See You Yesterday (2024) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Calvin is killed because police misidentify him and his friend Dennis as thieves. After a confrontation with Jared at a party, Calvin and Dennis are walking home when two men collide with them on the street. When police arrive, they assume Calvin and Dennis are involved in the earlier chaos and thefts that occurred that night. One officer shoots and kills Calvin during the encounter.

Foreshadowing: Mr. Lockhart's earlier class discussion about the ethical implications of time travel foreshadows this tragic police encounter.

• calvin
• police shooting
• july 4
• mistaken identity

In the third time jump, present-day Sebastian witnesses his past self get shot and killed outside the convenience store. As past Sebastian dies, present-day Sebastian simultaneously vanishes from existence. This happens because C.J.'s attempt to prevent a store robbery leads to past Sebastian being caught in the crossfire, and when the past changes, the present version disappears.

Foreshadowing: The second attempt where C.J. uses time travel for revenge on Jared shows how meddling with the timeline creates unpredictable consequences.

• sebastian
• death
• time loop
• past self

During the fourth time jump, Calvin sacrifices himself to allow C.J. and Sebastian to escape from the police officer who has cornered them. Recognizing the danger and the repeated tragic outcomes, Calvin makes the decision to draw the officer's attention away from his sister and best friend, giving them time to flee while he faces the deadly confrontation.

Foreshadowing: Calvin's protective nature toward C.J. throughout the film establishes his willingness to put her safety above his own.

• calvin
• sacrifice
• escape
• police

C.J. travels back in time a total of five times throughout the film. The first attempt fails, the second involves the 24-hour jump and revenge on Jared, the third attempt to warn the store owner results in Sebastian's death, the fourth tries to save both Sebastian and Calvin ending in Calvin's sacrifice, and the fifth is a final solo jump she makes despite Sebastian's warning.

Foreshadowing: Mr. Lockhart's challenge about considering what time travel should do, rather than just what it can do, hints at the accumulating consequences.

• cj
• time travel
• loops
• attempts

After Sebastian forbids C.J. from making any more time jumps, warning that the timeline will collapse, C.J. disregards his instruction and makes a fifth and final jump back into the past alone. The film ends with C.J. running through the past, leaving her future and the fate of everyone uncertain. The ending remains ambiguous about whether she will succeed or cause further tragedy.

Foreshadowing: Sebastian's confrontation with C.J. about how many times she's already looped, and his revelation that he died in the third attempt, sets up her desperate final choice.

• ending
• final scene
• cj
• running

Sebastian forbids C.J. from making more time jumps because he has learned that he died during the third attempt when past Sebastian was shot. He recognizes the pattern of escalating consequences and warns that the timeline will continue to collapse under continued interference. His death in the past, combined with Calvin's repeated killings, convinces him that enough lives have already been affected by their meddling with time.

Foreshadowing: Bash's earlier criticism of C.J. for using time travel to get revenge on Jared demonstrates his growing concern about the ethical boundaries of their invention.

• sebastian
• warning
• forbid
• timeline

The time machine allows C.J. and Sebastian to travel back exactly 24 hours in time. Each jump resets the timeline to the previous day, and they retain memories of previous iterations. The machine appears to require specific conditions to function, and the jumps become increasingly unstable as they continue to alter events. They use Eduardo's upgraded circuit boards to power the later attempts.

Foreshadowing: The initial failed test run at school establishes the machine's limitations and the danger of improper calibration.

• time machine
• 24 hours
• circuit boards
• jump

C.J. continues to travel back in time because she is driven by grief and desperation to save her brother Calvin, who was murdered by a police officer. Each failed attempt only strengthens her determination to find a way to prevent his death. The film portrays her as someone consumed by the need to fix this tragic loss, even as the consequences of her actions grow increasingly devastating.

Foreshadowing: The funeral scene where C.J. declares she has to try again shows her transformation from grieving sister to someone willing to risk everything.

• cj
• grief
• motivation
• save calvin

In the third time jump, C.J. attempts to prevent a convenience store robbery and the subsequent police chase that indirectly leads to Calvin's death. She tries to warn the store owner about the impending robbery. However, her warning causes the owner to draw a gun, leading to a violent confrontation where past Sebastian gets shot and killed, while present-day Sebastian simultaneously vanishes.

Foreshadowing: The second loop's escalation with Jared shows how C.J.'s interventions in the timeline create unintended chain reactions.

• convenience store
• robbery
• warning
• sebastian dies

During the second time jump, C.J. and Sebastian nearly encounter their past selves while moving through the city. This close call unsettles them both, as they realize their actions are creating overlapping timelines where multiple versions of themselves exist simultaneously. They retreat to the present to reconsider their approach, understanding that direct contact between past and present selves could cause paradoxes.

Foreshadowing: The failed first attempt at school hints at the unstable nature of their time travel technology.

• past selves
• encounter
• timeline
• paradox

Mr. Lockhart's challenge to C.J. and Sebastian to consider the ethical and philosophical implications of time travel serves as crucial foreshadowing. His questions about what their invention should do, rather than just what it can do, anticipate the film's central theme that even well-intentioned attempts to change the past can lead to devastating consequences. The discussion establishes the moral stakes that the characters will face.

Foreshadowing: This scene directly parallels the escalating tragedies that result from C.J.'s decisions to manipulate time.

• mr lockhart
• ethics
• class
• responsibility