Warning: This article contains spoilers for Black Mirror season six episode one, “Joan is Awful.”
The newest season of Black Mirror dropped on Netflix today after a four year hiatus, and the opening episode that viewers have been eagerly awaiting stars Schitt’s Creek‘s Annie Murphy. The Canadian plays the main role in “Joan is Awful,” in which the title character finds her life has been turned into a television show by a Netflix-esque streaming giant named Streamberry, with the events of her day being aired later that night to the 800,000,000 users of the service.
As the episode unfurls, we’re treated to the usual dark satire and thought-provoking questions viewers have come to expect from Black Mirror. Normally, the ponderings about the intersection of humanity and technology that stem from watching an episode are served alongside a big dollop of dread — the series is known for its bleak outlook, with many episode being about as cheery as a visit to a graveyard. However, in “Joan is Awful,” we get a surprising number of laughs, driven by a Salma Hayek comedic masterclass — as explained by Murphy herself during an interview with Today.
When asked about Black Mirror, Murphy was mostly tight-lipped: “I’m so excited about it. And I think you’ve put it perfectly, because if you say too much about it…it’s Black Mirror, so it’s just like reveal after reveal after reveal.” However, she did give away this bit of information just afterwards:
“But it’s one of the more comedic episodes, which I was really appreciative of. Because it can fill you with an existential dread. So this was one of the lighter ones.”
In the episode, the method with which Joan’s life comes to be used so rapidly by Streamberry is via artificial intelligence. Joan, or at least the version of Joan that we’re seeing, soon realizes that the implications of what the tech company is doing are much further reaching than just her own life and privacy. When asked her thoughts on whether AI might be used in a similar way in the future as it was deployed in the episode, Murphy said:
“I think it is playing out in real life. Which it, you know, it’s a spooky thing. And I hppe that this episode can kind of spark some conversation about the repercussions of AI that can happen if we’re not thoughtful about it.”
With that all said, there’s no doubt that “Joan is Okay” definitely treads on the lighter side of the Black Mirror spectrum, being more “San Junipero” than “Shut Up and Dance.” And, while the episode did raise some uncomfortable questions about the use of AI in creative content, as well as our expectations of privacy as users of a service, the thing it will probably most be remembered for is Salma Hayek covering a church floor in explosive diorrhea — and how many shows can say that?