Black Mirror season 6 hasn't been available on Netflix for a full day yet, but fans are already down on one episode, "Mazey Day." The fourth episode of the new season, and one of the shortest in Black Mirror history, "Mazey Day" has quickly drawn the ire of viewers. Some fans of the series are going as far as to not only call it the worst of the new season, but maybe even the worst of the entire series. We'll dig into why there's such a negative response to "Mazey Day" below, but full spoilers will follow!
Netflix describes the episode of the series as follows: "A troubled Hollywood starlet goes to great lengths to escape packs of invasive paparazzi as she deals with the aftermath of a hit-and-run." Though the episode is named for and its description framed around Mazey Day (played by Clara Rugaard), the episode is actually focused on Zazie Beetz as Bo, one of the paparazzi that is eager for a photo of the titular celebrity. At the start of the episode, Beetz gives up her life in the paparazzi game after a photo she takes of a celebrity leads to his death. Meanwhile, years later, Mazey Day parties a little too hard after filming one night and accidentally hits someone with her car while driving, the guilt leaves her a wreck and makes her unable to finish the movie.
Beetz is flanked in the episode by The Falcon and the Winter Soldier star Danny Ramirez as fellow pap, Hec. Word on the street is that Mazey Day has had trouble on set of her new movie and hasn't been seen in weeks. Thanks to this, a $30k prize is up for grabs if anyone can get a photo of her. Dusting off her skills, Bo tracks Mazey Day down to a remote wellness clinic. After recruiting Hec to help her, who is followed by two of their scumbag paparazzi "pals," they realize Mazey's terrible secret. She's not detoxing from drugs or getting sober in anyway....she's a werewolf, and it's a full moon.
This is where Black Mirror fans have taken issue with the episode. For its entire run beforehand, Black Mirror has been about framing its tales around technology and the perils it can create in our not-too-distant future. By stepping things into the supernatural, a real first for the series, it has turned many off because it feels more like Tales From the Crypt than Black Mirror. You can see the reactions to the episode below.
"probably the worst Black Mirror episode of all time"
" what were they thinking"
"execution is completely fumbled"
"Could've been any other show"