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Black Mirror season 7 premiered globally on Netflix on April 10, 2025, marking the show's return after a two-year break. The season includes six episodes, two of which are feature-length, and explores various genres including psychological drama and satire. The ensemble cast features Jesse Plemons, Cristin Milioti, Awkwafina, Peter Capaldi, Emma Corrin, Issa Rae, Rashida Jones, Paul Giamatti, Jimmi Simpson, and Tracee Ellis Ross.
The first episode of Black Mirror season 7, titled Common People, is directed by Ally Pankiw. It follows schoolteacher Amanda (Rashida Jones) and Mike (Chris O’Dowd), a welder, as they try to navigate a futuristic medical solution. When Amanda falls into a coma, Mike agrees to a tech-based treatment called Rivermind that helps her recover.
The system keeps Amanda alive using an external server, but it comes at a cost, and over time, as Amanda's condition worsens, she asks Mike to end her life. The rest of the episode explains why she makes this request and what it means for both of them.
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What happens in Black Mirror season 7’s Common People?
The episode Common People follows Amanda and Mike as they try to cope with a medical crisis using futuristic technology. After Amanda falls into a coma, Mike agrees to an experimental treatment called Rivermind. This procedure connects Amanda's brain to a server network that keeps her alive, with the promise of cognitive restoration. While the surgery is free, it requires a subscription plan that costs $300 a month.
Initially, Amanda begins to recover, but the system requires her to sleep for extended periods and remain within network range. As coverage limits become an issue, Mike is pressured to upgrade to more expensive tiers like Rivermind+ and eventually Rivermind Lux. Each tier brings higher costs and more side effects. Amanda starts speaking ads without awareness and sleeps even longer, losing her ability to function normally.
To cope with the costs, Mike begins uploading humiliating videos of himself online to raise money. The emotional and financial toll leads Amanda to ask Mike to end her life while she is in a trance-like state caused by the system’s ad functions. Common People traces their struggle from hope to exhaustion, as the tech that promised recovery instead creates irreversible dependence.
Amanda’s final moments in Black Mirror season 7’s Common People
In the final act of Black Mirror season 7, Common People, Amanda and Mike are overwhelmed by the escalating demands of the Rivermind system. Amanda, who has awoken from her coma with restored functions, is operating on a minimal level.
She sleeps most of the day and unknowingly advertises products during her waking hours. These interruptions affect her ability to work, and her awareness seems fragmented.
As creator Charlie Brooker explained in an interview with Netflix’s Tudum, published on April 10, 2025, Amanda is unaware when she starts speaking in advertisements. The ads aren't just distractions as they are embedded into her consciousness, happening automatically. When she asks Mike to end her life while she's not there, she is referring to the moments when the advertising takes over, and she becomes unconscious of her actions.
In the final scene, Mike smothers Amanda while she is in the middle of delivering an ad. Brooker clarified that, at this moment, Amanda is essentially asleep, not present in her mind.
“So she’s not aware at that moment that it’s happening,” he told Tudum.
This request wasn’t just emotional, it was practical. Amanda didn’t want to be conscious during the act.
After Amanda dies, Mike walks into the room where he once filmed humiliating online videos to raise money. He looks directly at the camera before the screen cuts to black. The ending offers no confirmation about what Mike does next, but as executive producer Charlie Brooker shared, it’s “slightly up to your imagination.” The direct gaze into the camera is intentional, leaving the viewer to sit with the final weight of the choices made in Black Mirror season 7.
How subscription upgrades in Black Mirror season 7 led to Amanda’s decision
The events of Common People unfold as a reflection of dependency on subscription-based technology. What begins as a life-saving measure soon becomes unsustainable. Mike agrees to Rivermind to bring Amanda back, but the service demands constant upgrades, each more expensive than the last.
After Amanda recovers, the first sign of trouble comes when she must sleep longer. The company then introduces Rivermind+, extending coverage but costing $500 more.
Later, Rivermind Lux adds “enhanced sensations,” but comes with a $1,000 price tag. Since Amanda and Mike can’t afford it, they turn to temporary boosters. Meanwhile, Amanda continues to lose touch with her reality.
Brooker said in the April 10, 2025, Tudum article that the idea originated from podcasts where hosts shift into product ads mid-episode. That humorous inspiration led to a darker commentary on commodification.
“They’re extending the amount she has to sleep, and she’s tired all the time,” Brooker told Tudum. “Now they’re living this existence where she’s constantly advertising things.”
As Amanda’s awareness slips further and the system drains their resources, her decision becomes the only form of control she has left. Mike, equally exhausted and unable to sustain their life, agrees. Amanda wants to avoid the trauma of knowing her own death and asks Mike to end it.
Black Mirror season 7’s Common People begins with the promise of healing and ends with a final, irreversible decision. Amanda and Mike’s experience with Rivermind reveals the cost of tying life to technology driven by profit. The ending, though ambiguous in its last frame, is direct in its message. For Amanda, life under the Rivermind system was no longer her own.
As Brooker explained, the story of Black Mirror season 7 Common People started as a light idea. It was meant to be a satire on subscription models, but it slowly turned into something darker. Amanda’s fate did not come from one event.
Many small pressures built up over time and took away her control. And when the only escape meant stepping outside of awareness, the final act became a decision of necessity, not despair.
All six episodes of Black Mirror season 7 are now available for streaming on Netflix.
