Black Mirror Timeline Explained | Seasons 1-5 & Bandersnatch

last year I spent a painstakingly long amount of time working out the black maritime line since then we've had season five of the show and Bandersnatch drop on Netflix so we felt like it was time for an update also I've had a haircut moved to America but kept the same lipstick we based our initial timeline on one of the few constants in the black me reverse the news channel you KN and it's American counterpart u.s. n for this update we did the same but we also spent a lot of time freeze framing and looking at people's contact lists in their phones as well as the trending hashtags on their social media profiles we originally had the national anthem first in our timeline but Bandersnatch now takes that spot we can see from the opening that the interactive episode is set in July in 1984 well before the events of the other episodes there are some cool references to things that happen later in the black mirror timeline like games named after metalhead and nose-dive a Love Machine developed by BRB or be right back and headlines about the television shows hotshots and spacefleet the sci-fi show that Robert Daly was obsessed with in USS Callister Bandersnatch does feature a flash-forward section but we'll talk about that later the national anthem comes next we can tell because the technology really isn't that advanced I mean look at those mobile phones at the end of the episode it flashes forward to the first anniversary of the Prime Minister's fateful date with a pig pay attention to the UK and news ticker headlines in particular grant Finch and his paparazzi scuffle the till sale fire inquiry and Edie hovels refuse you turn these exact headlines appear in season two's the Waldo moment the next episode in our timeline this makes sense in terms of the technology on show which again doesn't feature anything too far-fetched or futuristic the UK n headlines also gave us a direct connection to be right back not only does UK and run a feature on the creation of the intelligent synthetic flesh that allows for Ashes body but we can see that the ticker repeats that grant fetch headline again enabling us to deduce that the Waldo moment and be right back take place at roughly the same time so a year after the national anthem when we pause on this ukn website we can see a number headlines that help place shut up and dance next we know that PM michael callow was having marriage difficulties but it seems that things got too much for his wife Jane leading to their divorce we can also see a reference to the scalene trial latest so we can deduce the victorious Colleen hasn't yet entered the white bed Justice Park so we can confidently place white bear at some point after shut up and dance we also see an advert for a cookie the consciousness transfer tech at the center of white Christmas and black Museum as it's being labeled as a kitchen gadget we can assume that it's still in its infancy there's also a ticker revealing that the gameshow 15,000,000 merits is due to launch next week now this could be a slip-up on the production teams part because the reality TV show at the center of 15 million merits is actually called hot shot or it could be a hint towards something that I'll talk about a little later on in this video let's just say it wasn't an error and that 15 million merits is next sure compared to the technology in the surrounding episodes a dystopian world dominated by screens where people are forced to cycle on the spot to generate electricity does make it feel a little out of place anyway next comes play test in Sonya's apartment we get some lingering shots of her video game collection given that there's nothing beyond the Xbox one or Playstation 4 we can assume it's not too far in the future by zooming in on the edge cover we get a couple of nods that help place other episodes later on the American tech company TCK are working to turn nostalgia into a game hinting at the genesis of San Junipero granular I mentioned the company who developed to the robotic bees that we see in hated in the nation but before we get there we can place the flash forward from Bandersnatch the news ticker references the Waldo moment Liam Monroe entering buckingham palace for some reason PM callow winning celebrity bake-off his publicist must really be working overtime but crucially it also reveals that granulars prototype pollinated drones are about to be unveiled so he can place this just before hated in the nation the headlines visible in this episode helped to give us a really good understanding of how the timeline is progressing for example at the start of hated in the nation it's revealed that Xu Saito has announced his new gaming system as the episode goes on we can see that Saito gamoo is being investigated for his disappearance cementing the idea that this takes place shortly after play tests there's also a reference to repeat elegent shares nose-diving rep you tell agent is the consultation company that lacey visits to get her social score up in nosedive then there's this reference to PM michael callow posting that he just got thrown out of the zoo again this seems a little too obvious for the real callow to be posting so we're counting this as a parody account or a complete red herring we can assume that the events of the season three opener occur before hated in the nation maybe we're gonna come back to nosedive the events of white bear crop up a few times in hated in the nation victorious killings name appears in one of the death twos as well as a trending hashtag declaring free the white bear one suggesting that her torment in the white bear justice park is well underway what's most interesting is that there's a UK n ticket referring to her attempted suicide in her jail cell sure the park is kind of a prison but it certainly isn't a cell again this is something that we'll come back to later another ticket refers to cookies getting human rights and the revelation that the military have commenced work on mass the implant used in men against fire but a couple of other episodes need to happen before we get to men against fire the recall of Technology in crocodile would be completely obsolete if grain technology was as readily available as it is in the entire history of you and it's referred to in the Bandersnatch flash-forward as being in testing by the UK police force the reference to the hotshot judge being caught the rentboy Wraith babes being on the hotel TV and these headlines about a record number of people being blackmailed and micro tracking being introduced four members of the royal family help us to confidently place crocodile after the events of 15 million merits shut up and dance and the national anthem so based on that fact we can place men against fire after hated in the nation if we consider that the mass implant was first developed for the military then later went mass market is the grain we can then place the entire history of you as next in the timeline interestingly at the start of that episode during the m's job interview they actually discussed the proposal for what would ultimately become the Archangel Initiative a new area we're getting lots of play in and your office could be at the Center for is litigation in retrospective parenting is retrospective Bobby Sue's mum and dad for insufficient attention leading to lack of confidence leading to damages against turning crime and we're okay the firm's okay with that ethically morally we can then place Joe's story from white Christmas grains were optional but in white Christmas everyone has a Zi and they can't be removed we also get a look at the blocking feature and there's also a reference to victorious killings appeal bid being rejected and Liam Boudreau the politician from the Waldo moments Twitter account being hacked with all this in mind we can place Archangel next an amalgamation of the tech showcased in those last three episodes men against fire entire history of you and white Christmas not only can we see footage from men against fire while Sarah is having her Archangel fitted but the chip also has all of the features of mass and the grain combined a few years after her Archangel is fitted Sarah goes to a therapist due to her acting out and self harming its revealed that the Archangel was banned in Europe in black museums doctor pain storyline the ticker on USN reveals that the Archangel System has been pulled from the United States the ticker also reveals that saito has been charged with Cooper's murder we know that the three stories in black museum happened sequentially so that's doctor pain then Jack and Carey then Clayton late given the passage of time in Archangel is happening alongside this the final grisly confrontation between Sarah and Marie must also happen sometime around here [Music] given its name drop like when they upload old people to the cloud we can place an Junipero before black museum so let's drop it here given that people can be transferred to San Junipero by using the cookie it makes sense that USS Callister takes place after that romantic story while you still need some kind of cookie ask neural device to enter infinity daily creating digital clones of his workmates using only their DNA suggests that the technology is way more sophisticated by then also as infinity is a game and not an end-of-life service it suggests that the tech is way cheaper and way more accessible because it's been around for a while we'll admit that we struggle to place hang the DJ anywhere in our timeline because it's a fairly isolated episode we know the dating app has been seen before in play tests and again in u.s. s Callister it's a bit of a floating episode so for now let's just say that it's it's somewhere around here toward the end of our timelines test I swear it is and a two of us rebelling together is something to do with passing it we can however confidently put nish and Rolo storyline from black museum here at the end because the artifacts in the museum reference almost all of the previous episodes and we can sort a place Rachael Jack and Ashley to here as well I'm not gonna lie this one does sort of screw with our timeline for example a news ticker reads that a museum owners body was found in smoking ruins so we should put it after black museum because it's clearly talking about Rolo however it also reads tusks makes a boo-boo on a British TV show referring to way back and hate it in the nation you see what I mean about it being a bit screwy the reason I want to have it all the way down here as opposed to earlier is because looking at the technology used in the episode copying people's consciousnesses etc it seems more appropriate for the episode to happen after the events of black museum it does mention that saito game whose shares are soaring after the release of striking vipers so I feel pretty good about putting that season 5 episode around here too which leaves us with metalheads given that there's this reference to San Junipero the UK and headlined that the military are working on some kind of robot dog in black Museum and the fact that the world is completely desolate and barren we feel pretty good about putting it at the of this timeline you'll notice that I've missed off smithereens well that's because it's another screwy episode and I think it fits somewhere else let me explain naturally some episodes proved very difficult to place in our timeline and that's because the technology available across black mirror is just straight-up inconsistent let's start with white Christmas and those damn cookies we placed the final part with Joe and Beth midway through our timeline purely to line it up with the blocking seen in the Archangel tech but the headline and callo announces divorce would actually place it at the same time as shut up and dance while the cookies are mentioned and shut up and dances kitchen tech the Zed I doesn't appear to be around at that time in fact we don't see that until men against fire in the entire history of you so maybe white Christmas is an episode that doesn't really fit and it's just floating around at the beginning of our timeline nosedive also sticks out we know because I've hated in the nation that reputa legend chairs are plummeting so it should theoretically take place before that but the technology and new dystopian society in that episode just doesn't match up with others around that time we placed be right back very early on because of that green pitch headline but it seems that the technology available to replicate a human body and how's it in a robot seems way more futuristic than what was going on at that time men against fire is another one that sticks out while there's a clear evolution of the grain Zi and Archangel Tech in our timeline you would think that more people would be talking about this huge rote threat and massive war white bear also feels out of place there's plenty of references to Scalia's trial in other episodes and even a headline that reads that she tried to kill herself in prison but no mention of her torment in the white bed Justice Park at all smithereens almost fits around the early part of our timeline the tech isn't that advanced there's a lot of references to TV shows that are airing right now and hell it even has a date on it 2018 but it's the references that are causing problems in particular this lady's phone contact list it's a who's who of Black Mirror characters from all over our timeline from Clayton Lee to Kelly from San Junipero and even the Prime Minister himself which is why we propose that there are actually two timelines in black mirror one real one and one that revolves entirely around cookies a cookie is a digitally replicated consciousness of a human being usually placed in an external unit from what we've seen in a cookie anything is possible in white Christmas we can see that they can be used to control your smart home or be used as your in-game avatar like USS callisters infinity black museum helps to give us a rough idea of the timeline of their creation dr. Dawson sim fatik diagnosis provided the first steps towards digital consciousness transfer allowing the transfer of pleasure and pain sensation between two subjects from here we know that the neural research company TCK are adapted this technology to create cookies we can roughly place heated in the nation around here because a UK and ticker reveals that cookies have gained human rights Rollo Haynes and his team managed to achieve partial consciousness transfer as we can see with Kerry Jack and monkey and gaining human rights means that she can't then be deleted roller reveals that a few years after Kerry and Jack's story the UN made it illegal to transfer consciousness into limited formats like toys by the time we reached Clayton Lee's story Rollo has been fired from TCK are after the fallout from Kerry but full consciousness transfer technology is available as for the Rollo and nish story in black Museum based on the displays inside the museum and the conversation between nish and Rollo by the time the events of that episode occur USS Callister and San Junipero have already happened so while we have this loose framework in place there's a popular fan theory that suggests that some episodes take place entirely within cookies and honestly that helps us out a lot with some of the outliers our first piece of evidence is this symbol it's used in white bear white Christmas and play test we think that this is too much of a coincidence and might be confirmation that these three episodes are actually linked in a significant way they all take place in cookies yes I know it also appeared in Bandersnatch but we think that that was a real event that helped spark off the rest of the timeline victorious killings torment is so cruel and unusual that it really sticks out it's difficult to believe that any government would be able to torment a human in such a way however a digital copy of a person that's a bit more believable we can see the white bear symbol while Cooper is trying out the AR game and we see it on Joe cell door could it be that this aspect of the cookie technology being able to create game worlds was developed by Saito gamoo and later sold to the criminal justice system to punish criminals or to invoke confessions from suspects in white Christmas Mathew mentions that cookies broken by spending too much time in solitary with nothing to do end up being sold cheap to the games industry they've become cannon fodder for some war thing this could be a reference to men against fire as we said earlier it's really unusual that no one is mentioning this war especially you kN what if Rolo transferring consciousnesses into limited formats Spurs the UN into granting cookies human rights a fact that we know has been confirmed and hated in the nation so maybe by law cookies now have to have something to do so they don't go insane if so this could help us place two more episodes 15 million merits and nosedive what if 15 million merits is a game show for cookies we talked earlier about it's out of place dystopian setting but what if that's because it doesn't actually exist this also helps to explain the existence of one particular character Selma Selma is the first winner of hotshot the reality TV show in 15 million merits but the same actress also has a role in play test as the technology correspondent Sonya now it might just be that the actress Hannah John Comyn impressed the team so much in her brief cameo in 15 million merits that they wanted to give her a meteor role oh it could be that her cookie was competing in hotshot and won think about it and play test Sonya is working as a technology correspondent who sometimes crosses over into the gaming sector she would need to be on the cutting edge of technology so her having a cookie isn't exactly out of the realm of possibility and as for nosedive well an elaborate social network for cookies think second life meets Facebook uber LinkedIn and also that terrifying new social credit system that's currently in place in China cookies in nosedive have jobs buy houses and rate each other all the time the perfect black mirror to snow peon nightmare and for smithereens a therapy network just like hang the DJ runs thousands and thousands of tests to determine your ideal romantic partner perhaps that's what's happening here a digital version of Chris undergoing thousands of simulations to see what kind of treatment would best help him get over his grief the run that we see in smithereens is clearly not a very successful one but this episode taking place entirely within a cookie does help to explain why everyone and I mean everyone is a part of Miriam's contact list thanks so much for watching everyone we have breakdowns of every episode from this new season of black Mira here on GameSpot universe as well as videos uncovering all those delicious Easter eggs if there's something wrong with the timeline or you've noticed something that I've maybe missed feel free to hit me up on smithereen I'm at Lucy James games I'll see you next time

Channel: GameSpot Universe

Views: 158,071

Keywords: black mirror timeline, black museum, charlie brooker, white christmas, white bear, skillane, hated in the nation, annabel jones, konnie huq, rolo haynes, black mirror connected, bandersnatch, striking vipers, black mirror season 5, rachel jack and ashley too, miley cyrus, smithereens, black mirror universe, black mirror explained, black mirror timeline explained, black mirror easter eggs, bandersnatch explained, striking vipers explained, smithereens explained

Id: Hz6yLg9MGu4

Length: 17min 35sec (1055 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 28 2019