History Recap / BlackMirrorHatedInTheNation

* AscendedMeme: When Jo Powers checks her feed, the "trending" article visible under her push notification is titled "What if phones but too much?", referring to a (now-deleted) Daniel Mallory Ortberg tweet[[note]]"Next on Black Mirror: What if phones but too much?", meant as a slam against the show's thoughts on technology after describing the first episode as "the stupidest fucking thing I have ever seen"[[/note]], as well as an article he wrote for The Toast [[http://the-toast.net/2015/01/20/next-black-mirror/ spoofing Black Mirror episode concepts]] (which also quoted the tweet.) Doubles as an InspirationNod, given that the original tweet inspired the final twist in ''Playtest'', where Cooper is killed by his phone going off at the wrong moment.

*** The title of her article, "'''SPARE ME THE TEARS OVER THIS "MARTYR"'''" is styled after an infamous piece written by Hopkins's ''Daily Mail'' stablemate Richard Littlejohn: [[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/columnists/article-423549/Littlejohn-Spare-Peoples-Prostitute-routine-.html ''Spare us the 'People's Prostitute' routine...'']], which was similarly criticised for callousness in regards to the 2006 murder of five women working as prostitutes in Ipswich (Littlejohn himself was repeatedly a target for [[TakeThat take thats]] in series creator Creator/CharlieBrooker's earlier work ''TV Go Home'').

** Also for White Christmas. The news declares that cookies have been granted human rights, suggesting an end to cookie!Greta's ordeals.

* DownerEnding: A swarm of robotic bees that burrow into people's brains is unleashed upon everyone who used a particular hashtag, killing nearly 400,000 people across the UK. The only bright spot is that Blue is about to close in on the man who orchestrated it all, but [[TheBadGuyWins his plan has already gone off without a hitch]] so it ultimately doesn't matter.

* ShoutOut: Tess Wallender is one for NordicNoir detective Wallander.

* SleazyPolitician: Tom Pickering, the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Upon hearing he is at the top of the #[=DeathTo=] list, he orders an incriminating memo from the 1980's be leaked which would further implicate Lord Farrington (a former member of Parliament, accused pedophile and number four on the #[=DeathTo=] list) as a sex offender. In response to criticism, he simply states that the man is "in his eighties, he has lived his life, so fuck him! Under the bus!"

* UncertainDoom: It's unclear if Scholes plan kills everyone targeted, given that, if warned, some people may have been able to hide their faces or try and get somewhere the bees wouldn't pursue them. This is especially true of Nick, who, form working on the case, may have had the knowledge and context to do both.
* UnwittingPawn: In trying to stop the [=ADI=] bees from targeting people who were "selected" by consensus to die with the [=#DeathTo=] hashtag, the task force ends up triggering Garrett Scholes's real endgame: turning the bees on everyone who used the [=#DeathTo=] hashtag.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: Scholes intends to combat online abuse...by killing off a good chunk of people who are guilty of only using the hashtag.

* SocialMediaIsBad: The episode deconstructs online mob mentality, as the villain orchestrates murders based on trending calls for death on Twitter.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Scholes intends to combat online abuse...by killing off a good chunkchunk of people who are guilty it. it

* KarmaHoudini: A very rare aversion for the series. It would seem that Scholes gets off scot-free for killing ''hundreds of thousands'' of people, but the last sequence shows that Blue has found him.

* RayOfHopeEnding: The mass murder happened and Karin became completely broken about it, but Blue was able to track down Scholes and may possible bring justice to him.
** Also for White Christmas. The news declares that cookies have been granted human rights, suggesting an end to cookie!Greta and Cookie!Joe's ordeals.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Scholes intends to combat online abuse...by killing off a good chunk of people who are guilty of it.
----

Starring Creator/KellyMacdonald as Karin, [[Film/{{Pride}} Faye]] [[Series/GameOfThrones Marsay]] as Blue, and Creator/BenedictWong as Li.

** The vast majority of bees have died out, forcing countries (focused only on the UK in this case) to utilize Automated Drone Insects ([=ADIs=]) to carry out pollination. They are also able to self-replicate, build hives on their own, with each of their hives containing a 3D printing device. (They fall just short since they can't make honey.)
*** Granular has a vanity art piece in their foyer composed of [=ADIs=] flying in formation to create a slowly-rotating 3D rendering of the company logo.
** It is mentioned on UKN that the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberian_crane Siberian crane]] has recently become extinct.

** By the time of the episode, most of the bees have been wiped out by a colony collapse disorder, forcing humanity to rely on robotic replacements called Automated Drone Insects to do the bees' ecosystem services. The plot is about someone hacking these ADIs to great consequence.

* ShoutOut: Tess Wallender is one for ScandiNoir detective Wallander.

* AssholeVictim:
** All the people targeted by the hashtag: a journalist disrespecting the memory of a disability rights activist (though setting yourself on fire in front of children is something it's probably not wrong to argue against), a rapper who insulted a young fan, a hippy who mocked a war memorial and a government official who was cutting welfare benefits for the disabled.
** Also, those who end up dying at the end of the episode for using the hashtag meant to kill others.

* DownerEnding: A swarm of robotic bees that burrow into people's brains is unleashed upon everyone who used a particular hashtag, killing nearly 400,000 people across the UK. The only bright spot is that one of the detectives is presumably about to close in on the man who set off the attack.

* DisproportionateRetribution: It turns out the [[RationalizingTheOverkill main reason]] Garrett Scholes programmed the ADI Bees to be able to kill is that a girl he liked attempted suicide due to online harassment (he saved her). Considering that almost ''400,000'' people whose only crime was using a certain hashtag end up dead, it's safe to say the plan was overkill. It should be noted, if you look at screencaptures of the hashtag being used, that some of the people who used it were just asking what it ''was''. That means they were killed for being curious.

* HopelessWithTech: Karin, who REALLY doesn't like the prospect of anything in the investigation, initially brushes off the notion that social media could be the cause of the deaths, and [[TheWatson has to have anything related to the ADI technology explained by Blue and the others]].
* HopeSpot: The command to "deactivate" the ADI Bee swarm is used against Karin Parke's protests that it will probably trigger the bees to go after everyone who used the [=#DeathTo=] hashtag. At first, it seems the bees truly were deactivated. Then they reactivate and do just what Parke said they would.

* OrificeInvasion: How the ADI victims die. The first two have [=ADIs=] crawl into their ears (somehow without noticing) and then burrow into their brains until they're DrivenToSuicide by pain beyond imagination. The third victim suffers a nose invasion instead, followed by a relatively merciful death after just a few seconds of thrashing around.

* SpreadingDisasterMapGraphic: The graphic projection at the ADI headquarters of all drones in the country going rogue.

* UnwittingPawn: In trying to stop the ADI bees from targeting people who were "selected" by consensus to die with the [=#DeathTo=] hashtag, the task force ends up triggering Garrett Scholes's real endgame: turning the bees on everyone who used the [=#DeathTo=] hashtag.

* DisproportionateRetribution: It turns out the [[RationalizingTheOverkill main reason]] Garrett Scholes programmed the ADI Bees to be able to kill is that a girl he liked attempted suicide due to online harassment (he saved her). Considering that almost ''400,000'' people whose only crime was using a certain hashtag end up dead, it's safe to say the plan was overkill. It should be noted, if you look at screencaptures of the hashtag being used, that some of the people who used it were just asking what it even WAS. That means they were killed for being curious.
* DownerEnding: A swarm of robotic bees that burrow into people's brains is unleashed upon everyone who used a particular hashtag, killing nearly 400,000 people across the UK. The only bright spot is that one of the detectives is presumably about to close in on and kill the man who set off the attack.

* DullSurprise: The MRI techs in the hospital are spectacularly unfazed by the fact that their fancy machine just killed their VIP patient by pulling a robot bee out of his brain. Looking at their reaction, it feels like it was a ButForMeItWasTuesday event for them.

* AscendedMeme: When Jo Powers checks her feed, the "trending" article visible under her push notification is titled "What if phones but too much?", referring to a (now-deleted) Daniel Mallory Ortberg tweet[[note]]"Next on Black Mirror: What if phones but too much?", meant as a slam against the show's thoughts on technology after describing the first episode as "the stupidest fucking thing I have ever seen"[[/note]], as well as an article she wrote for The Toast [[http://the-toast.net/2015/01/20/next-black-mirror/ spoofing Black Mirror episode concepts]] (which also quoted the tweet.) Doubles as an InspirationNod, given that the original tweet inspired the final twist in ''Playtest'', where Cooper is killed by his phone going off at the wrong moment.