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BLACK MIRROR Is Gaslighting Viewers With Alternate Versions of Its Own Episode
Leave it to Black Mirror to not just break the fourth wall, but to erase it entirely. Season 7 of the hit Netflix series has brought plenty of twists, but the second episode, “Bête Noire,” has taken things a step further. Not content to mess with its characters' sense of reality, it appears the show is now playing the same mind games with it audience.The story centers on Maria, a food researcher whose life is upended when her overly confident former classmate Verity joins her team. Verity starts making bizarre, confident statements, like claiming nut allergies no longer exist, and they somehow become true. It’s later revealed she’s using a device that allows her to hop into alternate realities where whatever she says is true. Turns out that reality-jumping isn’t just happening in the episode. It’s happening to the episode.Viewers began to notice a strange inconsistency in a scene where Maria and Verity argue over the name of a fast food chain. Maria insists it’s “Barnies,” her boyfriend worked there, and she even has a hat from the place to prove it. But when she Googles it, the name suddenly shows up as “Bernies,” as if Verity’s tech just rewrote reality. Then some fans realized they weren’t all watching the same version of the scene.“So my friend and I were watching the new Black Mirror episode ‘Bête Noire’ and we noticed that there was a stark difference between our episodes,” said one fan on X. “Even the viewers are getting gaslit.”Black Mirror is actually releasing two different versions of the episode on Netflix, with the fast food chain initially appearing as either “Barnies” or “Bernies,” depending on who’s watching. This kind of meta-messing is very much in line with Black Mirror’s twisted sense of fun. It feels like a slick nod to the Mandela Effect, that eerie phenomenon where huge groups of people remember things differently, like the spelling of The Berenstain Bears. People remember one reality, but evidence shows another. In “Bête Noire” it’s a gimmick that’s jumped straight out of the screen.It’s not the first time the show has played with format (see: Bandersnatch), but this latest mind game is much sneakier. It doesn’t ask you to pick a path, it leaves you wondering whether you saw what you think you saw.And that’s what makes Black Mirror such a delightfully cruel watch. It doesn’t just explore the horrors of tech, it uses tech to blur the line between fiction and reality.
Leave it to Black Mirror to not just break the fourth wall, but to erase it entirely. Season 7 of the hit Netflix series has brought plenty of twists, but the second episode, “Bête Noire,” has taken things a step further.
Not content to mess with its characters' sense of reality, it appears the show is now playing the same mind games with it audience.
The story centers on Maria, a food researcher whose life is upended when her overly confident former classmate Verity joins her team. Verity starts making bizarre, confident statements, like claiming nut allergies no longer exist, and they somehow become true.
It’s later revealed she’s using a device that allows her to hop into alternate realities where whatever she says is true. Turns out that reality-jumping isn’t just happening in the episode. It’s happening to the episode.
Viewers began to notice a strange inconsistency in a scene where Maria and Verity argue over the name of a fast food chain. Maria insists it’s “Barnies,” her boyfriend worked there, and she even has a hat from the place to prove it.
But when she Googles it, the name suddenly shows up as “Bernies,” as if Verity’s tech just rewrote reality. Then some fans realized they weren’t all watching the same version of the scene.
“So my friend and I were watching the new Black Mirror episode ‘Bête Noire’ and we noticed that there was a stark difference between our episodes,” said one fan on X. “Even the viewers are getting gaslit.”
Black Mirror is actually releasing two different versions of the episode on Netflix, with the fast food chain initially appearing as either “Barnies” or “Bernies,” depending on who’s watching.
This kind of meta-messing is very much in line with Black Mirror’s twisted sense of fun. It feels like a slick nod to the Mandela Effect, that eerie phenomenon where huge groups of people remember things differently, like the spelling of The Berenstain Bears.
People remember one reality, but evidence shows another. In “Bête Noire” it’s a gimmick that’s jumped straight out of the screen.
It’s not the first time the show has played with format (see: Bandersnatch), but this latest mind game is much sneakier. It doesn’t ask you to pick a path, it leaves you wondering whether you saw what you think you saw.
And that’s what makes Black Mirror such a delightfully cruel watch. It doesn’t just explore the horrors of tech, it uses tech to blur the line between fiction and reality.
