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November 22, 2006: When Will I See You Again?
First off, thanks to everyone who pointed me in the direction of ABC’s official Day Break website (check it out here). I was surprised, actually, by how much the FAQ on there gives away: it specifically outlines the rules the time repeating operates by (if he dies, he stays dead – end of story), and it promises to finish up this day’s plotlines within the first season. I expected that last part, but I thought it was unusual for the show’s creators to let us know this right off the bat. Maybe they just don’t want potential audience members to worry that they’ll be dragging this story out forever. And it’s left deliberately unclear whether or not they’ll explain what’s causing the time repeating, although the other interviews that I’ve read suggest that it’s never going to be solved.
Watching this second episode, I’m even more impressed with how neatly the pieces of the puzzle fit together. It’s clever how we see events in the different versions of the day that seem unrelated, and then realize how one explains the next. For example, in day one (according to this episode at least) Brett and Andrea find a dead body floating in Baxter the lawyer’s swimming pool. Later on, Brett is kidnapped by some of Damien’s goons and watches as Baxter is executed right in front of him. The next day has Brett connecting the dots: he’s at the house early enough this time to watch those same goons show up, kill the girl and take him and Baxter captive. Neat.
I still have tons of questions though, and not just about how the metaphysics of time repeating work. Weren’t we in the middle of a day at the end of the previous episode? Not that it’s a huge deal, since it just means we have to assume that Brett didn’t do much of importance that night. He had to kill some time in order to make it to 6:18 am and have everything reset – maybe we’re just missing hours of him doing sudoku or playing skeeball.
Also: are the attack on Damien’s safe house and Brett’s framing for the murder of Alberto Garza related? There’s no definite answer to that one yet, although both of them happening on the exact same day would be an incredible coincidence. Maybe Garza’s murder is being used to keep Brett occupied while the Latin Disciples eliminate Damien?
And I liked Brett’s method of saving the woman from getting hit by the bus, yelling at her over the phone to get to work instead of dragging her out of harm’s way. “I said don’t stop for coffee!” he barks into his cell phone as she ignores his first warning. Although it seems like just a gag, I wonder if this is a clue to how Brett Hopper will solve all of the hundred different problems threatening to destroy him this day: not by racing to stop everything as quickly as possible, but by using the information he has at his disposal and his smarts.
The plot was interesting enough to keep me watching, but what I really appreciated about this episode was that it felt like it gave the characters some time to really show us who they are. Andrea reminds Brett that they’ve been partners for two years – “I’ve never had a boyfriend that long,” she tells him sadly – and seems genuinely hurt that he’s not being honest with her. Of all the people Brett has to deal with, she might be the most trustworthy. On the other hand, Baxter is revealed to be a self-serving weasel who doesn’t care about anything other than saving his own skin. And although he’s almost certainly part of the conspiracy, Chad might have a little bit of decency left in him; I think he actually cares about Rita’s well-being, although maybe he just wants her back. Either way, I don’t think he knows about or would help with her murder.
And what’s Rita’s secret that she’s hiding? Yet another mystery for us to debate, I suppose. My favorite moment in the episode came at the very end, when Brett gazes longingly at Rita’s apartment while he’s speaking to her on the phone. “When will I see you again?” she asks him. His weary answer: “Tomorrow.” It’s a bitter joke, although of course she doesn’t know it. And then Brett has to see Chad in the apartment with her. Right then, as much as I wanted the answers to all the show’s questions, I was looking forward even more to seeing Brett and Rita back together and able to enjoy a little happiness without being on the run. Those two deserve it.
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Nov 22, 2006 10:45 PM
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How can you say that the pieces are beginning to fit together, when there was a BIG continuity problem -- namely, with Rita. In the pilot, she skips work and then gets shot, but on this episode's "Day 2" she goes in to work and doesn't get shot without a direct intervention from Brett. I can accept that there is a possible explanation for this (that the plan changed when Brett interrupted the two goons spying on him), but it points to just how easy it could get for the show to trip up on its own convoluted plotting.
Actually, the main source of my disappointment is in how it seems that Garza's death is linked to Brett's case. The idea that Brett was going to have to solve two seperate problems made the dilemma seem doubly challenging. Now, though, things are being set up to where he just needs to find the right thread to pull for the whole plot to unravel. Such a development might be more interesting from a plotting perspective, but it could make his eventual solution to his myriad problems a little too convenient.
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Nov 22, 2006 11:33 PM
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I was wondering if the second episode was going to be as good as the pilot and it was! I really interested in the changes occurred during the day based on what brett knew. I even said to myself I didn't miss lost at all but of course it is only the first week, I haven't had withdrawal symptom yet.
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Nov 23, 2006 12:21 PM
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Mklobas. you are missing the point of the show it is not Rita day it 's Brett day. And Brett relives day after day. While Rita day goes on as a regular day.
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Nov 23, 2006 12:32 PM
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I think its possible Rita didnt get shot because she was with chad all day, it also shows that Chad may not be as much of a "bad guy" as the end of the 2 hour pilot led us to belive. He "blew off", biff or whatever hitman/thug meeting at teh bar to hang with Rita. Which kept her safe.
I actually like this show. I like how it plays subtle plot points without spellign it all out, and lets the viewer jsut "et it"..]
like Hopper picking up the gun in the trunk, going to the drivers side, seing parkman dead with a bullethole in his head, and hopper realizing that the gun he picked up was the gun used to kill parkman. Whether it has a bigger playout (gun used to kill garza...etc), remains to be seen, but I dug that.
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Nov 23, 2006 1:50 PM
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I'm engaged in the storyline enough to overlook any potential continuity problems. And lets be honest, if they kept repeating the exact same thing over and over, it would be boring.
Nice to see another side of Chad and Andrea. I wonder if Andrea has feelings for Brett?
While I'm not expecting it, I think it'd be interesting if they did address the cause of the time-repeating. It's not something that needs to be addressed right away, but it's the one storyline that could be spread over multiple seasons.
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Nov 23, 2006 4:27 PM
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I can not wait for nexk week show! This show is much better then any body gave it credit for. I also think that Chad is a good guy.
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Nov 23, 2006 5:17 PM
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There is no continuity problem. Brett told Rita to listen to Chad at the beginning of the day. That's why she wasn't killed.
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Nov 23, 2006 5:47 PM
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Master Moron: I must admit that I had forgotten about the phone call and it could have played a role, though without hearing it we don't know what Chad was saying.
However, I don't think I'mmissing the point of the show, alex197923. You're correct that the day revolves around Brett and what he does. What the first episode did, though, was it established what would have happened had Brett not been caught in the loop -- he would be arrested for Garza's shooting, lifted from jail, and shown Rita's murder at the hands of the men in the quarry. Call it Template Day. At this point, everything that happens which deviates from that chain of events has to be the consequence of Brett doing something different to disrupt the chain of events on Template Day. MM points out that Brett's comment might have caused her to alter her plan to take the day off (which she had done on Template Day), and the possibility does exist, but it's likely that if we ever get to hear what Brett had to say we might found out that it would have done nothing to alter Rita's day -- and viola, you have a plot hole.
Perhaps I'm being picky about this, but I find that what makes a show like this so engrossing is when it can wrap you up in the plot and maintaining continuity with its initial seuqence of events. Lost comes to mind as a show that pulls this feat off quite regularl, and as its replacement I hope that Day Break can do it as well.
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Nov 23, 2006 6:08 PM
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no kids play nice ^^^ its ok if your a lost fan and whatnot, but no need to nit pick. sure a plot whole here or there is disruptive but the point is taken across right?
How about andrea calling brett at the end of the day, I couldn't for the life of me understand what had happened then i remembered her informant guy from the first episode.... so crazy can't wait to see why she offed him 
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Nov 23, 2006 11:08 PM
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Well, Brett told Rita to talk to Chad if he called her. Now, I can't exactly remember why he did this. It must have had something to do with something he learned in the previous day. But, I really can't remember.
But, by Rita talking to Chad instead of blowing him off she was able to vouch for Brett and then after that Chad was able to give her a ride home and she wasn't killed. As to why they didn't bother to kill her on the ride home, I'm not sure, maybe because Chad was with her and Chad has some connections to the bad guys. Or perhaps she was originally killed at the same time she was giving her testimony to the police. She couldn't have been killed because she was at the police station when the bad guys were planning on killing her.
Another possibility is that the bad guys didn't need to kill Rita because they decided to set Brett up with the death of Baxter. The whole purpose of killing Rita was to threaten Brett and get him to admit to killing Garza. By framing him with Baxter's murder and leaving him in the trunk, that's no longer necessary.
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Nov 24, 2006 2:38 AM
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There's a little problem here, unless I'm missing something. Brett's physical condition carries over thru the 6:17 loop, at which point he has to start the day over again. So, if he has a full day, like he did last week when he drove all night, when is he getting sleep?
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Nov 24, 2006 5:33 PM
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MasterMoron: I must admit I can't recall why Brett told Rita to talk to Chadm though it may have something to do with seeing her so upset about the call the previous day. IMO, Chad's involvement later in the day was irrelevant; the problem is that on Template Day, 1) Rita took the day off from work, and 2) she never spoke to the police and provided with Brett with an alibi, probably because of her murder. The unresolved question is why she took the day off from work unexpectedly (something to do with the call, perhaps?).
Perhaps this question and the issues it raises will be answered in future episodes and the chain of events will become much clearer; I'm not pointing out a breakdown in continuity as much as suggesting what might be sloppiness at such an early stage of the show (don't they pay people to keep track of these things?).
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Nov 24, 2006 11:17 PM
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There hasn't been any continuity problem... so far no two days have begun the same - the things Brett says in the morning, whether they shower together, the amount of blood on the sheets, everything diverges right from the minute Brett wakes up. The "outside" forces (the bus crashing, the diapar truck overturning) are remaining the same (for now), but the dynamic of the Brett/Rita relationship changes every morning. No continuity issues so far, and yes I'm sure they have people checking for that.
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Nov 25, 2006 1:03 AM
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I missed the first 2hr epsisode thinking I'd be able to watch it online. All ABC has is stupid interviews. But at the end of this week's episode (which I was able to watch) it said you can watch this episode again on their site. Does anyone know WHERE I can see the first 2 hours again b/c I'm confused!!? Did him supposedly killing that lady happen before or after his day rewinds? If it's the same day all over again, why does it seem the bad guys still know what happened that day? I'm lost. Please help.
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Nov 26, 2006 10:25 AM
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