Rashida Jones in Black Mirror "Common People"
By
Dhruv Sharma
Published Feb 22, 2026, 8:30 PM EST
Dhruv is a Lead Writer in Screen Rant's New TV division. He has been consistently contributing to the website for over two years and has written thousands of articles covering streaming trends, movie/TV analysis, and pop culture breakdowns.
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After high school, he was on his way to become a Civil Engineer. However, he soon realized that writing was his true calling. As a result, he took a leap and never looked back.
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Black Mirror season 7 featured one of the most devastating episodes in the entire series, which seems to be aging incredibly well even after one year.
Since Black Mirror is an anthology, not all of its installments end up being as memorable as the others. However, the ones that do leave their marks end up staying with audiences for a long time with their harrowing portrayals of humanity's relationship with technology. The Netflix sci-fi show's latest season features one such episode, which completely shatters you by the time it ends.
What makes it even more hard-hitting is that it serves as a perfect metaphor for the direction in which the world seems to be heading in.
Common People Is One Of The Most Harrowing Black Mirror Episodes Of All Time
Black Mirror's Common People
Black Mirror season 7's episode 1, "Common People," starts slowly and initially establishes the chemistry between its central couple, Welder Mike Waters (Chris O'Dowd) and schoolteacher Amanda (Rashida Jones). However, tragedy soon strikes when Amanda collapses and learns she has an inoperable brain tumor. Thanks to advances in healthcare, she is not only able to get her tumor removed but also replace her removed brain tissue with synthetic elements.
This is when the episode's true darkness starts to emerge.
The couple's life seems to return to normalcy before they realize the limitations of Amanda's new brain tissue. Her brain not only seems functional only in a fixed radius but she also starts reciting ads run by the overarching company that developed the technology. To get rid of these limitations, the couple must pay premiums, forcing them to stretch their spending abilities.
Extreme times demand extreme measures. Therefore, Mike even starts raising funds on a trash streaming website where he is forced to perform embarrassing tasks for strangers' online entertainment.
The episode ends on a heartbreaking note where Mike feels completely cornered by the growing expense of keeping his wife alive and things reach a point where he decides to give up on everything for good. With its portrayal of mounting medical bills, ever-changing subscription models, and corporate control, the Black Mirror season 7 episode hits a little too close to home.
Common People Has Aged Really Well & Feels More Relatable Than Ever
Black Mirror season 7 Common People Gaynor smiling
Subscription models have not gone as far as Common People portrays in its story. However, the subscription fatigue it captures is real. Nearly everything these days is driven by a subscription model. There are also endless levels of subscriptions, and the lower-end models offer the bare minimum.
Healthcare costs are also higher than ever, and it is becoming increasingly hard not to be bothered by the "pay-to-play" nature of essential services. As the Black Mirror episode captures, the extreme commodification of entertainment and content creation has led to a mass desensitization of audiences.
Put simply, scenarios from the Black Mirror episode that would have once felt dystopian and distant are starting to feel uncomfortably plausible.
Black Mirror
TV-MA
Drama
Mystery
Science Fiction
Thriller
6/10
80
8.0/10
Release Date
December 4, 2011
Network
Channel 4, Netflix
Cast
Cristin Milioti, Jimmi Simpson, Milanka Brooks, Paul G. Raymond, Monica Dolan, Joshua James, Daniel Lapaine, Michaela Coel, Aldis Hodge, Amanda Drew, Cecilia Noble, Diveen Henry, Donald Sumpter, Douglas Hodge, James Larkin, Jon Hamm, Ken Drury, Kirsten Dunst, Lindsay Duncan, Liz May Brice, Michael Bott, Michael Smiley, Robin Weaver, Rupert Everett, Tom Goodman-Hill, Babs Olusanmokun, Bea Segura, Gavin Kean, Hayley Atwell, Lenora Crichlow, Natalia Tena, Rafe Spall, Amit Shah
Showrunner
Charlie Brooker
Directors
Owen Harris, Toby Haynes, James Hawes, David Slade, Carl Tibbetts, Ally Pankiw, Bryn Higgins, Dan Trachtenberg, Euros Lyn, Jodie Foster, Joe Wright, John Hillcoat, Sam Miller, Tim Van Patten, Uta Briesewitz, Colm McCarthy, Jakob Verbruggen, James Watkins, John Crowley, Otto Bathurst, Anne Sewitsky, Brian Welsh
Writers
Jesse Armstrong
Main Genre
Drama
Executive Producer(s)
Annabel Jones, Charlie Brooker, Denis Pedregosa, Genevieve Hofmeyr, Jessica Rhoades
Producers
Barney Reisz, Laurie Borg, Nick Pitt, Sanne Wohlenberg, Lucy Dyke, Louise Sutton, Madonna Baptiste, Kate Glover, Dan Winch, Alison Marlow
Seasons
7
Story By
Charlie Brooker
Streaming Service(s)
Netflix
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