Mind-Blowing Twist: Unveiling the Shocking Climax of Black Mirror's 'Joan Is Awful'

WARNING: Spoilers ahead for Episode 1, "Joan is Awful," of Season 6 of Black Mirror.

Exploring the boundaries of fiction, the initial installment of Black Mirror's sixth season, titled "Joan Is Awful," delves into a thought-provoking narrative. As the episode progresses, it becomes evident that every significant character is a fictional embodiment who possesses a surprising self-awareness within the real world. While this twist may not come as a surprise to seasoned Black Mirror followers, it can lead to a perplexing viewing encounter.

The core concept of "Joan Is Awful" centers on the idea that a quantum computer, referred to as a "quamputer," creates and encompasses multiple dimensions for the purpose of amusement. The majority of the episode unfolds within the confines of the quamputer. The destruction of this quantum device in the climactic scene prompts the query: do all individuals residing within the quamputer meet their demise?

"Joan Is Awful" chronicles the life of Joan (Annie Murphy), an ordinary middle-class businesswoman, who stumbles upon the revelation that her existence is actively transformed into a television series and distributed on Streamberry, a streaming platform akin to Netflix. In the opening scenes of the episode, Joan makes some morally ambiguous choices, although nothing exceptionally irredeemable. She contemplates being unfaithful to her fiancé but ultimately refrains, and she dismisses a co-worker in a somewhat unenthusiastic manner.

Content: The portrayal of Salma Hayek in the new Streamberry series "Joan Is Awful" is absolutely deplorable. His character and her fiancé, Krish (Avi Nash), accidentally come across the show on Streamberry and witness Hayek passionately kissing a person who represents Joan's ex-boyfriend, which infuriates Krish and causes him to blame the real-life Joan. Consequently, Joan's life starts to crumble as people mistakenly associate her with Hayek's controversial TV character.

Through a conversation with her lawyer, Joan discovers that Streamberry has deceitfully obtained the rights to use its users' likenesses by hiding an agreement within their terms and conditions. What's more, even Hayek has consented to have her likeness exploited in the show, which is entirely computer-generated, as the audience later uncovers. In an act of revenge, Joan decides to defame herself by defecating on the floor of a church during a wedding, hoping that Hayek will witness a digital portrayal of herself doing the same and consequently cancel the show. When Hayek, playing herself, arrives at Joan's doorstep, ready for confrontation, the two engage in a conversation and ultimately agree to collaborate in dismantling the quantum computer responsible for "Joan Is Awful."

The Quamputer

Joan and Hayek discover, after successfully infiltrating Streamberry, that the infamous "Joan Is Awful" is stored in a highly advanced computing device capable of generating virtual worlds inhabited by realistic computer-generated characters. To their surprise, Beppe, a Streamberry employee, reveals that both Joan and Hayek reside within a CGI television show. The portrayal of Joan by Annie Murphy is just one of many artificial versions created to mimic a single real-life "Source Joan." If they were to deactivate the computing device, it would result in the demise of everyone in their world and subsequent layers of reality.

Ultimately, Annie Murphy-Joan concludes that she does not possess true control over her actions, as she can only replicate what the original Joan has already done. Whether this belief is accurate remains uncertain. The televised version of Joan, portrayed by Hayek, makes decisions that deviate from those made by Annie Murphy-Joan, indicating that the computing device is capable of independent actions beyond its source's influence.

Does Everyone Die?

: In any event, Annie Murphy-Joan annihilates the quamputer, seemingly obliterating all versions of reality contained within it. Immediately afterward, the scene transitions to Source Joan, who has just accomplished the same feat. Security personnel escort her and the real-world Annie Murphy (the character portrayed by Hayek in Annie Murphy-Joan's digital reality layer) out of the building, presumably to be taken to jail. Concluding the episode is an uncommonly uplifting epilogue—an unusual occurrence in Black Mirror. Eventually, Source Joan establishes her own coffee shop, maintains her friendship with Annie Murphy, and manages to find contentment, even while under house arrest.

The episode "Joan Is Awful" initially appears to be a more light-hearted installment in the series. However, it raises intriguing questions about the fate of the digital beings housed within the now-obliterated quamputer. Was their existence terminated when the system was hacked into pieces? Furthermore, can computer-generated individuals be classified as alive in the first place? These inquiries carry even greater significance in light of the recent advancements in public-facing artificial intelligence, capable of producing remarkably human-like language. Do these AI entities truly possess cognitive abilities, or do they simply create the illusion of such?

The answer to the previous question goes beyond the understanding of audiences, but Black Mirror provides its own perspective on the matter concerning its characters. Notable episodes like "San Junipero" and "USS Callister" explore the concept of life after digital upload. However, none of these examples explicitly confirm or deny the existence of a virtual soul. Furthermore, each episode of Black Mirror does not necessarily take place in the same universe or follow consistent rules.

In terms of storytelling, the impact of episodes such as those mentioned relies entirely on the viewer's emotional investment in digital beings. Even moments in "Joan Is Awful" assume that the audience empathizes with characters existing solely within a computer. This implies that Black Mirror has a complex stance on the concept of artificial personhood. It thrives on blurring the boundaries between humans and machines.

It is unlikely that the majority of what the audience sees in "Joan Is Awful" is merely a clever allegory for the off-screen activities of Source Joan and Annie Murphy. The quamputer-generated characters display signs of independent thought, which could be attributed to complex quantum algorithms. However, Black Mirror's ambiguous standpoint on the blending of humans and machines makes this conclusion appear unlikely.

The show consistently challenges the distinction between humans and machines, implying that the seemingly happy ending of the story may intentionally unsettle rather than satisfy viewers. Black Mirror aims to prompt its audience to question the comforts offered by technology in their everyday lives. The inadvertent disposal of numerous digital beings aligns perfectly with what fans of the show should expect.

Black Mirror Season 6 is available now to stream on Netflix.