Be Still Our Heart – ‘Black Mirror: San Junipero’ Wins Best TV Movie at the 2017 Emmys
Black Mirror is the type of show that is so freakishly terrifying and dreadful, you can’t really picture it getting recognized at the Emmys. But it’s good creator and writer Charlie Brooker decided to try something different with the third season of his (now) Netflix series. “San Junipero,” a heartwarming queer romance, was the first uplifting episode of the tech-sci-fi-horror anthology series, and also one of the most clever. And now it has not one, but two Emmy awards.
Earlier in the night, Brooker also home a second Emmy, winning the Outstanding Writing in a Limited Series/Movie Drama award for “San Junipero.” Soon after, the Black Mirror episode was named Outstanding TV Movie, beating out Wizard of Lies, Dolly Parton’s Christmas of Many Colors, Sherlock: The Lying Detective, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, and The Wizard of Lies.
When accepting the Best TV Movie award, Brooker spoke about how much his episode celebrates love and hope, which is much needed these days. “Love will defeat hate, love will win. But it might need a bit of help,” Brooker said before encouraging everyone in the Emmys audience to hook up and make that love, literally. Sadly, the Emmys did not include a massive orgy tonight.
I won’t spoil too much if you haven’t seen “San Junipero” – it’s a total delight that you should definitely experience for yourself – but the episode stars Halt and Catch Fire‘s Mackenzie Davis and Gugu Mbatha-Raw as two women who meet and fall in love in a 1980s beach town. As I wrote in my review of the third season, the episode “replaced the usual cynicism of the series with the sweetness and hope of finding love via technology.” Black Mirror‘s double wins tonight also make this year’s Emmys feel especially diverse.
See the full list of 2017 Emmys winners here.