Upamanyu Biswas
The fourth episode of ‘Black Mirror‘ season 7, titled ‘Plaything,’ uncovers a dark, twisted tale of murder through the eyes of an obsessive video gamer named Cameron Walker. His life turns upside down when he is contacted to preview a soon-to-be-released virtual simulation game named Thronglets. However, Walker becomes obsessed with this new creation, leading him down a dark path of violence. While it presents a brand new story, the episode brings back a couple of familiar figures from the ‘Black Mirror: Bandersnatch’ universe – namely, Will Poulter’s Colin Ritman and Tuckersoft’s owner, Mohan Thakur. Both characters play a pivotal role in the 2018 interactive film and the episode, raising questions about the connective tissue between the two narratives and their expanding storylines. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Colin Ritman Designs Thronglets Years After the Bandersnatch Game
‘Black Mirror’ episodes often throw up a variety of theories due to their macabre reality. However, in the case of ‘Plaything,’ the link to ‘Bandersnatch’ is unignorable because of the return of familiar characters like lead developer Colin Ritman and Mohan Thakur. The events in the episode are set almost 10 years after what transpired in the 2018 movie, which took place in 1984. A decade later, we see Ritman releasing Thronglets, which is designed as a realistic simulation of digital beings. It starts a new cycle of dark, twisted narration reminiscent of how ‘Bandersnatch’ unfolded in parts. More importantly, it throws up various questions regarding the previous story’s ending, mainly because of its interactive and choose-your-own-adventure-style narration.
In ‘Bandersnatch,’ viewers are allowed to make choices that can directly influence the fate of the characters in the story. As a result, individuals can experience the story in entirely different ways based on the decisions they make. Near the end, this becomes all the more complex as characters like Colin Ritman and Mohan Thakur can be killed off if one chooses a particular path. Therefore, their return in ‘Plaything’ suggests that there is a canon ending, which ensures that they both survive. However, it depends on how far we want to believe in the assumption that there is a canon. For instance, the episode could be an exploration of a parallel universe where certain choices were made in ‘Bandersnatch,’ complicating matters even further. Still, the episode is undoubtedly a continuation of the film’s events in one form or the other.
Stefan Butler’s Omission Indicates He Chose One of the Many Bad Endings
While Colin Ritman and Mohan Thakur’s return means that the two characters survived their dire fates in ‘Bandersnatch,’ the same cannot be said for Fionn Whitehead’s Stefan Butler. His omission from ‘Plaything’ hints that the character suffered one of many terrible endings brought about by the player’s choices. Throughout the movie, some decisions lead to Butler dying or failing in his task to make a successful video game. It shows that, to some extent, he is destined to fail regardless of the choices in his journey, touching upon themes of predestination and the conflict between free will and determinism. Although impactful in its delivery, the ‘Black Mirror’ universe always conjures subversive and twisted stories, and Butler is no exception to that rule.
Even if we consider the possibility that Butler miraculously evaded all the endings awaiting him at the end of the movie, the fact that we see or hear no mention of the character does not bode well for him. There are some parallels between him and Cameron Walker, both of whom lose themselves in their devotion to virtual worlds. However, in the case of the latter, the story takes an even darker turn at the end as the Thronglets begin their invasion into the human consciousness, indicating that we might be facing an apocalypse. Therefore, the ‘Bandersnatch’ universe could be facing its demise at the end of ‘Plaything,’ depending on how far viewers are inclined to believe in a canon set of events. If there is no canon, it is always possible that we might be seeing an alternate reality where everything crumbles.
Read More: Black Mirror: Is Thronglets Based on a Real Video Game?
