Black Mirror season 6 just dropped and the very first episode has fans obsessed with Salma Hayek's insane performance.
Black Mirror is one of those shows that is designed to get everyone talking - and they certainly did their job with the premiere of season 6, which was released in full on June 15.
The first episode of the season, titled Joan is Awful, stars Schitt's Creek star Annie Murphy as Joan, as well as Salma Hayek, who plays a CGI version of herself role-playing Joan (yes, it is as meta and confusing as it reads).
Here's what happened in the mind-boggling episode, plus why it's sparking a conversation with fans.
What is 'Joan is Awful' about?
**SPOILERS AHEAD**
At the beginning of the episode, Joan is found having to fire a loyal employee (played by Ayo Edibiri of Hulu's The Bear), and then is summoned by her ex to have drinks. After drinks, she goes home to her current boyfriend, Krish, who recommends the two sit down to watch TV to wind down for the night.
While browsing Streamberry (their version of Netflix), they come across a new show, titled "Joan is Awful," with Salma Hayek playing the main character who has a scarily similar likeness to Joan.
As they watch the episode, they find that someone has been creating a show about the events of Joan's life in real-time, with Salma Hayek dramatically mimicking Joan's every move, including meeting up with her ex, and firing her employee.
Consequentially, Joan's life falls into disarray, as she gets fired from work, continues to have relationship issues, and more. She seeks help from her lawyer, who tells her that they can't sue Streamberry because the show is using a CGI-generated version of Salma Hayek to play Joan, not Salma Hayek herself.
Then, the real Joan takes matters into her own hands, and starts doing a bunch of wacky stuff - like having explosive diarrhea on the floor at a wedding ceremony - to try to trick the producers of "Joan is Awful." These actions are, of course, mimicked in the show by the CGI Salma Hayek.
From there, the real Salma Hayek finds out about them using her likeness to portray these absurd actions in the show, and she, too, seeks legal assistance in trying to take the show down.
"Never in my wildest nightmares I thought I'd see myself defecating in a church," the real Salma says to her lawyer. When he reveals that she can't take legal action due to the technicalities of her Streamberry contract, she implores her lawyer, "Doesn't my asshole have any rights?" - and then vows to seek revenge for the show's intrusive actions.
We won't spoil the ending for you, but just know that it does, indeed, get crazier and even more meta.
What fans are saying about 'Joan is Awful'
As expected, fans are obsessed with Salma's hilarious cameo in the season 6 premiere of Black Mirror. Not only does she do a fantastic job portraying Joan, but has several hilarious scenes playing herself, complete with memorable quotes that we are 100% will be turning into memes overnight.
Although every episode from the season has been released, fans specifically can't stop gossiping about "Joan is Awful" - and for good reason.
"Joan Is Awful is trending, woo! Personally, it’s my favorite episode from the new season. It’s hilarious and super meta, and who doesn’t love Salma Hayek yelling about her anus?" one person tweeted.
Joan is Awful is so meta, I really enjoyed it. Whilst not having a classic Black Mirror bleak ending, the themes explored of privacy invasion, advanced AI, and the question ‘if you don’t own you, who does?’ fit well with the show. Moral of the story, read the terms and conditions pic.twitter.com/1wy6AhAZLsJune 15, 2023
"JOAN IS AWFUL HAS GOT TO BE ONE OF MY FAVORITE BLACK MIRROR EPISODES HANDS DOWN WHAT A COMPLETE MIND F-CK," another person said.
"Just finished Joan is Awful and mygahd Salma Hayek is so beautiful," another tweeted of the Magic Mike star. We'd have to agree!
