I think that Black Mirror is quite possibly one of the most relevant TV shows on the planet today. It shows the dangers of technology changing our way of life and also how we have become so dependent on it. I am extremely dependent on it so I am not trying to argue that we should have less of it. Black Mirror for the most part presents a dismal near-future based on the trends that are brought about by technological advances. Some of them hit close to home because the tech in question kind of already exists, just not in the manor they might be describing.
Then Bandersnatch happened. It was the first interactive TV show that I have ever seen.
I'm going to be careful to not give away any spoilers so that is the reason why I am going to speak in generalities. Basically, in this episode it is imperative that you keep your device (or in my case PS4 controller) near you while you are watching because you will make choices for the character throughout the episode.
It starts out as simplistic as choosing a breakfast cereal but of course, the decisions become significantly more important (apparently) as the show goes on. It functions in a similar way to "Choose your own Adventure" books that were wildly popular in the 80's and this is referenced in the show. Sounds fun right? The choices, I have no idea how the outcome can be affected by them because of one glaring problem: The repetition is a bit mind-numbingly boring.
I don't know if there are any "wrong" choices in this episode but what I don't like is the fact that we are continually returned to scenes that we have already seen time and time again. They do a good job of summarizing the repeated parts but that doesn't change the fact that you have already seen the part that you have to see again.
This trailer reveals very little about the plot and I think that was the point because since it is an interactive story I think you have to go in blind. I think it is a novel idea but at the same time I am going to say something here that may not be very popular: I think that most episodes of Black Mirror that we, the users do not have control of, are actually a lot better than Bandersnatch.
I hope that they try this again, maybe... it has to be even more difficult to film something like this than it is to film a "point A to point B" episode. However, in the end I didn't find it nearly as entertaining as I had hoped I would. The repetition of scenes just became a bit arduous to me after the first 20 minutes or so.
I am certain there are many people out there that mapped every possible outcome of the choices you can make, and I think that was the idea of the entire experiment (you'll find out the paradox if you watch the episode) but for me, I found myself just wanting it to end.
On a scale of "urgh" to "wowsers!" I give Bandersnatch a rating of....
