Black Mirror Season 7's Strangest Episode Has A Premise Ripped Straight From Rick & Morty

Spoilers below for the "Black Mirror" episode "Bête Noire."

After the fan backlash to "Black Mirror" season 6's brief foray into fantasy territory, it seems at first glance like season 7 has course corrected: every episode of the new season is based around technology in some way, with no werewolves or demons in sight. However, the premise of the second episode of the season, "Bête Noire," is science fiction by technicality alone. When the villain reveals her big scheme, it's hard not to wonder: at what point does the tech become so advanced it's basically magic?

The episode is about Maria (Siena Kelly), a woman who feels like she's going crazy when Google results and written evidence start contradicting her own memories. At first she only misremembers trivial things, like discovering that the fictional "Barnies" chain restaurant has actually been "Bernies" this whole time; it's a fun reverse of the common Mandela effect example people give, that they remember "The Berenstain Bears" being titled "The Berenstein Bears" when they were kids. 

But as tends to be the case on this show, things escalate fast. Soon the very concept of a nut allergy no longer exists in this world, and Maria quickly figures out that her new coworker Verity (Rosy McEwen) is using some sort of magic necklace to rewrite reality. Sure enough that's exactly what's happening: in the final act, Verity reveals that all she has to do is say something while touching her necklace, and she'll be instantly teleported to an alternate reality (of which there are an infinite number of) where what she said is true. We see the sheer power of the necklace in the final moments, where Maria gets hold of the necklace and declares herself empress of the world. She gets exactly what she wants instantly.  

There's technically a scientific explanation for all of this: the power of the necklace comes from a giant computer set up in Verity's house. But unlike most of the tech this season, which feels at least mildly connected to real-life technology that exists today, Verity's necklace feels outlandish. Or rather, it feels like something out of "Rick & Morty." Specifically, the season 6 "Rick & Morty" episode "Full Meta Jackrick."

This is the episode where Rick and Morty have to fight against a villain named Rhett Caan, who has the power to retcon anything on the show at any moment. This power is horrifying, as any advantage the characters may have against him can simply be undone by him opening his mouth. "You were born without bones," he says to one character, and we see the character's now-boneless (yet still conscious!) body immediately droop to the ground, unable to move on its own again. 

The difference between Verity and Rhett Caan is that Rhett Caan is supposed to be a joke. He's there as part of the show's yearly anthology episode, the one episode per season where viewers can trust that little of this matters. But Verity's power is played straight, which is at odds with how over-the-top it gets in the episode's final moments. The premise feels like something out of a cartoon, whereas the best "Black Mirror" episodes have always felt disconcertingly real. 

Of course, the episode's still fun if you're willing to turn your brain off a little. You can appreciate, for instance, how "Black Mirror" offers a solution to how Rick and Morty could've killed Rhett Caan. Maria kills Verity by acting faster than Verity can speak; she picks up a gun and shoots Verity before she can say something like "guns don't exist." Omar Little once said, "You come at the king, you best not miss." Well, if you're coming at someone with retcon powers, you best shoot quick.

As silly as this episode's finale feels, at least the first two thirds made for some riveting TV. Throughout the first act you genuinely don't know if Maria's being spiteful or going crazy, and the tension as we see Maria spiral into paranoia (losing all her friends and coworkers in the process) is painful yet fascinating. The episode threads the needle perfectly up until the nut allergy reveal, which is such a big retcon it gives away that Maria's not the problem here. 

The horror of "Bête Noire" would've been more effective if there'd been some sort of limitation on what Verity was allowed to do, if she was forced to stick to minor retcons with the Barnie hat or the email switch-up. These are relatable, grounded moments that would believably make anyone start to lose their minds. It's still a little ridiculous that there'd be any technology capable of these sort of changes, but a small-scale approach wouldn't have drawn so much attention to this problem. 

The tech in this episode could've been in the same tier as the cloning technology in season 4's "USS Callister." There, it scientifically makes zero sense that Robert Daly would be able to copy someone's entire personality (memories and all) just from a DNA sample, but the episode wisely doesn't call much attention to this plot device. But the final act of "Bête Noire" puts the silliness of its "sci-fi" premise on full display, and the entire story collapses under its weight.