Black Mirror's fourth season hasn't even aired yet, but fans are already starting to parse
out Easter eggs from the preview.
And if it's anything like the seasons before it, the new season should be filled with them.
But before we get to the new season, let's take a look back at some of the most interesting
references Black Mirror has made so far.
The Waldo Moment
Black Mirror Easter eggs first started appearing in Season 2's "The Waldo Moment," the story
of a failed comedian whose character becomes the face of global movement after a talk show
outburst.
The episode harks back to the very first Black Mirror installment, "The National Anthem,"
which was infamous for the scene in which British Prime Minister Michael Callow has,
um, intimate relations with a pig on live television in order to save the life of a
kidnapped royal.
Naturally, both episodes feature a lot of news reports, and "The Waldo Moment" marked
the first time fictional network UKN reappeared — the channel that beamed Pig-gate across
the nation and around the world.
Look a little closer, and you'll notice both episodes also feature the same news bulletin
declaring that an unrelated character has been "cleared of wrongdoing following paparazzi
scuffle."
"The Waldo Moment" also contains an Easter egg linking it with "Fifteen Million Merits,"
which featured characters trying to escape the life of an energy production drone by
winning a talent competition.
In that episode, contestant Abi Khan failed to impress the judges with her vocals, but
they did envision a future for in the adult film industry.
"So to be a singer, you gotta be truly exceptional."
"Yeah."
As a wink to that development, in "The Waldo Moment," a digital billboard shot of her can
be seen next to an image of Waldo.
White Christmas
A few months before Mad Men's final episodes aired, actor Jon Hamm decided to hop from
the '60s business world into the dystopian future by way of Black Mirror's holiday episode,
"White Christmas."
In the episode, he plays a man with a much more sordid past than Dick Whitman who's cooperating
with police on another case to get his own criminal sentence reduced.
As he makes acquaintances with another character, we get some smalltalk containing a wink to
his star-making role.
"My job was completely different.
You'll never guess what that was."
"Marketing?"
And that wasn't the only interesting reference of the episode.
The other character flips past an advertisement for the "Fifteen Million Merits" program Hot
Shots, and there's a karaoke scene that features the same song that Abi performed in the talent
show.
Meanwhile, one of Hamm's online cohorts goes by the screen name Pie Ape, which was that
episode's slang for a fat person — and another is named Waldo.
Meanwhile, fictional news network UKN makes another comeback in the episode, this time
to inform viewers that the court has rejected an appeal of Victoria Skillane.
You might remember her as the woman from Season 2's "White Bear" who has her memory wiped
nightly and is forced to relive a single day of torment indefinitely as punishment for
her part in the demise of a child.
"White Christmas" might have seemed like a Santa-friendly episode, but the showrunners
were clearly working with the Easter bunny to make all these references.
Nosedive
Another nod to the disgraced Prime Minister arrives in Season 3's premiere episode "Nosedive."
The episode is a satire about a social media climber who's terribly obsessed with the popularity
of an old friend.
As she checks her profile, we see a status update from Michael Callow pop up, which reveals
that he's "just gotten thrown out of the zoo again."
Looks like they don't trust him around livestock anymore.
Later, when Lacie is forced to ride a bus with fans of a show called Sea of Tranquility,
it's also a reminder of the inaugural episode, because one of the show's special effects
designers was hired by Callow's team to try and come up with a digital swine solution.
Playtest
Season 3's "Playtest" centers on an American backpacker who takes part in a test run of
a new virtual reality horror game at a site just outside of London.
Cooper is given the inside track on the gaming company by British hook-up Sonja, who's played
by an actress from "Fifteen Million Merits."
Later, the same symbol that appears on the mask of the armed hunter throughout "White
Bear" can be seen on one of the discs that later turn to gopher holes as part of the
whack-a-mole style warm-up game.
Sonja also shows him a copy of EDGE magazine with the gaming company's founder, Shou Saito,
on the cover.
Easter egg hunters were quick to point out the block of text located in the bottom corner
of the page that advertises an article about Granular, the company behind the AI bees that
run amok in the Season 3 finale, "Hated in the Nation."
Meanwhile, the words at the top of the page refer to the virtual consciousness company
TCKR.
Shut Up and Dance
Season 3's "Shut Up and Dance" followed the plight of Kenny, who's coerced into committing
various crimes by hackers who are blackmailing him.
While he's being threatened by text, you can clearly see a sticker of our cartoon friend
Waldo lurking on his desk.
And when another target of the hackers opens a webpage to a story about her leaked private
emails, you can see several callbacks to prior episodes on-screen.
First, there's the shamed former Prime Minister from the series premiere in the side column,
announcing his divorce.
And just below him is a courtroom sketch of Victoria Skillane from Season 2.
Above that, there's also an ad for "One Smart Cookie" and the "kitchen tech of tomorrow,"
is a clear callback to the "White Christmas" special where computer-generated versions
of people are created to serve their host's every need.
And above that there's a mention of the talent competition from "15 Million Merits."
Last but not least, there's also a familiar bank logo in the episode.
The bank Kenny robs appears to be a branch of the same company that failed to dispense
Cooper's flight money in "Playtest."
Perhaps more interestingly, the logo also greatly resembles the one that appears on
the military uniforms and equipment in "Men Against Fire," which is a pretty deep piece
of commentary on the profitability of war.
Hated in the Nation
During the episode "Hated in the Nation," policewoman Karin Parke watches a UKN news
report, and along the bottom of the screen runs a headline announcing the US military's
approval of the MASS Project, the implants that allow the soldiers to take out targets
in cold blood in "Men Against Fire".
It also tells us that cookies have finally been given human rights protections, which
is welcome news after everything that went down in "White Christmas."
Meanwhile, the story centers on a madman's plot to use artificially intelligent pollination
bees to assassinate people of the public's hashtag choosing — and who else do they
want eliminated but Michael Callow himself.
Meanwhile, some people are pleading for Victoria Skillane's freedom, while others want her
in the ground.
Interestingly, it turns out Karen's new partner Blue Coulson was instrumental in taking down
Skillane's boyfriend, Ian Rannoch.
The news also mentions that the gaming company from "Playtest" is revealed to be under investigation
over the disappearance of a tourist.
That's a clear reference to our poor pal Cooper.
And Victoria Skillane has attempted her end her own life after continuing to be incarcerated
at White Bear.
Yikes.
Here's hoping Season 4 is as loaded with callbacks as what we've seen so far!
Thanks for watching!
Click the Looper icon to subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Plus check out all this cool stuff we know you'll love, too!