Black Mirror, the British anthology television series and Netflix smash hit, has been hailed throughout its run for its prophetic critique of modern technology. Its sixth installment dropped this month, and the first couple of episodes take aim at none other than streaming giant Netflix itself.

Culture critics Amil Niazi and Kathryn VanArendonk joined host Elamin Abdelmahmoud to unpack the latest season's message for our times, and the meta-AI episode "Joan Is Awful" featuring Annie Murphy and Salma Hayek that has everyone talking.

Elamin: Kathryn, the streamer in these episodes is called Streamberry…. They're not going through any effort whatsoever to hide the fact that it's Netflix — it's the same font as Netflix, the same music pops up as when you start a show on Netflix. Can you just walk us through the levels of exploitation going on here?

Kathryn: Right, so Joan is a Streamberry subscriber. She sits down, she opens up [Streamberry]. It's not just the font and the music; you see her open up the identical interface. Everything looks perfect. One of the first cards you see is for a show called "Loch Henry," which is actually the second episode of Black Mirror. Like, this is Netflix, right? And so her life has been harvested for the purposes of this entertainment. She doesn't really understand how. Then we understand that Salma Hayek's AI image is what is being used to create this show.

Then, the "real life" Salma Hayek gets extremely upset because Joan decides to attempt to extricate herself from this process by being unfilmable — by doing whatever she can to create the most disgusting scenarios possible, so that Salma Hayek would never agree to it. But it doesn't matter, because Salma Hayek is similarly being exploited. And then they're all trying to extricate themselves from a terms and conditions that is just, your life has been taken.

Elamin: Amil, it's been a really divisive episode. Where are you at?

Amil: For me, it is not one of the worst Black Mirror episodes ever. But certainly already in this season, it's not the best. I think the premise is very heavy-handed. I think "Loch Henry" sort of has a similar bone of contention to pick with Netflix, and it does it in a much smarter, more nuanced way. I think what happened with "Joan Is Awful" is that [with] the timing of the writers strike [and] this very heated discussion we're having across the media about AI — it happened to hit in a moment where we were really ready for that conversation. That's why I think we're even talking about it as much at all, because frankly it is not to me a standout and would not ever normally be an episode I would even want to talk about.

Elamin: There is a certain almost hokey-ness to the premise, Kathryn. But the timeliness of it is the thing that makes Black Mirror work in general: the idea that Black Mirror is so prophetic about these things, and it just so happens to gather up all of this nebula of conversation that we've been having about AI, about writers — and then hit at exactly this moment. Do you think that is why we're talking about this episode so much?

Kathryn: Yes, I do think that has a lot to do with it. I mean, if ChatGPT had not come to the moment that it has in the last several months, I think probably this would not feel quite as relevant as it does. As far as hokey-ness goes, I certainly see that. I find almost all of Black Mirror hokey on some level—

Amil: Yes, that's fair.

Elamin: That's reasonable.

Kathryn: It's a charge that's sort of hard to level at this versus any other episode. And I do think it is not a show that I turn to for subtlety, right? … There are some episodes that I think have — sometimes in spite of themselves — managed to find those moments. I think "San Junipero" is often considered one that has this kind of character development that feels unusually tender and considered. But Black Mirror is a show with a big hammer, and it hits big nails. And so in that sense, this episode feels like it is as obvious as it was deliberately trying to be — and if you have an allergy to that, I think it's not going to work. But I do think as a TV-viewing public, we respond pretty well to big hammers and big nails. It does seem to be achieving its goal in that respect.

Elamin: I do think that is Black Mirror at its best. It's not a show that is trying to answer questions. It's trying to say, "Hey, if you took all of this stuff and put it in one bucket and thought about it, wouldn't you be worried?" And I guess after every episode, you go, "Yeah, I would be a little bit worried. Thank you, Black Mirror, for making me a little bit worried about this." But I don't think it's fundamentally trying to go to the place of giving you some kind of answer. Right? Is that where you stand on that?

Kathryn: That's 100% correct. But that doesn't mean that I don't then end those episodes being like, "Okay, I'm worried. Thanks?"

Elamin: I want to turn to the second episode now, which is called "Loch Henry." This one's about true crime, right? It follows two young filmmakers named Davis and Pia. They want to make their first documentary, and after a lot of debate, they decide to tell the story of a small-town serial killer. But it turns out to be personal for Davis, because his father was a police officer who was shot by that killer. And Amil, true crime is this sort of big hit for Netflix. It makes sense that Black Mirror would take this on. What do you think of the episode?

Amil: I thought it was a really strong episode and actually my favorite of the season — and probably because it's really personal for me as well. Like many people, I have enjoyed — "enjoyed" feels like a really weird word for it — but I watch the genre, and probably too much of it. I think that the ethical questions around how they exploit not just these stories, but the people at the heart of them, the places at the heart of them…. The episode is sort of buoyed by this small-town pub owner who wants them to tell the story so that tourists will come, drawn by this tale of murder, and drink in his pub and save the town. The performances are great. The storytelling is really strong. The ending is very, very bleak, but I think it immediately makes you feel what you're supposed to feel — which is ethically-compromised, and asking yourself, "What am I getting out of these shows that I watch? Why am I watching them? Who is being hurt by me watching them?" A similar sort of message with the "Joan Is Awful," but done in the way that Black Mirror excels, which is with nuance, with heart, with that emotional kind of center.

Elamin: I was really drawn to that episode, particularly to the way that Davis, for the last maybe 20 minutes of the episode, doesn't say a word. He's just kind of in this place of trauma. Kathryn, Amil, I just want to say thank you for being here. I wish we could keep talking about this show forever, just because that's what Black Mirror is really good at — giving us stuff to talk about. And I appreciate you guys being here to talk through it. Thank you so much.

Amil: Thank you.

Kathryn: Thank you.