Black Mirror season 7 episode 1 recap: What happens in Common People?

Black Mirror season 7 is a thrilling and futuristic anthology series from the brilliant mind of creator Charlie Brooker.

Each episode of Black Mirror tells a different twisted tale of modern sci-fi dystopias. Over six episodes in season 7, an anthology of captivating realities is built piece by piece. From AI to infinite timelines, different themes, characters and plots unravel over the course of each unique episode. Tackling these futuristic and complex themes can quickly become complicated though, leaving much to be studied and understood.

Here's a recap of everything that happened in Black Mirror season 7 episode 1.

The episode opens on a couple, Amanda (Rashida Jones) and Mike (Chris O’Dowd) lying in bed. It’s their third wedding anniversary. It cuts to Amanda teaching in an elementary school about robotic bees. The school bell rings and as the kids leave, a girl stays behind. The teacher asks her what’s wrong and she says another girl laughed at her shoes because they’re old, but Amanda makes her feel better.

Another teacher comes in and invites her to go for a drink, but she says she can’t as Mike is waiting outside to take her away for the weekend. They head to Palmer County, where they got married, and visit a place called Juniper Lodge. They eat at the bar and in bed afterwards, they talk about trying to get pregnant. Mike asks if she wants to try again and she says she wouldn't mind a happy accident. Suddenly, she’s struck by a headache.

Back at home, Amanda looks at a cot she bought and tells Mike that she got her period and that they should sell it. He says they’ll need it soon, but she says after last time, they don’t even know if she even can get pregnant.

At work, Mike is told to go look for his workmate because he needs to be on the rig. When he finds him, he’s putting money into a live streaming site called ‘Dum Dummies’. He explains that desperate people accept money and you get to tell them what to do. He shows Mike a man on camera who reaches $20 and has to drink his own urine.

At school, Amanda is teaching when she suddenly collapses. Mike is called away from work, but when he gets to the hospital, she’s in a coma. The doctor says she has a tumor and she may never regain consciousness. He asks the doctor if there’s anything they can do and she says there’s a new startup that can do an experimental procedure.

As Mike sits by Amanda’s side, a rep, Gaynor, arrives from the startup, Rivermind to talk to him. She explains that they’ll take an imprint of the affected part of Amanda's brain, clone it as a backup on their computer and then remove the tumor replacing it with synthetic receiver tissue. Then Rivermind sends cognitive function from the backup to act in its place. Mike is sceptical and asks if they’ve tested it, to which Gaynor explains she’s living proof. She explains that 18 months prior, she was nearly killed and that she's just the same as she was before.

Gaynor explains that Amanda would sleep an hour or two more a night to help demand on their cloud-based servers, and that she has to physically stay in the coverage range of the servers. But coverage will be expanding globally soon enough. She says the price is reasonable as they’re a new startup and the surgery will be free. She tells him the subscription to stream will cost $300 a month.

It cuts to after surgery. Mike is invited to come and see Amanda. She seems the same as before and he’s relieved. When she's out of the hospital, Mike explains to her what he did to keep her alive and she’s worried about the money. He tells her he’s working more and they can make cut backs.

The calendar is littered with overtime hours, which become more and more. Amanda continues teaching and the days pass by. At home one evening, she’s looking over their finances. At work, Mike's workmate is watching Dum Dummies on his phone and a man is pulling his own tooth out for money.

One morning, Mike turns the calendar to June and he’s working overtime every single day. But he tells Amanda it’s June 5th on Saturday and Amanda is so tired, she's forgotten their anniversary. Mike says he remembered and booked the Juniper Lodge.

Driving there, Mike is tired and Amanda offers to drive. He says she needs to relax and because of how much she sleeps, she can’t get a second job. She retaliates that it’s not her fault she needs sleep. They’re snapping at each other and the argument gets heated. All of a sudden, Amanda glitches and passes out in the car. Mike immediately starts racing back to the hospital, but as he does, she wakes up.

They go to see Gaynor, the Rivermind rep. She explains it wasn’t a malfunction, it’s because they went outside the coverage area. Mike says that it was supposed to be in range. To this Gaynor reveals that in Palmer County, the towers are on a new bandwidth. She says from Monday, they're rolling out Rivermind Plus, a new subscription tier with extended coverage. She shows them that it'll cover all of North America, but only if they upgrade. The cost, an extra $500 a month making it $800. They explain they can’t afford it and Gaynor says they can stay on Rivermind Common.

At home, Amanda says she thinks she’s sleeping more than she used to, but it's not normal sleep. Mike offers her a coffee and she starts promoting espresso grande, which he says he hasn’t tried. Suddenly she doesn’t know what he’s talking about and asks why he brought it up. He tells her she did.

At school, Amanda is in the middle of teaching when she breaks into an advert about Honey Nugs cereal when talking about bees. A kid puts her hand up and asks about them, but Amanda doesn’t know what she’s talking about. After class, a little boy comes to say he’s moving away because his mum says they need to get away from his dad. When she tries to give advice, she starts to recite an advert on faith-based counselling and gives him a website to visit.

Back at home, Amanda asks if he wants to make a 'happy accident' and they begin to make love. She then recites an advert for lubricant and Mike gets put off. She doesn’t know what he’s talking about, but as he gets out of bed, she sits up and begins reciting an advert for erectile dysfunction.

They go to see Gaynor again who explains it’s a ‘commercial message’ that they’re trialling. Amanda and Mike are furious and ask to opt out, but Gaynor explains they can, but only if they upgrade to Rivermind Plus.

At school, Amanda is called in for a chat with her superior as the kid told his mum about the faith-based counselling she suggested. Amanda says she didn’t think it was happening during school hours and the superior asks what she’s talking about. To this, she cuts into an advert about dating for over 50s.

That evening, Amanda tells Mike if she can’t stop reciting adverts, they’re going to have to fire her. He explains if she loses her job, they won’t even be able to pay the Common subscription. Mike says he’ll do something. That night, he puts a black bunny mask on and signs up to Dum Dummies.

The next morning, he’s on the phone to Rivermind and Amanda is reciting adverts whilst standing at the sink. Gaynor picks up and Mike tells her he sent a payment and asks when they can be upgraded. She says she’s on it and all of a sudden Amanda stops speaking in adverts. Mike tells Amanda she’s now on Plus. She’s happy and Mike washes up a glass with leftover urine in it.

That night, Mike is on Dum Dummies again asking for money to put his nose in a mouse trap. He’s using a voice changer and people in his chat are asking him to do things that he doesn’t want to do. He gets a message from Rivermind saying his payment is overdue. He says he'll put the mouse trap to go on his tongue instead for more money.

The next morning, Mike wakes Amanda up at 10am. She’s been asleep for 12 hours. He can’t talk properly as his tongue is swollen. They go back to Rivermind to ask why Amanda is sleeping so long and Gaynor explains a firmware update meant they had to extend the sleep time. Amanda says it’s not rest though and that she’s tired all the time. Gaynor explains it’s sleep mode so they use her to power other parts of the system. She says if Amanda was still on Common, she’d be sleeping for 16 hours.

She then reveals a new tier, which is the reason the sleep time has been lengthened for ‘non-premium’ users. They now call Plus, Standard, while the new tier is called Rivermind Lux. They watch an advert explaining that with Lux, your senses are heightened, as well as being able to change your mood with an app. Plus, you can upgrade your own skills from the minds of other Rivermind users. The price, an additional $1000 a month. Gaynor explains that they can pay for boosters just for a few hours or days at a time. Amanda walks out, but Mike asks about the price of the boosters.

Black Mirror Common People ending explained

Back at home, Mike notes that their anniversary is coming up and heads into the basement. Someone offers him $500 to take his mask off and he does it, while putting a sexual contraption on his hand. It cuts to them driving to Palmer County. Mike tells Amanda to check the glovebox. Inside, a 12-hour voucher for Rivermind Lux. He says he just wants her to enjoy their weekend. She activates it and dials up her pleasure. Instantly working, she's happier.

As they go out for dinner, she enjoys the food and then the music to the extreme. Then, when they make love, it all becomes too much for Mike and he tries to lower the pleasure on the app, but she resists. At 11am, he wakes her up and they check out.

Back at work, everyone’s laughing at Mike. He gets into the office and there’s a picture of him on the wall from the Dum Dummies site. His workmate is laughing at him and Mike angrily tries to strangle him. He’s held back but the workmate shouts something cruel to him so he shoves him backwards under the wheels of a truck, crushing his lower half.

Mike arrives home and tells Amanda he’s lost his job. When she asks, he won’t talk about it. She panics that they won’t be able to pay Rivermind anymore. He says they’ll go and plead their case as loyal customers. So, they go to see Gaynor, but she won’t listen. Mike says he doesn’t want to use the baby money. Gaynor asks if they’re trying to get pregnant and explains that getting pregnant costs extra as it alters the brain. This would cost an extra $90 a month. Mike slams the desk and they leave.

It cuts to one year later. Mike is at home making coffee and Amanda’s asleep on the couch. It’s June 5th again, their anniversary. Two young people turn up to buy the crib. They explain it’s not for a baby, but to burn for a music video. As Mike laughs, he’s missing teeth. Mike wakes Amanda up and she wishes him a happy anniversary. He brings her outside. Her hair is lank and her eyes are tired. Then, he gives her a voucher for 30 minutes of Rivermind Lux and sets her serenity to max. She smiles and tells him she thinks it’s time. He says only if you’re sure and she says she is. Fighting back tears, she tells him to do it when she’s not there.

He lays her in bed and as the time on the Rivermind Lux wears out, they exchange I love yous and suddenly, she breaks into an advert again. To this, he says not yet, but smothers her with a pillow and suffocates her to death. As requested, while she’s not there. Afterwards, he returns to his laptop with a blade in his hand and Dum Dummies running.

All episodes of Black Mirror are available to stream on Netflix now.