Netflix special Death to 2021 focused on the past year’s biggest news and cultural phenomena, but only Netflix-related ones, limiting producer Charlie Brooker’s capability to deliver an accurate and humorous analysis of 2021. Although Death to 2020 ranked poorly among critics, audiences seemed to mostly enjoy it, as represented by the 40% critic score and the 60% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. While Brooker’s input was limited compared to Death to 2020 because of conflicting work projects, Death to 2021 was still developed by his and Annabel Jones’ production company Broke and Bones, with Jack Clough and Josh Ruben directing the special.
Like Brooker’s Death to 2020, Death to 2021 had Cristin Milioti returning as average American mom Kathy Flowers, Hugh Grant as historian Tennyson Foss, Joe Keery as influencer Duke Goolies, Samson Kayo as scientist Pyrex Flask and Tracey Ullman as news pundit Madison Madison. The mockumentary-style special retraced major news stories through the eyes and words of its characters, ranging from the Capitol riots of January 6 to the emergence of various Covid-19 variants and the past summer’s climate change headlines prompted by soaring temperatures, floods, and fires. The dark and witty humor of the comedy special also focused on cultural phenomena, often manifesting in the form of TV shows and celebrity stories’ commentaries, offering the returning Death to 2020/2021 cast the chance to simultaneously share and mock repeatedly heard opinions on public figures’ cancellations or newfound requests of inclusivity.
What clashes with an otherwise fairly accurate representation of the Western world news cycle and interests is Death to 2021’s refusal to talk about cultural events outside of Netflix’s domain. Death to 2021 focused two relatively large segments on Netflix Originals Bridgerton and Squid Game while briefly mentioning the documentary My Octopus Teacher. Although all three sketches managed to paint an apt picture of the oddities inhabiting the Western world’s public discourses, one might wonder what Death to 2021 could have commented on had it expanded its scope to other huge cultural markers outside its own platform rather than pretending they didn’t exist.
The fitting use of various broadcasters’ video material to comment on the news in Charlie Brooker’s latest makes Death to 2021‘s avoidance of other platforms’ TV shows particularly jarring. The premise of Death to 2020 and of successor is to comedically comment on what happened during the past year, be it news that impacted the world or opinions that resonated in the common polarizing debates of the contemporary world. Limiting the commentary only to discourses generated by Netflix shows not only does a disservice to a holistic portrayal of what happened in 2021 but could also excessively hinders Brooker’s artistic scope.
Many events involved a simultaneous worldwide audience in 2021, chiefly Disney+’s release of Marvel’s original series that are actively part of the MCU Phase 4, which managed to keep viewers glued to the screen week after week. Plenty of those shows, or others, like Succession on HBO Max, unarguably generated conversation as intense as anything used as an example in Death to 2021. Choosing to only share or focus on those generated by Netflix TV shows makes Death to 2021 feel at worst like an advertisement and at best more sanitized than it needs to be, especially considering all the other topics are tackled with its conventional dry and unflinching humor.
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Author: Antonella Gugliersi
