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March 4, 2007: What If It's Him?
Well, here we are, finally at the end of Brett’s long journey (it’s taken a little longer than expected thanks to ABC.com’s erratic schedule, but I digress). There is a little bit of disappointment when you realize that the show’s producers were hoping for a second season of the show and left a couple of plot threads hanging just in case there were more episodes on the horizon. It’s nothing major, and I still think this was an awesome episode, but I guess this serves as a reminder that whenever you work in the television industry you never know how things will end up. That last image in particular is sure to have fans of the shows debating its meaning (I’ll get to that later).
The first few scenes of this episode seem like more of the same: Brett using his knowledge to move through the day as efficiently as possible and save a number of people in the process. In the span of just a few minutes he manages to get immediate medical assistance to the bus driver who’s about to have a stroke, prevent Margo from being hit by said bus, and even uses the commotion to handcuff Chad to the grating of a gutter and make a run for it. Jack Bauer couldn’t have done it better himself.
But then we finally get some new revelations: Brett is able to convince Choi that he’s being framed and interrogates Mrs. Garza, whom we learn is the one who started this whole mess in the first place. Turns out that she convinced her husband not to testify, and by passing certain information on to her lover Tobias Booth, ensured that her husband would be killed and that Brett Hopper would be framed for the murder so that the evidence Garza sent to him would never see the light of day. This confession finally exonerates Hopper, but convinces the members of the conspiracy that they need to bring an end to everything. No more fooling around – destroy everyone and everything.
Unfortunately for the conspiracy, they set up the wrong person to kill Hopper – Damien. It was a bit confusing when Damien pistol-whipped Hopper and then just left him to wake up in the back of a pick-up truck in a parking garage. Clearly Damien realized that Hopper wasn’t the one who betrayed him, but when did he have his change of heart if he still attacked Brett? The fact that all of this didn’t add up was what made me realize that the one of the final scenes of this episode had to address the Damien/Uncle Nick storyline and bring us some closure to why everything happened.
As it turns out, Damien liked Hopper too much too take him out without checking his facts. I wasn’t totally clear on what Baxter would have said that cleared Hopper of selling Damien out, but the end result is the same: Uncle Nick is the one who ratted out the safe house, killed Hopper Senior and made it look like a suicide, and even tried to have Brett murdered. Pathetically, he even begs for his life as Brett walks away. “Think of your father!” I loved Brett’s cold response, even more ironic given his time-repeating. “I do. Every day.” There’s a part of me that thinks maybe Brett should have taken the moral high ground and had Nick sent to prison instead of letting Damien execute him, but given the amount of pain he’s caused in Hopper’s life, you can understand why he doesn’t even look back.
And I almost forgot to mention one of my favorite moments: Brett’s sudden realization that he’s made it to tomorrow after awakening from the back of the pick-up. Maybe the endlessly repeating day of his life was just a means of setting up this day, when everything important happens. That’s the real reason why Brett had to keep reliving the day, even when he solved Garza’s murder. This is about something much larger than just him, and if he had gotten to see tomorrow then, the conspiracy still would have won. Instead, their goon squad rushes into an empty courtroom and is taken down by a SWAT team led by Andrea. Nice. I also appreciate the crazy montage of punishment where we see what happens to nearly all of the bad guys. For those keeping score: Tobias Booth goes to prison, Detweiler kills himself with a shotgun, Chad escapes from custody after beating up the officer assigned to escort him through the police station, Mrs. Garza is killed, the Crying Man seems to escape (he unlocks his chains and produces a gun, so I think that’s what we’re meant to assume), and Spivak is finally revealed to be just misdirection, since Chad is the one who planted the fingerprints on the “murder weapon.” Only Barry Colburn gets away with everything, but at least he tells Brett who’s responsible for his dad’s murder.
And of course, there’s that last image in the episode, of a mysterious man we’ve never met before watching Brett, Rita and Jennifer from a distance with an air of detachment. Or maybe we have met him. Although I’ve checked the credits for this episode everywhere I could think of, I haven’t been able to tell if this guy is the same actor who played Jared Pryor. They look vaguely similar, but business suit guy’s beard is different and makes it hard to get a good look at his facial features. Whether or not this guy is Jared, the larger question of who he really is remains. I like some of the theories that have been posted already in the feedback. Maybe he’s the spirit of the city itself, who chose Brett Hopper to right the wrongs that had been corrupting it for years. Or maybe he’s a reference to some plotline that the show’s creators were hoping to use next season. We’ll never know. But maybe that’s for the best. After all, what’s a good mystery without a few pieces missing to keep you guessing?
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Mar 4, 2007 3:03 PM
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Thanks for the commentary (today and all season), Jack!
You had mentioned that Booth went to prison, but in the montage I thought they showed a couple of guys show up in his jail cell -- I wasn't sure if that meant they came to kill him. I would assume Barry Colburn wouldn't want anyone who could implicate him in this whole thing to remain alive.
I kind of liked that they didn't leave everything neatly wrapped up. We can probably assume Hopper will continue to pursue Colburn.
I too was left with some questions at the end. My biggest question is what is meant by the title ("What if It's Him?). I'm not sure if "Him" refers to Hopper's dad (as in, this was all about finding out Hopper's dad was murdered); or maybe "Him" refers to Nick (as in, he's the one who killed the father); or maybe Chad (he's the inside guy); or maybe Jared at the end (because he's causing all of this, maybe?) It probably refers to Hopper himself, but I'm not sure why.
Incidentally, IMDB lists Clayton Rohner as being in the last episode, but with the character being "Surfer Dude" instead of "Jared Pryor" (as he was listed in "What if He's Not Alone"). When Jared first showed up in prior episodes, he was listed as "Surfer Dude", so we can probably assume that was supposed to be Jared at the end.
I don't know what Jared's presence at the end is supposed to mean, though. Assuming Jared's previously repeating day was the same day as Hopper's, then he should only be two days beyond that day, just like Hopper. It seems strange that he would have turned his life around that quickly, though. That would lend support for the theory that Jared is not just an average time-looping guy like Hopper, but rather might himself have been causing Hopper's time loop.
Anyway, I really liked the last episode and the series in general. This was just as much about Hopper fixing the relationships in his life (Rita, Jennifer and Andrea) as it was about finding out about his father's death and bringing down the conspiracy. I liked the way each time he fixed a relationship with those people, it affected their actions in subsequent days (each trusted him with information they had been keeping from him in prior versions of the day).
And, of course, the relationship with his father is fixed, as he no longer has to think that his father was a dirty cop or that he committed suicide.
I've enjoyed this blog and everyone's comments all season -- sorry it's coming to an end!
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Mar 4, 2007 3:42 PM
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I've checked some other boards, and the consensus is that it's Jared in the last scene. So, perhaps his loop was finished as well. Or, perhaps he was the manipulator of the loop. Maybe the point of the day was so that Hopper would know all facts of his father's murder.
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Mar 4, 2007 4:57 PM
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Thanks for the show blogs. Great recaps. Thanks ABC for allowing us to finish this mini season. And thanks to the actors for their great work.
I thought at first that was Chad in the last scene watching Brett, Rita and Jennifer. I was blown away to see a nicely cleaned up Jared, but what did it mean?
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Mar 4, 2007 6:13 PM
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First Thanks for the wonderful recap of the episode and the blog all show long.
I was getting worried ABC wasn't going to air the final episode. Glad they finally did.
I thought that for the most part it wrapped up the plot lines pretty good. Although Uncle Nick's excuse for killing Hopper,SR was lame. OH, BTW the actor, Jim Beaver,must have "Uncle" tatooed somewhere--he plays the Winchester boys "uncle" on Supernatural.
I did LOL when Hopper prevented the dish,in the bathrom from breaking.
And since I'm a Mitch Pileggi fan,I was glad to see he wasn't a dirty cop.
I'll miss the chat on this blog site. Hope to catch some of you on other TV Guide blogs.
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Mar 4, 2007 6:19 PM
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i too am wondering about what happened to CHAD. but i was confused as to why in the end they made him bad; it was back and forth there for a while and i really thought he would be one of the good guys in the end.
as for JARED, it took me a second to realize it was him, could have been because of the cleaned up version or it could be that he hasn't been around for a couple of episodes and i forgot about him.
as for what JARED represents i think it has to do with the whole "DECISION/CONSEQUENCE" mantra of the show. JARED is the YING to HOPPERS YANG. they need to co-exist together, in the fight of good versus evil...too philosophical or whatever i know.
good show, i did think the last episode was a little rushed as an ending, but at least it got a proper ending unlike most shows that had disappeared before online episodes was around.
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Mar 4, 2007 8:17 PM
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That was definitely Clayton Rohner, AKA "Jared" in that final shot. I just took it as meaning that Jared was something way more than just a dude with brain problems. That he somehow was part of why the day was repeating for Hopper.
I really liked the way things wrapped up. The only thing that didn't ring true for me was Chad ultimately being the inside man. If that's true, then it kind of made no sense to me that in the previous repeats he would have helped Hopper, especially in the hostage episode.
I'd gotten confused as to why Damien hadn't killed Hopper, so your explanation makes sense, Jack.
Anyone else think that perhaps they cut short the scene of the cops bringing down the hit squad? Andrea saw Fencik and Buchalter slinking away from the scene, and it looked like she was going after them, but then it cut to something else. If the show comes out on DVD, maybe we'll find out.
As frustrating as all the waiting was, I'm really glad we had the opportunity to see how the story played out. I thought this was a great vehicle for Taye Diggs, and I hate that I'm hearing he has a rep as a show killer. So not fair to him. I hope things go better with the Grey's spinoff.
I really like the concept of a 13 episode mini season for a show. Picks up the intenisty and action and there's no time to let things draw out unnecessarily.
Thanks, again, to Jack for sticking with us, and his bosses for letting this blog continue, even though the show was just online. Hope to see you blogging about a new show soon, Jack!
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Mar 4, 2007 9:58 PM
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This made me laugh out loud:
"as for what JARED represents i think it has to do with the whole "DECISION/CONSEQUENCE" mantra of the show. JARED is the YING to HOPPERS YANG. they need to co-exist together, in the fight of good versus evil...too philosophical or whatever i know."
I don't know it you were being ironic or clever but the last thing I saw Clayton Rohner (Jared) in was a show called:
"G vs E aka Good vs. Evil"
I think Jared was an observer/facilitator for the day who would have showed up again in subsequent 2nd season and beyond episodes.
Oh well, it will never be.
Really loved the show and this blog. Thanks to everyone.
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Mar 4, 2007 11:28 PM
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the Crying Man was going to kill the two dirty sheriffs in the bus with him, so, no loose ends anywere, everybody was dead.
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Mar 5, 2007 12:25 AM
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If you want to hear the song that was originally supposed to be playing over that "bad guys all pay" montage, check out "God's Gonna Cut You Down" on Youtube. That's what held up the episode for so long: ABC didn't want to pay so much to the Johnny Cash estate for the rights, so they had to find another song. Too bad, because that one would have been perfect. And speaking of which...
The gentleman at the very end is indeed Jared. If that's his real name. If he's even a finite and mortal being. What if it's... Him?
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Mar 5, 2007 6:01 AM
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the Crying Man was going to kill the two dirty sheriffs in the bus with him, so, no loose ends anywere, everybody was dead.
That was my impression as well, that the crying man was "taking care" of the the cops, Booth, and Mrs. Garza. Colburn is still there and could orchestrate this, although if the prison officials were brought down too, I'm not sure how.
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Mar 5, 2007 6:18 AM
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I liked the episode. Good end to a series.
And dude, "God Is Gonna Cut You Down" was the original song they were going to use? 'Cause when I was watching that scene, I was totally thinking that they should have used GIGCYD. (Supernatural used it in a promo not too long ago.)
So...does this mean that I can expect someone to make a fanvid on youtube of the Punishment Montage with the songs switched out? 
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Mar 5, 2007 7:00 AM
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Thanks for covering Day Break to the end! I already miss this show. It was fast-paced and well done. I don't know why it didn't catch on better.
I also think it was Jared at the end. I think he was in on the day repeating somehow, but I wish we knew how! I also feel like the left a few things out, like Andrea chasing the guys out of the courtroom and what ever happened to Margot? Did he find her? I still thought Spivak was bad, but it was a nice twist to have it had been Chad all along.
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Mar 5, 2007 9:03 AM
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Sigh...I'm even more upset now that the show got canceled, because I really want to know what happens with Chad, and Andrea chasing the bad cops, and Jared looking all sharp at the end. And I would love to find out how Brett finally takes down Colburn, because you know he will some day. I was getting quite annoyed with ABC for taking so long to post the final episode, but it ended up being worth it.
On another note, a previous poster said that Taye Diggs is getting a rep as a show killer. To be quite honest, he is the only reason I began watching this show. I've had a bit of a crush on Taye since "How Stella Got Her Groove Back" and I'll watch anything he's in, at least once. 
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Mar 5, 2007 9:37 AM
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If you start "God's Gonna Cut You Down" right after Hopper catches the soapdish and says, "It's over," it works pretty well. It goes over by 30 seconds or so, but maybe they recut the sequence to fit the new song? Or maybe they had a shorter edit of it.
And yeah, I'm praying we find out who Jared was. That would be heavenly. Sorry to harp on it!
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Mar 5, 2007 10:45 AM
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