corrin). When the simulation freezes due to a technical glitch, Brandy and Dorothy are given their own world and soon fall in love with each other.
But it’s Black Mirror, and nothing good ever lasts. When the simulation resets, Dorothy forgets Brandy entirely. Brandy must finish the movie knowing her AI lover is gone. All breakups hurt, but theirs was especially cruel because the end was out of their control. Hotel Reverie is tissue-worthy, the type of story that has you thinking about your own lost loves — which is why it ranks pretty high up on our list of most heartbreaking episodes.
Eulogy (Episode 5)
Eulogy, an AI company that creates immersive memorials for the deceased, reaches out to Phillip (Paul Giamatti) to let him know that his ex-girlfriend Carol (Hazel Monaghan) has died. Although it’s been decades since Paul spoke to Carol, the company urges him to share any memories he has of her. Phillip reluctantly agrees, allowing The Guide (Patsy Ferran), an AI representative from Eulogy to enter his memories with him.
Phillip’s memories of Carol are a heartbreaking trainwreck. By revisiting different moments in their time together, Phillip eventually reveals to The Guide that he’d cheated on Carol, and that their relationship ended with a rejected proposal, a messy fight, and an olive branch that was never accepted. The episode’s emotional weight had us unraveling alongside Phillip, as each memory peeled back another layer of regret.
Common People (Episode 1)
When an unexpected brain tumor leaves schoolteacher Amanda (Rasheeda Jones) approaching death, her desperately loyal husband Mike (Chris O’Dowd) signs her up for Rivermind, a high-tech subscription-based system that could save her.
After the first few months, though, the couple find out from Rivermind representative Gaynor (Tracee Ellis Ross) that the cost of saving his wife keeps climbing as subscriptions are constantly being raised, and that Mike will have to pay nearly $1,000 a month. Otherwise, Amanda will have to live her life mostly asleep (because Rivermind uses her brain to help process data for millions of other users) and randomly spewing out ads from Rivermind’s sponsors. To keep up with rising costs, Mike turns to Dumb Dumbees, an OnlyFans-esque website that allows him to do dumb things (like drink his own piss or pull out his own teeth) in exchange for money.
Common People ends with the couple wiped out financially and emotionally, unable to escape Rivermind’s shadow. Amanda decides it’s time for her to let go, and she asks Mike to kill her while she’s “not here” (e.g. while she’s on ad mode). He agrees. As the screen fades to black, the episode leaves viewers with a haunting question: when love is exploited by capitalism, how far is too far to save someone you love?
