Black Mirror’s choose-your-own-adventure Christmas Special has dropped and the reviews are in. The trouble is, with over a trillion combinations to choose from, no two critics would have had the same experience watching. Perhaps this is why the reviews are so polarized. Here’s what they said.
The Guardian
“There are apparently five endings to Bandersnatch, to which I think I’ve seen three or four. One ending is bleak. One is hilarious. One is abrupt and creepy. You can speed through the episode in less than 40 minutes, or splash around and take closer to two hours. By the time I’d finished exploring, I was left with a profound feeling of satisfaction, as if Black Mirror had prodded me towards the ending it felt was best. Which makes sense because, after all, free will is an illusion.”
Variety
“Invention solely for its sake is dreary and surprisingly unimaginative; of all the things Black Mirror could be doing, this seems, sadly, to have been the wrong path, one the show would be well served by ditching and starting its story as close to completely anew as it can. “
Indie Wire
“In no way is Stefan the most compelling protagonist in Black Mirror history, but in delving into everything Brooker is using him to say (and the ways in which Brooker is using him to do it), Bandersnatch becomes a hard-to-define, but impossible to forget, experience.”
The Telegraph
“In giving the viewer a smattering of choice, Black Mirror‘s most disturbing episode yet argues forcefully that none of us are really in control of anything.”
