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What Happens When You Choose The 'Netflix' Option In Bandersnatch

What Happens When You Choose The 'Netflix' Option In Bandersnatch

SPOILERS: One of the new Black Mirror choices is so meta it will hurt your brain.

Simon Binns

Simon Binns

Black Mirror dropped Bandersnatch this morning - a fairly ground-breaking piece of interactive TV that lets you, the viewer, make choices along the way.

Some of them are fairly low-impact (or are they...?) - such as which cereals to eat for breakfast or which music to listen to on the bus.

Frosties and Now 2, since you ask.

But it soon takes a very dark turn and, depending on your choices, Bandersnatch becomes a trippy, fraught and blood-soaked slice of drama.

One of the choices is incredibly meta, however.

As Stefan sits at his computer, contemplating the fact that maybe his choices are not his own, you get the option to talk to him. Sort of.

'Who's there? Who's doing this?' he shouts at his monitor. 'Just give me a sign.'

You then get two options. The three-stroke sign that runs through the Bandersnatch algorithm and, in fact, the whole of Black Mirror since it began in one way shape or form, or simply 'Netflix'.

Choose the latter and words start to appear on the screen, explaining the concept of a streaming TV service from the future that you control.

Netflix/Bandersnatch

Something unthinkable in 1984 and the kind of thing that Black Mirror would probably invent if it weren't real.

Is this Charlie Brooker admitting that by falling in with the Netflix empire and creating a choose your own story TV show, he's gone through his own Black Mirror?

It leaves Stefan shaken and trying to explain to hid dad that he is being controlled 'by a time-travelling TV service from the future'.

Netflix/Bandersnatch

He also tries to explain it to his therapist. "Netflix?" she asks. "What's that? Some sort of planet? A computer game?

"So all of this is happening to entertain someone? In the future."

At that point, I flopped back in my chair, as the TV in front of me started to debate its own reality.

"If it's true," says the therapist, "then why aren't you in a more entertaining scenario?

"If you were watching this right now, wouldn't you want a little more...action?

Bandersnatch
Bandersnatch

Once you've made that choice, things go FUCKING BANANAS, as you are handed the option to either jump through a window or fight Stefan's/your female therapist.

Bandersnatch
Bandersnatch

Then Brooker really starts to have some fun, as an otherwise tense, psychological thriller goes all Kill Bill.

Dad gets involved, chucking punches like AJ. Stuff gets smashed. Chaos.

And all of this is down to...Netflix? You? Our constant need to be entertained? To be in control?

Bandersnatch
Bandersnatch

Is all of this a cheeky reference to the growing dominance of the platform by Netflix itself and one of its most prized assets?

Brooker is a fan of taking the piss out of the medium he favours most, from as far back at TVGoHome.

Netflix is also referenced in another post-credits scene after the 'main' episode - ie Stefan's story from 1984 - where the tale of Bandersnatch is brought up to date. As ever with Charlie Brooker though, there's an unsettling twist there too...

No more spoilers, suffice to say that our first run through Bandersnatch took us through 19 choice and some very grizzly decisions that made us question exactly who we are as people.

Featured Image Credit: Netflix

Topics: Charlie Brooker, TV and Film, UK Entertainment, Netflix