What Happens To Amanda & Mike?

Black Mirror season 7 starts strong with the episode “Common People”, which, in typical Black Mirror fashion, presents advanced technology, and how this, more often than not, creates more problems. “Common People” introduces viewers to Amanda (Rashida Jones) and Mike (Chris O’Dowd), a married couple living a calm life until Amanda has a medical emergency. Amanda has a brain tumor and falls into a coma, and there isn’t much hope for her recovery… until Mike is recommended an experimental treatment called RiverMind.

The treatment saves Amanda’s life, but for her to function normally, they have to pay a monthly subscription to RiverMind. What they aren’t counting on is RiverMind updating continuously, forcing them to update their plan to a more expensive one despite their difficult financial situation. Mike goes to extremes to be able to pay for the more complete subscription to ensure Amanda’s quality of life, but in the end, her condition forces them to make the most difficult decisions, giving “Common People” a grim ending, fitting with Black Mirror.

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What Happens To Amanda At The End Of Common People?

Amanda Takes A Very Difficult Decision At The End Of Common People

As mentioned above, the triggering event in “Common People” is Amanda’s brain tumor. Mike is convinced by Gaynor (Tracee Ellis Ross), a RiverMind salesperson and patient, to accept the treatment for Amanda, believing they will be able to afford it with a couple of adjustments to their budget. Despite some initial limitations, like sleeping more and having to stay within RiverMind’s coverage range, Amanda carries on with her life, until RiverMind begins to get too invasive.

RiverMind begins to run ads through Amanda, which gets her into trouble at work. This pushes her and Mike to upgrade her to RiverMind Plus, but that brings other issues. Amanda is sleeping even more, which further interferes with her job. After trying a RiverMind Lux booster on their anniversary, they learn that RiverMind is affecting Amanda’s overall quality of life unless they upgrade again, but by then, Mike has lost his job. “Common People” then jumps to one year later, with both Mike and Amanda physically and financially drained.

Amanda is shown sleeping, so it’s understood that she had to downgrade to the lowest RiverMind tier, which would be the only one they could pay now. For their anniversary, Mike gets her a 30-minute RiverMind Lux booster, through which he increases her serenity. Amanda tells Mike that “it’s time”, and to do it when she’s not around. They spend the final seconds of her booster together, but as soon as it ends, Amanda begins to recite an ad, which is Mike’s sign to do what they had agreed on.

Mike takes a pillow and suffocates Amanda, which is seen as a final act of love and compassion from Mike. Amanda’s quality of life had drastically decreased in her final year, and instead of giving her a second chance at life, RiverMind only made her and Mike’s lives more complicated and, ultimately, more tragic than if she had died due to the brain tumor.

Does Mike Kill Himself At The End Of Common People?

No Matter What, Mike’s Ending Is Quite Grim

Amanda is the one who goes through the procedure, but it also deeply affects Mike. To afford the initial subscription, Mike works extra hours a couple of days a week, but with time, he ends up working overtime every day. When Amanda begins to deliver ads without her even noticing, Mike worries about how to pay for the next tier, which would stop the ads. Seeing no other option, Mike signs up for a website called Dum Dummies, which he was introduced to by a lazy coworker who spent a lot of time on it.

Dum Dummies is a website where people pay to see others hurt themselves, and Mike sees this as his only chance to make some extra money fast and pay for a RiverMind update for Amanda. However, when he’s offered $500 for taking his mask off on camera, Mike does so and performs a very graphic request. Unfortunately, that same coworker who introduced him to the website catches him doing so without his mask and prints a screenshot of it, pasting it in the common room at work for everyone to see.

When Mike confronts him, the coworker suffers a horrifying accident and Mike is fired. Although Mike and Amanda talk to Gaynor about giving them some time to recover financially, she tells them that’s not possible and that Amanda will be downgraded until they can pay for the extra services again. In the final time jump, Mike is visibly exhausted, and he sells the crib they had been keeping for their future child. On top of that, Mike is missing some teeth, showing that he continues performing at Dum Dummies.

When he gives Amanda the final RiverMind Lux booster, she asks if he continues pulling his teeth to pay for boosters, but he says he’s doing something for a private buyer on Dum Dummies. After smothering Amanda, Mike goes back into the room where he performs for Dum Dummies. Mike is holding a sharp object and briefly looks at the camera as he closes the door. It’s implied that Mike is about to perform one final “dumb act” for his private buyer, but a darker ending would be if he just continued harming himself for the rest of his life.

What Is Common People’s RiverMind Technology?

RiverMind Is A New Treatment In The World Of Black Mirror

Throughout seven seasons and one interactive movie, Black Mirror has presented a variety of technologies, gadgets, and treatments, and RiverMind is a recent addition. The RiverMind treatment creates a backup of Amanda’s mind, removes the damaged part of her brain, replaces the damaged area with healthy tissue, and uses the backup so she can function normally – however, for the latter to happen, she needs to subscribe to RiverMind so her consciousness and everything else will be streamed. Essentially, RiverMind is a personal streaming service.

Mike is initially convinced not just by the fact that it will allow Amanda to live, but by Gaynor telling him the surgery is free and the subscription is only $300 a month. Like any other streaming service, RiverMind begins to introduce different tiers, and with that, there are some issues with the ones at a lower cost. The final straw for Mike and Amanda, however, is when they learn that she sleeps more but doesn’t rest so she can “give back to the grid” instead of the other way around.

From the beginning, RiverMind is presented as an “experimental” treatment, which it can use to excuse its many flaws, but the reality is that RiverMind is quite cruel. RiverMind offers hope to those in need, but the price becomes too high, not just in terms of financial cost but also in terms of time, energy, emotions, and overall quality of life.

The Real Meaning Of Black Mirror’s “Common People”

“Common People” Touches On Some Very Real & Relatable Themes

“Common People” tests how far love can go, while addressing the very real issue of financial stress and the cost of health services. RiverMind is deceitful, as are many companies in real life, and takes advantage of the desperation and vulnerability of those in need. Mike’s decision to participate in Dum Dummies shows how far he’s willing to go for Amanda and her quality of life, though, in the process, he sacrificed his. Amanda also suffers a lot, as she doesn’t really have a healthy and stable life once she becomes part of RiverMind, which is why her final decision isn’t surprising.

“Common People” criticizes and makes fun (though in a very dark way) of streaming services, which is Black Mirror and Netflix going meta once again. “Common People” shows how ridiculous these services can be sometimes with their different tiers, use of ads, “perks”, etc., and how it sometimes feels like there’s no way out of them. “Common People” goes back to Black Mirror’s darker roots, and it’s a strong start to season 7.

Black Mirror

6/10

Release Date

December 4, 2011

Network

Channel 4, Netflix

Showrunner

Charlie Brooker