TAGGED AS: Netflix, Sci-Fi, streaming, TV
The sci-fi anthology series Black Mirror is back on Netflix with its first new episodes in two years, and the first reviews are calling the season a return to form. Black Mirror: Season 7 consists of six installments, including a follow-up to the award-winning “USS Callister” episode from 2017 and a spin-off of the 2018 interactive film Black Mirror: Bandersnatch. As with any anthology, some parts are better than others, but fans of the show and creator Charlie Brooker’s sharp sci-fi scenarios are likely to be happy with the new season overall.
Here’s what critics are saying about Black Mirror: Season 7:
This season is a return to form with an emphasis on sci-fi and tech-related conflicts.
— Cassondra Feltus, Black Girl Nerds
Season 7 essentially goes back to basics, delivering what some would consider more traditional Black Mirror episodes.
— Carly Lane, Collider
A return to the powerful storytelling we saw in the early years of the series… the seventh season of Black Mirror is excellent.
— Alex Maidy, JoBlo’s Movie Network
If the previous two series felt curiously flat, this one fizzes with invention, humor, and love, and finds the joy in the darkest of corners. Brooker’s back.
— Chris Bennion, Daily Telegraph
Black Mirror Season 7 is something of a comeback. Not because the quality is higher than season 6 per se, but because every episode this season is 100 percent a science fiction story.
— Ryan Britt, Inverse
The series gives its loyal viewership a deeper look into established premises while entangling characters in dazzling situations…[It’s] a season worth the wait.
— Matthew Creith, TheWrap
They’re sharply written and acted, but they also steer further away from the core concept of Black Mirror and its main message.
— Akos Peterbencze, Looper.com
The quality this season is the best it has been in years.
— Alex Maidy, JoBlo’s Movie Network
It’s better than the last one. But that’s a low bar to clear.
— Jonathon Wilson, Ready Steady Cut
[Season 7 is] emotionally more satisfying than the last two seasons combined.
— Akos Peterbencze, Looper.com
The show’s latest collection of stories is, on the whole, a more hopeful chapter compared to some of its predecessors.
— Carly Lane, Collider
Season 7 is a lighter, more easily accessible Black Mirror.
— Emily Baker, iNews.co.uk
This might be the weakest season the show has produced so far, even though there are occasional flashes of something greater lurking in the mess.
— Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm
The first episode, “Common People,” is perhaps the most recognizable as a basic Black Mirror episode… Had it been in season 2 or something, it would be heralded as a classic.
— Ryan Britt, Inverse
“Common People” is a stellar introduction to the seventh season of Black Mirror, keeping with the series’ tradition of blazing trails of the absurd.
— Matthew Creith, TheWrap
A tech commentary on how much it costs in this society merely to live and breathe, [“Common People”] this is one of the better Netflix-era chapters of Black Mirror, a heartbreaker that’s almost too depressingly real.
— Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com
“Common People” is the bleakest the show has ever been.
— Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm
“Common People” gives you exactly what you’d expect out of a Black Mirror episode; it’s quality work, but as the opener to season 7 it doesn’t offer any real surprises.
— Laura Babiak, Observer
“Eulogy.” One could watch this episode entirely divorced from the world of Black Mirror and witness one of the best short films of 2025.
— Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com
One of the stand-outs this season is the third episode, the longish “Hotel Reverie”…a heartwarming and brilliant episode that plays out more like a visual kind of prose poem about AI.
— Ryan Britt, Inverse
The season’s masterpiece is episode 3, “Hotel Reverie”…a wickedly smart commentary on the future of filmmaking.
— Chris Vognar, San Francisco Chronicle
A disarmingly poetic take on artificial intelligence in Hollywood, [“Hotel Reverie”] is probably the best Black Mirror episode since the season 4 standout [“USS Callister”].
— Judy Berman, TIME Magazine
[On “Eulogy” and “Hotel Reverie”:] Brooker has surpassed himself with two beautiful love stories – both, to my mind, superior to the slightly overrated “San Junipero.”
— Chris Bennion, Daily Telegraph
The most egregious misstep is episode 4, “Plaything.”
— Jonathon Wilson, Ready Steady Cut
“Plaything” is more of a miss that fails to evoke the disturbing milieu and somber future it aims to depict. It falls flat and is forgettable by the end in spite of its solid cast.
— Akos Peterbencze, Looper.com
“Plaything.” The only true dud this season buries the great Peter Capaldi in a quasi-sequel to the award-winning “Bandersnatch.”
— Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com
Despite excellent performances from Gribben and Peter Capaldi…“Plaything” is one of the weaker episodes in the series.
— Emily Baker, iNews.co.uk
You won’t miss much if you skip [“Plaything”].
— Laura Babiak, Observer
From the impressive SFX to the immersive sets, “Infinity” is just as cinematic as its predecessor.
— Cassondra Feltus, Black Girl Nerds
It’s the sole reason to tune into this latest collection of near-future-fixated stories.
— Nick Schager, The Daily Beast
While the twist in the original “USS Callister” cannot be replicated here, there is a lot in store that will have viewers talking for weeks to come.
— Alex Maidy, JoBlo’s Movie Network
It’s less compact and cohesive than the original, but it’s an exciting follow-up nonetheless.
— Laura Babiak, Observer
Despite some new twists and turns and serious star power via the very talented Milioti, “USS Callister: Into Infinity” never justifies returning to these characters, and the jokey conclusion feels particularly bland.
— Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm
It suffers a bit from the malady that afflicts most sequels: It stands in a mighty big shadow.
— Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com
Try to watch “Hotel Reverie” and “Eulogy” without concluding that Corrin and Giamatti are giving some of the best performances of their careers.
— Carly Lane, Collider
In a season that showcases a lot of wonderful acting, Paul Giamatti takes top honors as a lonely man who goes on an unexpected and surprisingly visceral journey down memory lane.
— Cheryl Eddy, io9.com
Paul Giamatti delivers one of the series’ best acting performances ever in the episode “Eulogy.”
— Daniel D’Addario, Variety
The brilliant Paul Giamatti gives an all-timer performance in the history of this show.
— Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com
Rosy McEwen… is a standout, playing a former bullied nerd after revenge when she lands a research and development job for an upscale food manufacturer in episode 2, “Bête Noire.”
— Chris Vognar, San Francisco Chronicle
The very strong seventh season of Black Mirror feels like Brooker’s effort to say more about today than tomorrow.
— Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com
The humans in the show have become more, well, human. Sure, some are stupid and evil, but many are just trying to do their best with the worst-case scenarios introduced by thoughtless tech advancements. The new season takes this philosophy even further — some episodes even have happy endings.
— Andrew Webster, The Verge
Black Mirror remains firmly in the land of sci-fi, but the shudders and laughter it induces run deeper than ever before.
— Chris Vognar, San Francisco Chronicle
The stories in season 7 feel smaller in scope because they could turn real virtually any day in some shape or form; a blessing and a curse for a TV show that prides itself on coming up with plausible yet still far-to-reach speculative science fiction.
— Akos Peterbencze, Looper.com
No one is saying that Black Mirror has to accurately reflect our current weird times… Unfortunately, the series has struggled to sustain itself over the years, and as we arrive at season 7, it’s really starting to seem like there’s nothing left for Black Mirror to say.
— Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm
[Black Mirror is] the ultimate mixed-bag show at this point in its run, but a show that will always be worth watching for the surprises it can still conjure.
— Daniel D’Addario, Variety
This latest batch is best savored gradually… racing through a binge-watch wouldn’t allow for each of these episodes to linger the way that they should.
— Carly Lane, Collider
Black Mirror: Season 7 premiered in its entirety on Netflix on April 10, 2025.
