Answered questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Question: Why did JD expect anyone to believe his plan for the bomb at school - that all of the students signed a mass suicide note? Nobody would think that so many people, with different personalities and interests, agreed to die together. He later tells Veronica, "Pretend I did blow up the school, all the schools" - implying that he wanted to do this again. He might be crazy, but he was careful in how he executed the murders of Heather, Kurt, and Ram. Why the ridiculous bomb plan?

Answer: He doesn't care if anyone believes it or not; he is trying to make a statement about society and that no matter how we see ourselves in life, we are all the same when we're dead.

Answer: Not only is JD crazy, he is overconfident now. He and Veronica got away with the other murders. He thinks a fake mass suicide could be successful.

Answer: The students didn't know they were signing a "mass suicide" pact. They thought it was a petition to win a free concert from a popular band. JD covered the suicide wording on the paper with a sticker that made it look like a contest entry. He pulls off the sticker and reads the real message after he finds Veronica hanging in her room.

That was not the question. It's a question of why JD thinks anyone will believe the note, after all the students are dead. Has nothing to do with the students knowing what they were signing.

Answer: Somewhere in Fresno, California. I think, as for everyone else, his brother is mentally handicapped and his ex-wife is ignorant, lazy, and just plain mean.

Season 6 generally

Question: When the FBI enter the Starkwood compound, they are surrounded by Starkwood militia and Hodges threatens to open fire if the FBI don't leave the property. They are federal agents. Would opening fire on them not still be a crime? Hodges seemed sure he could order it to be done and be within his rights so why was that?

The_Iceman

Answer: Hodges had a warped, extremist view of individual and property rights. Harassing, impeding, threatening, or interfering with federal agents engaged in their official duties is against the law, even if the actions of the agents are found later to be unlawful. Once he knew they were feds, threatening to shoot them was a crime.

Dick and Taxes - S4-E12

Question: When Mary asks Dick what he expected for not paying his taxes when he learns he owes thousands to the IRS, he responds with, "I certainly didn't expect my girlfriend to wear my ass as a snowshoe!" I'm not sure I have ever understood this joke. What is the meaning behind it?

Phaneron

Answer: The writers often have Dick respond to Mary with a retort that he thinks is in the common vernacular but makes a mistake in wording that is often funny. Dick seems to be imputing a criticism from Mary and responds with a corruption of the more common "I'm going to wear your ass like a hat!" I doubt it has anything to do with owing taxes. Probably just one of the writers assuming a common regional phrase would be universally recognized.

That makes total sense. I always interpreted it as perhaps snowshoes are an expensive item, and given that he was blaming Mary for his newfound financial woes, he was equating her living off his generosity and used snowshoeing as a metaphor.

Phaneron

Question: Near the end, when Baby and Debra are stopped by the police on the bridge, they have a full set of keys (car and what looks like house keys) that Baby removes from the ignition and tosses into the river. How the hell did they get the keys if they stole the car?

Answer: The keys were probably in the car when they took it. Leaving keys in an unattended car is stupid, but not uncommon. I've seen lots of news reports where a car theft victim starts their story with, "I only left the car running for a minute while I..."

Answer: No, Claude Rains was not a trained musician. He was coached on how to play the violin and piano, but Rains' playing was dubbed over in post-production.

raywest

Question: After Veronica convinces Heather McNamara not to kill herself, she suggests they "knock off early". Are they just going to skip class, or are they possibly allowed to leave school if they are seniors? At least, during the time when this movie was made (before the increased security concerns of recent years).

Answer: Yes, Veronica meant skipping class. And, as seniors, they may have been allowed to leave the school grounds.

ChristmasJonesfan

Answer: She means to leave school early; whether they are allowed to or not cannot be determined from the context of their conversation.

Question: Were the scientists involved really concerned about igniting the atmosphere?

Answer: The short version is "no, not really". Much like in the film, the possibility was considered, a lot of calculations were done, and it was agreed by everyone privy to them that the chance was basically zero. Also like in the film: "what do you want from theory alone?" - it couldn't be guaranteed to be absolutely zero, but then the chance of almost anything happening is never absolutely zero. A 1946 report by three of the scientists stated: "whatever the temperature to which a section of the atmosphere may be heated, no self-propagating chain of nuclear reactions is likely to be started. The energy losses to radiation always overcompensate the gains due to the reactions."

Question: Looking at how this movie opens, it is the same night the first film ends. April's apartment burned down. How could she have a new, fully furnished apartment for the turtles to stay in? It's hinted that she has been there for a while based on the neighbor's comment about her "aerobics."

Answer: Who said or hinted it was the same night as the first one ended? It's a night shortly after the first movie. Regarding the new place, well that's what insurance does – provides you with a new place.

Rob245

I also think that it is the same night. The foot soldiers are still in their uniforms and show fresh signs of battle. Plus, when the garbage truck pulls away, we see Shredder lift his hand from that area, which tells us that he was just "dropped off" for lack of a better term. But mostly, the dialogue between April, the turtles, and Splinter indicates that they have been crashing at her place for an extended period of time, not just a few hours or days.

Answer: He suspects that Cartman just wants an excuse to stay home and slack off on schoolwork.

Question: How did Noah know about Ivy going on her mission in time enough for him to grab the creature costume from underneath the floorboards of the quiet room, bust out of the room, and head into the woods to lie in wait for her?

Answer: He probably overheard his parents discussing it. The mission wasn't a secret, and enough time would have elapsed while Ivy and the two other boys prepared for and left on their mission. Noah understood things much better than anyone realised, and he was able to act quickly. He may also have seen Ivy and the two boys leaving the village, then he quickly got the costume and followed them into the woods.

raywest

Question: Wasn't it very unloving and cruel for Edward Walker to send out Ivy? She was the one person who was blind. The village is all she has ever known. She had never even heard a siren before until she hopped over the wall. She went there (quite literally) blindly, not knowing what to expect. I don't believe he couldn't have gone with her. He could have walked her to the wall (ironically covered in ivy) and just told her, "I can't go beyond this point," and could have told her exactly what to say.

Answer: That would have been the logical thing to do, and it is yet, among many, another plot hole. However, it could be argued it was because Edward had solemnly sworn never to leave the village. Even going to the reserve's perimeter was violating that oath and put him too close to the modern world. Ivy was chosen because she was blind and would be unable to see anything of the modern world and bring that knowledge back to the younger villagers. It was his intention that the other two boys would escort her to the wall, but they became too frightened and left her on her own.

raywest

Question: Why didn't Lucius try to defend himself after getting stabbed? He just fell down and allowed himself to receive more stabbings. Sure, it was no doubt shock that set in, but human instinct would have been to try to at least push Noah off him and try to get away from him.

Answer: Everyone reacts differently to physical trauma and stress. Lucius appears to be in a physical state of shock, as both arms are shaking, he is unable to move, and seemingly does not comprehend what just happened to him, never assuming that Noah would do something like this. That is when Lucius falls to the floor. It's not unusual for someone experiencing or witnessing something traumatic to become frozen in disbelief as they attempt to process what just happened.

raywest

Answer: In real life, sure... 90% of people would fight back. But in the context of the movie, we are meant to assume that he collapsed due to being in shock/pain from being stabbed. Just to add a little extra note, I'm assuming the numerous questions that have been posted for this film and "Signs" over the past few weeks are coming from the same person. You really do have to remember that these are stylised movies from a director with a very quirky style. Shyamalan's films (both his good films and his bad films) often have a sort-of unique sense of logic to them, and almost follow fable-like rules at times. Trying to force too much real-world logic into them or wanting too many answers to kind of undermines their point. It'd be like trying to apply real-world logic to Grimm's fairy tales or a Wes Anderson film.

TedStixon

Well stated.

raywest

Question: How could Chris have legally become sheriff? Wouldn't he have had to go to law enforcement school or academy before he could have been considered for a role as sheriff?

Answer: The role of sheriff is an elected, political position, and as recent US politics have shown, one can be elected to office with little or no previous relevant experience.

Question: Why couldn't Batman just follow Lau to his house and kidnap him there instead of this elaborate plan with the plane?

Answer: To add to the other answer, Lau is likely to have heavy security no matter where he is, so an equally elaborate plan would be necessary even if he left his tower.

Answer: Lau probably lives and works at his tower.

lionhead

Question: It's stated a couple times in the movie that Arnie could die at any moment. Pardon my ignorance, but why exactly is this? Is there something about his condition that makes him highly susceptible to dropping dead, or is it a matter of his behavioral impulses (such as climbing the water tower) that put him at a high risk of dying in an accident?

Phaneron

Chosen answer: It's because of his often reckless behavior; it's never implied within the film that his unique condition has anything to do the likelihood that he could "go at any time."

zendaddy621

Answer: In the beginning, Gilbert explains that the doctors said Arnie will only live till 10 years old, and that he is well past that, so he "could go at any time."

Question: When Jo and Bill drove through Wakita after the twister came tearing through moments earlier, she saw a family that looked just like hers from when she was a little girl standing in the wreckage. Was that an actual lookalike family who were victims of the Wakita tornado, or was her mind playing tricks on her because of the mixture of lack of sleep, stress, and her childhood trauma/PTSD?

Answer: It didn't appear to be an hallucination, but a real family that was similar to her own. Maybe someone else has a different take, but I don't think that was the intention.

raywest

Question: In San Francisco, why did the police, SWAT teams, and the military all converge and surround Hulk all at once? He could have easily just hopped over all that and kept going. Just the sight of the military could have thrown him into a rage, considering their previous engagements between the big green man and the men in green.

Answer: They've never previously encountered the Hulk, and therefore don't know that he needs to calm down in order for his rampage to cease. Betty is the one that has to convince her father of this.

Phaneron

Question: In the flashback scene of Bruce's father being carted off in a straightjacket after he had murdered Bruce's mother and blew up the base, who was the man that stood beside young Bruce and patted him on the shoulder?

Answer: General Ross.

Phaneron

Question: How did the aliens drop down from their ships that were shown on TV? Did they land and drop them off, or did they have some kind of teleporting device? Also, why didn't the Air Force attempt to shoot down any of them?

Answer: It was never shown how they did this, so it's all speculation. It was shown that the ships were apparently hidden by a shield, making them appear invisible. This was seen on the TV footage when birds in flight were hitting something in the sky and suddenly dropping to the ground.

raywest

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