Black Mirror

I tried searching, but didn't see a thread for the show. If it is out there, please merge or delete this thread!

Who all watches Black Mirror on Netflix? It's back in the headlines again with the release of their one-off choose-your-own-adventure episode/movie/event - Bandersnatch.

The interactive part where you make decisions for the main character actually come off very seamlessly. It is really well implemented. Depending on the story/ending that you get, the movie is either pretty hokey or quite good. The first go-through for me ended up being pretty solid. I'd give it a 7 or 8 out of 10.

For those that haven't seen the series, I wouldn't start with Bandersnatch. There are a lot of Easter eggs and callbacks to earlier episodes that make seeing the series worthwhile. Plus, it might be good to know if they show's style is something you're in to before trying the movie. Personally, I love the series. It is like a modern Twilight Zone with some really interesting twists, moral dilemmas, and glimpses at potential unintended consequences to some of our social and technological trends.

 

The show is interesting. I have watch all the episodes. I think I found 3 different endings to bandersnatch. May be more that I did it find.

Earlier episodes are/can get pretty dark as the show typically takes one thought to an extreme. Worth a watch. Not sure I would watch many of the episodes again, but will prolly give bandersnatch another run through as the first time I ignored most of the choices as I was doing stuff while watching.

 

Great show...but binge watching it will put you in a funk, trust me I know lol

 

I give Bandersnatch 3 out of 10.

 

There are 5 endings that I'm aware of and a few different ways to get to them.

As for the other episodes, I have found a number of them rewatchable.

Season 1:
The Entire History of You

Season 2:
Be Right Back
White Bear

Season 3:
Shut-up and Dance (maybe my favorite episode)
San Junipero
Hated in the Nation

Season 4:
Arkangel
Crocodile
Black Museum

The special episode with Jon Hamm, White Christmas, is pretty good, too.

I have a feeling I know which story/ending you got, then. There are a couple that are pretty bad.

 

It was a never ending loop. After it showing the same 10 minutes scene 3 times, I turned it off.

 

I felt as if my choices made no difference and the story was going to take itself where it ultimately wanted to go. Sometimes you had two of the same choice and sometimes you only had one choice, like why bother. It would be cool if one day you could make the decisions and it be permanent to the story arc with no do-overs.

 

Weird. You must have had a playback error, unless you weren't selecting something different if/when it looped back. If I got that, I'd have bowed out, too.

On my first play through, I only hit one of the do-over scenarios. When it went back to the decision, the recap up to that point even had a few wrinkles, such as Colin knowing who Stefan was, Stefan identifying why Colin's game crashed, Colin knowing the story of Bandersnatch, etc.

On subsequent watches, I explored some other paths that went to ending scenarios as well. They were usually after making really 'safe' decisions that resulted in a bad release of the game, but no drama.

There are some choices that affect the environment later on, but are otherwise mostly immaterial to the plot. Then there are some choices that, regardless of what you choose, will play out anyways. Some of them drastically affect both the storyline and the ending that you get. When Stefan asks for a sign and you have to decide between Netflix and the decision tree symbol, that is a really big fork in the story. The decision about his dad's body has big implications as well.

That said, what Stefan said to his therapist about how he altered the game kind of clues you in to the illusion of the show as well.

If you've seen the episode and want to see all of the possible scenarios, where your decision does and doesn't matter, and the different endings, this flowchart has been floating around the web:

Spoiler: Bandersnatch Flow Chart - SPOILER!!!!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DvzD9hEUUAMG7Fv.jpg

 

I've seen all the endings because you can just go back after credits link appears. So you just go back and redo things again. All it does is lead you to every scenario available. I would have rather control the movie and have the actor go mad knowing I'm the voice in his head controlling his decisions. I also liked the idea of explaining what Netflix is to someone in the past.

 

With the popularity of this, maybe they'll give the concept another go and take it much deeper like you are suggesting. He started to piece it together towards the end, but I agree that playing off of that for a bit longer would be really neat.