Black Mirror episodes are often complex and twisty, and Season 6‘s “Joan Is Awful” – the story of a woman (Annie Murphy) whose life is dramatised in almost real-time on a fictional version of Netflix — is absolutely no exception.
But sandwiched between that mind-bending conclusion and the hidden post-credits scene is a moment in a coffee shop that makes a whole lot more sense when you pair it with an almost throwaway line from earlier in the episode.
So what exactly happens, and how is the moment foreshadowed? Let’s recap.
What happens with the coffee shop at the end of “Joan Is Awful”?
After “source” Joan (Kayla Lorette) and the real Annie Murphy destroy the quomputer at Netflix’s Streamberry’s headquarters, Joan can be seen in therapy talking about how her life has changed since.
“My job is far less corporate but I’m my own boss, I treat my staff well, and I’m actually proud of what I do,” she says.
Next, we cut to Joan leaving therapy and heading to the coffee shop she now owns. Murphy comes in, the two catch up, and a shot of the shop’s exterior shows us the name “Joan’s Coffee”.
Clearly, Joan is now actually enjoying life again — even though both she and Murphy are fitted with ankle monitors after their Streamberry actions — but what’s the significance of the coffee shop?
What’s the significance of the coffee shop in “Joan Is Awful”?
After working in what appears to be a high-powered position at a tech company, the decision to open up a coffee shop may seem like a fairly random one for Joan. But it doesn’t come completely out of the blue. Earlier in the episode, there’s a two lines that foreshadow her decision — and one comes during another therapy scene.
At the beginning of the session, Joan (in this reality, played by Annie Murphy) takes a sip of coffee and shakes her head. “Not good?” asks the therapist.
“You know it used to be my dream to run my own coffee shop,” responds Joan. “That would not have gone out with our name on it.”
Earlier in the episode, in fact when we first meet Joan (again, played by Murphy) she criticises the quality of the coffee provided at her workplace to her assistant Eric (Jared Goldstein).
At the time these seem like throwaway lines — just something to illustrate the type of person Joan is — but once we reach the episode’s ending these take on a whole new meaning.
Joan hasn’t just decided to break away from the corporate world and randomly become her own boss in whatever industry she sees first — the coffee shop she opens at the end is actually a lifelong passion. Given the times she comments on the quality of the coffee she drinks in the episode, it’s clearly something she thinks about a lot.
How to watch: All six seasons of Black Mirror are now streaming on Netflix.
