Questions about specific movies, TV shows and more

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Margaritaville - S13-E3

Question: When Stan first tries to return the drink machine, an employee explains that the store just takes an initial payment, then remaining payments are handled by a separate finance company. How does the store even make a profit if they only get the initial payment? I know this is a TV show, but it sounds like the banks who let people mortgage homes for small down payments in the late 2000s, then sold the debt to other companies.

Azalea

Question: Why was Hal mad and blamed Gabe for Sarah's death? It wasn't his fault. Also, how did Sarah get to that height at the beginning of the movie with no climbing experience? I mean, I can barely climb an indoor climbing wall, but she can climb a mountain like a walk in the park. (02:16:00 - 02:16:35)

Answer: There was no realistic reason. First, the steel buckle on the safety harness would never just bend and break like that. The accident was not Gabe's fault, but Hal is supposedly so angry and grief-stricken that he unfairly claims Gabe ignored his advice and instead used the wrong rescue method. The movie uses melodramatic plotting to contrive a conflict between the two men. It's also unrealistic that Sarah, an inexperienced climber, was able to make such a difficult climb, even with Hal's help. The movie had many plot holes.

raywest

Question: To become master of the Elder Wand, it must be taken from the wizard who owns it. How could Harry become the new master of the wand when it was buried with Dumbledore and Harry took away Draco's own wand?

Answer: The Elder Wand or Deathstick must be removed by force from the current owner. Draco disarms Dumbledore at the top of the tower. Thus, its allegiance passed to Draco and he becomes the wand's master. When Voldemort takes the wand from Dumbledore's grave, he's not taking it from the wand's master. Later, Harry disarms Draco and as such Harry is now the wand's master. This ultimately proves helpful and a key point in the final showdown in the Great Hall. As Lionhead said above, it's magic. But at its deepest level, as explained by Mr. Ollivander at Shell Cottage.

Ssiscool

Answer: You don't have to physically take the wand to become the master; you have to disarm the master. When Harry disarmed Draco, the wand became his. Even though the wand was not present, it still knew. Call it magic.

lionhead

Question: When Bellatrix sees the Sword of Gryffindor, why did she assume that Hermione had broken into her vault when it was below the icy lake the whole time?

Answer: To protect the Sword of Gryffindor for Harry, Dumbledore had a replica made. Bellatrix acquired the fake sword (unaware it was a copy) and placed it in her Gringott's vault. Upon seeing the real one, Bellatrix assumed it was stolen from the vault. The genuine sword hidden in the pond wasn't there the entire time. Snape placed it there and then led Harry to it with his Doe Patronus.

raywest

Question: What is the liquid that comes out of the first tripod in the movie when it sounds the horn? I think it could be blood, but it was the first tripod to rise and it hasn't harvested any humans yet. Can someone please explain?

Answer: As it emerges, a lot of dirt is falling off it. I can see no liquid falling off. If you mean at the moment it sounds its horn, that's just more dirt falling off. It falls much later, probably because of the vibrations from the horn blowing.

lionhead

Answer: It looks to be a combination of dirt, dust, steam, and water. As it's breaking through the ground, spouting water is erupting, which could be a broken water main. The machine is probably generating heat, causing the steam. The dirt is covering the hull and falling off as it rises. The machine also appears to vent some type of gas or exhaust on one side after it's fully risen.

raywest

Power - S4-E12

Question: In a few episodes, the FBI agents will walk into a room and say "smell that?" and the reply is "shots fired", supposedly because they can smell the distinct odor of burnt gunpowder. Then they'll look behind a desk and find a dead body in a pool of blood. But wouldn't the smell of a dead person, or the blood, be way more overpowering? Or would it take too long for a dead body to start to smell? And how long would the smell of gunfire in an enclosed room last?

Bishop73

Answer: It takes 24-48 hours before a decaying body begins producing a decaying odor. It takes a number of days for it to intensify enough to be immediately noticeable when walking into a room.

raywest

Question: Voller's team is composed of himself, Klaber, Hauke, Gunther and two more goons (Fedora one and Moustache one). What's the name of the last two characters and their actors? (Voller mentions a Messner in the van but I don't know if he's one of the unnamed guys).

Big Game

Question: Unless it's an oversight, how did the family get their pickup truck from town back to the farm where it was in the first movie without making any sound to alert the creatures?

Answer: They may have just been lucky driving it back without being detected, unaware the aliens primarily used sound to navigate. At that point, there may have been fewer aliens in the first wave of the attack.

raywest

Question: How come Officer Ronnie pulled up in the squad car with lights and sirens near where Lee was parked, and just stood outside for a couple moments when there was no emergency in that immediate area (until the creek just started attacking)?

Answer: While what was happening was not yet considered an emergency, a situation was growing, and town residents were becoming somewhat panicked or were confused. Officer Ronnie used his siren and lights as a safety precaution to warn people milling in the street to move away. He also signaled Lee not to drive off because he wanted to talk to him. Ronnie didn't appear to just stand there. He was looking around and assessing the situation while Lee was walking up to him.

raywest

Question: What made Rose change her mind about marrying Cal? Jack talks to her in the gym. It then goes to a scene of Rose at dinner with her mom and two other women. What happened that made her change her mind?

Answer: When Rose is sitting with her mother and the other two women, she stares at a nearby table, where a woman is correcting her daughter's posture and movements. I think Rose imagined the future. Did she want to be like that woman in ten or so years? Married to Cal, and shaping her own daughter into a socially acceptable young lady?

Azalea

Answer: Not loving or having any feelings for him in the first place, combined with it being very obvious from the start that her mother only arranged it to get Cal's money, plus the fact that he is possessive, ignorant, emotionally abusive, and violent, combined with her reawakened sense of self and determination inspired by her meeting Jack. She put on a veneer of being committed to Cal and the marriage, and got defensive when Jack called her out on it, because she was trying to do what she was "supposed" to do. Gradually, however, she realised that it was possible to be with someone who valued her and made her happy (Jack), and that she shouldn't submit to marrying Cal just out of financial and societal pressure.

Some viewers think that Cal actually loved Rose and basically treated her well until she got involved with Jack. He only "snapped" because of the way she changed during the voyage. Of course, we can speculate that he would end up "snapping" someday, no matter what. Even if he and Rose proceeded with their marriage as planned.

Azalea

Question: In the end scene with the tripod that has no shield, what are the black tentacle things hanging from under the tripod?

Answer: They were flexible, cable-type appendages used to pick up items, grab people, or otherwise manipulate things on the ground. They weren't always seen, so apparently were deployed as needed.

raywest

Question: How old is Mikey when Matilda is born? He doesn't seem to age during the 7 years of Matilda's life in the film.

Answer: He is 5 years older than Matilda according to several sources online.

Ssiscool

Question: Did the meeting, where John Aaron states that they have to turn almost everything in the LEM off to conserve the battery power, actually happen? When they realised they had to use the LEM as a lifeboat, I recall Gene Krantz saying, before the meeting took place, to power up "essential hardware only." If you read the actual transcripts from the mission, Krantz tells the controllers "minimum power to sustain life." The controllers and the astronauts would have known this immediately.

Question: Can someone explain the scene where Patty tries to get a $5,000 loan, but she would need to deposit $5,800 to qualify? As she herself points out, she wouldn't even need a loan if she had $5,800. The employee might not be friendly, but the offer still doesn't make sense if the company wants to be in business.

Answer: A reputable bank requires borrowers to have an adequate income, a good credit rating, and some type of collateral (property, investments, other assets, etc,) above the amount of the loan in the event the customer defaults. It's been years since I've seen the movie, so I don't remember the timeline of events or what the loan was for, but if Patty and Drake had already bought the house, that could be used as collateral, though they might not want to risk it for such a low amount. If they hadn't bought the house, and had no other assets, it's highly unlikely they'd qualify for a loan.

raywest

And plenty of people might not "need" a loan because they've got the money saved, but they'd rather take out a loan and make predictable monthly payments they know are well within their means, rather than eat into their savings, leaving them with no safety net if some financial emergency hits.

Answer: Unitarianism is an alternate form of Christianity, so it may just be Lovejoy's way of saying their belief system is "empty."

Phaneron

Wheels of Fortune - S9-E16

Question: As it turns out, Blaine really was lying again, so why did he offer to hurt his "paralyzed" legs with a butcher knife? (After he used Daphne's brooch, and Frasier said it was a parlor trick.) How could he have pulled that off?

Answer: Frasier and the others knew Blaine was bluffing and never would have stabbed his leg with a butcher knife. He likely faked the brooch test by sticking himself where he had some hidden padding under his pants.

raywest

Question: When the Japanese baccarat player is brought back to the casino, he has a stack of different colored chips in front of him - what denomination are the dark red chips?

Question: Why wasn't Andromeda spread by the wind, killing birds, wildlife, and individuals in the area around Piedmont?

Answer: The satellite containing the Andromeda strain was recovered quickly, helping contain the contagion. Also, Piedmont was an isolated town, further limiting the spread. Dead birds and other animals were shown, but most would be happening off-camera. The scientists also learned later that Andromeda quickly mutated into a non-lethal form but one that caused certain synthetic materials to dissolve, creating further havoc. To eradicate the strain, clouds were seeded to produce rain, which swept Andromeda out to sea where the alkaline ocean water rendered it inert. Would add that movies at this time and before had stricter standard codes and did not show excessive blood and gore like they do today.

raywest

Question: Why did everyone at the baseball game decide to leave upon seeing the meteor descend from the sky?

Answer: It didn't look or act like a normal meteor streaking through the sky and burning up in the atmosphere. It was large, the fiery mass seemed suspended in air, and it was close enough to the ground that spectators, erring on the side of caution, sought shelter.

raywest

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