Bandersnatch wasn’t what some Black Mirror fans were expecting or hoping for when it hit Netflix last year. Last week though, Mirror fans were given what they were craving when a trailer for the show’s upcoming fifth season unexpectedly dropped. At the time, fans were too excited, and confused, to try and start piecing things together.
Since then though, three more trailers for the new season have come out and fans have started to piece together a few clues about the shortened three-episode season. If you haven’t though, don’t worry because Def Pen has got you covered! Today, we’re breaking down the trailer and trying to discover whatever we can about what’s to come on June 5th.
Striking Vipers
This one seems like it’s the most straightforward episode (or at least as straight forward as an episode of Black Mirror can be) of the three. It tells the story of two estranged college friends who reunite in later life, triggering a series of events that could alter their lives forever. The two friends are played by Anthony Mackie and Yahya Abdul-Mateen.
Mackie and his on-screen wife are trying for a second child but he’s growing distant. She worries as he “sometimes just go[es] away” and we see him on the fringes of a party, focused on his phone. Something’s up and she starts to notice but he denies it as we see him doze off into an alternate reality with those metal forehead disks used in past episodes of Black Mirror.
For my money, I bet he’s off in that ‘other world’ cheating on his wife and living an entirely different life. Or maybe the so-called ‘real world’ IS the ‘other world’ he usually escapes to but is now getting tired of. Or maybe it’s something else entirely, this show loves to shock and surprise us.
Smithereens
According to the official synopsis, this episode follows a cab driver with an agenda who becomes the center of attention on a day that rapidly spirals out of control. The trailer begins with the driver listening to a meditation app telling him to “return his attention to the wrath” as he picks up his first fare. Things deteriorate from there though as he seemingly takes the man hostage to make an example of him.
It’s obvious the driver’s agenda has something to do with the evolving role of technology in our world but there’s nothing really concrete there. It definitely seems like he’s not the one pulling the strings of this hostage situation. If I had to guess, Black Mirror is going to try its hand at portraying an ‘online cult’ with Topher Grace’s mysterious character serving as their leader.
Rachel, Jack, and Ashley, Too
Honestly, this trailer has me the most stumped. The synopsis tells us the episode will follow a lonely teenager who yearns to connect with her favorite pop star, whose charmed existence isn’t quite as rosy as it appears. The pop star in question is Miley Cyrus’ Ashley but otherwise, I really don’t know what’s happening in this trailer.
Cyrus’ character is medicated as her team talks about “upping her dose” and we see tests being run on the pop star but that’s about it for her. Well, except for the Ashley Too talking robot doll that Rachel, the episode’s main character gets her hands on. In the end, it seems like Ashley herself is speaking from inside Ashley so, maybe we’ll see the pop star’s consciousness make the jump to a machine?
Black Mirror season 5 hits Netflix on June 5th.
