What makes us think it might have been sponsors?
Well, if we're suggesting sponsors can cheat, taking out that car would've been a smart (and required) move. So I'd say it's a possibility.
Gunn: The final score can't be rigged. I don't care how many players you grease, that last shot always comes up a question mark. But here's the thing. You never know when you're taking it. It could be when you're duking it out with the Legion of Doom, or just crossing the street deciding where to have brunch. So you just treat it like it was up to you—the world in balance—'cause you never know when it is.
'Underneath'
The Minearverse 5: Closer to the Earth, Further from the Ax
[NAFDA] "There will be an occasional happy, so that it might be crushed under the boot of the writer." From Zorro to Angel (including Wonderfalls, The Inside and Drive), this is where Buffistas come to anoint themselves in the bloodbath.
Kevin - Apr 23, 2007 7:00:41 am PDT #6039 of 10001
Never fall in love with somebody you actually love.
Frankenbuddha - Apr 23, 2007 7:05:14 am PDT #6040 of 10001
"We are the Goon Squad and we're coming to town...Beep! Beep!" - David Bowie, "Fashion"
Pay up, Mortimer. I've won the bet.
Hearts Polgara.
brenda m - Apr 23, 2007 7:10:33 am PDT #6041 of 10001
If you're going through hell/keep on going/don't slow down/keep your fear from showing/you might be gone/'fore the devil even knows you're there
Kat, I see your point, but I also think that relationships between the competitors are already showing some signs of tension, so it didn't ping me in that scene that they wouldn't be getting more hardcore by that point in the race.
Anyway, the key thing is that we don't know at this point what constraints the sponsors may or may not be under.
It seems most likely to me that a certain amount of interference is part of the whole game. Outright killing other competitors would just shut the game down too easily. Total hands-off doesn't really seem to be in the spirit of the thing - sponsors are going out and picking their racers and then bringing them into the race by virtually any means, it appears. I don't see them staying out of it after that.
Kat - Apr 23, 2007 7:13:32 am PDT #6042 of 10001
"I keep to a strict diet of ill-advised enthusiasm and heartfelt regret." Leigh Bardugo
Outright killing other competitors would just shut the game down too easily
This may be true. But then why give Wendy a loaded gun in an envelope with the dictate to kill another competitor?
Granted, that's not how it played out. But it doesn't seem that killing, or manipulating players into killing each other, is out of the realm of believability.
Seriously, though, if at the end of the series, we are treated to a pull back with two kids playing with matchbox cars and that's what is going on, I'm going to feel St. Elsewhere-Snow Globed.
Frankenbuddha - Apr 23, 2007 7:15:30 am PDT #6043 of 10001
"We are the Goon Squad and we're coming to town...Beep! Beep!" - David Bowie, "Fashion"
Seriously, though, if at the end of the series, we are treated to a pull back with two kids playing with matchbox cars and that's what is going on, I'm going to feel St. Elsewhere-Snow Globed.
That might explain the glorious mountains of Florida though.
I wouldn't be surprised if the different sponsors had different motives as well as the contestants.
Jesse - Apr 23, 2007 7:15:35 am PDT #6044 of 10001
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.
Even assuming the other car in the Corinna's parents crash was a competitor, who knows what they were told would be the consequences of not winning. The vibe I get is that people not in the race aren't allowed (or whatever) to hurt racers directly, but are perfectly happy to manipulate the racers in any way they can think of. I mean, like with what's her name and the gun. In theory, that would have accomplished both killing Taryn Manning AND making Melanie Lynsky into a killer, which would have given them (Them) an even bigger hold on her.
Stephanie - Apr 23, 2007 7:16:17 am PDT #6045 of 10001
Trust my rage
Seriously, though, if at the end of the series, we are treated to a pull back with two kids playing with matchbox cars and that's what is going on, I'm going to feel St. Elsewhere-Snow Globed.
This would be such a disappointment. Although the whole show does have a sort of "kids playing with Matchbox cars" feel to it.
So if Katie Finneran is Mal's sister, who was the cop is Nebreaska. I know him but I can't place him
Kathy A - Apr 23, 2007 7:18:22 am PDT #6046 of 10001
We're very stretchy. - Connie Neil
The one investigating Alex's wife's disappearance is Richard Brooks, whose Minear-resume is Jubal Early in Firefly, and who is probably best known as Robinette in the first three seasons of Law & Order.
Theodosia - Apr 23, 2007 7:21:28 am PDT #6047 of 10001
'we all walk this earth feeling we are frauds. The trick is to be grateful and hope the caper doesn't end any time soon"
And to a small but loyal following, as one of the demon-hunting characters on Good Vs. Evil.
Stephanie - Apr 23, 2007 7:23:24 am PDT #6048 of 10001
Trust my rage
Thank you! I had totally forgotten about Jubal Early and was trying to place him as a demon in Buffy or something.