S06.E01: Joan Is Awful

[Faceplant]

12 hours ago, Spaceman Spiff said:

The only episode I liked out of an extremely boring season.

Salma Hayek saying "Fuck Cate Blanchett" with suck vigor made me laugh.

That and, "You're right. I am Salma Fucking Hayek." Plus that gold jumpsuit and heels she was wearing after saying that were amazing. I was not expecting to laugh at Black Mirror, but I enjoyed this one. I am not overthinking the levels. I did not recognize Annie Murphy at first with the hair. She reminded me of Nadine from The Stand miniseries in the nineties with the streaky hair. 

 

Also loved:

Quam-puta (with emphasis on puta!) 

Beyond defecation?

Doesn't my asshole have any rights? 

I hope you get paper cuts in your hemmorhoids and die!

I am a dyslexic, talented actress with questionable English. 

Please don't kill me, Salma Hayek. 

 

Edited June 22, 2023 by Faceplant
Spelling as always

[PurpleTentacle]

This was fun. Though I think I got the most enjoyment out of the meta I like to watch.

 

[PurpleTentacle]

On 6/16/2023 at 2:00 PM, marny said:

I mean, our phones already communicate with each other in our present world by sharing data when in  proximity.

They don't.

On 6/16/2023 at 2:00 PM, marny said:

It’s why you start getting promoted ads for products your friends tell you about.

That's a myth born out of confirmation bias.

On 6/16/2023 at 2:00 PM, marny said:

They share data with the assumption that people in the same circles have the same interests.

They do have your adress book and so know who your friends are. But that is not something another phone shared with them. That is something you put into your phone.

On 6/16/2023 at 5:17 PM, iMonrey said:

This is the part I had the hardest time with. Clearly the streamer had buried something nefarious deep within 54 pages of small print. I'd almost think any lawyer would jump at the chance to contest it in a court of law. Any jury member would see Joan as a victim of trickery. I get that the onus is on the consumer to read the fine print but there isn't a realistic expectation that someone is going to go through that much of it just to subscribe to a streamer, or expect an outcome like this one.

The onus is really not on the consumer. These terms of service agreements never hold up in court.

That is a super unrealistic part of this episode, we just have to suspend our disbelieve about, I guess.

On 6/17/2023 at 5:25 AM, Avaleigh said:

One thing was her being overly critical of the coffee that was brought to her on two different occasions. The first time it was the assistant who brought it to her and she basically made him feel like he was lacking by giving her subpar coffee. Yes, the coffee probably wasn't good but I felt like it indicated that maybe she wasn't easy to please. Later, when she gets coffee while she's with the therapist, she immediately insults it, so to me it gave the impression that she's not always easy to deal with. 

I think it was just to set up that she is a bit of a coffee-snob / loves coffee. So it doesn't come completely out of left field when she opens a coffee shop at the end.

On 6/17/2023 at 5:25 AM, Avaleigh said:

Regarding firing the employee, I think it was her overall lack of empathy that made her seem pretty awful in that moment. Yes, she has to do this but unless I'm misremembering, she didn't indicate at any point that she wished this hadn't happened or maybe say something about how she spoke up for her to the big bosses but they weren't receptive; she also didn't say anything about being willing to give her a recommendation. I just felt like there were ways she might have tried to soften the blow.

Though that was already level 1. We saw that Salma Hayek in level 2 was even more of a bitch about it. Real Joan probably was a lot more empathetic, but the computer made her more cold.

[Madding crowd]

I thought this was fun and I liked the idea of Netflix making fun of itself with their trying to match content with their users . A lot doesn’t make sense if you think about it too hard ( people wouldn’t turn against Joan because they wouldn’t want their entire life broadcast, turn off your phone, sit on a chair and read books for a few days), but I found it amusing and Annie and Salma were great.

[853fisher]

I found it fascinating when Sandy was watching "Joan Is Awful" with her friend.  Salma-as-Joan fires her with even less empathy than Annie-as-Joan, and the friend makes a comment like "wow, what a jerk, I can't believe she said that."  A look passed over Sandy's face for a split second, like maybe she was going to say "well, it wasn't really as bad as that..." but then she didn't.  I thought the actress playing Sandy did a lot with a little there.

[bettername2come]

On 6/22/2023 at 11:05 AM, Faceplant said:

I am a dyslexic, talented actress with questionable English. 

Please don't kill me, Salma Hayek. 

 

I really want to name a thread about Salma Hayek either of these things now. 

[Which Tyler]

6 hours ago, bettername2come said:

I really want to name a thread about Salma Hayek either of these things now. 

Not "Doesn't Salma Hayek's anus have rights?" > :o

[meep.meep]

On 6/25/2023 at 7:28 PM, PurpleTentacle said:

 

I think it was just to set up that she is a bit of a coffee-snob / loves coffee. So it doesn't come completely out of left field when she opens a coffee shop at the end.

Annie Murphy as Joan says to her therapist that she'd always wanted to have her own coffee shop.  So, we knew.

[Chicago Redshirt]

On 6/20/2023 at 11:03 AM, Kel Varnsen said:

I wonder if the computer could make that big of a change. Because Annie Murphy Joan said she had to smash the computer because that is what real Joan did. As for the lawyer though what shocked me is that they, especially Salman's lawyer who knows she is rich, would turn down the chance to rack up a ton of billable hours just because they can't win the case.

Salma's lawyer is limited by the actions of Annie Murphy's lawyer. Annie Murphy is rich, but presumably not Salma Hayek rich. Also, Annie Murphy's lawyer might have an ethical bone in their body and not try to gin up a bunch of billable hours for what is quite apparently a doomed effort. Or if you don't want to believe in an ethical lawyer, there's the possibility of the lawyer being simply pragmatic. Threatening to sue over the contract and actually filing suit is maybe a 5-10 hour process, for argument's sake. If it would get dismissed at that stage, that's $5,000-$10,000 worth of work if the lawyer bills at $1k an hour, which is a pretty high rate. Is that worth it? Especially when Annie Murphy would likely have to pay Not!Netflix's legal costs? 

[MagnusHex]

Decided to watch this on a whim despite learning of its bad rep, and it's actually pretty good. I can kinda see why people were annoyed though; I went in expecting to be disturbed, but I guess for the past few seasons of Black Mirror since season 4, it's become more of a comedy now. lmao

I kinda like the ending, and it reminded me of one of my favorite episodes, Black Museum in a way. When the Quantum Computer was said in the episode to contain sentient AIs, I was just reminded of all the different sentient AIs implied to be technically alive like in White Christmas or Hang the DJ. This quantumputer is probably unrelated to those AIs, but it would be kinda cool if it was the source of all those other AIs (and all the tragic fates they were bound to) in a way similar to how Rolo Haynes from Black Museum tied into other stories, and now it's finally destroyed for good. Again, I'm probably way off, but it's a cool headcanon.

People criticizing this season claimed that it's got nothing to do with technology, so I was expecting a more grounded season, but you've got a freaking computer (not to mention the DeepFake technology) in the first episode, so I don't know what the freak they're talking about. Plus, it almost feels like it's criticizing cancel culture on Twitter or any other social media platforms, how people would learn about the scandals of celebrities on the news (no matter how distorted it is) and treat those as facts.

Overall, 7/10. Not as bad as people claimed, but it's still not as strong as the first few seasons yet. Hope to see more though.

Footnote: I particularly love the criticism of AI art, and how soulless entertainment has become.

Another footnote: I like how normal-looking the real Joan looked like, instead of being a posh celebrity beauty queen.

Edited July 14, 2023 by MagnusHex

[Hanahope]

This episode really highlights the use of AI of an actor's image to create content, one of the complaints currently at issue in the SAG strike.  

[DoctorAtomic]

I don't think there were many complaints about this particular episode being not in line with the Black Mirror theme within the context of criticizing the season as a whole. 

[MagnusHex]

21 minutes ago, DoctorAtomic said:

I don't think there were many complaints about this particular episode being not in line with the Black Mirror theme within the context of criticizing the season as a whole. 

Guess I won't be expecting better episodes down the road then. Shame.

[Dobian]

I thought this episode was awful until they brought Salma Hayek into the action, then Michael Cera, and the great twist with the nested realities.  It became a classic Black Mirror episode, comedic yet slyly commenting on the major issues we are facing now with AI, IP, and the right to privacy.  It was also timely for me as I have watched some videos on simulated universe theory the past few days.  The easter egg where they see the episode for Loch Henry on the same Netflixish streaming service was also fun.

Edited August 5, 2023 by Dobian