'Black Mirror': Ranking the 6 New Episodes in Season 7

As the first episode of the new season, Common People clobbers you over the head with its mix of humor and dystopian horror. The story follows Amanda (Rashida Jones), an elementary school teacher, and her construction worker husband Mike (Chris O’Dowd), who are doing their best to make ends meet while dreaming of one day starting a family together. After a medical emergency that leaves Amanda’s health in jeopardy, Mike is presented with a fix, but at a cost. Enter Rivermind, a tech company that offers a service to bring Amanda back from the brink. Soon, the evils of corporate greed and medical malpractice come to light through the company’s mouthpiece and sales rep, Gaynor (Tracee Ellis Ross), and the couple finds their comfortable lives uprooted by the monetization of Amanda’s health. If you were expecting an easy-going story that would gently drop you back into the Black Mirror universe, this isn’t it. Common People is a slow-moving tragedy that sneaks up on you like an undiscovered brain tumor and quickly gets under your skin, leaving you wondering if the tech in this episode will remain as simple fiction and not reveal itself as a societal prediction.