‘Black Mirror: Joan Is Awful’ Ending Explained: How Does Joan End Up Being on a Streaming Show?

Welcome to the Ending Explained for Black Mirror, Season 6, Episode 1, titled “Joan Is Awful.” This is the first episode of this new season of Black Mirror, and it sees the show back in form. Season 5 could be seen as the weakest the show has ever been, and it was warranted that the show would take time off to gather more ideas and develop them further. Charlie Brooker is back at it with ideas relevant to today’s discourse. It is exhausting, just like in any Black Mirror season, but it is also real and a good reflection of our reality. Joan is Awful is one of the show’s best episodes.

The episode stars; Annie Murphy, Salma Hayek, Michael Cera, and Rob Delaney and tells the story of Joan, a woman that sees her life being taken from her and made into a streaming TV drama. Lately, Netflix themselves announced the introduction of AI-powered systems that would help edit content according to the algorithm data. Netflix is serious even when their ideas sound more like they are taken from a dystopian novel, and yet, we let these things happen because we really don’t care that much about it.

It is a sign that in the future, real art might finally become just ones and zeroes on a computer and nothing else.

Joan Is Awful paints a terrible picture of how corporations might own us in the future.

The following paragraphs contain spoilers for Black Mirror, Season 6, Episode 1. Read at your own risk.

How Does Joan End Up Being On A Streaming Show?

Joan Is Awful begins just like with any other Black Mirror show. It presents itself and the reality it will introduce us to like something that is fairly normal. We meet Joan, a young woman who seems to have an ideal life. She lives in a beautiful house, has a boyfriend who makes breakfast for her and enjoys a middle management position that seems to be a good job. It all seems well. However, something is off. Why? Because Joan’s face reveals no enjoyment from all these things. She seems lifeless, and soon enough, we learn that she might not have the ideal life we thought.

The first thing we see Joan do is fired an employee. Even when the employee begs her not to do this, Joan shows no emotion and deflects the blame of the situation to the invisible board above her. This might be true for sure, yet her handling of the situation could have been more genuine and tactful. We also learn that Joan has been receiving mysterious text messages from someone named Mac.

Joan goes to her therapy session that day, and we learn she is disappointed with her life and even thinks her current boyfriend, Krish, is quite bland and boring. She says she never got over Mac, her ex-boyfriend.

Joan keeps receiving the same messages from Mac and finally decides to meet him. There is still fire between these two. Mac sees that Joan is not having a great time with Krish, and she offers her an escape. Mac offers Joan to escape with him and begin anew. Joan considers it, and they kiss. Joan finally leaves; she believes she can’t leave Krish, who might be bland but is safe enough for her.

Joan returns home and pretends to like Krish’s cooking, just like every other night. They get ready to watch a show on Streamberry, a streaming service that is exactly like Netflix in our real world.

As they browse Streamberry looking for something to watch, they stumble onto a new show that is being released that day. The show’s title is “Joan Is Awful,” and it stars Salma Hayek in the main role.

Joan and Krish are shocked as Joan from the show doesn’t only share Joan’s name but also her wardrobe and hairstyle. As they watch the show, it becomes clear that this is no coincidence. Somehow the show is based on Joan’s life, and we can see how she fires the employee, goes to therapy, meets with Mac, and kisses him. Krish sees what is happening on the show and realizes it is true. He leaves Joan alone with her regrets.

Is Joan Able To Stop Joan Is Awful From Airing?

The next morning, Joan realizes everyone has seen the show based on her life, and the world is ready to judge her. When she arrives at work, her assistant informs her that she is being fired for revealing company secrets through the show. Joan leaves and sees no other solution than to talk to her lawyer.

Joan realizes that Streamberry, the streaming company, can do this because it was included in terms of service and conditions that she accepted when she made her Streamberry account. This is a hilarious commentary on how no one ever reads the terms and services when they buy something online or subscribe to a new service.

It seems they got her, and there is nothing Joan can do to stop her. Joan learns that the person playing her on the show is not even the real Salma Hayek, just her digital likeness. This is a very real topic that has been going around. The subject is still up for discussion, but it would allow even dead actors to appear in movies after they are long gone.

The argument presented in favor of those who want to use the technology is that it will finally allow people to control their images, which is false. Joan makes a plan. She eats many burgers, dresses like a cheerleader, interrupts a wedding, and defecates on the church’s floor.

She is arrested but smiles as she knows this will end up on the show, and Salma Hayek will probably be very pissed about it. She is right. Salma Hayek is furious. She cannot believe they made her do that on the show. However, it seems like Salma Hayek is also in the same position as Joan.

Her contract allows Streamberry to do basically anything with her likeness. It is truly sick. Salma Hayek fires her lawyer and goes to see Joan. Together they devise a plan to infiltrate the Streamberry HQ and destroy the quantum computer making all this digital content.

They manage to get inside, and there we meet Mona, the Streamberry CEO. Her plan is to make a show like Joan Is Awful for every single person that has an account. Mona says that there is nothing special about Joan. She was just chosen at random to test their software.

Joan and Salma manage to enter the server rooms and meet an operator there. The operator tells them that this is not reality; there is an even lower level where the real Joan lives. Joan picks up an axe and decides to destroy the computer.

Right there, we jump to the real world, where the real Joan is with Annie Murphy, who was Salma Hayek in the show. The end of the episode sees the real job starting a coffee shop and being more happy with her own life. The episode ends with Annie Murphy visiting Joan at her coffee show. We see they both have trackers and are on home arrest.