milk

Some people think they’ve spotted a Black Mirror plot hole in Bête Noire involving the almond milk, and to make matters even more confusing, others have suggested it illustrated the entire point of the episode.

In episode two of season seven, we are introduced to Siena Kelly’s Maria who is an RND whizz at a chocolate-making company here in the UK. Things are going great for her until the arrival of Verity, an old school friend she may or may not have started a nasty rumour about. Soon enough, Maria thinks she’s going crazy as an email she remembers writing is changed and a fast food company her boyfriend used to work for has a completely different name.

The moments ultimately culminate in a showdown between Verity and Maria, with the former glugging down almond milk that background character Luisa had been complaining about all episode. When it comes time to watch the CCTV, it’s Maria – the one with the deadly nut allergy – who is drinking it.

People think they’ve spotted a plot hole centered around the milk, but pop a paracetamol as a preventative measure because your head is going to hurt after this one.

 

Some people think it’s a plot hole

Throughout much of episode two, and even before Verity arrives at the office, Luisa is complaining that people are drinking her almond milk throughout the day. One of her coworkers owns up to it at first, but the milk thief’s identity becomes more and more mysterious as the minutes roll on.

Though you could easily argue that the milk thief’s identity is unimportant to the plot, some people on Reddit have claimed that it’s a glaring plot hole that Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker forgot to tie up.

The argument is this: Verity was not at the company when the milk thievery started, and yet, the intense scene that showed her drinking it seemed to suggest it was her the entire time. With no explainer scene to note how and why Verity was drinking the milk the entire time, we viewers are left to speculate.

Others have said it was the whole point of Black Mirror’s Bête Noire

Black Mirror

Personally, I don’t think the milk conundrum is a plot hole in Black Mirror Bête Noire, but it’s always fun to obsess over the tiniest little details.

As we know, the episode dives head first into the confusing theme of alternate realities and quantum mechanics. Through some super computers and a nifty pendant, Verity is able to phase into different realities where what she’s said has always been true. Verity even says she picks realities where “you’re [Maria] the only one who knows what’s going on.”

Because of this, we know that as the viewers we’ve been shifting through realities with Maria and Verity. For that reason, the milk culprit might also have changed; Just because it was Luisa’s co-worker in the first scene doesn’t mean he stole the milk in the other realities.

As one person explained on Reddit: “I love how the two comments posted before me are completely opposite and both completely true: Everyone and no one drank the almond milk. Everything and nothing is true at the same time.”

“No one did. Nothing was real. She manipulated everything,” another said.

Simply put, it doesn’t matter who stole the milk because we *in theory* witnessed a rewriting of reality dozens of times.