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By now, you’ve probably already fired up Netflix, polished off Black Mirror season 5, and maybe gone back and ticked off all of the Bandersnatch endings for good measure. Job done, right? Maybe not. If there’s one thing we know about Charlie Brooker’s sci-fi anthology series, is that there are always hidden Easter eggs to look for that tie the whole thing together. And the best one yet might have just been found – it could have revealed the true ending to Bandersnatch.
As spotted by the aptly-named WhiteBearCommunity on Twitter, a news report during the final Black Mirror season 5 episode, Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too, includes a sneaky reference to Bandersnatch.
"...ing narrative creator still missing" refers the disappearance of Colin in Bandersnatch. pic.twitter.com/U7yWOO1cf9June 6, 2019
While the headline mentions Ashley O’s drugging, the ticket at the bottom makes reference to “narrative creator still missing.” This, of course, seems like a pointed reference to the character of Colin Ritman, the video game designer working at Tuckersoft during the events of Bandersnatch.
So, how does it all link together? Well, it appears to be hinting at a canon ending for Bandersnatch. With Colin being missing, there are several we can tick off, including Stefan jumping to his death, Stefan killing Colin (who was subsequently arrested for his murder), and all of the weird and wonderful meta endings.
Only one ending explicitly mentions Colin’s disappearance, and that’s the path where you choose to follow Colin, experiment with LSD, and eventually ask him to jump off the balcony. Yes, it’s very, very weird.
After that, the details are a little fuzzy due to the sheer number, but the traditional route to follow would be killing Stefan’s father, and Colin’s wife, Kitty, eventually coming round to Stefan’s house in a panic.
Bandersnatch then, eventually, ends with a report detailing Colin going missing, Stefan’s arrest, and Tuckersoft shutting down. Which, if you want to take the Black Mirror season 5 news report at face value (this is Black Mirror, after all), is what was supposed to happen when you play Bandersnatch.
All that from four blink-and-you’ll-miss it words in a completely different episode. Not bad, eh?
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