History Recap / BlackMirrorHatedInTheNation

** Possibly subverted with those merely posting the hashtag and asking what it meant as the two bot accounts Scholes setup includes specific instructions on its use. Merely posting the hashtag doesn't make the user a target. The user has to post the hashtag along with the target's name and a photo--if there are enough posts with the same name and photo by 5 P.M., then that target is selected.

-->Pickering: (shaken up) What's your "plan-B"?

* DeadpanSnarker: Karin initially. By the end of the episode she looks broken though.

* 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 M. Lavery 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.

* ForYourOwnGood: Blue calls out Shaun Li on the government's use of [=ADI=]s to spy on the population. He responds that it's in the public interest to do so, since the scheme has prevented several mass murders and terrorist attacks. Regardless, any benefit gets negated after Scholes' plan succeeds with nearly 400,000 people dead and the surveillance aspect of the ADI program is now presumably out in the open.

** Possibly subverted with those merely posting the hashtag and asking what it meant as the two bot accounts Scholes setup include specific instructions. Merely posting the hashtag doesn't make the user a target. The user has to post the hashtag along with the target's name and a photo--if there are enough posts with the same name and photo by 5 P.M., then that target is selected.

** The ''moment'' that the [=ADIs=] really are being used as a murder weapon and Granular's systems had been hacked, Li should've read the investigators into the top secret program they're associated with.

* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: Two in this case, both involving Pickering.

[[WMG:[[center:[-'''Series/BlackMirror Series Three'''\\

* HoistbyTheirOwnPetard: GCHQ's secret surveillance program, their backdoor into the [=ADIs=] and their data is used by Scholes to enact his plan.

* ForYourOwnGood: Blue calls out Shaun Li on the government's use of [=ADI=]s to spy on the population. He responds that it's in the public interest to do so, since the scheme has prevented several mass murders and terrorist attacks. Regardless, any benefit gets negated after Scholes' plan succeeds with nearly 400,000 people dead and the secret aspect of the ADI program presumably out in the open.

* HoistByYourOwnPetard: GCHQ's secret surveillance program, their backdoor into the [=ADIs=] and their data is used by Scholes to enact his plan.

** The cops discover that Garrett Schole's old flatmate, whom he loved, attempted suicide due to online harassment. Ostensibly, his actions would involve getting back at the perpetrators of online harassment, instead of furthering the exact thing that led to the attempted suicide of his crush. Instead, the cops focus on the fact that the victims were considered bullies, and completely miss the fact that those who use the #[=DeathTo=] hashtag may be targets until the last second, when they find the cache of users of the hashtag.

* SinisterSurveillance: It turns out the [=ADIs=] were secretly being used by the British government to spy on the public. It is also revealed that the National Crime Agency has access to a Citizen Database, where the details of every resident in the UK are stored.

** GCHQ having a backdoor into Granlar's network and the [=ADIs=]is one thing, but there's ''absolutely no reason'' for any employee at Granular to be able to access GCHQ's networks and databases.

* HeadacheOfDoom: Tusk begins suffering agonizing pain in his head and has to be sedated. An attempt to examine the problem with an MRI reveals the cause - though probably not the way the technicians intended: an Autonomous Drone Insect had flown into his ear and started torturing his brain from the inside; during the MRI scan, the ADI is magnetically yanked out of Tusk's head, puncturing his eyeball and killing him instantly.

* IdiotBall: The cops discover that Garrett Schole's old flatmate, whom he loved, attempted suicide due to online harassment. Ostensibly, his actions would involve getting back at the perpetrators of online harassment, instead of furthering the exact thing that led to the attempted suicide of his crush. Instead, the cops focus on the fact that the victims were considered bullies, and completely miss the fact that those who use the #[=DeathTo=] hashtag may be targets until the last second, when they find the cache of users of the hashtag.

* MechanicalInsects: After the bees went nearly extinct, many countries utilized Automatic Drone Insects (ADI for short) to carry out pollination. These drones are capable of self-replicating and building hives on their own, with these hives featuring 3D printing devices (which falls short, as they are unable to make honey). They are also used by government to [[SinisterSurveillance spy on the populace]], and were hacked to kill anyone who was voted to be killed on Twitter through the use of the [=#DeathTo=] hashtag. However, [[PlotTwist the real targets are not the hashtag targets, but those who used the hashtag]].

* ForYourOwnGood: Blue calls out Shaun Li on the government's use of [=ADI=]s to spy on the population. He responds that it's in the public interest to do so, since the scheme has prevented several mass murders and terrorist attacks.

* SurveillanceDrone: The only way Granular was able to get permission and funding from the UK government was if they built a backdoor into the [=ADIs=], so in addition to pollination the occasional drone could be requisitioned by the NCA to carry out surveillance work.

** Pickering could have stayed at an underground bunker or a hospital isolation ward. Or just dump his phone and cover his face to avoid the ADIs and buy more time.

** Also averted for Pickering. Though he doesn't die, a ticker shows that he's now referred to as "former Chancellor Pickering", suggesting that he either resigned or was removed from office.

* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: Pickering suggests pulling the plug on social media to stop the hashtag. Li points out that this would not only be impossible but would cause massive blowback. But no one ever considered simply contacting the social media companies and asking them to ''filter'' the hashtag.

* 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. Could be PlayedStraight though, we never saw how it went down, so it is quite possible Scholes got rid of the trail or killed Blue as well.

[[center:[-'''Series/BlackMirror Series Three'''-]]]
[[center:[-[[Recap/BlackMirrorNosedive Nosedive]]-] -- [-[[Recap/BlackMirrorPlaytest Playtest]]-] -- [-[[Recap/BlackMirrorShutUpAndDance Shut Up and Dance]]-] -- [-[[Recap/BlackMirrorSanJunipero San Junipero]]-] -- [-[[Recap/BlackMirrorMenAgainstFire Men Against Fire]]-] -- [-'''Hated in the Nation'''-]]]

* CoolCar: The National Crime Agency is issued with state of the art Range Rovers, which are self-driving and look like futuristic concept cars.

->''"I didn’t expect to find myself living in the future, but here I fucking well am."''

* LiteralSurveillanceBug: It turns out that the [=ADIs=]' also serve as a network of tiny [[SurveillanceDrone Surveillance Drones]], complete with facial recognition technology... Which allows them to be turned into lethal weapons by Scholes.

* LiteralSurveillanceBug: It turns out that the [=ADIs=]' also serve as a network of tiny SurveillanceDrones, complete with facial recognition technology... Which allows them to be turned into lethal weapons by Scholes.

* CallBack: Jo Powers, per her husband's words, cutting her own neck with a piece of glass -- Bing's threat in "Fifteen Million Merits".

[[center:[-'''BlackMirror/SeriesThree'''-]]]

** While some episodes of Black Mirror use more [[SpeculativeFiction speculative themes]], this episode in particularly scores hard on [[MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness Moh's SciFi scale]]. While similar {{Cop Show}}s rely on {{Technobabble}} and HollywoodHacking, this one is a faithful PoliceProcedural with most of the concepts and terms Blue uses are drawn from RealLife and used in proper context; there is growing concern about technology being the vector of attack of choice for tech-savvy criminals, and the technology is spot on. The only Science Fiction that this episode really draws on is the aesthetics, and the [=ADIs=], which is a combination emerging technologies from ''today'', but more sophisticated and micronized. See if one of the design features of the [=ADIs=] isn't familiar: pervasive computing (of a sort), autonomous drones, 3D printing, and mass surveillance.

* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture:
** 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.) In addition, 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]] (which was classified as "critically endangered" at the episode's release) [[ExtinctInTheFuture has recently become extinct]].
** It is suggested most cars are now either fully electric or hybrid, given the quiet whirring they all seem to make when in motion. Driverless cars are much more common, but still not quite the norm. Blue casually mentions she can't wait until driverless is fully phased in, as she doesn't have a driver's license. Li's agency car is fully autonomous, with the "driver's" seat being a pilot chair facing the other passengers (similar to concept cars from RealLife), and is operated entirely by touch screen.
** London Metropolitan Police vehicles have a much more minimalist design, with the high visibility Battenburg markings having been removed from the police cars.
** The British license plates shown on some newer vehicles are also accurate to the period, with registration numbers dating from around 2017 and 2019.
** Cannabis is now legal in the United Kingdom, with rapper Tusk's friend reassuring him it's "legal over here" when he is caught smoking a joint on CCTV.
** Both computer and phone screens are thinner and more translucent. Keyboards are also translucent and utilize touchscreens instead of actual buttons.
** Given that the cookies that appear in "White Christmas" are referenced in the episode, it can be assumed that digital consciousness replication is now a possible feat.
** While some episodes of Black Mirror use more [[SpeculativeFiction speculative themes]], this episode in particularly scores hard on [[MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness Moh's SciFi scale]]. While similar {{Cop Show}}s rely on {{Technobabble}} and HollywoodHacking, this one is a faithful PoliceProcedural with most of the concepts and terms Blue uses are drawn from RealLife and used in proper context; there is growing concern about technology being the vector of attack of choice for tech-savvy criminals, and the technology is spot on. The only Science Fiction that this episode really draws on is the aesthetics, and the [=ADIs=], which is a combination emerging technologies from ''today'', but more sophisticated and micronized. See if one of the design features of the [=ADIs=] isn't familiar: pervasive computing (of a sort), autonomous drones, 3D printing, and mass surveillance.

* {{GIFT}}: Basically the focus of the episode. Even without the resulting deaths, dozens, of not ''hundreds'' of people are wishing death upon others over the internet, most simply because of disagreements on viewpoints and politics. The teacher, when confronted after the first murder (having been one of many people to use the [=#DeathTo=] hashtag against Jo), can only stammer out the weak defense that she wasn't being serious.

* 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.

* SevenDirtyWords: It uses them all, some on many occasions. Though Blue is most foul-mouthed, Karin is a close second and no character is immune. Not even the peppy primary school teacher.

* BeeAfraid: People are attacked by swarms of rogue bee drones.

* {{Cyberbullying}}: The episode involves a lethal cyberbullying campaign in which people wish death on strangers over the Internet and the person with the most wishes against them is horribly killed via tiny bee-like drones. [[spoiler:And then turned on its head at the end, when the drones are all sent after every single person who participated in the campaign.]]