Hayley Atwell’s ‘Black Mirror’ Episode is a Must Watch For ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning’ Fans

With Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning now in theaters, there’s one name that’s been on everybody’s lips, and it’s not Tom Cruise: it’s his new co-star Hayley Atwell, who made her debut in the action franchise as mischievous thief Grace. Atwell’s captivating performance in the movie is bound to make many wonder where else they can see her work. Good news! One of her all-time best performances was in an episode of Black Mirror, which you can watch right now.

The two roles have a lot in common — like fighting off an evil artificial intelligence. Without giving too much away about the new movie, the general premise revolves around an attack from an experimental artificial intelligence creation called “The Entity,” which is used by top government officials and has gone rogue (hey, maybe they should have called this one Rogue Nation).

While Atwell’s Black Mirror role didn’t challenge her to undergo intense stunt training or make extreme altercations to her diet like Dead Reckoning, it did give her space to explore the array of complicated emotions that arise from grief, while also kicking technology’s butt, which is a common theme in Charlie Brooker’s popular anthology series.

Black Mirror never fails to be emotionally complex and utterly terrifying while it tackles a variety of genres, mostly featuring dystopian versions of our reality. In the Season 2 episode “Be Right Back,” which co-stars Atwell, the show preys on strong human emotions, like how we are susceptible to being manipulated by technology during intense times of loss. 

Atwell portrays a grieving woman named Martha Powell whose boyfriend Ash Starmer (Domhnall Gleeson) recently died in a car accident. While in mourning, she discovers a new piece of technology that uses artificial intelligence to replicate lost loved ones. Martha signs up for the online service and begins to reconnect with the digital replica of her former lover.

Subsequently, it’s brought to Martha’s attention that the company is running an experiential program that involves the virtual companion being uploaded to an android body. And, of course, Martha is tempted to take their relationship to the next level. 

“Be Right Back” will challenge viewers to consider their own plans for their social media and likeness upon their death. It will also force you to reckon with the hardest part of grief: the finality of saying goodbye. Since the episode premiered, many real-life programs similar to the one in the series have been invented and have seen the same mixed response from their users. It’s comforting at first, but it slowly gets tiresome… and a bit creepy.

The episode has found itself on two Decider lists, including our list of the top 12 episodes of the entire series and our list of Black Mirror episodes with freaky sex scenes.

Atwell reflected on her role in the series in a 2018 interview with Variety, revealing that the episode made her think about her own experience with grief. “In Black Mirror, it was very much about having lost my grandmother a few years back and the idea of what she would say if I could speak to her. Remembering those things, you kind of re-traumatize yourself in a way, and it’s hard, but I want to be good at my job. I really, really care, and maybe to my detriment, the atmosphere that I’m creating on set.”

So if you watched Dead Reckoning and want more Hayley Atwell, check out “Be Right Back” to see her come to a reckoning with the dead.

Black Mirror is currently streaming on Netflix. Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning – Part 1 is now in theaters.