0094 "Your Decision" (12/9/06)

[arammat]

Once again, I have mixed emotions.
On one hand: YAY for moving the story along...even if it's in a squirrely direction. Finally having them off the streets and *doing* something is better than watching them do nothing.
On the other hand: If you had been someone's only lifeline for five weeks, would you juts walk out on them without knowing what situation you were throwing them into? Especially if you knew that person was a sheltered FEMALE (hate to sound sexist, but really now Daniel, that wasn't being a gentleman) who is "wanted" by an Order?? It just seems kind of odd for Daniel to go this far and not go the distance, KWIM?
And...Daniel doesn't even know where to find Bree, right? Since he didn't go meet Jonas, he couldn't go rescue Bree if he tried. And, he can't go to the cops now, either, since he was on the run with a minor.

My impression of the video and the way things happened was that Daniel expected that Bree would cave if he stalked off and go after him. But she called his bluff and went down to meet Jonas. That really pissed him off, and in the heat of the moment he just said to himself, "Fine! If she wants to go off with some jerk she doesn't even know, let her!" My theory is that he is going to have some major second thoughts about having done this, whatever happens to Bree.

[glowe126]

Jonastko's myspace says he is in New Jersey? They must have seriously done some walking or jonas flew in? I definitely liked the drama. It was so crazy. I wish we could have seen Jonas shave his nuts. I'd like to know how to do that at home when I cook.

[random lurker]

What I liked: something finally happened, and in a way that makes it impossible to revert to where we just were. A lot has shifted now and will need to be worked out in the coming episodes. And I liked Jonas' fabulous cuteness.

What I didn't like: I think the "viewers get to influence the story" part is a TOTAL fraud. If Holly's/our decision mattered, then Bree and Daniel would have gone with Jonas. Daniel didn't decide not to go - the creators decided he wouldn't go. And they made it seem like we could choose his next move, when they knew they weren't really going to let us do that.

That makes me think we never actually had any influence over Bree's decision, either - if Holly had told the characters, "Don't go to Jonas," all that would have had to happen was for Jonas to show up anyway and Bree to admit that she had given him the meeting place, herself. then it would have ended the same way it did in the actual video, with Daniel leaving and Bree going with Jonas. (Daniel's inexplicable about-face was also annoying; it wouldn't have taken that much rewriting of the script to make his change of mind believable.)

Suppose you're reading a Choose Your Own Adventure book, and your choices are turn left or right. So you decide to turn left,and you go to the page that aligns with that choice. There, you read that, oops, the left turn leads to a dead end, and you have to go right. You are redirected to the page that aligns with the right hand turn. You thought you had a choice, and technically you made a choice, but you never really had any control over the outcome.

It isn't really interacting when the characters' paths are already decided and our interaction doesn't influence them. I don't actually care if we get to influence the direction of hte story - I just don't want to be told we will when it fact we won't.

[arammat]

THIS VIDEO MAKES NO SENSE, if Daniel was going back home, why wouldn't he make Bree go with him?!? He doesn't trust Jonas, so he is just gonna leave her with him?!? That makes no freakin sense!

And exactly how would he make her go with him? Carry her kicking and screaming over his shoulder back to the old neighborhood? Yeah, that wouldn't draw any attention. It's utter nonsense to think that he could make her do anything she didn't want to do, unless he threatened her. And that's just not going to happen. I don't know if you are a guy or a girl, khjq, but I'm a girl, and no boyfriend has EVER "made" me do anything I didn't want to do. Bree wanted to go to Jonas's all along, and she was willing to try to appease Daniel's doubts about the situation. But when Jonas "passed the test" and Daniel still wouldn't go, that was as far as she was willling to be pushed.

[robtomorrow]

Jonastko's myspace says he is in New Jersey? They must have seriously done some walking or jonas flew in? I definitely liked the drama. It was so crazy. I wish we could have seen Jonas shave his nuts. I'd like to know how to do that at home when I cook.

The LAST thing I would want to see is Jonas shave his nuts!

[betz28]

Jonastko's myspace says he is in New Jersey? They must have seriously done some walking or jonas flew in? I definitely liked the drama. It was so crazy. I wish we could have seen Jonas shave his nuts. I'd like to know how to do that at home when I cook.

ok thats funny to me....it cracked me up when i read it.

[arammat]

I went with what the majority decided! I felt it was the best decision to make given the circumstances. I had no idea Daniel would respond like that! *dumbfounded*

You did a great job, Holly. It's not up to you how the characters RESPOND to the fan input.

And who the heck is Anastasia Beaverhausen? Do I live under a rock? Should I know this?

[arammat]

If Bree wasn't so damn goody-two-shoes here's what I'D do:

Agree to go to Jonas'. Fake a fight with Daniel. Wait until Jonas goes to sleep, find money and/or nice things to pawn, crawl out a window or simply run out the front door. Prance down the street with Daniel and eat at Red Lobster.

The end.

Well, I don't know about the rest, but I'm definitely down with eating at Red Lobster

[Flautapantera]

I went with what the majority decided! I felt it was the best decision to make given the circumstances. I had no idea Daniel would respond like that! *dumbfounded*

You did a great job, Holly. It's not up to you how the characters RESPOND to the fan input.

And who the heck is Anastasia Beaverhausen? Do I live under a rock? Should I know this?

Did you ever watch Will & Grace? Anastasia is Karen Walker's alias on the show.

[arammat]

Alright, that doesn't answer my question.
I asked if Daniel could be in an OpA video.
And not footage from an LG15 video in an OpA video, I mean original footage of him in an OpA video.
Sheesh.

I don't see why not since it's all canonized and part of the same story.

Yeah I know. As much as I love the idea, wouldn't that annoy fans who insist that OpA must remain separate from LG15? And besides, I'm pretty sure the creators or OpA are different from the LG15 creators. They use different actors and stuff. Also, Yousef is supposedly going on a holiday break, so he wouldn't be available for OpA footage.

You know, they could film these as far in advance as they wanted to. And since each video is only a minute or so long, they could even have filmed different takes for different outcomes of the vote. If they knew Yousef was going on holiday, I am assuming they would have planned their filming schedule around the holiday, not the plot. Doing the latter would be pretty silly.

[glowe126]

yeah it seems like they might have had different takes depending on our decision, seriously. I just got that feeling from the editing.

Anastasia Beaverhousen is a horrible and perverted-sounding name.

[arammat]

I honestly see no reason why Daniel should have stayed with Bree. She's been nothing but a whiny, worthless mass of flesh for the past few weeks. She would have gone to see Jonas no matter what our decision. (She probably would have been the one to ditch Daniel if Holly had decided the other way.) Friendship is important, but when someone is acting as stubborn as Bree, there comes a time when you must simply give up (especially if that stubborness is putting your life in danger).

That having been said, it's stupid for Daniel to go home right away. It's not like the only three choices in the world are to go home, stay with Jonas, or live on the streets. (The Creators' attempt to restrict the choices to those three feels awfully forced and makes for unpleasant viewing.)

I'm not trying to pick a fight here, but genuinely asking. What would be their other options? Keeping in mind that the creators are not going to have them go off to stay with random people in the real world, like LordGreyStoke. (Although I'm not sure LGS is actually living in the real world ) Can you really think of other options, given that they are on foot with no money?

[arammat]

"Most people can't smell cyanide until levels become too high to be safe, then it can smell like bitter almonds, which can be detected on the breath of the person poisoned by cyanide."

Not everyone can smell cyanide, either. I learned that from watching WAY too many crime shows!

[arammat]

They make Daniel act really crazy sometimes......and it just doesn't fit.

I think it does fit. It's part of his character that he loses his temper easily. He's kind of a cranky guy, when you come right down to it.

[arammat]

I went with what the majority decided! I felt it was the best decision to make given the circumstances. I had no idea Daniel would respond like that! *dumbfounded*

You did a great job, Holly. It's not up to you how the characters RESPOND to the fan input.

And who the heck is Anastasia Beaverhausen? Do I live under a rock? Should I know this?

Did you ever watch Will & Grace? Anastasia is Karen Walker's alias on the show.

lol I do watch it, but I don't think I ever heard that. Funny line, and thanks for explaining. It was really beginning to bug me.