#Bandersnatch is frustrating because it gets so close to a great idea but doesn't go there enough. I'm gonna spoil it so don't read on if you haven't seen it yet
Bandersnatch asks you a lot of questions, both thematically and literally. But the one question that sits above it all is the one question that it feels like it already knows the answer to: Can you fight fate?
It ultimately posits that you can't. Oh sure, you're given options, but limited options. By framing your choices as identical the choices in the book/game of Bandersnatch, it's saying that you have as little real control of the outcome as Stefan does.
Obviously this is the nature of the beast, to an extent. You can't have unlimited choice in a thing like this. They can't shoot every single possible thing that could happen.
But, by leaving out an unambiguously happy ending, Bandersnatch leans into this nihilism to the nth degree. It's not enough to show that your choices are limited. It's also saying that you're always heading toward tragedy.
Which, I think, greatly robs the tragedy of its power. The thing that makes tragedy, well, tragic is that it could've been avoided. Sorrow that could've been avoided is tragic. Sorrow that couldn't is unjust.
Which brings me to the "Netflix" ending and what really frustrates me about Bandersnatch: this could've been the good ending.
By allowing you to make choices for Stefan, Bandersnatch makes you a complicit in his torment. But by allowing you to introduce yourself to him, Bandernatch gives you the option to switch sides. To collaborate with him and help him escape.
There's a little bit of this in the Netflix ending, but not nearly enough and the ending is still framed as tragic.
But if Bandersnatch had really committed to the idea of collaboration with Stefan, it could've taken the story to a much more hopeful place and told a much more interesting story.
Because "You can fight fate" is just always going to be a much more meaningful and interesting idea than "You can't fight fate"
