Wednesday was a busy and intense night for TV with the anticipated season drops for both The Handmaid’s Tale and Black Mirror. Seriously, try going to sleep after that. It’s nearly impossible.
While Handmaid’s will release weekly episodes until June and her cohorts *finally* topple the patriarchy, we don’t have to wait that long for Black Mirror, as Netflix released its three-episode season at once. And unfortunately, the critics haven’t been too impressed as with seasons and episodes past.
While the reviews for the season aren’t looking too great overall, the Miley Cyrus-led episode has particularly strong negative reviews.
Cyrus was the star of episode three, titled “Rachel, Jack, and Ashley Too,” which slightly parodied her own experience, showing global pop sensation Ashley O coming unhinged with the pressures to keep up her bubblegum-sweet façade. While some critics applauded the singer for pulling off the character, others critiqued the episode overall for “going wildly off the rails without bringing any depth,” according to IndieWire.
Reviewers for a variety of media outlets called this particular episode “overly cutesy,” “muddled and pointless,” overall mediocre, and lacked the depth and insight that fans can typically expect from a Black Mirror episode. IndieWire even ranked this episode the fifth worst in the anthology’s history. Yikes.
While not all the critics were impressed, the show’s fans were. These fans are freaking out with Cyrus’ performance in the episode, essentially as a Hannah Montana-type singer trying to shed her good girl image, and even calling her work the saving grace of the season.
https://twitter.com/hanmacklaw/status/1136182970966917120
Just finished watching @MileyCyrus’ episode of #BlackMirror and all I can say is WOW. – Don’t wanna spoil anything until everyone’s seen it! So so SO good.
— Miley Cyrus Fashion (@StylishCyrus) June 5, 2019
https://twitter.com/the_sassygay/status/1136286768750374914
https://twitter.com/rizziwizzi/status/1136285861723533312
Season five of Black Mirror is now streaming on Netflix.
Photo: Netflix