Wildly Convincing Black Mirror Fan Theories That Somehow Make The Show Even Crazier

Redditor nathanlunn68's theory is actually quite simple; as his TL;DR says, "Rolo Haynes (the Black Museum’s owner) is the metaphorical narrator of the Black Mirror series. Each episode is his explanation of an artifact in his Museum." So each artifact in the "Black Museum" is associated with an episode in the series, and represents the narrative of that episode.

Redditor thisisforscienceonly is not alone in believing Dr. Dawson to be the real murderer of the weather girl (as the comments make clear), but the user's theory on what is going on withing Season 4's "Black Museum" episode is presented well:

"I think that Dr. Dawson is the one who murdered the weather girl.

We first hear about the weather girl's disappearance when Dawson is watching TV, contemplating hurting himself.

For the theory to work it means either A) he starts hurting himself after he killed her,

or B) it's from Douglas Hodge, the museum director's perspective, so the whole timeline could be a bit faulty on his part. Maybe the self mutilation, then kidnapping of weather girl happened, and finally murder of the homeless man, but of course Hodge wouldn't have known all of this, so that's why the story is portrayed differently.

In the monkey story the news report discusses that the weather girl had been mutilated, which ties in with Dawson's whole 'pain = pleasure' thing.

It's strongly alluded that Clayton was innocent, as there had been DNA tampering, and he just didn't seem to have a motive of any kind."

"15 Million Merits" is the source of much debate within the Black Mirror universe, one that many are coming to see as a shared universe with a specific timeline (just not in the order the episodes are presented). Kally-0 believes "15 MM" is a reality within the universe (not a show or work of fiction within the universe as some believe). Here's the Redditor's breakdown:

"All episodes seem to fit into three general eras:

• Current day with 'experimental tech' (e.g. 'National Anthem,' 'Shut up and Dance,' 'Waldo Moment').
• Near future episodes with advanced technology within cultures that take these technologies as the norm (e.g. 'Nosedive,' 'Entire History of You,' 'White Christmas').
• Apocalyptic episodes (e.g. 'Men Under Fire,' 'Metalhead').

My theory is that 15 MM is contemporary with the 'Nosedive' era, but the people in it are the British working classes and/or underclasses. I propose that 15 MM actually takes place in a futuristic form of a Victorian workhouse, where the unemployed are used as a cheap, renewable power source in exchange for shelter and food. Of course this is a depressing system, so the use of 'merits' and reality TV shows like 'Hot Shots' are used as a way to give these working classes false hope of escaping to a better life."

Redditor BlackHolePizza, like many others, believes Black Mirror takes place in a single universe, but notes a couple exceptions, namely, that the episodes "15 Million Merits" and "Men Against Fire" are actually shows within said universe:

"In 'Arkangel,' we see an example of violent imagery on TV, and it's literally just a scene from 'Men Against Fire' (rather than some sort of news coverage of the 'war').

And in 'Black Museum,' we see someone reading '15 Million Merits' as a graphic novel. We know 'Hot Shots' and 'Wraith Babes' exist in the Black Mirror universe (given the references to them in 'Crocodile' and other episodes), and '15 Million Merits' is probably some writer's 'Black Mirror' take on it."

Miranda Katz of Wired makes a cogent, meticulous argument explaining the soul of Black Mirror: it's a show about the inevitable singularity, the point of no return when artificial intelligence becomes so it advanced it dictates the course of events forever after. She points to a scene in "Playtest" that shows Sonja has a book on the singularity. Spider-webbing from there she speculates what the show as a whole is driving toward:

"[The episodes of Series 4] grapple obsessively with the notion of the human mind: uploading it; infiltrating it; probing its memories; preserving it after death. Though the show has flirted with digital consciousness in the past, most notably with its mind-bending 'White Christmas' special and the series three darling, 'San Junipero,' the new season takes up the thought experiment with zeal. Black Mirror’s episodes still stand well enough on their own, but after this latest installation, it’s possible to zoom out and see a cohesive rumination on the implications of digital immortality...

So as we interpret Black Mirror as a cautionary tale about online dating and robot guard dogs and myriad technologies, let’s not lose sight of its larger message: A reminder to center our humanity as we speed toward a world in which that becomes harder and harder to define."

A Redditor has come up with a theory laying out some context for a very early installment of Black Mirror — the second episode of the first season entitled "15 Million Merits." This Redditor believes the people living in that purgatory-like reality are imprisoned there for breaking either laws or societal norms, and being outcast:

"Black Mirror is all about public humiliation for punishment right? ('White Bear,' 'Shut up & Dance,' etc.) So what if the place where the people live in '15 Million Merits' is a housing / job situation (they live there for free and get paid in 'credits,' for riding bikes for no reason but monotony and to force them to want something more out of life) for people who have been 'blocked' by everyone because of some crime? So then if they make it 'out' they are serving a purpose by providing entertainment for everyone and the block gets removed and then the whole world can see them."