How The Elizabeth Holmes Scandal Inspired Black Mirror's Joan Is Awful Episode

To the delight of sci-fi enthusiasts everywhere, the dystopian anthology series "Black Mirror" is back on Netflix for its sixth season. With each passing day, the questions the show asks about the ways modern technology has invaded and manipulated our lives seem more and more prescient. After a 4-year wait in between seasons, the themes explored in "Black Mirror" are more relevant than ever, as we all continue to become inextricably linked to our gadgets and devices at an alarming rate. The technological singularity is on the horizon, and we don't yet know the effects that technology will ultimately have on society. 

Luckily, that's why we have brilliant writers and creators like Charlie Brooker, who penned most of the new season of "Black Mirror" without any help from AI (Artificial Intelligence) whatsoever. Brooker did use AI, but only as a source of inspiration for season 6, episode 1, "Joan is Awful." The premiere episode zooms in on the fairly average life of Joan (Annie Murphy) who begins to realize that her life is being played out in an adaptation starring A-list actor Salma Hayek that's streaming around the world. The fictional, AI friendly company Streamberry is behind the show and Joan ventures out in the hopes of getting back what amounts to her own IP. 

While Brooker uses AI as a backdrop, "Joan is Awful" is more directly inspired by the true events of disgraced CEO Elizabeth Holmes — the recently-convicted corporate swindler of the defunct blood testing Silicon Valley start-up, Theranos.

Elizabeth Holmes' company Theranos turned out to be a house of cards when it was discovered that she was making false claims — namely, that a revolutionary new blood test was able to detect serious disease such as diabetes and cancer. She defrauded notable investors for millions of dollars and the entire debacle played out on TV screens across the world, including Charlie Brooker's. Speaking to Metro, the "Black Mirror" creator explained the genesis for the idea behind "Joan is Awful":

"I was watching 'The Dropout,' which is the dramatization of Elizabeth Holmes and the Theranos story, with my wife and we were sort of commenting on like, 'This feels like it happened yesterday, and here it is already a drama on TV.'"

Brooker already had an idea based on "a story about an average woman who finds herself on the front page of the newspaper" and simply applied it to the world of television instead of journalism. In doing so, Brooker is acknowledging that the streaming age is potentially grabbing up real-life stories with actual victims a little too quickly. Shouldn't there be at least a little bit of time in between the scandal, the fictional adaptation, and awards season? "Joan is Awful" seems to be answering that question with a resounding yes.

The relatively short window between the actual crimes committed by con artist Elizabeth Holmes and the premiere of Hulu's series "The Dropout" may be a sign of a telling trend. The window separating actual crimes and fictional accounts largely aimed at sensationalizing these real, often tragic events may be shortening. We've all grown accustomed to binge-watching content at a ravenous pace — something the news media and every streaming service out there have definitely noticed. Culturally, maybe our appetite for these types of stories is catching up to our (increasingly limited) attention span. We're living in an age of unparalleled choice when it comes to entertainment. Hence, we want our true crime documentaries and the other projects they inspire to come in rapid succession, before we can move onto something else.

For years, NBC's "Law & Order" aired episodes with stories ripped from the headlines. The pandemic-era documentary sensation "Tiger King" was quickly turned into "Joe vs. Carol," a show starring John Cameron Mitchell and Kate McKinnon. Hulu's "Candy" and Max's "Love & Death" are both about the exact same real-life murder. The list goes on and on.

In the case of "The Dropout," Hulu announced the series just 11 months after Elizabeth Holmes was first indicted. It subsequently premiered in March 2022, three months after Holmes was found guilty of wire fraud and conspiracy. The trial of Alex Murdaugh for the murder of his family even aired live on national television on the heels of Netflix's three-part docu-series, Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal." Low and behold, Hulu is now developing a "Murdaugh Murders" series. 

Clearly, Charlie Brooker's on to something with "Joan is Awful." Maybe he's saying it's time to hit the pause button. 

"Black Mirror" season 6 is now streaming on Netflix.