4 days ago, Netflix released its Christmas special “Bandersnatch.” The episode is the latest installment of the sci-fi anthology Black Mirror, but no prior knowledge is needed to play or watch it. There’s been debate over what exactly Bandersnatch is–a game? An interactive movie? TV episode? Something in-between?
Regardless, it’s a choose-your-own-adventure story that’s extremely meta. Our protagonist, a shy young programmer named Stefan, is obsessed with turning the choose-your-own-adventure book Bandersnatch into a full-fledged computer game. Presumably he also struggles with a mental health issue of some sort, but that’s never clarified. When he lands a new job at Tuckersoft, his troubles quickly escalate.
The episode reads like a heavy-handed argument against free will. In-universe, we’re told time and time again that free will is an illusion and our fate has already been decided (a philosophy called determinism). This is confirmed by the fact that there’s only a handful of endings, none of which are traditionally “good.”
There’s no possible ending in which both Bandersnatch is a successful game and Stefan doesn’t kill anyone. No choice he makes can stop his mom from getting on the train and dying; he can only choose whether or not to join her. In short, Stefan is doomed no matter what you do – you merely decide if he’s doomed to mediocrity, death, or a psychotic breakdown.
As I played Bandersnatch, searching furiously for a happy ending that didn’t exist, I began to feel hopeless and frustrated, especially as I retraced my steps and explored different paths. Wait, didn’t I choose that option last time? The more I saw, the more disoriented and confused I became, unable to keep the storylines straight–just as Stefan begins to dissociate, unable to discern his reality. I wandered the maze in endless circles, unable to achieve an ending I liked. Eventually, I just gave up.
That the simulation is “unwinnable” should come as no surprise. Very few Black Mirror episodes end well, and the ones that do have a tragic twist. In my opinion, none embody futility and despair so well as Bandersnatch. The writer (Charlie Brooker) gives us the “freedom” of choice, but ultimately selects all the endings. He offers only the illusion of control, doing to his real-life viewers what Stefan does to his players: drastically limiting their options.
Bandersnatch is a dream within a dream, a hellish nightmare you can never wake up from. It’s an acid trip where the conspiracy theorist’s crazy, contradictory theories are actually all true. Fittingly enough, the episode is named after a creature of Lewis Carroll’s imagining: Bandersnatch. Just as the creature can’t be caught, Stefan’s digital destiny can’t be altered. All that’s left is to accompany him on his descent into madness, just as he accompanies his mother to her inevitable death. It’s dark, poignant, infuriating, unfair, and ingenious–it’s Black Mirror.
She Wants the Diction 