Black Mirror’s Common People: Life Behind a Paywall
- theghoulsnextdoor
- Jul 16
- 15 min read
Updated: 5 days ago
Common People is a particularly heartbreaking episode as it feels so much like our lives now. A sharp criticism of our healthcare system, subscription services, and capitalism. Common People pulls no punches despite being housed on the predatory subscription system, Netflix.
Sources in this Episode:
Fact Sheet: One Big Beautiful Bill Act Would Significantly Reduce Availability of Coverage in the Health Insurance Marketplaces - American Hospital Association
Report: U.S. spends the most on health but outcomes are among the worst - Health Journalism
GoFundMe Has Become a Health Care Utility - KFF Health News
Next Steps/Resources:
Caregivers
Healthcare
Other Reading:
Media from this week's episode:
Black Mirror’s Common People (2025): When a medical emergency leaves schoolteacher Amanda fighting for her life, her desperate husband Mike signs her up for Rivermind, a high-tech system that will keep her alive.
Director: Ally Pinkiw
Black Mirror’s Common People: A Subscription to Life that Feels Like Death
by gabe castro
RED: Quotes, someone else's words.
Synopsis
Common People is a heartbreaking and terribly realistic episode of the tech-horror show, Black Mirror. Opening up the recent season, Common People, drops viewers directly into tech-hell with a tragic story about the lengths a couple will go to stay alive. Black Mirror’s episodes exist in an alternate dimension where certain technical advances have developed on a science fiction level, tweaking our own world into something slightly more unbelievably awful - arguably it’s the tech that is unbelievable, not the behavior around said tech.
Couple Amanda and Mike are common people, working class and in a simple, comfortable love. They celebrate their anniversary each year at the bar of their first date, eating large hamburgers while listening to terrible karaoke. Amanda is a teacher for young kids and Mike is a blue-collar worker. Their life isn’t anything magical, but it’s perfect for them. They enjoy each other’s company and plan for a “happy accident,” hoping to share that love with a baby someday.
One day, one of Amanda’s frequent headaches is revealed to be an inoperable tumor that threatens her life. Her only option to continue living is to subscribe to a new service, Rivermind, that will remove the tumor in her brain and then replace the tissue with synthetic tissue that is powered by servers. The surgery would be free but the subscription to keep her brain online will need to be considered. Wanting to save his wife, Mike agrees to the program and Amanda is living again as if nothing has happened.
Like a wish on a monkey’s paw, Amanda begins to suffer from a variety of sometimes laughable, other times tragic, side effects of her low-tier subscription. She sleeps far too much (her brain is acting as a server for other users). Soon, she starts launching into random verbal advertisements prompted by conversations around her (like some twisted Truman Show ad placement) which jeopardizes her job and her lovelife. Her lower-tier status limits her travel to only within her current county, meaning they have to skip their annual visit to their anniversary restaurant. With each new limitation or complication, Rivermind rep Gaynor enthusiastically shares that there are always the higher-level tiers. For just $800 more a month you can travel more and won’t have those pesky ads interfering with your life. For $1000 more you can hack into your brain to change your mindset and abilities.
Desperate to keep up with these payments and his wife’s well being, Mike resorts to some desperate measures that spiral out leaving him injured, drained, and emotionally distraught while Amanda begins to waste-away to sleep and the strain of her operating system. Common People is a particularly heartbreaking episode as it feels so much like our lives now. A sharp criticism of our healthcare system, subscription services, and capitalism, Common People pulls no punches despite being housed on the predatory subscription system, Netflix.
Subscription to Life that Feels Like Death - Amanda’s Horror
Black Mirror has had some bangers in the past (looking at you the entirety of season 3 - also check out our episode on Be Right Back about grief and tech) but it’s been a hot minute since it left viewers truly broken over an episode. Common People is brilliant in its simplicity and believability. We live in a subscription hell these days. Everything from our media, shopping and even our printers are holding us hostage over subscription costs.
The second episode of Black Mirror played with the annoyance and intrusion of pop-up ads, this feels like a natural progression from that imagined future now that we have even more understanding of the potential future of our tech. Elon Musk is trying to create brain chips and if you think those wouldn’t have annoying ads and worse, subscriptions for access to things (maybe even one day your eye sight), then you should read more. (For more on brain chips and why you should be afraid of them, check out Kat’s part of our Possessor episode.) While writing this section, I made that joke about losing eyesight when I discovered that there’s literally retinal implants that exist right now for sight-impaired people that can have their eyesight SHUT OFF. A user, Barbara Campbell reported in an article on IEEE Spectrum, that her Argus II retinal implant system powered down on her while she was walking in the subway. The companies that helped these people see have gone under and now their sight is literally unsupported tech!
The world of Black Mirror has tech that impacts their universe and if you pay attention, you can see how it grows over time. Even in this episode, Amanda is teaching her students about ADI Bees which were launched in the episode, Hated in the Nation, where computer bees, that were designed to pollinate now that our own bee populations were extinct, had been hacked to kill people deemed “the most hated” online. The series even has a tech horror that pokes fun at its home service, Netflix called Streamberry. We see this in a few episodes but it’s most featured in Joan is Awful which we’ll cover in our next ep!
So while the show is one of science fiction horror, it also leans closer to speculative fiction in its prediction of our own world’s technological advances. Even more so in its prediction of how the companies and people who control those technological advances will use them. Everything has a subscription model now as we grew from cable cutting to now paying significantly more to each singular media app. We pay for gaming services, phone services, our printers, photo apps, shopping sites, food delivery, book lending, and nearly anything else you can think of.
In our current world where life saving medicines are prescription-based (healthcare-subscriptions), a system that leads to poor people dying from preventable or manageable diseases and illnesses. So it’s no far leap that if we found a technology that allowed us to keep people alive and further, improve the lives of the elite, then we would charge a monthly fee. Ironically, viewers on the lower tier plans of Netflix had to suffer through ads while watching the episode. While Amanda’s spontaneous ad reads were laughably sad and the ever-changing tier system that left them in a “common” plan angering, it was the use of Amanda’s brain for other users that hurt me the most.
They’re warned that the only side-effect of Rivermind is that she’ll sleep more. Amanda laughs this off at some point saying it was always something she wanted to do more of, only the sleep isn’t restful. She isn’t sleeping at all, rather her brain is being used as a server for other Rivermind users, most undoubtedly those of the higher tier systems. This episode hits in many ways but this struck me the hardest as it represents so much of the effects of our new technology or energy systems.
This process represents the impoverished and vulnerable people whose land we pillage for resources, leaving them with toxic land and water, an increase in natural disasters and other inhumane treatment, even war. These developing countries are left with the fallout of our syphoning while the more “developed” countries thrive and aspire for “better” iPhones. Fracking provides energy for some while leaving the fracked places with toxic water and land. AI provides answers and silly photos while robbing areas of water and contributing to our heat crisis. There is always a source to our technological advances that is actively being harmed while the wealthy thrive. And the practice of these tech advances is kept far away from consumers, allowing them the convenience of shutting out their contribution to the issue.
So while the woman in the commercial was able to be the best mom she could be, tapping into all sorts of mental benefits she leeched from other users, Amanda slowly wasted away, eventually sleeping up to 16 hours a day, denied not only her simple, common life pleasures but her future as a mother too. So many of the characters in Black Mirror in some way asked for the repercussions to their actions, they each made a conscious choice to interact with that tech and change their lives. But Amanda didn’t get that choice, it was made for her (in good faith by her loving husband) which makes her a truly heartbreaking character. I think of Adriana Smith at this moment, having been kept alive against her will and that of her family for some bigger agenda. While not as cruelly, Amanda is stripped of her autonomy as soon as she gets the surgery. Her brain is never hers again, instead she becomes a piece of tech for a company, a cog in a greater machine of capitalism of which we all play a part and she sadly, is not a part the system deems of value.
The Emotional Weight of Caregiving - Mike’s Horror
While Amanda’s side of the story is especially tragic, we can’t overlook Mike’s. I don’t blame Mike for making the choice he did in saving his wife’s life. From what we see, this woman is his best friend and someone he has fully intended to grow old with and grow a family with. It’s a no-brainer (pun intended) for him to keep his wife alive, no matter the cost. And this decision weighs heavily on him. Even looking past the obviously large life-decision, this is also a substantial financial decision he’s making on his own. He signs up knowing they’ll have to tighten some purse strings and that he would be the one to put in that extra effort. With each upgrade, he feels the weight of his initial decision but also the weight of his wife’s literal life in his hands. So it’s no surprise to me that he turns to “Dum Dummies.” Surely, there could be a better way to make fast cash (I saw he asked for $20!? For the mouse trap?? Bruh, learn from OnlyFans and jack that up. Know your worth, king.) Ever heard of DoorDash, my friend? Sell some plasma, damn.
As extreme as “Dum Dummies” is, it feels like an aggressively honest representation of the pressure on caregivers. For many who put their lives on hold to support and care for a loved one who is no longer able to fully care for themselves, this desperation, tiredness, and perseverance is relatable. While he wasn’t overtly caring for Amanda in the traditional way caregivers do, Mike is living his life in much the same way. He, like Amanda, is forced to live in the moment, taking things day-by-day. Hoping for another tomorrow that may not come. It's emotionally draining as we see the fatigue on Mike’s face grow until the very end when he’s desperate to end it all. Despite the pain of the circumstances, their love for each other is always there, reminding us why we continue the fight.
But even more accurate is the lack of support for Mike in the caring for his wife. Despite being “loyal customers,” there from the start and always paying on time, they are denied any support, understanding or leeway when Mike loses his job. While there are programs throughout the country for caregivers, there’s no guarantee you could have that support if you needed to make that big life-changing decision.
There’s also a terrible undercurrent of ableism that stems from the episode. As we see Amanda go in the end, it seems an act of mercy since her quality of life has diminished so severely. The only solace in this moment is that Amanda makes the choice here in the end, in her moment of serenity, to finally let go of this second life.
Common People feels like a true return to form for Black Mirror, embracing the speculative science fiction tinged with horror we had grown to love so many years ago. And while we can joke that our current reality has been so horrifying that Black Mirror didn’t know how to catch up, it seems we can be assured that the team has been keeping up with us all along, watching as the world changes in the face of new technology. I am thankful that such a show exists and while it is on a subscription platform (with tiered systems, no less), I still appreciate its existence.
For more on the irony of big tech media creating critical media, check out our episode on Severance Season 2.
Black Mirror’s Common People: Even Now Survival is a Subscription
by Kat Kushin
RED: Quotes, someone else's words.
Healthcare Capitalism
In our Fall of the house of Usher episode, we talked about the predatory, greedy nature of our healthcare capitalism. With how society and our economy is set up, these companies are incentivized to put profits above people. In Black Mirror’s Common People we see the same horror fictionalized-barely. It’s very close to reality and to home for me personally. I don’t know if anyone else was sobbing by the end of it or if that was just me lol.
When we commodify healthcare, we make life saving medication inaccessible. The subscription-based model in Common People echoes real-world healthcare. Thinking insulin, inhalers, cancer treatment, and overpriced accessibility equipment. These are not optional services. For chronically, critically ill and disabled people, they’re essential. And yet they are priced as luxuries. To be so honest, sometimes I just let myself wheeze because inhalers are overpriced and I have to ration. It’s gross out here.
We also see the subscription model in our insurance premiums. Some plans are better than others, but many are unaffordable for most. As someone who is uninsured because I literally can’t afford it, and who lives with a chronic illness I’m a little biased against insurance companies to be honest. In many ways I’m living some pieces of what the episode depicts. When you’re uninsured, but still really need consistent health care there are some work arounds. I rely on a Direct Primary Care model, where I pay a fixed monthly fee of $50 to access basic care. It’s not perfect, as it doesn’t cover testing, imaging, or emergencies. A blood work-up and testing can run about $400. When you have to get multiple tests done, it becomes impossible to afford. I can get prescriptions for my inhalers, but if anything serious happens? I’m out of luck. Hopefully I'll be able to rectify this soon with full-time employment, or finding a deal when the enrollment period of Pennie opens up. Unfortunately I am not alone, as millions are, and will be in the same boat as me with the passage of the latest budget bill.
What is refreshing about Common People is that the villain isn’t the tech, but the humans who are exploiting it. Rivermind has created a life-saving device, which turns a revolutionary treatment into a money pit. As highlighted in the article "The Real Horror of Black Mirror’s 'Common People' Is Disability Under Capitalism", Amanda’s story hits close to home. “Her life is sustained through a paid subscription... her body becomes property, and her very lifeforce becomes currency.” Survival is the subscription, and we have to pay to live. This is the reality for a lot of disabled Americans, who have to constantly battle against insurance companies and care providers to receive basic services.
This isn’t the only horror story of Common People, Amanda is a teacher, and Mike works in construction. These are both essential jobs, yet neither offers a livable wage…and that’s before they even have a child. That’s not a medical horror, that’s a societal failure. Their financial hardships impact every facet of their lives, how far they can travel, how much time they can spend together, and their day-to-day health/quality of life. It has nothing to do with effort, they both are working their asses off, it’s because our system was designed to fail them. Before they were given a literal barrier, they already lived pretty isolated lives because of poverty, but Amanda’s health issues isolate her even more. This is a reflection on the fact that many Americans with disabilities and chronic illnesses similarly are forced into isolation because of denial of care. Our world is not accessible enough, to access many places you need accessibility equipment, which is often not covered. This greatly limits mobility outside the home for many people with disabilities, and for no good reason. Accessibility has been proven to help everyone. Ramps don’t just help wheelchair users, but also support the elderly, stroller access for infants and toddlers, as well as just better for the knees and joints. There are so many accessibility features that many people take for granted that were hard fought for and pioneered by people with disabilities. How we see Amanda forced to stay at home and within her county, many people with disabilities are forced into the same restrictions.
The truth of the matter is that the majority of Americans are one big health scare away from financial ruin. We do not have the ability to save. Our environment is killing us slowly. We are stressed, overworked and under valued. Recently, a bill was signed that will remove millions from their healthcare benefits. And the myth that people without insurance are simply irresponsible? It’s propaganda. Many of us earn too much for Medicaid but not enough to afford coverage. When the uninsured population increases, we all suffer. Hospitals are forced to cover that gap through closure, or cost-shifting, which means premiums for insured individuals rise too.
According to the American Hospital Association, in an article titled: Fact Sheet: One Big Beautiful Bill Act Would Significantly Reduce Availability of Coverage in the Health Insurance Marketplaces this pattern leads to higher premiums, reduced quality of care, and more medical bankruptcies. AND despite paying more, the US has some of the worst health outcomes globally. In a report titled: Report: U.S. spends the most on health but outcomes are among the worst, they state that despite paying the most for healthcare, Americans have some of the worst health outcomes. Researchers found that the US has the lowest life expectancy of the 10 countries studied. We lead in preventable and treatable deaths, and that even with insurance, Americans face massive financial burdens. And the kicker? Publicly funded healthcare systems like those in Australia, Switzerland, and New Zealand consistently outperform ours—for a fraction of the cost.
Subscription Services for Essential Goods
You can Klarna (or equivalent service) groceries, some medical expenses and other arguably essential human needs. And while I validate that in some ways it makes resources more accessible to receive necessary resources while you’re waiting for a paycheck, or like taking a big bill and transforming it into smaller ones, it can quickly stack into a debt loop. When the monthly payment seems small and reasonable it can make someone more willing to take the risk of using it on multiple different bills, stacking them into a larger and unsustainable one. Also for individuals who need food and other things urgently, it makes them vulnerable to even having to pay interest on prices that are already on the rise and overpriced. So it’s a balance I think, between becoming more accessible and also potentially exploitative.
This in some ways also acts as a gateway to subscription service life essential goods and services, privatizing necessary services and removing trust from public services.
Other subscription services are modeled very similarly to what we see unfold in Common People. It is also very similar to how healthcare premiums work. Like Netflix's subscription model, the base model gets you hooked on the service (“Honestly, it's less than you think; because we're really trying to drive uptake. So our pricing is really reasonable. And the surgery is free.” says the Rivermind rep), and then they add tiers, and services that were once available to all subscribers are now tiered behind a paywall.
GoFundme’s as Emergency Care
GoFundMe mimics what we see take place in Common People by Mike. We have seen GoFundMe and other crowdfunding sources attempt to cover the gaps in insurance funding as well as access to care. When emergency care becomes inaccessible, and overpriced, what we see play out in Common People is one of the only options Mike had available. This is the case for many people who have to sell a story of human pain in order to encourage people to donate to their campaign to save their loved ones. In an article titled: GoFundMe Has Become a Health Care Utility, they unpack how In recent years, GoFundMe has become a crucial platform for individuals seeking financial assistance to cover medical costs, particularly as healthcare expenses in the United States continue to rise. The article goes through many personal stories of personal medical hardship like, Andrea Coy, who turned to GoFundMe after her son faced a nearly $65,000 air-ambulance bill, with her insurance covering only a portion of the cost. What was she to do in that situation? Not save her son?
Despite the platform's popularity, a 2017 study from the University of Washington found that most medical-expense campaigns fall short of their fundraising goals, averaging only about 40% of the target amount. And these companies profit off of these campaigns, taking a percentage of the proceeds raised. Situations like this don’t have to exist and shouldn’t. These are heartfelt stories to be celebrated but rather a reflection of a deeply flawed system that forces us to choose between perpetual debt and our own lives or the lives of the people we love.
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