Following weeks of teasing, it’s that time of year again kids! In 2017 Charlie Brooker’s dystopian Black Mirror delivered its fourth season and 12 months later it’s back to shake us all from our Christmas-induced hope stupor.
The movie-length Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, is no regular episode of TV, however. Taking a page out of those Goosebumps books we loved so much as kids, the new edition is a choose your own adventure.
Set in 1984, viewers make decisions for protagonist and video game programmer Stefan Butler as he tries to adapt a mythos-heavy fantasy novel into a game.
Never-before-seen in the traditional TV realm, options pop up on Netflix-watchers screens to lead them into more futuristic misery (but, you know, in a fun way).
Decisions range from making the difficult choice between breakfast cereals to life or death options, they even give Netflix a little meta shout-out.
your family when they ask what you're watching and you try to explain it to them #Bandersnatch pic.twitter.com/TYYoBGNqNM
— 🤠 (@cheekslikewine) December 28, 2018
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The British/USA show’s already rabid fanbase has revealed that it’s ahhh kinda hard to get a good outcome from the experience.
me everytime i made a decision for stefan in #bandersnatch pic.twitter.com/g88HtzMgSh
— kayla (@ughdeacon) December 28, 2018
me: I just want to make Stefan happy
Netflix: pic.twitter.com/c4DolUMqhV
— hash slinging slasher (@summerhtshello) December 28, 2018
me returning to #Bandersnatch to ruin stefan’s life for the seventeenth time pic.twitter.com/l7mLeKOF5s
— katy (@kxty11) December 28, 2018
me going through all the alternate endings of #bandersnatch only to realize i will never bring stefan happinesspic.twitter.com/ruajTYLYz7
— señor snake ? (@theashleykumar) December 28, 2018
It’s really only a matter of time before someone kicks up a #justiceforstefan moment.
According to Variety, the episode goes for approximately 90 minutes but can be shaved down to 40 if the user makes the right decisions.
The episode has five different unique endings depending on the choices that participants make.
If you’re one of those people who love having things ruined for yourself, some intrepid Twitter users have mapped out the entire thing for your enjoyment.
*WARNING: EXTREME SPOILERS*
Here is the Netflix Black Mirror #Bandersnatch Endings Flow Chart: pic.twitter.com/u48FLkfuvH
— Atheism is Winning! (@Sunlesshouses) December 28, 2018
This isn’t the first time that Netflix has toyed around with interactive viewing with a couple of their children’s titles including the feature but Bandersnatch marks the first time it’s been used in adult viewing.
Is this the turning point for prestige television to morph into some kind of quasi-Sims, video game hybrid?
Click Y for yes and N for no.