Picture: Siena Kelly as Maria in Black Mirror – Netflix
For anyone confused about the ending to the second episode of season 7 of Black Mirror, then allow us to try and help. We’re also covering the remaining episodes of Black Mirror season 7, but here is the ending explained to Bête Noire.
Bête Noire was directed by Toby Haynes and was written by Charlie Brooker. It starred Siena Kelly as Maria, and Rose McEwen as Verity.
The episode centers around Maria, a confectionary wizard, and her company’s star employee. However, her world is turned upside down when Verity, a former classmate, joins the company.
Bête Noire Ending Explained
With Maria being gaslit for the majority of the episode, we, the audience, were being gaslit into questioning whether Maria was a reliable narrator or not. However, Maria’s suspicions about Verity somehow manipulating all of the strange events at work were, in fact, correct.
By following Verity home, Maria discovered that she was living in a large and beautiful mansion, which was certainly not affordable on an R&D assistant’s salary. Inside Verity’s bedroom, there were several pictures and a portrait, showcasing that Verity had led several different lives, such as dating Harry Styles, being a world-renowned fashion designer, an astronaut, a gold medal winning olympian, and what would later be revealed the empress of the universe.
After Maria gave herself away while hiding under Verity’s bed, the pair had a dramatic confrontation. Verity revealed that all of Maria’s suspicions were true and that she had developed a Quantum Compiler that allowed her to use the infinite timelines to bend reality to her will. After leading many different lives and experiencing all there was to be had by using her Quantum Compiler, Verity could never get over her childhood trauma, so she took to hunting down and ruining the lives of those responsible for her terrible high-school experience. It took her five weeks to break Natalie, who revealed to Verity that Maria was responsible for starting the rumour, even if it began as a joke that the other schoolkids ran with.
Picture: Rose McEwen as Verity in Bête Noire, episode 2 of season 7 of Black Mirror – Netflix
Verity almost got away with her manipulation by changing reality so that armed police had arrived at her property, ready to arrest Maria, who now had a knife in her hand. However, in Verity’s moment of smug victory, Maria was able to get hold of one of the police officer’s guns and shot Verity in the head, killing her. Taking advantage of the chaos, she could use Verity’s fingerprint to control it herself as Verity was still holding onto the pendant. From there, Maria could bend reality to her will to get out of being arrested, and in a state of panic, used the pendant to make herself the empress of the universe. This change thrust her onto the podium of a vast arena, adorned in a regal attire and adored by the masses below her.
Picture: Maria, the new Empress of the Universe – Netflix
How much did Verity manipulate?
The changes at the start are subtle, but Verity uses her pendant to do the following:
- To make the miso jam Hucklebuck taste better; it should have been a failure.
- To create the assistant R&D job.
- She gave herself all the qualifications, knowledge, and experience needed for the fabricated role.
- Made incredible flapjacks for the office which everyone loved.
- Changed Barnie’s to Bernie’s.
- Manipulated Maria’s email to say “non-pork gelatine.”
- It made Gabe believe that Maria had “raised her voice,” shouting in the meeting.
- There was no team meeting at 8 am.
- She moved the “team meeting” email into Maria’s junk folder.
- She changed the cameras so that Maria was drinking the Almond milk.
- A subtle change not addressed is the “Oattacular” branding on Nick’s computer, likely due to Verity’s flapjacks being made into a product.
- Removed the existence of nut allergies.
Easter Eggs
- Shut Up and Dance (S3 Episode 3) – Barnie’s Chicken is the restaurant where Kenny worked.
- Plaything (S7 Episode 4) – The Ditta building is opposite Tuckersoft.
- Striking Vipers (S5 Episode 1) – Maria’s boyfriend is using a headset to play his VR game like in Striking Vipers.
- Men Against Fire (S5 Episode 3) – Raimon is the name of Madeline Brewer’s character in Men Against Fire, which is the name of the Almond Milk causing controversy in the office.
- White Bear (S2 Episode 2) – Maria and Verity attended Colworth Manor High, and Colworth is the name of a village where they filmed White Bear.
What did you think of the episode Bête Noire? Let us know in the comments below!
Rating: TV-MA
