Joan Is Awful

An evening's telly and a new show has a tile, it looks familiar but on playing there's no smile, as your day is played, relayed, with Salma Hayek being payed, to enact what's taken place, but in her style. It's quite surreal and you're not sure how it's been done, and then your boyfriend realises you've had fun, with a partner of the past, this is bizarre, you feel harassed, but the small print means the past can't be undone; exasperation causes food to be binged on, and washed down with laxative as libation, a line is duly crossed, and the floor needs a good wash, but the nightmare will not cease, will not be quashed.

As imaginative as ever.

Joan is bored with her life, fed up of her boyfriend Krish, and genuinely stuck in a rut, at a meeting with her therapist she is offered the chance to change things up, which she accepts, unaware of what she's signed up to.

It's been a while, over four years to be precise, you always worry that some of the well earned polish may have rubbed off, fortunately no sign of that here, this was a cracking return, it is far from perfect, but a bleak scenario of the future, that's exactly what Black Mirror delivers here.

Be careful what you download and click accept to, because you never quite know what the terms and conditions are.

This was fun and chilling in equal measure, you honestly had no idea what was coming next, I imagine there were lots of in jokes here, there were certainly lots of Easter eggs to look out for.

I was worried that the show might have moved to focusing on names, rather than the winning formula that made this show so great, but Salma Hayek added a little something, I'm not quite sure what.

Annie Murphy was terrific, her timing was perfect, you couldn't help but feel sorry for Joan, Hayek clearly had a lot of fun, a different role for her to play.

8/10.

I'm starting to think that Black Mirror has spoiled you / us too much !

This episode was definitely something special. A very unique concept , brilliantly executed and amazingly acted ....

I'm pretty sure that if this exact same episode would have been included in one of the first 3 series of Black Mirror, it would have gotten STELLAR reviews. Also, try and compare it to all the tasteless, unoriginal, boring stuff that is provided on this streaming platform.... there is no comparison.

So, maybe it's me, but ever since series 5 I've been seeing this frankly unjustified skepticism towards the show.

Not sure what they need to do to deserve a full 8 at this point ...

The central idea is classic Black Mirror, but each moment that had potential for dramatic tension is undermined by a script that ranges between silly and simply dull. It seems like they came set with an interesting idea but had no idea what to do with it. Lots of celebrity references and cameos that ended up being flat name dropping. The ending feels hurried and certainly didn't leave me "thinking" as the best Black Mirror episodes did.

I gave it a six because there are moments of humour. The cast seemed to have done their best with what they were given. Many people will find it a pleasant time waster, but if you are looking for dark compelling sci-fi drama or techno horror, you will be disappointed.

"Joan is Awful" is the first episode in the series after a four year hiatus. After three of the weaker episodes of the entire series aired in the previous season, I did not have sky-high hopes for this new season as many die-hard fans did.

But "Joan is Awful" was a welcome addition to the Black Mirror series. And a perfect introduction episode after a long time off as it was one of the more comical episodes of the show. It lets the audience dip their toes back into this universe without jarring us.

You can expect to hear rave reviews for Annie Murphy's performance. She had to run through virtually every emotion and mood in an actor's arsenal, and she did it seamlessly without overacting.

While Annie Murphy carries the episode on her back, there are still good performances all around. It helps that most of the roles were obviously written by Charlie Brooker for certain actors specifically. Salma Hayek does well; and comedy fans will appreciate cameos from Rich Fulcher (Mighty Boosh, Snuff Box) and Michael Cera.

A welcome return from Black Mirror.