Black Mirror Fans Thinking of Cancelling Netflix Subscription After “Terrifying” First Episode

Black Mirror season 6 just premiered and Netflix subscribers are thinking they’re ready to cancel after watching  “Joan is Awful.” Usually when Netflix cancelling a TV series is when viewers begin to consider ending their subscription, but not this time. Fans of the series aren’t even unsatisfied with this Black Mirror episode (there’s another one however that people seem to really hate) but the actual story of the episode has some wondering if cancelling their Netflix subscription might be better for them in the long run. To keep it simple, the Black Mirror episode “Joan is Awful” is about Netflix, so spoilers will follow.

Black Mirror: “Joan is Awful” Explained

At the start of “Joan is Awful,” we meet Joan Tait, a regular woman (played by Schitt’s Creek star Annie Murphy) with a life and a job, and secrets. After a day where she publicly had to fire someone at work, confessed to her therapist how boring she finds her fiancé, and even met up with an old flame to consider rekindling their life together. When she gets home that night however, she and her fiancé curl up on the couch to watch Streamberry (the Black Mirror version of Netflix) where they see a new show called “Joan is Awful,” starring Salma Hayek. 

After debating if it’s real or a prank, they decide to watch it and what the see is Salma Hayek playing a dramatized version of Joan’s real day, down to every grimy detail. The next day the same thing happens, only for Joan to pay a visit to her lawyer and find out what’s up. According to her attorney, Streamberry (again, Netflix) is “allowed” to do this because of the Terms and Conditions that Joan agreed to when she first signed up for the service. 

To test the limits of this, Joan makes bad choices, eating a lot of greasy burgers before drawing an inappropriate image on her face and crashing a wedding, where she defecates all over the church floor. After Selma Hayek on the show does this too, Joan really begins to wonder what is going on.

All that said, after watching “Joan is Awful,” Black Mirror fans are kind of thinking they should cancel their Netflix subscription, hoping that the same thing won’t happen to them. The episode ends with the reveal that Streamberry was intending to do this to users to retain their viewership, because negative emotions cause more retention than anything else. The big twist at the end however is that the episode we’re seeing, with Annie Murphy as Joan, is the version fo the show that the REAL Joan, played by Kayla Lorette, has been watching. It’s a great episode, but one that has given some Netflix users pause. Check out the reactions below.

You’re not alone

View on X

I’m no lawyer but I didn’t see anything

“hits close to home and is terrifying”

Go go go!

Not very subtle is it?

Do it then

OMW

Me too

Everyone cancelled