All The Different “Black Mirror: Bandersnatch” Endings, Ranked
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Image: Netflix
There are 12 possible endings to Netflix Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, and you only die in two of them! You can create an ending where you successfully produce a blockbuster five-star video game hit, you can kill and dismember fellow cast members, or you could have sexy combat with your attractive therapist. None of these result in objectively “happy” endings. But we’ve gone through each outcome and ranked every possible Bandersnatch ending below, along with the steps you need to take to achieve each one.
NOTE: There are Bandersnatch spoilers in this article — it is nothing but Bandersnatch spoilers! We navigated through each ending with the story flow chart from Reddit user Alpine seen below (There are also versions here and here, but we found Alpine’s to be most reliable) to rank each possible ending or “reset” from worst to best outcome. But we only explain the endings; the acting, cinematography, and other beautiful directorial touches will still be revelations along your Bandersnatch journey.
Choice is an illusion #Bandersnatch pic.twitter.com/3KiEiMxtww
— zebra baby (@TotallyMiggy) December 29, 2018
12, 11, 10. BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF YOUR COMPUTER
Never choose the Destroy Computer option! It’s the 80s, people, there are no “cloud” backups. Three separate and very lame endings result from choosing Destroy Computer or Throw Tea Over Computer. You lose everything you’ve done and Bandersnatch is finished. Game Over, man.
There are a couple times when these are Stefan’s only two options. Then you’re fucked. There’s also one scenario where he ignores both commands and you get to keep playing.
9. TAKE PILLS AS ORDERED, SUCCEED BUT SUCK AT LIFE
One extremely boring path allows you to keep Stefan’s life sane and homicide-free. Take the pills when instructed like a good little boy, and enable the Powers That Be to control you. But you’ll end up a shitty programmer and the game will ask you to try again from the top.
8. ACCEPT JOB ON FIRST OFFER, BE TERRIBLE AT IT, START OVER
This is technically not an ending, but a “reset”; the interface automatically reboots you back to the to the start in a fairly clever way. You may have encountered this one pretty early on, and it’s a clever tone-setter that gives you the gist of this 80s gamer alternate universe.
stefan after i chose colin to jump off the balcony:#Bandersnatch pic.twitter.com/64zgzE76a5
— kristin (@kristinjacksonn) December 30, 2018
7. TAKE ACID, JUMP OFF A BUILDING, DIE
This is not a particularly great ending, because it results in a pretty short Bandersnatch episode viewing. But you do at least get to do some acid and enjoy a trippy scene before plummeting to your own death.
6. DIE SUBCONSCIOUSLY IN YOUR THERAPIST’S CHAIR
I suppose there is some emotional resolution here what with the whole mom-dying subtext, but this fairly lame ending does at least give you that visually fantastic “go through the mirror” scene that is not available in many of these plotlines.
5. KILL DAD, TURN YOURSELF IN, GO OUT UNSPECTACULARLY
You definitely get a rollicking ending in this version, even if turning yourself in seems like a shitty plot ending. But this course of events benefits tremendously from the humorous detail of the dog finding the dad’s corpse, a clever reference to a bit of dialog from early in the episode.
4. THE SHITTY ‘WE WERE ACTORS ALL ALONG’ ENDING
It is generally weak as fuck when Hollywood pulls the whole “Oh, back to reality, we were just actors on a set the whole time” bullshit. And this ending is as feeble as it sounds, but offers one of the only plotlines with the extremely funny and ingenious “Netflix meta conversation” scene.
3. KICK-ASS FIGHT SCENE WITH YOUR THERAPIST AND YOUR DAD
Everyone goes completely out of character here, and it makes little logical sense for the tenor of this show to go all Marvel Cinematic Universe on you. But it is totally fun to watch, and highly recommended if you’re a fan of the therapist character.
Will Poulter was *excellent* in #Bandersnatch. Actually, he carried the film. It was only interesting during his screen time. pic.twitter.com/H0fEck7RCo
— Kim Love (@kimmaytube) December 30, 2018
2. KILL MORE PEOPLE, RUIN THE COMPANY, GO TO JAIL
OK yes obviously this is a very depressing ending. But it there is some satisfaction that you brought the company down with you, and this version contains the most of Colin (actor Will Poulter), who is just phenomenal. You even get the option to kill Colin here — intentionally, not as an acid dare — and there are other homicidal options too if maximum body count is your thing.
#Bandersnatch summarized:
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bad decision bad decision— ʙʟᴀɴᴄ (@yagmsy) December 28, 2018
1. MAKE A PERFECT VIDEO GAME BUT CHOP UP YOUR FATHER
There is one and only one option your game receives the full five-star rating! But for this outcome, it is necessary that you not only kill your father but also chop him up. Stefan suffers a pretty awful fate in a ‘third chapter’ afterwards, but then another ‘fourth chapter’ kicks in to make this ending extremely satisfying.
You can get this ending by following the plotline that gets to “Bandersnatch gets 5 out of 5 stars. Credits.” on this chart.
