Black Mirror’s shared universe has expanded with the release of Bandersnatch and Season 5 of the Netflix show. Here’s how all of the episodes connect to each other, and an updated timeline of the events.
Season 5 threw us Easter eggs for the sake of Easter eggs and messed up the timeline. Unless they were intentionally vague red herrings made to confuse us
I love the work you done with tryning to explain the timeline, but i think the idea of the show is there is no timeline... is more like easter eggs than that.... sorry the english, its not my first language, love you gamespot !!
What if Bandersnatch is the catalyst for all these different timelines, every different decision made in Bandersnatch leads to a different future where some episodes fit!
@@TheJournalistJim that's what I was thinking; it would explain the white bear symbol in the episodes. Maybe each episode with that symbol are all after Bandersnatch across multiple timelines?
I love the idea of some episodes are actually in a cookie, it makes so much sense with 15 Million Merits and the same actress in 2 episodes... Nice work guys!
But then it kind of ruins Smithereens as its one of my favorite episodes and just because they dropped too many easter eggs its just a cookie? Ah idk I just don't like kt
@@moni7803 in 15 million merits, that one famous singer who won the reality show and she's also in Playtest, she's the one the protagonist met through a date app (they said all that in the video btw xD)
Also, it would explain a lot about some dystopic episodes Like, Nosedise and Metalhead.. Some people think that Metalhead it's definitely a game, like a RPG. I like that.
With the phone contacts thing, it was probably meant to be an easter egg thing, rather than all of those characters being canon to Smithereens. Black Mirror has always had two types of references, fun references and timeline references and to me the contact list seems like more of a fun easter egg.
All references are fun references.. they didn’t intend a time line obviously, all scrips are independent, best hint is the completely inconsistent technology. But if you want a timeline you need to take all references seriously and funny enough as this video shows you can get a nearly consistent timeline doing so. Only issue are certain episodes, but something like this cookie theory does help out with that
Metalhead is a reboot of the original Metalhead game from Bandersnatch, the same way that Striking Vipers X is a reboot of the original Striking Vipers. The VR device from Striking Vipers was developed by TCKR, the future version of Tuckersoft. Tuckersoft made Metalhead.
That makes more sense... It's also wildly out of place and feels gamelike and we see in bandersnatch it WAS a videogame... Just like we remake movies... Metalhead would be yet another cookie reality.
So we know from Bandersnatch what the "White bear" symbol means choice. And it appears in all the cookie-world episodes where cookies passes through tons of repeating simulations - where they testing different variations. This suggests that in Bandersnath we also saw the world of cookies - the main character in the “past” timeline was not a game programmer but his cookie. This theory adds meaning to the scene in the "future" timeline where we saw the footage from the episode on the girl monitor - the entire episode we played a cookie game and did not watch t the events of the eighties. This also explains the appearance of the "White bear" symbol on the protagonist's computer.
What if the character in Bandersnatch ended up in a coma... And in his later years they gave him a new 'life' by copying his mind to a cookie, where he could live the life he never had. What if... They made his cookie a game we get to 'play' ... Lol. Best game ever...
The Waldo Moment actually takes place BEFORE The National Anthem; at 1:42 in this video, we can see the headline 'art exhibition to close three weeks ahead of schedule', in reference to Carlton Bloom's art exhibition. As this guy dies in The National Anthem, it'd seem weird to still be mentioning his exhibition a year on, wouldn't it?
Charlie brooker said in the past that there wasn't a overarching timeline, but in recent interviews has said that he is starting to change his mind about a connected timeline.
12:17 This is where I feel the line between "Easter egg" and "show continuity" is. They put names in the phone as Easter Eggs that mean nothing, but yet, have done that in other episodes to show connections.
what if metalhead is a game as it’s advertised in bandersnatch? and the realism of it is due to the fact they revamp it into VR, much like they did with striking vipors?
Could White Bear also be a cookie thing? If Victoria tried to kill herself in her cell, maybe that's the real Victoria and the one in White Bear is a cookie? Although that would mean that everyone working there and visiting there are also cookies.
That physically written out timeline is so impressive that I'm subscribing. Y'all could've used a program, you could've printed paper with boxes and lines, or you could've just not done any of it, but you did the real work and I dig it. Edit: Shit, I just realized I've watched y'alls weekly Legion breakdown for literal years. I feel bad I never subbed.
I'm a bit late, but I'd like to add two things, just because I recently rewatched the entire show, so it's fresh in my mind. Firstly, 15M Credits appears as a comic book / graphic novel in Black Museum. Jack's reading it early in the personality transfer. (The scene is right before he goes to the bathroom.) Second, the main character in Crocodile is - probably - the architect behind the... building? world? behind 15M Credits. Not only are the plans for which in her office in the basement, but she drops the dead body of the woman in the sewers (or whatever) at the building site. At the site, the advertisement specifically states that it'll be a place that can run itself, and is built in the same box-like way we see during the wide shots in the cafeteria in 15M Credits. Dunno if it really works or matters. Also, in 15M Credits, they say that the song was passed down from mother to daughter. In Ashley Too, we find out that it's one of the songs being created when Ashley O is in her coma. I feel confident saying that, because they don't react like she's "singing" a song already made, but plan on putting it on her new album. I realize people make covers all the time, but I don't think that's what's happening. Finally, I may be misremembering this, but I could swear they mention something about using the brain technology in Ashely Too to do something? There's that whole scene where all the toys are being crushed, which seems weird knowing each one is essentially a cookie in and of themselves.
My theory was that after the bees and the dogs pretty much destroyed society, the government needed a way to keep humanity going, whilst conserving and creating power. So those who lived in certain areas, or people who had enough money, or people who thought it was ok, went to the power bike centers in fifteen million merits. I’d place that towards then end beside metalhead because they could be happening at the same time. People less fortunate, or who didn’t live in an area where a power center was located, or someone who thought it just wasn’t right morally speaking, had to stay on the outside, living in constant fear and danger because of the dogs hunting them down.
One thing to add. In "Rachel, Jack, and Ashley Too', the Willow Grain commercial heard when Liam gets in the Uber in "The Entire History of You" plays in the background halfway through this episode. The fact it's the same commercial verbatim makes me think R,J,&AT would be placed around that same time as well, but then it contradicts the headline mentioning Crocodile and Black Museum
I love the effort you put into this. You’ve done a very good job, but imagine giving the original Twilight Zone a timeline. It doesn’t make sense. Black Mirror, just like TZ, are stand alone episodes. There IS a bit of crossover inside the universe, but there isn’t anything even close to resembling a “Timeline”. I think this is more likely a case of really well done Fan Service. Still, a well done and an amazing amount of work! Great video and you get a Like.
I love you guys and all the hard work you put into making this interesting yet fascinating work of art. Thank you for putting this together. It makes the show that much great when it’s all connected in the same universe with a detailed timeline! ❤️
Wow, this is an amazing analysis and great stab at establishing a timeline in this universe. As all over the place this series is, it gets even more confusing trying to put it into some kind of order. Good job!
I think Men Against Fire and 15 Million Merits are actually just comic books or tv shows/movies within the universe, as that would explain a lot and also hinted in the show Maybe Metalhead...
This video is exemplifying the cat of moving the facts around to fit a theory. There isn't meant to be a 'timeline' just loads of easter eggs to keep you interested and 'smart'
USS Callister must have come before San Junipero. The digital clones had no idea that they could be copied into the game, meaning they were totally unaware of such technology. This means that Daly must have invented the technology, and probably eventually sold it to the rest of the world, perhaps shortly after the events of USS Callister.
Which also makes sense bc in USS Callister they intentionally glazed over how the tech works. They didn't want to explain the DNA + accessing cookie data technicality since it's complicated and kinda not the point
I love these videos, but when people take making a time line to heart it kinda annoys me because they criticize the show for being "inconsistent" but black mirror has never been confirmed to have a time line. They just drop easter eggs for fun most likely
Theory: White Christmas is a cookie episode. I know revolutionary but here me out: The *entire* episode is in cookies. It's a set of cookies in the cabin *within* an entire world of cookies where someone is running a simulation to see 2 things. 1, what would happen if *everyone* has Z eyes 2, what features are wayyy too mentally damaging (such as the blocking feaure) My three points of "proof" are the way at the end, the scene with the snowglobe panning out to show the house and back to the house in the snowglobe and so on and so on. Also, the idea of punishing someone by having them blocked by everyone just seems wayy too out there (like White Bear). What is the point of being blocked by everyone besides pushing you to madness? How are you supposed to get a job? Go to the grocery store? Also for some reason, after you see the really good shot of Joe's cell door at the end, when the woman enters the room back with the "bad guy"; you see a plaque that matches Joe's cell number, suspiciously on the inside of the door. With the same White Bear symbol on it. Leading me to believe that is the hint that the whole "cookie" experiment is absolutely not over once they leave the cabin
I think most of them are just easter eggs. Some of the episodes take place when they were filmed, like the National Anthem (2010 or 2011) and Smithereens (2018), some in the near future, like San Junipero which I guess takes place in the 2030s because Kelly and Yorkie are in their 70s in the real world and were young (20s) in the 1980s.
cool outside-the-box thinking on this timeline. I liked the idea of whole episodes that weren't explicitly talking about cookies actually being about cookies interacting with each other in simulated pretend-futuristic worlds. some fun theories
Pretty impressive that most, if not every, episode here is connected, without any characters being repeated through episodes, only referenced in headlines and hashtags at most
This video is really good. It shows that they do put lots of time trying to evolve the show. 15 million merits is interesting but I do think it happens inside a cookie or something like the memorybanks in San Junipero. Im thinking it is some sort of a prison where the people are being busy by riding bikes and dreaming of better lifes. In that case because of the easter eggs like a comicbook, the music and Wraith Babes it must happen somewhere around Black Museum and Crocodile.
Maybe every episode is an alternate reality where the tech used is the same but the tech is used in different ways. Also the tech was created in different points in time
USS Callister happened before Black museum. If you actually pay close attention to the artifacts house in the museum, you can see the red lollipop and and DNA transfer device from the episode in the background.
There was also reference to the Grain implant that we see in Entire History of You (S1E3) in Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too (S5E3). You can hear the commercial that played in Liam's cab on his way to the airport on the girls' television. I'm pretty sure that complicates the timeline even further though
I'm not so convinced wouldn't bandersnatch have to be the only thing that exists in the secondary comporial Dimension from the rest of the show at one point it admits that it's a 2019 Netflix special and then also breaks character and admits that it's a currently being produced and recorded 2019 Netflix special. This all alludes to the idea that bandersnatch exist in a universe that black mirror also exists as a show
Maybe the cookies timeline and the real timeline are explained by the "tuning fork" placed first in the timeline by bandersnatch. Bandersnatch symbolizes it as an alternate reality or alternate path. Something to think about.
You say your evidence for episodes taking place in cookies is the white bear symbol but you also are ignoring one of the biggest white bear symbols in bandersnatch? That doesn't make sense you're just trying to make the inconsistencies fit your theory.
i actually just came to the conclusion that the flash forward in Bandersnatch could've happened before White Bear if not at the same time.. in my theory, White Bear is kinda like a behind the scenes "making of" of a regular Black Mirror episode, and the practice itself is the result of the events in Bandersnatch.. but i can get even worse by saying, what if both episodes happened inside a cookie? i guess we'll never know
Idk I think Rachael, Jack and Ashley Too should come early on in the life of cookies, because it seems like they put a cookie of Ashley in the Ashley Too dolls but no-one knows the name of the tech yet, but people don't seem that shocked by it so I doubt it's the first instance of cookies.
I think it makes a lot of sense thematically to have bandersnatch exist in a cookie, with time not existing in a linear way and rather a rhizomic way also the odd effects of Colin's daydream. Would make sense with Collins waxing on death and the inability to die in USS Callister. And afaik it's the only one that opens with a timestamp (a cliche in games) perhaps they're trying to associate it thematically with the immersive games, the cookie style replication of USS Callister and perhaps this is why bandersnatch included the tripping scene as Colin waxes about meta-realities. Perhaps this is a game made of cookies by the woman in the flashforward and that the game regard is that we can make a cookies choices (a large part of identity) and that's what drives our protagonist to his psychosis because as far as he knows he's the real life version and there's no explanation to the theft of his autonomy other than the one the audience let's him see.
Maybe metalhead is another cookie game and that's why we see it advertised in bandersnatch , maybe its a really subversive mockery of games that hide Easter egg posters to previous games they've produced
Interesting, but have the creators even said that the episodes of the show follow a timeline? Isn't the show just an anthology of thematically related stories?
Waldo is number 2? That would mean he is in charge of a huge dystopia during all of the events and worlds of black mirror after. Unless waldo is taken down shortly after. The end of waldo seemed like a military state oppressing all citizens.
I feel like bandersnatch gives you the simulation of controlling a cookie, by torturing them and making them loose sense of time with a never ending confusion. Yet, we are oblivious of that fact, because our minds think that bandersnatch is just a interactive movie, which simulates the lack of empathy people like: the ceo of cookies in white Christmas, uss callister, black museum, and now the ashley too dolls. We also simulate the sense of perspective society has like: National Anthem (just watching and waiting for their prime minister to fuck a pig on live TV), Black Museum (which they pull the lever), hated in the nation (putting the hashtags), waldo moment (voting just to see how far it could go), it all shows how we think it's sick and twisted, yet playing bandersnatch we're becoming the very thing we despise- the lack of empathy and understanding of the people we watch and seeing how far you can go just for your enjoyment. One of the endings that most people get for bandersnatch is where Stephan is talking to Haynes about making life more interesting and they start to fight as well as the dad, and it's just crazy. But, it's almost like making you entertained just so you can stop, it's forced so that the 'show is over'. Also, the most perfect example, in my opinion, of showing the equal amount of the perspective of society as well as torturing, is white bear. For all we know the white bear protection prison could be a make up of cookies, all of the people, the actors, just so that they can feel the control and forgetting others are controlling them outside.
In white bear her wrists are covered in bandages which I assumed she tried to kill herself in her cell BEFORE getting put into the white bear justice park and tormented as when the episode ends they show her clips of her getting arrested and her boyfriend succeeding in killing himself 👏🏽
What if the ppl in 15 million merits are in prison and they pedal the bikes to generate power for something. The only way they can get out is by winning Hot Shots. This is a win win for whoever is in charge as the prisoners are either generating power non stop or entertaining people on Hot Shot
Why does it need to have a time line at all? It's like the twilight zone. I appreciate you trying to connect everything together that way, interesting video, but they are only easter eggs giving a nod to other episodes. If you'd like to explain it perfectly you could go with alternate universes/time lines like in bandersnatch, though.
R, J, and A Too does kind of mess with the timeline with the things it references, as it would seem to be near the end, but the technology would seem to place it much earlier. I just assume that references to a "museum owner" is just a reference to Black Museum and not literally describing the same events.
Okay. I do not watch tv or netflix. I know my bad, right. LOL I noticed a quick ad on Black Mirror and 6th and possibly 7th season. I am extremely impressed with your video. :) I am glad it is the first one for Black Mirror I clicked on. Beyond awesome that you are here in America now, your definitely brilliant. I am on vacation this week and will have to take a look at Black Mirror. I bow to your incredible knowledge and compilation on Black Mirror.
