Ranking Black Mirror: Best episodes and seasons
NetflixWith the release of Black Mirror Season 6, here’s a ranking of every season and episode of Netflix’s hit show.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, then you know that Netflix‘s meta drama, Black Mirror, has released their sixth season.
Throughout Black Mirror’s six seasons, there have been some triumphs of episodes and some episodes that are just okay. Same with each seasons as someone as incredibly memorable and others that you’re just not super keen on watching.
So, in honor of fans receiving a sixth season that’s been four years in the making, here’s a ranking of each Black Mirror season and episode from just okay to outstanding.
Black Mirror seasons ranked
Below, you’ll find our ranking of every season of Black Mirror ranked from okay to amazing.
6. Season 5
5. Season 6
4. Season 1
3. Season 4
2. Season 2
1. Season 3
Black Mirror Season 3 takes the top spot as it has some of the best and most memorable episodes in the entire series while Season 5, while not being bad, didn’t have the same impact as the seasons that surround it as the episodes in that season were way more low stakes.
Black Mirror episodes ranked
Below, you’ll find our ranking of every Black Mirror episode from okay to outstanding.
27. ‘Metalhead’ (Season 4, Episode 5)
Netflix‘Metalhead’ definitely divided fans when it first came out as some herald it as a masterpiece while others think it’s a bit dull. And, unfortunately, we fall into the latter camp.
While the story is pretty interesting as we watch a small resistance run away from murderous robot dogs, there’s just a lot of missing context about how the world has come to this scenario which leaves this episode feeling a bit hollow.
26. ‘Smithereens’ (Season 5, Episode 2)
Netflix‘Smithereens’ is an interesting roller coaster as a man goes on a suicide mission against a social media company but, while the stakes should be super high with a premises like this, you’re still left feeling a bit “meh” when the credits start to roll.
25. ‘Striking Vipers’ (Season 5, Episode 1)
Netflix‘Striking Vipers’ showcases how one can develop a severely unhealthy attachment to a video game and how easy it is to cross boundaries when you’re sitting behind a screen.
Following two male friends as they play a virtual reality fighting game in which their characters have sex with each other, this episode is a fantasticating look at what people are willing to do when it’s not really ‘them.’
24. ‘Men Against Fire’ (Season 3, Episode 5)
Netflix‘Men Against Fire’ takes the act of being in a war and turns up a million notches. In this episode, the soldiers fighting what they believe to be mutated humans on the battlefield, but it turns out to be an augmented reality thanks to the implanted chips in their heads.
As a soldier and the viewer realize the soldiers are committing genocide against an ethnic group, they’re both forced to look at real-life acts of war and weigh the severity of what people have done when they thought they were just following orders.
23. ‘Mazey Day’ (Season 6, Episode 4)
Netflix‘Mazey Day’ gives us an inside look at the Hollywood paparazzi scene and how damaging it can be. While this isn’t a new topic, as we’ve seen how this affects stars like Britney Spears, this episode takes a supernatural twist that makes the viewer rethink if it’s ever worth invading someone’s privacy.
22. ‘Arkangel’ (Season 4, Episode 2)
Netflix‘Arkangel’ hits a bit close to reality as the story follows a mom who implants a monitor in her that allows her to see everything she does. It’s a harsh take on the helicopter-parenting phenomenon, but one a lot of parents should watch to remind themselves that children are people too and can’t be controlled.
21. ‘Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too’ (Season 5, Episode 3)
NetflixA fan favorite amongst most Black Mirror viewers, ‘Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too’ follows two teens are they try to free a pop star from the clutches of her controlling aunt/manager.
While the plot itself isn’t super grounding-breaking, the episode delivers one of the best music moments in the entire series with Ashley O’s hit song ‘On a Roll’.
20. ‘Bandersnatch’ (Interactive film)
Netflix‘Bandersnatch’ is undoubtedly one of Black Mirror’s most ambitious works yet. The film acts like a “choose your own adventure story” where you can control the life of a young video game programer as he scores a massive deal for his project.
From that moment, the user can decide where he ends up from going back in time to confronting the negative forces in his life. It’s one of the most unique works of fiction that truly cemented the series as one-of-a-kind.
19. ‘Demon 79’ (Season 6, Episode 5)
NetflixMuch like the previous entry, ‘Demon 79’ is a unique work from the Black Mirror universe as it’s the first project helmed under the Red Mirror Film banner, which is seemingly used to distinguish the show’s supernatural episodes from its tech-based ones.
The story follows a shy sales clerk as she encounters a demon who tells her that she must murder three people to prevent the apocalypse. It’s a bit of a deviation from Black Mirror’s usual formula as, up until this point, the series focused more on the darker side of technology.
It appears that this episode was testing the audience to see how they reacted to a story based more in the horror genre and only time will tell if more episodes like this will be coming down the pipes.
18. ‘Playtest’ (Season 3, Episode 2)
Netflix‘Playtest’ follows a man dealing the loss of his father by traveling the world and avoiding talking to his mother. Needing money after falling victim to identity theft, he ends up play-testing a horror game that ends in his demise.
This was one of Black Mirror’s tamer episodes and really honed in on the series’ message of how harmful technology can be.
17. ‘The Entire History of You’ (Season 1, Episode 3)
NetflixWhat happens when you mix love, jealously, and constant surveillance? You get Black Mirror’s ‘The Entire History of You.’ The episode follows a man who uncovers the affair his wife is having with her male friend through an implant behind their ears that can replay their memories through their eyes or on a screen.
As people nowadays are totally comfortable living their lives out loud and online, this situation is as realistic as it is heartbreaking.
16. ‘Loch Henry’ (Season 6, Episode 2)
Netflix‘Loch Henry’ is the perfect example of how people’s love of true crime can go too far and end up consuming them. The story follows a filmmaking couple that travels to a sleepy town where they uncover their horrifying connection to a gruesome crime.
While the plot twist in this story makes this episode more than worth watching, it’s fascinating to see how far people will go for a little bit of fame.
15. ‘Joan is Awful’ (Season 6, Episode 1)
Netflix‘Joan is Awful’ brings Twitter’s “main character of the day” to the small screen and dials it up by one million percent. The episode follows a seemingly ordinary marketing manager whose entire life is being shown minute by minute through a popular streaming service.
It’s not unusual for people to want to be the center of attention but, when that attention is thrusted upon you against your will, it can feel suffocating and like you’re not truly in control of your life.
14. ‘Hang the DJ’ (Season 4, Episode 4)
NetflixIf there’s one thing Black Mirror is known for, it’s unhappy endings. Over six seasons, there’s only been a handful of episodes that have had semi-happy endings and ‘Hang the DJ’ is one of them.
Another episode that’s close to real life, the episode is about a couple who are matched by an advanced dating app that matches couples for a certain amount of time before they have to split. The app is supposed to match people were their lifelong partners, but the couple the story centers on what to rebel against the system.
As dating apps have become normalized in society, most people have found short-term and long-term relationships using compatibility tests. The idea of a futuristic app that’s tailored to figuring out how long you should be with someone down to the second isn’t that far off from where we are now.
13. ‘Nosedive’ (Season 3, Episode 1)
Netflix‘Nosedive’ gives viewers an inside look at a world where your socioeconomic status is based on a social rating that’s determined by others. The episode follows a woman who strives to get the best ratings possible so she can live the life she thinks she wants, but starts to realize that the ratings are controlling everything about her from her apartment to her wardrobe.
With the rise of social media, more people than ever have put their self-worth stock in how many likes they get on Twitter and Instagram. While we’re not at the point where likes equal monetary value, this episode is holding up a mirror to how dire things can be as social media continues to grow.
12. ‘Fifteen Million Merits’ (Season 1, Episode 2)
Much like ‘Nosedive,’ ‘Fifteen Million Merits’ is another bizzaro version of our world but, instead of getting ratings for money, citizens in this reality ride stationary bikes in exchange for “merits,” a currency used to buy essentials and virtual entertainment.
The episode follows one man who tries to break the system by standing up to its oppressors, but ends up caving to it when the system rewards him with the money and luxury he’s been working for his entire life.
‘Fifteen Million Merits’ is the show’s example of how someone can be corrupted by an oppressive system if they get ahead in their own life using the system’s cheat codes. Real revolution can only happen if you forsake your own comfort to make life better for everyone else.
11. ‘USS Callister’ (Season 4, Episode 1)
NetflixAnother entry into Black Mirror’s video game archive, ‘USS Callister’ follows the game’s inventor as he works on the game during the day, but lives in a remodeled version of the game with sentient clones of his co-workers as his crew.
The episode was one of the first to talk about the issue of deep fakes and how damaging it can be to the person whose likeness you’re basically stealing.
10. ‘Crocodile’ (Season 4, Episode 3)
Netflix‘Crocodile’ is Black Mirror’s dark version of the show Dexter as it follows a woman who goes on a murder spree to cover up her involvement in a hit-and-run with a cyclist that ended in the rider’s death.
It’s an incredibly tense and hard to watch episode as the woman gets more and more desperate to cover up the crime in order to preserve her idyllic life with her family. ‘Crocodile’ shows the lengths one will go in order to not confront their past.
9. ‘Black Museum’ (Season 4, Episode 6)
Netflix‘Black Museum’ showcases a museum with a cornucopia of horrific items that come with traffic backstories, from a monkey toy with a woman’s consciousness in it to a prisoner strapped to an electric chair who can be tortured over and over again by paying customers.
Each item in the museum highlights society’s fascination with exploitation as no one involved with the museum, outside of its owner and customers, have any say over their autonomy.
8. ‘Hated in the Nation’ (Season 3, Episode 6)
NetflixMuch like ‘Joan is Awful,’ ‘Hated in the Nation’ is another look at being the “main character” for the day, but with dire consequences. The episode follows a small government team as they try to track down a hacker who is using robotic bees to kill the person most-mentioned alongside the hashtag “#DeathTo.”
Twitter is known for its trending hashtags about people, events, etc. The notion of the episode isn’t that far off from reality because anyone, whether they be a celebrity or an average people, could have hundreds of thousands of people using their name in a hashtag for good or bad reasons.
The anonymity of the internet has allowed people to feel more at ease about sharing rancid ideas and thoughts, and ‘Hated in the Nation’ has no problem showing how dark that kind of freedom could be.
7. ‘Beyond the Sea’ (Season 6, Episode 3)
NetflixAt almost the length of a feature film, ‘Beyond the Sea’ tells the story of two astronauts that have the ability to live their normal lives on Earth thanks to a replica of their body that lives on Earth. After a tragedy be falls one of the men and his link to Earth is destroyed, the other astronaut offers his replica as a source of comfort.
While the ending twist is not too shocking given the events at the beginning of the episode, ‘Beyond the Sea’ is still a gorgeous achievement for the Black Mirror team as they managed to create a movie’s worth of content that was entertaining and heartbreaking from start to finish.
6. ‘Be Right Back’ (Season 2, Episode 1)
Netflix‘Be Right Back’ is a heart-wrenching look into how deep someone’s grief can run as a woman receives an android of her dead boyfriend that she attempts to forge a relationship with.
Grief, especially for someone who is no longer on Earth, is something a lot of people struggle with to the point that it consumes their lives. While you may get over your loss, it’s healthy to work through your pain instead of holding onto it forever. Otherwise, you’ll be stuck in the past forever.
5. ‘White Christmas’ (Special)
NetflixAs the first Black Mirror special, ‘White Christmas’ follows two men seemingly having an innocent conversation in a cabin. What seems like a back-and-forth between two men with troubled pasts takes a darker turn when the viewer discovers they’re both criminals set as “cookies” — digital clones of people stored in an egg-shaped object.
Leave it to Black Mirror to make a Christmas special incredibly dark and depressing as it explores themes of love, jealousy, loss, and vengeance.
4. ‘The National Anthem’ (Season 1, Episode 1)
NetflixBlack Mirror has never held back any of its punches as its first episode, ‘The National Anthem,’ follows a British prime minister who is forced to have sex with a pig to save a kidnapped member of the Royal family.
The series made sure to start on a high note to make sure its soon-to-be fans knew what they were signing up for. Black Mirror is shocking and horrifying, but also something you can’t look away from, much like a political leader having sex with an animal.
3. ‘Shut Up and Dance’ (Season 3, Episode 3)
NetflixWhile a lot of Black Mirror rankings are argued over, the placement of ‘Shut Up and Dance’ cannot be contested as it delivers one of the most shocking twist endings of the series. The story follows a young man who, after being hacked, is forced to commit crimes like murder and robbery to get his sensitive materials back.
What makes this episode stand out from the rest of the show is how it lulls the audience into a false sense of security as they root for what they believe to be the hero of the story, only to realize he was the true villain all along. It definitely plays with your perception and forces you to rethink everything you know about right and wrong.
2. ‘White Bear’ (Season 2, Episode 2)
NetflixMuch like ‘Shut Up and Dance,’ ‘White Bear’ is a fan favorite amongst Black Mirror fans as it also delivers a gut-punching ending. You follow a young woman as she wakes up with no memories and is then chased by a group of hunters who seem to want her blood for no reason.
The plot, like its predecessor on this list, makes the viewer stop and think about how you see a story from the protagonist’s point of view. While the young woman we’re following seems to be a victim, it’s later revealed that she’s not worthy of all of the audience’s sympathy.
1. ‘San Junipero’ (Season 3, Episode 4)
NetflixTruly the crème de la crème, ‘San Junipero’ is the only true happy ending in the whole of Black Mirror. The episode follows two women over the span of decades as they continue to fall in love despite the issues that try to break them apart.
While there’s so much to love about ‘San Junipero’ — the era-specific fashion, the beautiful love story between two queer women — the best thing is how light the viewer feels as the credits roll. In all of the doom and gloom of Black Mirror, it’s nice to see one story end on a positive note as Kelly and Yorkie drive into their forever sunset.
Black Mirror Season 6 is now available to view in full on Netflix. Check out our other Black Mirror coverage below:
