Black Mirror (Season 6) Episode 1 “Joan Is Awful”: Recap & Ending, Explained – The first thing I thought about doing after finishing “Joan Is Awful,” the first one from the new batch of Black Mirror episodes, was going to YouTube and watching the now iconic “A Little Bit Alexis” scene from “Schitt’s Creek” on loop. Instead of that, I drank a lot of water, took a nap, and now I am here- trying to form something constructive out of what I saw because I will be getting paid for this assignment.
I wonder how Charlie Brooker pitched this thing to Netflix executives and got greenlit. Maybe because he is Charlie Brooker, and Netflix doesn’t have the balls to say “no” to him. Or maybe Netflix thought playing a fictional villain in their own show would be a very cool, meta thing to do. Well, it actually was. “Black Mirror” has a notorious reputation for putting people under the spectrum of some kind of strange technology and subsequently traumatizing them.
This episode is not an exception, but where it stands out is the final ten minutes- by folding in a brilliant twist that actually works out and ending the episode in a rather “San Junipero” style. For the unintended, that is one rare positive “Black Mirror” episode that ends on a happy, content note. Anyway, let us get back to “Joan Is Awful.”
Black Mirror (Season 6), Episode 1 “Joan Is Awful” Recap:
Imagine casually browsing Netflix and finding out a hot new show about your daily life, which is particularly emphasizing how awful you are. Sounds absolutely ludicrous, right? But that’s exactly what happens to Joan Tait when her seemingly basic, boring life turned upside down thanks to the new Streamberry original, titled “Joan is Awful.” Streamberry is the Netflix equivalent of this world, a company rich enough to hire someone like Salma Hayek to play the awful Joan.
Not that her life was anywhere near awesome anyway- but the show had to drop on a day when she fires an employee, vents about her perfectly boring fiance Krish to her therapist, and sneaks around with her ex Mac- whom she can’t get over. Initially appearing as a supportive fiance who cooks bland, safe food, Krish comforts Joan when she has a panic attack after seeing the grotesque representation of her day. But after witnessing her calling him “vanilla” and confessing about still having the hots for Mac- he bails on her. To make matters worse, Joan gets fired from her job.
Obviously, she rushes to the lawyer’s chamber to launch a scathing attack on Streamberry, but her lawyer tells her that there is nothing illegal about it. But how so? Because Joan probably never watched a show called “Person of Interest’, where every episode literally told us that “We are being watched..”. I am just kidding, but it’s mostly that. Joan has been trapped exactly like millions of people all around the world who get trapped by evil conglomerates- by not reading terms and conditions and approving everything. But how is it all happening, though?
That’s the obvious question that kept popping into my head till halfway into the episode. But Joan’s lawyer not only explains the legal nitty-gritty of her trouble, but she also explains how Streamberry is pulling this off. It is not even Salma Hayek. Rather, they are using some sort of AI to deepfake her face- which Hayek has licensed to them. It is astonishing how Black Mirror creates a world that is far different from ours but tricks us into believing that we are seeing something that is happening in the world we live in. Maybe Netflix does have some sort of plans to make content with AIs, but thankfully that doomsday hasn’t come to us yet.
Black Mirror Season 6 Episode 1 “Joan Is Awful” Ending Explained:
How does Joan fix her life with the help of Annie Murphy?
Did you think Joan doesn’t have a game? Obviously not, I am sure. Completely cornered and having nothing left to lose, Joan does the only thing she could have done in a situation like this- going full crazy. That happens only after she gets rebuffed by Mac when she tries to find much-needed physical comfort with him. Mac fails to get an erection, and now he is concerned about being portrayed as the wuss who couldn’t get it up for Salma Hayek. But this is not his show. It is Joan’s. So let us get back to the crazy- if Joan does something really awful, then the whole world will see Salma Hayek doing something awful. So Joan decides to do something as terrible as breaking inside a catholic church during a wedding in full Harley Quinn mode and then taking a shit.
The plan works. Seeing Streamberry Joan doing such a disgusting thing by wearing her face, Roman Catholic Salma Hayek gets mad and decides to sue Streamberry. But, it turns out that even Salma Hayek can’t touch a single hair of Streamberry. Like Joan, she is also trapped in that cage called “terms and conditions,” thanks to her incompetent lawyer who should have done it for her.
Seeing no other option, Hayek pays a visit to Joan. While Joan is initially star-struck by Hayek, she eventually gets mad at her. If Hayek hadn’t given Streamberry to do what they are doing with her face, all this could have been avoided. That is not entirely right, though, as Streamberry could literally hire anyone; even someone like Cate Blanchett, who actually plays Hayek’s role in the show.
YES, CATE BLANCHETT HAS MADE IT INTO THE BLACK MIRROR. Anyway, after hearing Hayek can’t stop Streamberry from their evil deed- Joan comes up with the only logical idea to fix the situation. Of course, that must be destroying the supercomputer (called Quamputer) that is creating the garbage. And the thing stays right inside the confinement of the Streamberry HQ, at the top floor- from where CEO Mona Javedi operates.
For someone like Salma Hayek, it is not hard to get inside by faking an appointment with Mona Javedi and convincingly fooling the naive receptionist. Upon reaching the top floor, she has no problem locating the Quamputer as she sneakily sees Mona boasting about this new form of content to a journalist named Fatima. With Joan appearing from the backdoor, the duo listens to Mona talking about how easily they are making entertainment content about how terrible people are in real time, thanks to their brilliant AI. But with Mona getting informed about Salma Hayek’s intrusion in the building, the time has come for Joan and Salma to destroy the Quamputer.
And that is exactly what they aim for, but there is one small hitch. The thing is guided by a guy in the control room, who is soon taken care of by Salma Hayek. But Joan notices something strange in the screens in front- it is her, not Salma Hayek, doing all the things she usually does. And here is where “Black Mirror” reclaims its throne of superiority. The control room guy, who looks like (and is being played by) Michael Cera, explains to them that their reality is actually the first fictive level- an adaptation of the real Joan’s life where actress Annie Murphy is playing her.
In the real world of source Joan, Annie Murphy has been given the license to use her face as Joan. And Salma Hayek has given Streamberry the license to use her face in level 3 and play herself in level 3. It is that kind of a twist that someone like Benoit Blanc would call “so dumb that it is brilliant.” And that is exactly what Charlie Brooker has successfully done here- by tricking the characters and the audience into believing something that is essentially unreal. I hope I am explaining this right to you.
With that piece of information, Annie Murphy, on the first fictive level, does exactly what the real Joan has done in the real world. Destroying the machine with an ax. And with that, every fictional reality dissolves into nothingness- and all that remains is the real Joan, who is obviously taken away by the authorities. And, of course, her accomplice, Annie Murphy, aka Emmy-winning actress famous for her role Alexis Rose in Schitt’s Creek.
Black Mirror (Season 6), Episode 1 “Joan Is Awful” Final Thoughts:
In some ways, I thought this episode also works as a vehicle for Netflix to tell us that they are not so bad. Several allegations against the OTT giant, including killing the art of cinema by making it all accessible in a mere app, are addressed. If Netflix, for real, were like Streamberry, then they wouldn’t have done a thing like this. Of course, I would give more credit to Brooker here as the show is his brainchild first. It is fascinating how he still finds ways to make the show simultaneously entertaining and relevant with the wildest possible plots. I also loved how Brooker used the now iconic “Anyone Who Knows What Love Is” song, which was first heard in “Fifteen Million Merits” (Season 1 Episode 2) and then in “Crocodile” (Season 4 Episode 3).
In one of the sweetest post-credit scenes, we see Joan working at a barista- and Annie Murphy walking in for a coffee. The two now share a bond, a genuine one; as well as identical ankle monitoring house-arrest bracelets- clearly a result of their tryst with Streamberry. In one final post-credit scene, we see the real Joan (played by actress Kayla Lorette) in action during the infamous shitting at church. Clearly, that got Annie Murphy’s attention and made a hero out of her, if you know what I mean.
![The Nothing Factory [2017]: ‘TIFF’ Review](https://www.highonfilms.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/highonfilms_nothingfactory_01-768x384.jpg)
![Call Me By Your Name [2017] ‘MAMI’ Review: A ripe celebration of first love!](https://www.highonfilms.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Call-me-by-your-name-2-768x412.jpg)
![The Endless Trench [2019] Netflix Review – An Incredible Drama on the Living Ghosts of Francoist Spain](https://www.highonfilms.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/The-Endless-Trench-2019-768x433.jpg)
