Now, the show has leveled up with its "Bandersnatch" episode, inspired in more ways than one by Lewis Carroll's Until Dawn have been doing this for years, but it’s relatively new for TV.

"Bandersnatch" has been a confounding undertaking for viewers. The genius of the storytelling is undeniable, but the possibilities are so varied that you can get lost for hours chasing them all. Add to that the fact that the filmmakers loaded the episode up with Easter eggs, and you’ve got a journey so full of distraction and misdirection, even committed Black Mirror freaks are bound to have failed to noticed a lot of what the show was hiding in plain sight. Ready to go down the rabbit hole?

Here are 20 Wild Things Fans Completely Missed In Black Mirror: Bandersnatch.

There Really Was a Bandersnatch Game in 1984

Anybody who has already seen "Bandersnatch" knows the episode is so totally meta. It’s not only self-referential to the series, but turns the audience into a central character, and even drags in real-life events into the storyline in cryptic ways. In 1984, a video game company called Imagine Software was working on a game that was supposed to be so amazing, consumers would need extra hardware just to run it. And yes - it was called Bandersnatch. 

Ultimately, the company folded before the game could be released. The date of their demise? July 9^th, 1984, the same day we meet protagonist Stefan Butler in the "Bandersnatch" episode. In all likelihood, series creator Charlie Booker knew about all this, so it’s no coincidence.

White Bear's glyph

"Bandersnatch" deeply involves hardcore Black Mirror fans in a myriad of ways. The Easter eggs planted throughout the episode likely has one of the more powerful subliminal effects. One of the more obvious series stamps in "Bandersnatch" is the familiar glyph which both possibly symbolizes the games “thief-of-destiny” demon Pax, and perhaps a secret conspiracy playing mind control games with Stefan.

If this symbol seems familiar, that’s because this very same glyph was all over the gripping “White Bear” episode, where a mind-control reality show was used as an extremely cruel punishment. Is there a meaningful connection? There’s no way to know yet, but it’s arguable that in both cases, for different reasons, the protagonist is having their “destiny” stolen.

“Fifteen Million Merits” debut

Some of the "Bandersnatch" Easter eggs are tougher to find than others. While some are pretty much thrown in our faces, others are literally hidden in the fine print. Black Mirror aficionados will have to take their memories all the way back to the season one episode, “Fifteen Million Merits”. In this story, people living in a dystopian future are basically life-long slaves forced to generate power for the elite by riding stationary bikes. For this, they collect “merits,” which is a type of currency. For 15 million merits, these slaves can buy a ticket to a talent show as a contestant, which if they win, will award them freedom and luxury.

In one of the "Bandersnatch" endings, a newspaper story about Stefan’s crimes can be seen – and next to it, an ad for the "Fifteen Million Merits" show.

One Ending Makes the Audience the Victim

There are quite a few different endings available for the interactive experience of "Bandersnatch". Audiences spend hours seeking out different pathways to different outcomes. The whole thing can be extremely disorienting. It can make the viewer feel as insane as Stefan Butler feels.

One ending in particular accentuates this point. If you get to the balcony scene, where you get to choose whether either Stefan or Colin will jump off the balcony – and you choose Stefan – you watch him fall to his final fate with a point-of-view camera movement. This subjective lens angle transforms the viewer into the subject. That’s right! If you come to this ending, which is also the end of Stefan’s life, the episode ends with you falling to your demise. Congratulations – the show just took you out permanently!

National Anthem's Callow gets his happy ending

For viewers who go all the way back to the very first episode of Black Mirror, this one will bring back some pretty gross memories. In “National Anthem,” PM Michael Callow of England is blackmailed into performing a truly gross act with a barnyard animal – namely, a pig-- and he has to do it on national television.

It was a funny concept until the moment of truth arrived, with riveted viewers drunkenly watching the whole thing as if it were an exciting soccer match. In one of the flash-forward endings in "Bandersnatch", the daughter of slain developer Colin Ritman is being interviewed for her remake of the lost adventure game. If you look at the crawl on the bottom of the screen, it says “Former PM Michael Callow Wins Celebrity Bake Off.” So there is life after pigs after all!

Saint Juniper's

Easily one of the most beloved episodes of Black Mirror is the lovely “San Junipero”. While most entries in the anthology’s universe ends up in tragedy, madness or absolute despair, this romantic tale actually ended with an unforgettable storybook moment. It was quite the thing to pull off with the show’s cynical fan base, but it worked: true, eternal love was indeed alive in the digital realm.

How does this sweet corner of this dark series end up in "Bandersnatch?" The name of the medical building Stefan reports to for therapy sessions is “Saint Juniper’s," which is the English translation of “San Junipero.” Is there a message here? Perhaps not, but if anybody can be healed on this crazy series, it would be in a place with that name!

“Playtest”

This is a strange entry, for which fans will need to flash back to an older episode of Black Mirror. “Playtest” stars Wyatt Russell (of Overlord fame) as a video game tester who is taken into a virtual reality of his own private hell. Viewers looking closely will notice that Russell’s character peruses a copy of the British video game periodical Edge Magazine. The cover promises a review of a hot new game called – wait for it – Bandersnatch!

Was this foreshadowing the new episode? Are there other pre-loaded Easter eggs floating around the Black Mirror universe? The mind reels at the possibilities!

Space fleet

Once again, we look to the possible ending where Stefan has been caught or a crime, and the story of his evil deeds appears in a newspaper. There, next to his picture, is a blurb for a television show called Space Fleet. If that feels like more than just a cosmic coincidence, it’s because that’s the name of the outer-space TV series in the “USS Callister” episode.

As a reminder, that’s the one where a virtual shared universe based on a close facsimile of Star Trek is run by a maniacal tech nerd. By “cloning the souls” of his coworkers, he traps these digital consciousnesses as subject to his every whim.

Metlhedd

One of the most viscerally thrilling episodes of Black Mirror is “Metalhead”, helmed by "Bandersnatch" director David Slade. The premise of this black and white tale could not be simpler: in a dystopian future, a woman is on the run from a relentless mechanical hunter. Think of it like The Terminator, only instead of an android, it’s a dog-sized robot. Make no mistake, though, it’s just as dangerous and unstoppable as the Cyberdyne Systems Model 101!

This "Bandersnatch" Easter egg is probably the easiest to spot. A huge poster of a video game hangs prominently on the walls of Tuckersoft – called “Metl Hedd” – and features the metallic pooch. We even get a glimpse of the game in action and it looks like a perfect 8-bit rendition of the episode’s protagonist and enemy.

Granular drones

Imagine that a swarm of bees is coming at you, massing to attack and do great harm upon your person. Now imagine those tiny flying creatures aren’t bees at all, but little drones with AI programmed to eliminate you. That’s pretty much the premise of Black Mirror’s “Hated in the Nation” episode. It’s a scary bit of business as the artificial insects can get to you even in a sealed house by seeking out cracks to get through.

In "Bandersnatch," we get to see the company name – Granular – scrawl by beneath that same news report that has Colin’s daughter featured developing the new Bandersnatch game. So next time you hear buzzing coming from a flower patch, be careful! The future is coming!