Searches for “Netflix terms and conditions” have soared since the new series of Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror debuted on the streamer at the weekend.
Without giving too much away for those who haven’t made a start on Season Six yet, the star-studded series opener, Joan is Awful, features Schitt’s Creek’s Annie Murphy as Joan, a TV fan who finds out the hard way what can happen when you accept streaming service T&Cs without reading them.
The episode also features Salma Hayek, Kayla Lorette and an off-screen Cate Blanchett, also all as Joan, a TV fan who finds out the hard way what can happen when you accept streaming service T&Cs without reading them.
Twitter predictably lit up over the weekend with memes and gags dedicated to the now-established 21st century tradition of ignoring online T&C’s.
Me, reading the terms & conditions after watching #JoanIsAwful #BlackMirror: pic.twitter.com/90xs7i0VKA
— Kluh ⚡– | —- (@bluesKLUH) June 15, 2023
everyone going to read netflix’s terms and conditions after watching joan is awful #BlackMirror pic.twitter.com/GCoLfOkJM3 — Leah –️– yellowjackets– (@leahHahn0) June 15, 2023
Sure enough, a quick check on Google Trends reveals that in the UK, between 6pm on Friday, when many viewers would have just got in from work and started thinking about the evening’s viewing, to 4am Saturday, when most should have had chance to watch the show and be thinking about, if not already there, tucking up in bed, “Netflix terms and conditions” searches underwent a 2,100 per cent spike, or a 210 per cent average hourly jump.
Brooker’s hit series has long focused on the darker side of technology, and in particular the screens to which “Black Mirror” refers. It may seem brave of the creator to open his new series with a fairly obvious dig at the hand that feeds – fictional streamer Streamberry in the episode even features the Netflix ‘tadum’ sound and a not entirely unfamiliar red ‘S’ logo.
Given that Brooker opened the very first season of the show, which originally ran on Channel 4 before switching to Netflix for Season Three in 2016, with a story about a British Prime Minister forced to copulate with a pig on live TV, however, the subtle dig at his new employers is fairly tame.
As for Season Six, Joan is Awful is great, but if you haven’t watched yet and are pushed for time you could do much worse than start with season finalé Demon 79, my personal series favourite and one with a handy Northern link.
We Are Lady Parts’ Anjana Vasan stars in a classic Hammer-style horror about a meek department store assistant in an unspecified Northern town, who unexpectedly finds herself charged with saving the world from an undeniably funky demonic invasion.
