‘Black Mirror’: Topher Grace’s Billy Bauer in “Smithereens” Was First Teased in ‘Bandersnatch’

There’s one name that dominates Black Mirror‘s “Smithereens” and that name is Billy Bauer. The Andrew Scott-starring episode completely revolves around one man’s manic search to talk to the CEO of the tech company Smithereens. But in true Black Mirror form, this isn’t the first time we’ve heard of Topher Grace’s tech head Billy Bauer.

Bauer’s name and his company were first teased in Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, the interactive feature released late last year. One of Bandersnatch‘s endings — the one that involves Stefan (Fionn Whitehead) just about murdering everyone in sight — contains a news report telling the viewer about what happened after Stefan chopped up his dad. That report had several winking nods to past Black Mirror episodes as well as this mysterious report: “Senate Committee grills Smithereens CEO Billy Bauer over Russian bots.”

This is the first time audiences were ever introduced to Billy Bauer, but it’s Topher Grace’s take on the role that cements him as someone worth remembering. Smithereens is essentially Black Mirror‘s answer to Twitter, a social media site that encourages users to post status updates in real time. Grace stars as the seemingly all-important Billy Bauer. However, it’s not just the real Twitter’s problem with trolls and bots that makes this analogy so spot on. It’s Grace’s performance.

Similar to the insane reverence that exists around Silicon Valley‘s Gavin Belson, there’s a lot of hand-wringing throughout “Smithereens” about whether Billy Bauer should even be bothered about the lunatic threatening to murder one of his employees. It’s almost comical. As Damson Idris’ character cowers and begs for his life, a swarm of professionals fret over interrupting the half-naked Billy Bauer from his silent retreat — the most tech CEO activity imaginable. Every action leading up to Bauer picking up the phone is tinged with trepidation and fear. It’s only when the CEO actually talks to Chris (Scott) that the whole facade collapses.

As he listens and bargains with Chris, his godlike exterior disappears. Billy Bauer almost immediately returns to what he actually is, a smart young man who was lifted up too high, too fast. In an especially honest moment, Bauer even confides in Chris that the notification-obsessed Smithereens was never what he envisioned for his company. His idea for the social media site was about simple connection. It was only pushes from marketing and sales that turned it into an attention-seeking behemoth.

Topher Grace brilliantly finds the humanity beneath the monstrous tech minds who now dominate our lives, figures like Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey, the late Steve Jobs, and even Elizabeth Holmes. All were optimists who created something that was supposed to connect us. And in all cases those inventions were pushed wildly beyond what they had ever dreamed, harming real people and altering governments in ways they could never have initially imagined. It’s insane that someone as stilted and rambling as Grace’s Billy Bauer has all of this power. And yet he does.

To Black Mirror‘s enduring credit, the series never lets the fictional Billy Bauer off the hook even during his vulnerable monologue. As Scott’s furious Chris reminds him while fighting back tears, his girlfriend is still dead. He still killed her because he was too distracted by a picture of a dog. A notification still ruined his life.

Ever since Billy Bauer’s name scrawled across the ending of Bandersnatch we knew he’d be a big deal. But no one could have predicted how great Topher Grace would be as a tech bro, or how well this one character would encapsulate the bizarre push and pull of our overpowered modern inventors.

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