Black Mirror season 4 easter eggs that confirm it's a shared universe
Creator Charlie Brooker stated the series is 'probably all in the same psychological universe'
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Though Black Mirror has thrived in its anthology structure, essentially offering collections of short films that viewers can dip in and out of as they please, in the tradition of The Twilight Zone, no one in 2017 can resist a good shared universe.
It's nothing the show's ever openly advertised, leaving it to fans to scour shots for small hints and easter eggs that carefully tie these seemingly disparate stories together. When directly asked about the topic by Thrillist, creator Charlie Brooker even shied away from the notion.
"I've read a couple things where people have tried to work out whether this whole thing is set in one coherent universe, and my view is, if they want to believe that, that's fine," he said. "But I don't approach it that way, any more than The Twilight Zone was set in one coherent universe. It's probably all in the same psychological universe."
Arkangel
The episode introduces us to a specific kind of technology that may seem a little familiar, allowing digital recording of events we witness through our eyes to be stored and archived on a "memory wheel", with those archives looking almost identical to those in season 1 episode "The Entire History of You". Are they meant to be two different iterations of the very same tech?
When demonstrating the Arkangel's censorship capabilities, a clip from season 3's "Men Against Fire" is shown, as an example of witnessing violence.
Crocodile
The hotel's On-Demand Video selection features the title "Best Of Wraith Babes", a reference to the porn channel which offers a central plot point in the season 1 episode "Fifteen Million Merits".
Irma Thomas' "Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand)" is played from a car during the pizza truck accident. The same song is performed by Abi on Hot Shot in "Fifteen Million Merits", is a karaoke track in "White Christmas", and is sung by Raiman in "Men Against Fire".
A postcard from San Junipero also appears.
USS Callister
The receptionist at Daley and Walton's company is shown using the same dating app as "Hang the DJ".
Black Museum
The episode is the strongest hint at a shared universe yet, since Rolo Haynes' artefacts are swiped from past episodes: the hunter's outfit from "White Bear", the Arkangel tablet from "Arkangel", the DNA-scanning machine from "USS Callister", the bloodstained bathtub from "Crocodile", and a robotic bee from "Hated in the Nation".
Nish (Letitia Wright) at one point mentions, "like when they upload people to the cloud" when Haynes is boasting about one of his inventions, a clear reference to season 3's "San Junipero", while the company that created San Junipero (TCKR) is also mentioned. "Fifteen Million Merits" also appears as a graphic novel.
When Nish enters the museum, you can see the police photo of Victoria Skillane, from season 2's "White Bear".
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