Why target Billy Bauer specifically?

Throughout the Black Mirror episode Smithereens we find out that Chris has issues with the Smithereen app, at least partially blaming it and the way it is designed for the death of her fiancée. This can be seen during his rage burst towards the abducted intern and later when giving his "user feedback" to Billy Bauer.

However it doesn't explain why he took all the effort just to confess to Billy. If it was about the confession he could have selected anyone, including his support group. If it was to hurt the company there were better ways to do it. He also doesn't seem to feel any grudge towards Billy himself and doesn't expect anything from him - at the end of his confession he says:

I don't give a fuck what you do now. Beat yourself up or fucking run a victory lap, I don't care. I just wanted to say my piece. I'm gonna go now.

Why did Chris did all that just to talk with Billy Bauer?

plot-explanation black-mirror

Best Answer

At this point, Chris has given up. All he wants is to talk to Billy, nothing more, and nothing less.

Quite simply, when people go through traumatic events, particularly in regards to loss of a loved one, a lot of the time they hyper-fixate on something as a way to "fill the void", or ignore the void entirely.

This is a common psychological situation, and googling "filling the emotional void" has returned more results on how to deal with it, rather than why it happens, or why people tend to do bad, or nonsensical things when in such situations.

Basically, Chris has been dealing (or not dealing) with this loss of his Fiancée for quite a while now, and at the beginning of the episode, seems to have it all together. He seems like a pretty normal guy. After a while, he starts acting strangely... maybe a little creepy. Then it all comes out. He wants something - he wants to talk to Billy Bauer... he wants to talk to Billy Bauer because this app has caused him so much grief, and he just wants Billy - the owner of the app, to know. He doesn't care what happens with this information, because by this point, he has succumbed to the void once more, given up, and just wants someone to listen, someone to blame, someone to know that all he really wants, is his Fiancée back.