Black Mirror is always horrifying tends to leave you feeling sick to your stomach, but when it comes to producing episodes that make you retreat in horror, a new bombshell has entered the villa.
“Common People,” the first episode of the newly released Black Mirror Season 7, examines the dark side of technology and its dangers when interwoven with capitalism. It’s futuristic but also ripped from the headlines, in a sense.
In the episode, grade school teacher Amanda (Rashida Jones) experiences a medical emergency that leaves her husband, Mike (Chris O’Dowd), resorting to a groundbreaking medical procedure to keep her alive. During his time of need, Rivermind rep Gaynor (Tracee Ellis Ross) approaches Mike to sell him the Rivermind subscription that comes with a free procedure that would save Amanda’s life. And the cost? Just $300 a month to keep Amanda alive.
After a successful operation, Amanda and Mike’s life is finally getting back to normal with some minor adjustments — she sleeps a lot more than before — but things begin to take a turn for the worse as side effects of the operation and the subscription pop up in concerning places.
By examining technology through the lens of healthcare, specifically through new and innovative procedures that are out of reach to “common people,” the British-born series zooms in on a uniquely American issue. Mike even says to Gaynor when they first meet that he could not afford whatever the cost of the procedure would be, and he’s only able to sign Amanda up because the surgery itself is free. Gaynor — who is a product of Rivermind herself — assures him that it’s a great way to keep Amanda alive and fulfill all of their dreams and goals.
One of those dreams is to have a child, something they have been trying to do for a while before Amanda’s collapse and something they are even considering after. But what happens when something you’ve hoped for is out of reach and only available out of your price range? At one point, Amanda and Mike attempt to take their anniversary trip to a neighboring county, only to have her short circuit as they went outside of the signal boundary defined within her Rivermind Common package. If they want to leave the county, they can always upgrade to Rivermind+, Gaynor explains.
Sure, that’s bad, but it’s not nearly as awful as when Amanda starts dispatching sponsored messages in certain scenarios at home and out in public, even at work. In one moment with a student who tells her that his parents are fighting and his mom wants to leave his dad, Amanda recites an ad for a Christian family counseling website that encourages families to stay together. To get rid of the ad-supported option, she just has to upgrade to Rivermind+ for a new total of $800 per month. From there, it just takes a nosedive (if you know, you know) as Rivermind+ later becomes a more standard tier, trying to squeeze even more out of the pair.
In truth, most episodes of Black Mirror hit a little too close to home for comfort; they feel more like a close prediction of the near future than your average far-fetched science-fiction saga. This one hits a little closer than the rest, however, as a version of this is already in full effect. Certain medical devices for conditions like diabetes can be pricey but necessary for those who cannot live without them. It’s a terrifying reason that reminds viewers that no healthcare system should be for-profit, especially not an entire country’s system like in the United States.
Even one person having to decide whether to go broke or save themself (or someone they love) is one too many people. It’s unconscionable that anyone should have to worry about a situation like this in the first place but then to have to consider selling their body, working two full-time jobs, or anything that goes beyond reasonable is another concern entirely. “Common People” will hit any and every American and make you wonder how this scam of a system is still operational. It’s the kind of episode that is almost surely going to cause “United Healthcare” or “United CEO” to trend on social media, that’s for sure.
The first seven seasons of Black Mirror are currently streaming on Netflix.