Black Mirror Season 6 is Officially The Worst, According to Rotten Tomatoes
The show has been going downhill since 'Bandersnatch.'
Every long-running hit show seems to have this problem: as soon as a new season comes out, viewers take to social media to bash it. There's no universal explanation for why this happens.
In some cases, it takes time for new content to grow on fans, but in others, new episodes are never redeemed. It looks like Black Mirror has officially become the second case.
Ever since Black Mirror Season 6 came out on June 15, the opinions of viewers, as seen in numerous fan discussions and review sites, have been far from favorable. Unfortunately, this isn't the first time for the show — it looks more like part of a trend. Here's how all six seasons and two specials stack up according to audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes:
- Season 6 – 43%
- Season 5 – 51%
- Bandersnatch – 67%
- Season 4 – 84%
- Season 3 – 93%
- Season 2 – 93%
- Season 1 – 93%
- White Christmas – 96%
According to the Rotten Tomatoes score, the interactive special episode 'Bandersnatch,' which premiered in December 2018, was the breaking point for Charlie Brooker's anthology series, and the downward trend that began from there culminated in the abysmal ratings for Season 6. Does the new season really deserve all this hate? Many fans seem to think so.
'Season 6 was super boring, I struggled to finish the episodes… I think even that score is too high for it,' a disappointed viewer wrote on Reddit, echoing the sentiment of many.
Black Mirror's new chapter consists of five episodes, most of which are set in the past. This is new for the show and something that many fans didn't appreciate. In addition, for a series about technology and how it reflects our society, Season 6 has too little technology.
With episodes like 'Loch Henry,' 'Mazey Day,' and 'Demon 79' feeling like stories taken from another horror anthology (Twilight Zone, for example), it's clear that Brooker has taken risks with this season.
'I definitely approached this season thinking, "Whatever my assumptions are about Black Mirror, I'm going to throw them out and do something different",' the creator told GQ.
Unfortunately, the new approach didn't prove to be another win for the Netflix show, so we're hoping that Charlie Brooker will find another creative process to bring Black Mirror out of this downhill slide.