Scene 1) Pilot:This one is based off the opening credits to the show, with the different country balls being raptured in their own distinctive way (UK is doing a Mary Poppins, USA is doing 'UP', Russia and Ukraine are fighting, Israel is being chased by Palestine and also Sealand is shown in the background).
The Malaysia Airlines flight shown as its whereabouts are still a mystery.
2) "Penguin One, Us Zero":With the UK missing in action, Argentina immediately annexes Las Malvinas/Falkland Islands. The newspaper headlines are updated references to the
1982 war newspapers, and the Penguin in a top hat references the Island. Also the name of the beer in the advert has been changed to be more 'Argentine'.
The
IMF ball (with the missing countries removed) is seen asking for money after
Argentina defaulted again this year.
3) "Two Boats and a Helicopter"Due to most of Europe vanishing, the Vatican ball has fallen on hard times and gone to the casino in the hopes of winning enough money to pay for roof upkeep (this is also a reference to the tv show).
He's shown losing on a Chinese one arm bandit, with the top of the fruit wheel depicting a story about Taiwan, and the bottom about West Africa.
The Macau waiter is saying a classic line from
Fawlty Towers, with a portuguese spin on it.
The scene title is a reference to a popular HBO show and also about gambling vs God.
4) "B.J. and the A.C."This scene references an important part from the tv episode as well as the currently escalating ebola outbreak in Africa.
Here Benin is trying to escape from
voodoo zombies, with their layout reflecting how the countries appear on the map and severity of their outbreak. The number plate is a reference to scene 6).
The title and the truck are references to an an episode of a extremely cheesy 70's tv show.
5) "Gladys"This scene continues on from scene 3, where the Vatican has rediscovered his Roman heritage and conquers the remaining members of the EU, also his speech bubble references
Julius Caesar. The scene shows a party for Lithuania finally joining the EU on Jan 1st 2015 and also their national flag day. Their currency, the Litas has only recently managed to qualify after getting inflation under control (balloons!).
The title is a pun on a bible quote and the EU's forthcoming ban on
roaming charges at the end of 2015, e.g. Roman charges!
The Czech ball is a reference to the tv episode and also because
it has one of the least regulated drug policies in Europe).
The background references a Stanley Kubrick film and there are three references to the episode name shown.
6) "Guest"With Russia missing, Qatar ball steps up to takeover the 2018 World Cup and has to speed up construction even faster.
90% of Qatar's population are economic migrants and it has an appalling human rights record
(4000 migrant workers are predicated to die before the World cup starts). This episode has seven country balls from the main guest worker countries building a massive
Jules Rimmet trophy (India is wearing a safety Turban, Nepal is a JCB due to it's distinctive flag, Iran and Egypt are having a kebab fight, Sri Lanka is using a cricket bat to hammer in a nail (with a nice cup of earl grey), Philippines is doing some welding and Pakistan fell off. Also the background is a reference to a popular 90's computer game
9) "The Garveys at Their Best"This is a flashback tv episode of life before the Rapture. In this scene Georgia is shown getting an ultrasound from Nurse Tonga (has a red cross in flag) with her babies vanishing (see the text on the monitor). Georgia has
two breakaway regions which are backed by Russia. In the map of banned countries for this month, Georgia is shown with complete borders, so this is just a map joke (also includes a
Momento reference).
The ultrasound photo shows the flags of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in black and white.
10) "The Prodigal Son Returns"This scene references a doomsday cult called the 'Guilty Remnant', who the main antagonists in the show. They basically dress in white, chain smoke and protest about the futility of going on with your life. The countries shown are basically remaining the ones with flags (Georgia, Cyprus, South Korea and Japan) and the smoking pipe is from the
Georgian era.
Also the background is a
Finland flag.