Smithereen is controlling Chris in ways he doesn't even realize.
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For "Smithereen," it's more about what the technology has done to us.
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Smithereen is secretly listening in to what's going on in Chris' car.
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There are "historical posts" in his Smithereen network about the tragedy to prove as much.
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Just sub in Uber for Hitcher, and Twitter for Smithereen and it should all make sense.
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Unfortunately for the Smithereen team and police, Chris won't speak to a single person other than Billy.
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Once Chris gets through to Penelope, her team uses his phone number to find his Smithereen account.
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Social media companies know everything about you, but Smithereen wields that terrible power to help apprehend a kidnapper.
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Smithereen COO Penelope Wu (Ruibo Qian) stops running in her cool athletic wear to make sure of that.
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Although the world blamed the now-dead drunk driver, Chris was consumed by secret self-blame for the Smithereen secret.
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The man is Chris, who kidnaps and threatens the life of an intern at a Twitter-like social media company named Smithereen.
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It was a dark night and a boring ride, so he glanced down at the Smithereen app for just a few seconds.
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What we do know is that Chris spends his day waiting in front of the Smithereen office to pick up would-be passengers.
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Two teens who have been hanging around the hostage situation overhear the news and immediately blab about the update on the Smithereen app.
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When we meet its star Chris Gillhaney (Fleabag dreamboat Scott; Sherlock baddie Moriarty), he's sitting in his car outside of Smithereen, a Twitter-like app.
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But, even the Smithereen app is not without fault, as we quickly see how misinformation spreads on the site leading Chris to take his own drastic action.
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We're reminded of Chris' earlier chants that today is his "last day," which itself was a refrain from one of the "Stressbuster" playlist songs Smithereen played for him.
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" During the closing credits for "Bandersnatch," where we jump to present day, we see a scroll at the bottom of the news that reads, "Senate committee grills Smithereen CEO Billy Bauer over Russian bots.
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In particular, the episode's choice to have the corporate flunkies at Smithereen be an obstacle to direct communication between Chris and Billy seems predictable from the outset; but as it plays out, it also seems ludicrous.
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Total: 9.5 Season 5, episode 2 Ride share driver Christopher extorts mighty tech giant Smithereen, blaming the company as much as himself for his fiancee's death due to his own impulse to check an app while driving.
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Chris is also mourning the death of his fiancée, who was a victim of a car accident involving a drunk driver, and his grief for her causes him to spiral while he fixates on Smithereen as an easy target for his maladjustment.
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Overall, the episode is more about the idea of all this giant tech and their companies than one specific thing, highlighting the perks (like the swanky AF Smithereen offices that offer massages), and the pitfalls of checking a notification at exactly the wrong moment.
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Chris has done his homework; he knows that phones and social media apps are designed to be addictive, and he blames the founder of a massive tech platform called Smithereen (which seems to be mainly based on Twitter) for creating a litany of problems, both societal and personal.
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Dorsey in particular is the target of the episode's most satirical and direct real-life analogue: As Smithereen CEO Billy Bauer, guest star Topher Grace is styled to look like Dorsey, whose recent turn toward thick locks and a long beard has become an unlikely politically charged flashpoint with his detractors.
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This driver, Chris (Andrew Scott), lost his fiancé in a car accident after he looked at a notification on one of his apps and he doesn't really want anything from the head of Smithereen, Billy Bauer (played by Topher Grace), but he does want to talk to him and air his grievances.
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The savvy Smithereen executive team has amassed so much information about their user base that they know most of the basic details about Chris's life before the police do; they have far more control over the hostage situation from their headquarters in California than either the FBI or the local police at the scene does.
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The phone call is to Billy Bower, the CEO of Smithereen, whom Chris blames for creating the addictive app he used before getting into a car accident a year before the episode's events; in the accident, Chris crashed his car and killed both the drunk driver in the other vehicle as well as his own fiancée.
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Chris emotionally reveals that he blames himself for the accident that killed his fiancée, as he had been checking a Smithereen notification while driving. Chris and Billy agree that Smithereen has been designed to be as addictive as possible. Chris asks for a last favour before he kills himself: that Billy put him in touch with Persona's CEO. Chris releases his hostage, but Jaden, having witnessed his kidnapper's confession, urges Chris to reconsider committing suicide.
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Although Jaden has only been at Smithereen for a week, they are able to reach chief operating officer Penelope Wu (Ruibo Qian) at Smithereens' American headquarters, who knows Billy is on a 10-day solitary retreat. While Penelope stalls, she shares with the FBI and British police important intel on Chris gleaned through his social media profile: Chris lost his fiancée in a car accident with a drunk driver three years earlier and stopped using Smithereen shortly after that. Penelope sends employees to notify Billy (Topher Grace) in his retreat. Despite warnings from Penelope and the FBI against engaging with Chris, Billy uses his laptop to get Chris's phone number and calls him.
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Fogel was also an executive producer for the Team Smithereen pilot, which was released in 2013. Recently, from 2014-2015, Fogel directed 9 episodes of the Nickelodeon series Wallykazam!. Also in 2015, another revival of Deathmatch was ordered by MTV2. With Fogel, Paul Ricci, and Chris McCarthy behind the project.
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In the episode, a vehicle for hire driver takes an employee of Smithereen, a large social media company, hostage. Unlike most other episodes, Brooker wanted "Smithereens" to not rely on near-future technology as a reminder that Black Mirror is not solely a science fiction show; rather, the episode is largely a parable on the overactive usage of social media sites and how they distract society from the real world.
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In 2018, Chris (Andrew Scott) is a rideshare driver in London for the app Hitcher. He has sex with Hayley (Amanda Drew), a woman from his group therapy class who is dealing with the mysterious suicide of her daughter 18 months earlier. Hayley has been trying to guess the password to her daughter's Persona social media account to find reasons for her suicide. One day, Chris picks up Jaden (Damson Idris), an intern of the large social media company Smithereen.
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Believing Jaden is an important employee, Chris abducts him at gunpoint. A police officer sees Jaden in the back seat with a bag over his head, and she and her partner give pursuit. In the chase, Chris veers to avoid two teenage cyclists and ends up stalling the car in a field, beginning a tense hostage standoff which includes an additional contingent of police led by CS Grace (Monica Dolan). Chris explains to Jaden that he wants to speak with Smithereen CEO Billy Bauer.
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The following words are of Goidelic origin but it cannot be ascertained whether the source language was Old Irish or one of the modern Goidelic languages. ; Brogue: An accent, Irish, or Scottish Gaelic bròg , shoe (of a particular kind worn by Irish and Gaelic peasants), Old Irish bróc, from Norse brókr ; Hubbub: Irish, or Scottish Gaelic ubub , an exclamation of disapproval. ; Shanty : Irish or Scottish Gaelic sean taigh , an old house ; Smidgen : Irish or Scottish Gaelic smidean , a very small bit (connected to Irish smidirín, smithereen), from smid, syllable or a small bit. ; Strath: Irish, or Scottish Gaelic srath , a wide valley.
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