0213 - "Going Home" [6/15/07]

[cynicar]

Note: I'm posting this after only having read 5 pages, so I apologize because I'm probably just saying something that three billion people have already said, but Pttttttp to you.

I'm almost certain they're not ending yet. They haven't even begun to work on finding Jonas' parents.

I think Bree ran off in her either post-coital panic or as part of a scheme and has since realized that she has fallen Oh-So-In-Love with Jonas and is now attempting to sacrifice herself in order to ensure his happiness and freedom.

I also think Jonas and Daniel are either A) going to recognize the pile of rocks or B) have better luck with the Power Bar trail and find her.

All in all, just another vid. I liked this one though, quite a bit. The horrid quality added a lot to it, somehow.

ETA: To weigh in on the timeline issue, the call that Taylor tracked is very probably not this video being uploaded. It was probably Bree trying to get in touch with someone in the Order to come get her. A week would be a hell of a long processing delay.

[exanimatebylove]

I only read as far as page 6 I think so sorry if this has been mentioned but, I think she is just sick of hurting Jonas and Daniel. She's sick of being chased and saved every time. I think she's deciding to give her life to the HoO because she really feels like she has no other options at this point. I'm sooo hoping that the whole sex thing and purity thing makes a difference. Maybe (hopefully) you guys are right and they wont want her anymore. I dunno but this vid made me sad for Bree. I just don't think it's what she really wants.

[pinkingrid]

I see it this way... she's been gone for quite a number of days and that is actually enough time for The Order to come and get her.

But... they did not. She was so confused that she ran away from the people who really are her friends.

I think this video reveals her helplessness and desperation, see how she asks her "brothers and sisters" to come and help her. Jonas, Sarah and Daniel didn't have to have that plea for them to come looking for her. The moment she went missing, they went on a search party.

Maybe, the purity thing does have a play in here.
Well I don't know...

The Creators I think are really working hard on this. Its no joke maintaining a series as famous as this. Especially that Jessica's landing a lot of projects.

I like the celphone video part. Very "real". Go home Bree--to Jonas, Daniel and Sarah.

[Reb]

If LG15 does come to an end which wouldn't be the end of my world as it has been going on for a long time. They have to do it properly and end it in a way which answers all the questions.

1)What is the ceremony?
2) Where a Jonas's parents?
3) What does the order actually want?
4) Who are Bree's real parents

etc if the series ends before these questions are answered I am going to be slightly annoyed. I am sorry if someone has said this before but I only read the first 8/9 pages.

[Renegade]

Do I have to comment on the convenience of municipal wireless LAN in the middle of the fucking woods?
...or on how digital audio wouldn't get distorted by noise if the connection was bad?

Seriously...suspension of disbelief only works if the action to belief is within the realm of possilities.

I mean, look at on how many levels this video doesn't make sense:
Scenario A - Computer & Camera:

• AFAIK, nobody ever mentioned she took recording equipment with her
• If she did, she'd have been fleeing with a notebook, a camera and a firewire cable. Not saying that's impossible, just saying, if I was fleeing, I'd think twice about adding another six kilos to my bag.
• Video editing takes processing power. Video compression takes processing power. Processing power takes energy. Again, it is not impossible, but highly unlikely she could've shot, transferred, cut, compressed and uploaded a video running from battery.
• Even if she did, how likely is it that she conveniently has wireless LAN in the middle of the woods?
• And even if she managed to get a 'net connection over her cell phone (which I, quite frankly, don't think she'd manage), the transfer rate would be a pain in the ass - possibly slow enough to make the battery of the notebook run out before the upload was completed.
• And even if she managed to shoot, transfer to notebook, cut, compress and upload...a shitty connection would not add noise to the audio of the video. It'd either add jumps or fragments, due to missing packets/frames, or it'd corrupt the video so it wouldn't be playable for us.

Now, LGPedia suggests she was using her cell phone...let's look at that.
Scenario B - Cell phone skillz:

• While cell phone audio equipment probably is a little worse on distance than a camera's microphone, it's by far not as bad as this - think about it: A cell phone is made for telephony, an activity inherently connected to recording audio. I don't know about cell phones in the US, but over here, the sound quality is good enough to identify where the other end is from the background sounds.
• Even if her cell phone was so old or so bad to fail at its primary task (recording audio), she'd merely sound particularly bad - it wouldn't add a continuous, high-pitched noise in the background. (Except, of course, if there was a windstorm going on and she held the microphone into the wind....anybody seen a storm? No? Guessed so.)
• The probability that a cell phone without a real microphone records videos at 480x360px isn't that big, either.
• Then there's the total contradiction of skills: On on hand, Bree is apparently capable of setting the white balance and brightness settings of her cell phone's recording function, uses stop/record well enough to fake post-production cuts and manages to keep herself centrally in the frame without even seeing what's being recorded...but on the other hand, she fails at setting white balance and brightness correctly, ruining the image.
  Let me make this clear: Cell phones usually start at all-auto mode. To have a fixed video "experience" like this, she had to set the settings manually. And if she knew what to change where, it is highly unlikely she knew what she had to change, she knew how to change it, but not what to change it to. Especially since the cell phone display shows the new settings, and she could've just cycled through modes until it looked good.
• Again, recording a video takes quite some battery power, and so does internet-usage (as the browser is probably java-based or something). Uploading a vid also takes time. She's been out there for three days. It's not impossible, but highly unlikely she would've had the power for all of that - especially given how crappy her phone supposedly is.
• And now, think about this: If she's got a well-enough reception from her cell phone to upload a video to the internet for several minutes...why hasn't she called the Order days ago? I mean, even if the Order dramatically conveniently forgets it has triangulated cell phone signals before...an organization of their size could've easily simply got a few hundred people together to search the fucking One in the woods. I mean, she's apparently still important to them - one call, and the skies'd be crawling with helicopters with infrared cameras. But noooooo, she uploads videos instead.

I could probably find more, but I think you get the point. I understand a suspension of disbelief is necessary for fiction, and believe me, I am capable of that. But this video is just unbelievable in too many aspects. It doesn't make sense.

And yes, I am aware it's probably all been said...it's not my fault there are 14 pages already

[pixxi.is.dizzi]

Ok. There is an old saying when it comes to writing mysteries. "If there is a gun on the mantel in the second chapter, there has to be a gun shot by the end of the second act" Or something like that. I'm paraphrasing as its 8 am and I dont do 8 am.

Problem is, they haven't showed us the gun on the mantle. They've shown us the arms supply closet filled with everything from a spit ball straw to the surface to air missile system. And on that scale they've only fired a few test rounds in the hopes of keeping us around to view the whole arsenal. And we're all sitting here waiting (and not patiently) for a gun shot to ring out.


At this point I wouldn't mind them taking a week off to suss out their plots, get their ducks in a row figure out what to focus on, what to let drop away... but they're on thinning ice with a lot of viewers who want answers now. I don't know if they would really survive such a plot reduction.

Out of all the plots that we've been presented with (The HoO, bree's family, adopted or genetic, jonas' family, sarah and taylor's family situation, all the romantic angles that remain unresolved, et cetera) which ones do you think they should focus on and what should they let fall by the wayside?

I don't know about you, but I'm ready for a bit of closure. Cause at this point, bree's not the only one wandering around in the woods begging for someone to come get her and show her the way.

[raptattention]

Why do people think this is over? I've been thinking this whole time that this loosely follows the Hero's Journey storyline. (Thinking back 13 years to my freshman English class.)
Below are archetypal themes/plot patterns that I found online. Doesn't #4 sound like where we are now?

1. a call to adventure, which the hero has to accept or decline
2. a road of trials, regarding which the hero succeeds or fails
3. achieving the goal or "boon," which often results in important self-knowledge
4. a return to the ordinary world, again as to which the hero can succeed or fail
5. application of the boon in which what the hero has gained can be used to improve the world.

Also, sometimes it goes like this:

The Quest: Long journey toward a goal. Tasks, obstacles.

Initiation: Rite of passage/fall from innocence--struggles of coming of age--Stages include: separation, transformation, return.

Dualities: Good vs. evil, reason vs. emotion--conflicts may be external but may also take place within one character.

Cycles: destruction and rebirth of character, cultures, or the universe.

I think we're either at the end of initiation (Bree returning? but to the Order or to TAAG?) Fall from innocence could be Bree and Jonas' hookup. Or we might be in one of the cycles. All this should be interpreted loosely.

[clarrisa]

Thurs, June 7: Video "Holy SH%T!!!"; Bree & Jonas...well...
Fri, June 8: Video "The Morning After"; Bree escapes
Sat, June 9: Bree is lost and uploads her video "Going Home."
Mon, June 11: Video "Mr. Park Ranger"
Wed, June 13: Video "Everybody Does It Wink"
Wed, June 13: Video "Like A Virgin"
Fri, June 15: Video "Going Home" finally magically appears.

Am I insane, or is the most recent video a week old?

come along with me on this.
Taylor told them about Bree's location signal AFTER the Order/HoO had already picked her up...they got her while/briefly after her cell phone died trying to upload this video (she said her battery was about gone)....so Jonas and Beast and Sarah go after her.
This suggests to me a couple questions I believe are relevant - why bother uploading the video after you've been rescued?
Did the Order get Bree's location independently...or from Taylor?
Possibly the video was a way to get everyone out of the house they're staying in...all at once?

Just my thoughts. Never reeeaaaaaallly trusted Taylor 100%.

[Sam fan]

It was his first time. How good could it be? Not very good it seems, since she was so desperate to flee.

That gives such a funny visual, esp. with the kind of facial expression the Bree character can come up with. ("Eew is this all there is? I'm outtah here!)

But on the other half of it, maybe shagging Jonas woke up her spirit, corny as that is. There's a saying: "Love brings up anything unlike itself"... and with Bree maybe that's fear, and awareness of the darkness in her planted by the Order and HoO.
She might've realized how much she really cares about Jonas, and Daniel as well .... and maybe she was like the werewolf who's lover tries to follow him before the moon rises ("No! Spare yourself. Leave me!")

I like this Bree who's doffed the self-absorbed damsel in distress trampling across her friends for a damsel who's willing to sacrifice herself in order to give her lover and friends back their lives.
I agree tha it is really sad though.

Someone's posted this I'm sure, but it's interesting to hear her mention her mum. It's hard to tell whether that mention was significant to the plot or mainly a sign that Bree was reviewing her whole life and the people in it...

If I recall correctly, that last time Bree mentioned her was in "My Dad said...":
" I don't really know how to say this, so... I guess I'll just say it the way it's been running through my head the past couple of days. (long pause) My dad... my dad wasn't my real dad, and, um, my mom wasn't my real mom. Um, my dad told me this before, before he, um... [........] And, I don't want to think about it and I don't want to talk about it, and if feeling the way that I'm feeling is my only option, then... I don't want to feel anything. It's kinda hard to take a break from your own reality if your friends are shoving it in your face. Even if they mean the best, you know?""
http://www.lonelygirl15.com/lgpedia/ind ... y_Dad_Said...

Anyway... I don't see this series ending yet, either. At least not until there's another major confrontation of DB and Jonas with the Order even if it would be over who gets to bury Bree's corpse.

[HeatherAnneDear]

what the hell is wrong with bree? she wants the hymn of one? what is that? she's SOO brainwashed that its not even funny!

[Aponi]

I want to agree with Trainer here. (about the highway metaphor)
It's like, why would they bring her back for a weekish, do (literally ) the thing with Jonas and Bree, only to have her leave again, in her right mind, just like in 'WTF'. Why didn't we just get some vid from in her right mind Bree telling them why she left the first time? Why was she seemingly drugged? Because she was acting loony-tunes, i'm pretty sure there was drugs involved, but they wore off now. So...what happened to make them drug her if she wants to stay of her own free will anyway?

THATS what really doesn't make sense to me. I can only guess that Jonas loving her is somehow plot-significant, don't know why yet though.

[lookinginonyou]

ok, let me get this straight: jonas said in the video "mr. park ranger" that the cell phone call in the woods went out "early saturday." this had to be bree connecting to the internet with her cell phone to upload her video. SO...

Thurs, June 7: Video "Holy SH%T!!!"; Bree & Jonas...well...
Fri, June 8: Video "The Morning After"; Bree escapes
Sat, June 9: Bree is lost and uploads her video "Going Home."
Mon, June 11: Video "Mr. Park Ranger"
Wed, June 13: Video "Everybody Does It "
Wed, June 13: Video "Like A Virgin"
Fri, June 15: Video "Going Home" finally magically appears.

Am I insane, or is the most recent video a week old?

I'm pretty sure that she said she's tried to upload the video before, but after rewatching the video, no, she didn't. She did say in her description that it was probably the last time she would get to use her phone. Meaning, she's recorded these clips like someone did earlier, and they are seperate, but they look like they are edited. maybe it got lost in cyber space for a while, or maybe the phone call wasn't hers. Maybe she just wanted to think, and after she got tired of thinking, she didn't know what to do, so she made a video and this is all she could do with her battery.

[joygasm]

Thurs, June 7: Video "Holy SH%T!!!"; Bree & Jonas...well...
Fri, June 8: Video "The Morning After"; Bree escapes
Sat, June 9: Bree is lost and uploads her video "Going Home."
Mon, June 11: Video "Mr. Park Ranger"
Wed, June 13: Video "Everybody Does It Wink"
Wed, June 13: Video "Like A Virgin"
Fri, June 15: Video "Going Home" finally magically appears.

Am I insane, or is the most recent video a week old?

come along with me on this.
Taylor told them about Bree's location signal AFTER the Order/HoO had already picked her up...they got her while/briefly after her cell phone died trying to upload this video (she said her battery was about gone)....so Jonas and Beast and Sarah go after her.
This suggests to me a couple questions I believe are relevant - why bother uploading the video after you've been rescued?
Did the Order get Bree's location independently...or from Taylor?
Possibly the video was a way to get everyone out of the house they're staying in...all at once?

Just my thoughts. Never reeeaaaaaallly trusted Taylor 100%.

Well, didn't Bree say she had been out there for a few days? "I didn't think I would survive this long out her by myself" err.. uh... something along those lines. The video being uploaded the 9th does not go along with that.

[wh_pirate]

Unless she has lost track of time and she thinks its only been a couple of days.

[BlogGirl14]

you think she could be at the place from "My Parents... Let Us Go Hiking!!!"? or from "Who Is This?"?