This article contains spoilers for theBlack MirrorSeason 4 episode “Metalhead” and Season 6 episode “Demon 79.“Black Mirroris no stranger to Easter eggs. Episodes frequently contain nods to previous installments in the series, though such moments don’t usually signal any deeper meaning than a passing reference. For example, in theBlack MirrorfilmBandersnatch, a video game that appears on screen shares a title with the Season 3 episode, “Nosedive.”
However,the final episode of Season 6, “Demon 79,“might take things a step further. It contains an Easter egg that not only references the popular Season 4 episode “Metalhead” but might also imply a shared universe between the two episodes. This connection, in conjunction with some other significant Easter eggs, may have major implications for the plots of both “Demon 79” and “Metalhead.”
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What Happens in “Demon 79”?
Nida Huq (Anjana Vasan) works at a clothing retailer in Northern England. The year is 1979, and the nation is experiencing an upswing in anti-immigrant sentiment that makes Nida’s life a living hell — that is, before shemeets an actual demon. When her boss sends her to the basement to eat her lunch because her racist coworker Vicky (Katherine Rose Morley) complained about the way her food smells, she discovers (and accidentally bleeds on) a talisman, thereby summoning a demon named Gaap (Paapa Essiedu).
Gaap tells Nida that she must kill three people over the next three days or else witness the end of days. In addition to the world ending, Gaap himself will be cast out into nothingness for all time if he does not help Nida complete her task. At first, she resists, but Nida soon comes to believe that she will indeed bring about the apocalypse should she fail to murder three people in accordance with the rules of the demon authority (one per night, and murderers don’t count for some reason).
In the end, Nida’s final victim — the anti-immigration politician and soon-to-be prime minister Michael Smart (David Shields) — narrowly escapes her, and she ends up in a police interrogation room. Detective Len Fisher (Shaun Dooley) doesn’t believe Nida’s story about the impending apocalypse, only a few minutes beforethe first nuclear bombsfall on England. Gaap appears to Nida one last time, and together they walk off into endless oblivion.
“Metalhead” tells the simple but effective story of a woman (Maxine Peake)on the run from a killer dronein what appears to be a near-future post-apocalyptic wasteland. One of the episode’s most iconic elements is the look and behavior of the drones, called “dogs,” which resemble certain real-life robots. These machines are relentless hunters, chasing down and killing any and every human they come into contact with. The episode implies that they are responsible for the state of its black-and-white, unpeopled world.
The “Metalhead” Easter egg in question occurs about two-thirds of the way through of “Demon 79.” An image of a “dog” flashes on-screen momentarily when Gaap shows Nida a glimpse of the end of what happens should Michael Smart get elected. During the fast-paced montage that ensues, Nida sees an elderly Smart giving a pro-war speech in front of the White Bear symbol from Season 2 (which also features prominently inBandersnatchas a representation of diverging timelines). There’s also a brief shot of a “Metalhead” dog staking through a forest, along with several other unsettling images that imply impending global warfare.
The answer depends on one’s definition of “universe,” as well as, of course, one’s willingness to suspend disbelief. Based on the Easter eggs they drop, the writers ofBlack Mirrorseem to encourage their audience to make connections between not only these episodes,but also “White Bear,“Bandersnatch, and possibly others.
Firstly, it is important to note that the talisman Nida finds has a version of the “White Bear” symbol etched into it. The episode explains this away as a means of counting Nida’s kills, but that doesn’t quite explain why it had two notches when Nida found it or why that same symbol appears behind Smart during his yet-to-come speech. If it does bear a connection to its appearance inBandersnatch, then its presence in the episode could suggestthe existence of multiple timelines.
It is revealed in “Loch Henry” that Michael Smart is directly responsible for the “dogs” seen in “Metalhead.” What’s more, Gaap shows those same drones as a part of his vision of what would happen in the event of Smart’s becoming prime minister. So, it follows that Michael Smart becomes prime minister and deploys killer robot dogs in whichever universe (or universes) “Metalhead” and “Loch Henry” are set in. Additionally, the audience is shown that he gives his speech once his hair has grayed and globaltensions have escalated to the point of war. It is therefore likely that “Metalhead,” and even “Loch Henry,” depict various stages of the apocalypse as shown by Gaap and catalyzed by Michael Smart’s installment as prime minister.
Yet, if this is the future foretold by Gaap, why does the world merely end by way of nuclear bomb? Where is the fire Nida sees in the beginning of the episode? Where are the dogs? It is more than probable that nuclear bombs would detonate worldwide in an event like this,bringing about an early Armageddonwell before Smart grows his first gray hair. Even if the whole world doesn’t end, it’s difficult to imagine that Smart, in his injured state, got clear of the blasts of the several nuclear bombs shown impacting the ground. At best, he was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment, which still places him in the blast zone. He consequently never becomes prime minister, and he never unleashes his robot dogs to bring about the events of “Loch Henry” or “Metalhead.”
There are three main possibilities. The first is that the events of these episodes are not connected in any way. The second is that Michael Smart somehow avoided the nuclear blasts and survived to lead the UK to war using killer drones. The final possibility is that “Metalhead” depicts an alternate timeline that does not end in nuclear destruction in 1979.
At the end of “Demon 79,” Nida sees that the talisman has returned to its mundane appearance — that of a domino. This may imply that she has simply imagined the entire episode, but it might also mean that she did indeed succeed in killing Michael Smart in time. The marks disappear from the talisman well before midnight, which doesn’t seem to line up with the rules laid out by the episode before that point. It would make more sense that they would only disappear once she had either succeeded or failed in killing Smart before midnight. It is entirely conceivable that Smart dies before midnight of the grievous wounds Nida inflicts on him by striking him in the skull with a hammer, triggering the talisman.
Maybe in completing her task, Nida does indeedavoid the hellish apocalypsethat Gaap foresees — the one that entails the unthinkable evil seen in “Loch Henry,” “Metalhead,” and perhaps other episodes. After all, it would fitBlack Mirror’s bleak outlook on the future of human civilization, insinuating that nuclear annihilation is better than allowing the technological abominations of prior episodes become a reality.
This means, of course, that Gaap may be lying when he says he got cast out, but he might also just want to save Nida from death. He also might just be a figment of Nida’s dying mind. Or maybe this theory is a stretch. In the end, it’s up to viewers to decide for themselves how much these episodes intertwine.
