Villainous therapist Dr. R. Haynes
Dr. R. Haynes (Alice Lowe) is a villainess from the 2018 Netflix film Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, the first film in the Black Mirror series (airdate December 28, 2018).
Introduction[]
Dr. R. Haynes was introduced as the therapist to the film's protagonist, Stefan Butler, who was presumably brought into therapy to deal with the trauma of his mother's death in a train accident when he was a child. Throughout most of the film's potential plot threads, Haynes appears to be a genial and compassionate therapist, wishing to help Stefan cope and providing support as his mental health begins to decline. However, two plot lines have Haynes appearing as a villainess.
Heel Turn[]
The film's plot had Stefan (a programmer) working to adapt the infamous Jerome F. Davies' fantasy novel, Bandersnatch, into a choose-your-own-adventure video game; a process that has him meeting famous game programmer Colin Ritman. During a conversation the men having after taking drugs, Colin rants about how everyone is being controlled and compares them to the Pac-Man video game, citing that "pac" stands for "Program and Control" and that the government was controlling everyone while making them believe everyone believe they have free will. While Stefan initially disbelieves Colin, it is possible for Stefan to uncover a secret later on: PAC was a legitimate government conspiracy, with Haynes and Stefan's "father" Peter being a part of the conspiracy.
Stefan uncovers evidence to Peter's involvement in the plot against him in his office, which includes documents about PAC and video tapes of his sessions with Dr. Haynes; revealing her as a conspirator. Peter catches Stefan, who goes to kill his alleged father with an ash tray before waking up in bed, having awoken from the timeline into a different one, where he goes through with killing Peter after confronting him on having worked with Haynes to control him using drugs and mental manipulation (among other things). After the murder, Stefan attempts to call Haynes, only to find the number (which he recalled through the numbers Haynes spoke about during their sessions) to be unavailable. In this plotline, Dr. Haynes' fate is left unknown.
Alternate Reality Heel Turn[]
Dr. Haynes' film-within-a-film heel turn
Another plot thread has Dr. Haynes appearing as a villainess in what is ultimately revealed to be a movie, which had Stefan coming to Haynes after receiving a message from someone in the future telling him he was being controlled by them via Netflix (a meta nod to the film's status as an interactive Netflix movie).
After learning about what Stefan was experiencing, Haynes questioned the validity of Stefan's claim by asking why his life would be so ordinary and "boring" if he were truly in a movie. In response, Stefan splashed Haynes' coffee in her face before beginning to ransack her office, to which Haynes turned heel by producing a pair of batons. The evil Haynes then snarled at Stefan, referring to him as "mommy's boy" and challenging him to fight her. In the event that the viewer chooses to have Stefan flee to the window rather than fight his therapist, someone off-screen will yell cut; revealing that Haynes and Stefan were both actors performing a scene for a movie, with Stefan's actor Mike proving to be unstable and believing himself to truly be Stefan. The scene can also become part of the story's true events if the player has Stefan fight against his therapist, with Stefan knocking his villainous therapist unconscious before being dragged from the office by Peter.
Trivia[]
- Haynes' name is possibly a reference to Rolo Haynes, the main antagonist of "Black Museum", the Season 4 finale of Black Mirror.
Videos[]
Black Mirror Bandersnatch - Set Scene
Black Mirror Bandersnatch -- Neflix Fight Scene-0