Episode

Hated in the Nation

In near-future London, police detective Karin Parke, and her tech-savvy sidekick Blue, investigate a string of mysterious deaths with a sinister link to social media.

Air date:

October 21, 2016

Writer:

Charlie Brooker

Director:

James Hawes

Air date:

Writer:

Director:

October 21, 2016

Charlie Brooker

James Hawes

Storyline

In near-future London, police detective Karin Parke, and her tech-savvy sidekick Blue, investigate a string of mysterious deaths with a sinister link to social media.

Trivia

‍When deciding the order in which the third season would air, Charlie Brooker was explicitly told by Netflix this episode could not be the season premiere, since its extended length would discourage viewers from watching the next installment right away.
The storyline is based in part, among other things, on Charlie Brooker's own experiences. In 2004, he was the subject of a public backlash after writing a satirical article about George W. Bush.
When showing the hashtag Death To being used online by random users, one user writes Death To Victoria Skillane, and provides her picture. She is the girlfriend of Ian Rannoch and the "main attraction" of the White Bear episode, Season 2 Episode 2
Charlie Brooker has stated that some characters from this story could make return appearances in the future, making this the first installment of the series to generate a proper sequel.
In the opening scenes of DCI Parke watching the news, the anchor's news headlines include the announcement of yet another species extinction- the Siberian Crane, and a story about the ADI robotic bees. When Liza Behar is being interviewed at the school she works at, there are poster collages shown in the background that reference the news articles - one about extinction, and one on the wall with two styles of bees made of construction paper.
When Agent Karin Parke (Kelly Macdonald) first looks at Jo Powers' (Elizabeth Berrington) alerts list on her computer, a list of hashtags can be seen on the right side of the screen. Most of these hashtags present links to other Black Mirror episodes. "#ExtinctionReaction" refers to the episode itself while "#Saitogemu" is the videogame company in S3E2 "Playtest", "#CubicleLiving" refers to S1E2 "Fifteen Million Merits" as it is the way most of its characters are living, and ultimately "#MASS" refers to the software predominant in the previous episode (S3E5), "Men Against Fire".
In the opening scenes, DCI Parke turns on the UKN 6pm news. The news ticker shows three notable items: In the far shot there is a headline reading 'Saitogemu team investigated over tourist disappearance", the videogame company in S3E2 "Playtest" and 'Victoria Skillane in jail cell suicide attempt', the central character in S2E2 "White Bear" In the closer shot, the headline reads 'US military announces MASS project', referring to the software seen in the previous episode (S3E5) "Men Against Fire".
In the morning scenes (at 13:51), DCI Parke has TV on the UKN news. The news ticker shows three notable items: The headline reading "Saito unveils Harlech Shadow VI", the videogame company in S3E2 "Playtest", "ECHR rules 'cookies' have human rights"', cookies were seen in S2E4 "White Christmas" and "Reputeligent shares nosedive" Repuelligent is the social media company seen in S3E1 "Nosedive".
Composer Martin Phipps has released the a soundtrack EP for the episode. It's the 4th soundtrack album that was released for season 3.