Some of the show's most famous prophecies have covered the future of Artificial Intelligence (AI). They were so dark and dystopian that they appeared to be a problem far away into the future — perhaps looming in the time of our grandchildren's grandchildren.

But reality has caught up with satire more quickly than anticipated. That has included the kind of news reports that feel as if they have come straight out of Brooker's imagination, including a discredited story that a famous tech billionaire intended to marry a robot woman he had created.

It is undoubtedly true that even AI experts are already warning it could become a self-aware and out-of-control monster and that we would be defenceless against such technology.

Read more: When artificial intelligence becomes a nightmare

As if we don't have enough existing problems — from wars and conflicts to mass migration and the problems it can cause. These are more shocking than any fiction, including boats of refugees left to sink into the sea.

And so, in many ways, the real world has become more terrifying than the one portrayed in "Black Mirror". Or, at least, the audience's perception of the actual horror that surrounds it has increased.

This reality left Brooker and his fellow creators with a big challenge. How could they shock an audience already exposed to such frightening realities?

More than high-tech horror

Over the course of the series' 27 episodes, it has covered a wide variety of topics which tend to centre on the theme of evil.

This was illustrated in episodes that focused on how technology is being used or how we can be easily controlled by the media. It could start with harmless, innocent intentions and then morph into something sinister. "Black Mirror" has perfected depicting human atrocities and stoking our fear that there is no escape from them.

Most of the episodes of "Black Mirror" can be described as atrocious in this respect. The programme's atrocities aim to shock us and make us reconsider what we've previously taken for granted.

What's in it for Netflix?

This shock value also helps with Netflix's commercial aim to capture an audience and keep them watching. Even if they are traumatised, viewers cannot look away.

In Syrian writer Yassin Al Haj Saleh's book "Horror and its Representation", he tackles this phenomenon."Horror arouses in the soul feelings in which fear, hate and aversion, as well as attraction and sedition, blend together. It is logical to be afraid of the atrocities we watch, whether real or represented."

"In the horrific, there is something captivating and tempting, what we might be drawn to like the bewitched, perhaps because it is strange."

"Perhaps the horrific addresses another aspect of our inclination towards the extraordinary, the strange and the abnormal, rare in any case, seeing what is not usually seen, and because it is not seen, it is the subject of a story or depiction, an opportunity not always available to capture the attention of others."

Early glories

This is the trick "Black Mirror" has been pulling off since its first series. It captured attention early on, perhaps most famously with the episode entitled "The National Anthem".

The episode portrayed the British prime minister forced into accepting terrorist demands that he have sexual intercourse with a pig live on television in order to secure the release of a kidnapped princess.

It showed a cheering fictional TV audience watching coverage of the encounter laughing and joking at the predicament. The programme sparked debate and discussion among viewers over who was responsible for this crime. The kidnappers or the cheering viewers?

Other themes in the series included the dangers of new technology – depicted by the perils posed by artificial memory cards in "Your Whole Life" – and the boundaries between good and evil set by the way in which a crowd turns on a convicted criminal in "The White Bear".

Throughout, Brooker explores humanity's dark side and its demons. The show uses dramatic techniques to get its message across. Cruelty, shock, bewilderment, and the sudden shattering of expectations are frequent features. But this shock value seems to have been blunted in the new season.

Time for a lighter touch?

It could be that this change, identified online by "Black Mirror" enthusiasts, could be deliberate and may well end up proving shocking, in itself, by offering a departure from the expectations cultivated by the show's writers.

In some past episodes, we have witnessed exaggerations and cruelty and even suspected the spectacle would provide a degree of enjoyment — both for us as viewers and the characters.

This is shown in "Black Museum" in season four, which revolves around an obsession with pain inflicted on oneself and others, and an obsession with observing the effects of that pain on the body of the socially condemned as a means of purification.

It was also featured in "Shut Up and Dance", which assumes that viewers of pornographic content will be punished and that characters will fall into a trap from which there is no escape — a theme that echoes the Korean Netflix hit Squid Game.

Brooker himself has said in an interview that he wanted to bring a lighter touch to the new series.

He said: "I always feel like Black Mirror should tell different stories that surprise the viewers and surprise me personally, otherwise, what's the point? It should be a series that is difficult to categorise and never stops reinventing itself."

The level of satire varies from episode to episode but remains present throughout the new season. It is nothing short of biting at times — especially in the first episode and the last two—  in what may be the real surprises of this series.

The season begins with "Joan is Awful", in which the main character, played by Selma Hayek, settles down to watch a streaming platform with eerie similarities to Netflix itself. She finds her own life portrayed on screen, including aspects of it she would rather conceal from her fiance, who is watching beside her.  

There are further twists, but the episode explores the themes of corporate and personal evil in a way designed to grab attention and unnerve, along with a nod to the dangers of big tech, in this case, depicted via an internet TV giant.

And so shock value remains. But if there is a change in creative tone, perhaps it is, in some way, a penance for the at-time excessive cruelty so characteristic of previous seasons.

A move toward less cruel satire won't satisfy everyone. Some viewers will always prefer the shocks to be blatant instead of subtle.