WARNING: Spoilers ahead for Black Mirror season 7, episode 2.
Black Mirrorseason 7 is one of the show’s most creative and boundary-pushing yet, and the second episode, “Bete Noire,” is a perfect example of that. The story follows a young woman who works at a food development company and begins to realize that her old school friend Verity is changing reality to make her seem mentally unstable. This revelation is one ofBlack Mirrorseason 7’s best twists, and there’s a lot of setup to make it more believable.
When rewatching the episode, audiences who pay attention to Verity’s mannerisms will notice that every time she reaches for her necklace during the story, she speaks something into existence.It’s a small detail that merely seems like a nervous habit at first, but a second watch will make everything much clearer. While episodes like“Common People” have a more high-profile cast, “Bete Noire” has some of the best attention to detail.
11Verity Gets Herself Into The Tasting Focus Group
She Presumably Changed The Guest List
While this moment isn’t actually shown on-screen, it’s safe to assume that Verity used her dimension-jumping device to get herself on the list for Maria’s focus group.This is the first time that the pair have seen each other since their days at school, so it makes sense that Verity would use this as a subtle meeting place where she could scout out Maria’s workplace without making her classmate feel suspicious. It’s just unlikely enough to be plausible without being too much of a coincidence.
10Verity Change’s The Groups’ Opinions On The Chocolate
She Suggests That They Try The Sample Again
While taking part in the focus group, Verity suggests that the others try the chocolate once more after they’ve claimed they don’t like it. She claims that “it definitely grows on you”and that “the second time, it’s ten times better.”
These simple phrases are enough to convince her fellow tasters that Maria’s chocolate is actually much better than they remember, and it’s the first noticeable clue that something isn’t quite right with her character. It’s small hints like these that make “Bete Noire” one ofBlack Mirrorseason 7’s best episodes.
9Verity Creates A Vacancy At The Company
She Wants To Get Closer To Maria
The first time that Maria and Verity interact is in the bathroom following the focus group, and their conversation is filled with subtle clues that Verity is manipulating her old classmate.The first thing about Maria’s life that she directly changes is the company vacancy, which she claims to be considering.
It’s not obvious that anything has changed at that moment, but the effects of Verity’s command soon become clear.
When Maria corrects her and claims there aren’t any openings, Verity reaches for her necklace and claims “it said on the website there was a vacancy.” It’s not obvious that anything has changed at that moment, but the effects of Verity’s command soon become clear.
8Verity Lies About Her Accomplishments During The Interview
She Makes Up A Story About Attending Cambridge University
The cast ofBlack Mirror’s “Bete Noire”does a great job of layering their performances so that certain details aren’t obvious at first, but these little mannerisms make themselves much clearer on a rewatch. For example,the way Verity plays with her necklace seems innocent at first, but it’s interesting to see how frequently she does it when audiences have learned the story’s big twist. During her interview, she activates the remote while she tells the recruiter all about her first-class biochemistry degree from Cambridge and catering lessons from Oxford Brookes University.
7Verity Changes The Name Of Bernie’s Chicken
She Begins To Play With Maria’s Perception Of Reality
While it’s obvious before now that something isn’t right with Verity, it’s not until the conversation about Bernie’s chicken that Maria realizes just how much she’s being manipulated by the new hire. When one of their colleagues claims that Bernie’s is actually called Barnie’s, Verity plays along and activates her remote to retroactively change the name of the fast food chain. While this moment blends in with all the other clues on a first watch, it stands out upon a rewatch becauseit’s one of the few manipulations that Verity didn’t plan; she just went along with her colleague’s mistake.
6Verity Mixes Up Carrageenan With Non-Pork Gelatin
She Starts To Get Maria In Trouble At Work
It’s not revealed untilthe end of “Bete Noire”that Verity is actually changing reality in real-time, but the carrageenan mix-up is the first objective clue where audiences can rewind and see that events are being changed to fit Verity’s account After Maria gives her strict instructions to use carrageenan in the recipe, an animal-free food additive,Verity twists her words and convinces everybody that she merely specified pork-free. This gets Maria in serious trouble at work and brings the facade and friendliness between the two women crashing down.
5Verity Tricks Their Boss Into Thinking Maria Was Shouting
She Continues Making Maria An Unwitting Workplace Villain
In the same conversation, Verity reaches for her remote as she pleads with Maria “Please stop shouting at me.” Although their conversation had been fairly calm, their boss quickly responds by agreeing with Verity that Maria’s tone had been aggressive.
This continues Verity’s trend of gaslighting Mariainto thinking she’s losing touch with reality, which is ultimately what caused her previous victim to end her own life. This is only a subtle use of the device, but it’s one that strongly affects Maria’s ability to keep her composure.
4Verity Creates A Team Meeting From Thin Air
She Tricks Maria Into Thinking She Missed An Email
After walking into the kitchen and realizing that she and Maria are the only people in there, Verity takes this opportunity to play with her victim even further. She bends reality so that Gabe and the rest of her colleagues are having an important meeting that she didn’t realize was happening, making her even more confused and worsening her reputation at the company.
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Many ofBlack Mirror’s best episodesdeal with the catastrophic, often world-ending possibilities of technology. However. what’s so great about “Bete Noire” is thatmany of Verity’s manipulations are only minor things that affect Maria alone.
3Verity Convinces Her Colleagues That Maria Drank The Milk
She Finally Brings Down The Curtain In Front Of Maria
Following their dispute about the team meeting, Verity finally breaks character and gives Maria a brief glimpse of her true personality. After opening up to her old classmate about the bullying that she suffered at school,Verity punishes her by drinking all the milk out of the fridgeand then changing reality so the CCTV footage shows Maria stealing the drink. This is the first time that Verity lets her friendly mask slip, and it’s one of the episode’s creepiest moments.
2Verity Erases The Concept Of A Nut Allergy
She Makes Maria’s Colleagues Think She’s Losing Her Mind
When Maria finally loses her cool after seeing the CCTV footage of their kitchen conflict, Verity pushes her even further by convincing the others that there’s no such thing as a nut allergy. It’s an unnecessary detail that makes Maria look completely unstable, but it’s clear from Verity’s face that she’s starting to have fun and discover how far she can push Maria before she breaks. Incidentally,this is the moment that Maria realizes how Verity is manipulating reality, causing her to break into her house in the final moments of the episode.
