I am presuming Alex was a getaway driver for bank robbing, where one of his jobs went wrong, people died, and this forced Alex out of the game. Either that or something else forced him out.

I think it's nice to have a lead guy who isn't just A Cheery Guy or A Slightly Nasty But Basically Clean Cut Person With A Pun As A Name. It also, in my head, leads to possibility of a whole 'Beige Alex' arc -- by the time he finds Katherine, will she even want him? Also, this has gotta make Alex pretty skilled and connected if it's deep in his history, which has gotta be fun to play with on a weekly basis.

I think there's more going on than that. For one thing, I'll bet there's something in the path from race car driver to bank robber that's maybe more important to the story than what happened with the shooting.

I also wonder about possible connections to other players: Salazar, Sr.'s business connections seem a little shady, and Wendy Petrakas may just be terrified of her husband because he's abusive or she may be terrified because he's abusive and powerful.

Yeah, you know, I was thinking about Wendy. This is a woman who had the cojones to leave her newborn son with someone else in order to join a - say it with me - cross-country illegal road race , and who was, however reluctantly, ready to shoot someone to death to accomplish her goal. If getting away from her husband was as easy as packing up and walking out, with or without skilleting him in the head, I bet she'd have done it already. She needs money, the kind of money you can disappear behind. Which makes me think he's more powerful than your ordinary abusive SOB.

He did get those cops after her right quick, too.

Do you think she left her son? I was thinking he'd been at least semi-taken -- that she'd been strong-armed into leaving him with the race people, if she wanted their help getting away from her husband and into the race.

That could be so, Cindy. I had thought the fruit basket phone service had been to make her the offer. She had the kid in her arms when she answered the phone; if they were going to kidnap him and then make the offer, as they did with Alex and Katherine, why would they give her a 'head's-up" by calling her beforehand? It's hard for me to imagine her saying no to the offer and then ever leaving the boy alone, and also hard for me to imagine them forcibly taking the boy away from her. I dunno. Let's ask Tim.

It seems pretty optional to me that Wendy handed Sammy over. If she phoned up to ask about him, I'd presume she knows where he is.

Something about Wendy never quite worked for me, as she's willing to get into a road race and potentially shoot somebody, but not stand up to her husband. But maybe people are like that - I don't know.

Long-term abuse can make a person emotionally unable to stand up to the abuser, even if they'd willingly kill someone else. Especially if she came from a background of abuse. Also, people who come from such a background can be very timid, but suddenly whack someone who's more powerless than they are. There's a lot of rage there. I can totally see Wendy being unpredictably dangerous. The door's been opened for her to access that rage, now.

Yuhu, that fits. Thanks Zenkitty. I certainly wouldn't get in the way of Wendy (and her tank car).