Posted: 12/13/16 at 3:32pm
So, I haven't seen the show, but is it just me or does this promo video seems to reveal a major spoiler?
From the footage in this video of what is clearly a sum-it-all-up finale type song, Jane Doe is conspicuously absent, which leads me to believe she is the one selected to go back to life. Is this the case?
Posted: 12/13/16 at 3:38pm
^^ A lot of that footage also looks to be from the opening number, as well, though... before all the characters have been introduced. So a bit of conclusion jumping.
Updated On: 12/13/16 at 03:38 PM
Posted: 12/13/16 at 5:07pm
ChairinMain said: "So, I haven't seen the show, but is it just me or does this promo video seems to reveal a major spoiler?
Video
https://www.facebook.com/mccnyc/?hc_ref=ADS&fref=nf
"
I don't think that's the case at all. Having seen the show and watching that video hereafter, I would never have assumed that was the "conclusion" number. That footage could just as well be the opening number as it is the closer. Also, if you're watching it out of context and with no knowledge of the show whatsoever, how are you supposed to know at all about the Jane Doe character? Her costume could just be an attraction at the fair. Nothing to give away here, in my opinion... from someone who has seen the show.
Posted: 12/13/16 at 8:54pm
Will anyone share what the identity of Jane Doe is and why she was wearing a choir costume? I'm dying to know!
Posted: 12/13/16 at 9:07pm
^lol
Posted: 12/13/16 at 9:21pm
kweeningenue said: "Will anyone share what the identity of Jane Doe is and why she was wearing a choir costume? I'm dying to know!"
If the choir was on the roller coaster in choir uniforms when they died, what is the most obvious reason she might have one on?
Posted: 12/14/16 at 12:30am
I've lurked on these boards for so long and I never joined or posted because of people's responses being like that. Thanks for answering my question so kindly, haterobics.
As someone who probably won't make it to the show, I'm was wondering if anyone could explain to me why she was wearing a choir uniform and no one could identify her. I was just wondering if there was some explanation in the plot why she wasn't identified because if thinking logically, the kids would know who it is. I was just rehashing the question that someone posted earlier.
Posted: 12/14/16 at 9:53am
kweeningenue said: "I've lurked on these boards for so long and I never joined or posted because of people's responses being like that."
That was the horrific response you've been avoiding for years? Pretty mild for these parts.
The reason seems pretty spelled out in the NYTimes review.
Posted: 12/14/16 at 10:24am
kweeningenue said: "I'm was wondering if anyone could explain to me why she was wearing a choir uniform and no one could identify her. I was just wondering if there was some explanation in the plot why she wasn't identified because if thinking logically, the kids would know who it is. I was just rehashing the question that someone posted earlier."
Great question. There is no answer given in the show. It's one of the MANY plot holes that exist within this piece.
At first the girl is portrayed as someone from a different time period but that's also never fully explained. She lost her head in the accident so she doesn't know who she is.
Ok. Fine.
But in this afterlife, all of the other kids exist in the same way they were when they were alive. They have the same relationships to one another, they know one another's stories, etc. Why they can't remember this one girl when there were only six of them is never explained and I don't think it makes any sense.
This was a big reason why I had zero emotional attachment to any of the characters. These glaring plot holes made it hard to connect.
Posted: 12/14/16 at 10:32am
theatregoer3 said: "Why they can't remember this one girl when there were only six of them is never explained and I don't think it makes any sense."
Were there only six of them in the whole choir, though? I think there were only the six of them killed on the roller coaster, and it was a larger choir spread out across the park after their performance.
Posted: 12/14/16 at 10:51am
There are only six kids in the choir. The show is based in a small town, Uranium City, Saskatchewan, and I guess the population isn't that great! Also, it's described as a chamber choir, which would be small anyway.
The show did explain, or attempt to explain, the character of Jane Doe by implying she joined the choir very recently, but none of the other members could remember that. Also, the choir director died of a heart attack a few hours after the accident, so he couldn't be asked.
As far as the character existing in another time period, I don't think that's true. Jane Doe is carrying a headless doll, so it is implied that she is wearing the head of an old-fashioned doll, and she's made up to look that way (adding to the creepiness) and conveys that through her acting.
I think the character existed mainly as a plot device, but none of it makes sense, unless it's like a Dear Evan Hansen thing where no one is really seeing her.
Because she was decapitated in the accident, she couldn't remember her past. But another element is that no one claimed her body. So no one knew who she was, head or no head.
Her complete anonymity makes her different from the rest of the characters. Their childhood photos are displayed behind them as projections as each one is called into the spotlight. After Ocean concludes that even living 17 years is a gift, and the others agree, they decide that Jane Doe should be the one to go back into the world of the living, so she can experience life.
It's the kind of thing you can't really ponder too much!
Updated On: 12/14/16 at 10:51 AM
Posted: 12/14/16 at 10:53am
"It's the kind of thing you can't really ponder too much!"
Lord, I loathe serious shows with that bear that caveat...
Posted: 12/14/16 at 11:12am
Well, the show takes place in the afterlife, or some murky place in between this world and the next, so do you have to suspend your disbelief even to buy into the premise.
Posted: 12/14/16 at 12:12pm
GreasedLightning said: "ChairinMain said: "So, I haven't seen the show, but is it just me or does this promo video seems to reveal a major spoiler?
Video
https://www.facebook.com/mccnyc/?hc_ref=ADS&fref=nf
"
"
I've read reviews and listened to what clips of the songs I was able to find online. I made the assumption that the song in the video is the finale because it is about how life is like a roller-coaster. Sure does seem like a sum-it-all-up finale to me.
Updated On: 12/14/16 at 12:12 PM
Posted: 12/14/16 at 12:28pm
It is certainly something to ponder on when the character is given as much weight as the rest, if not more.
The show again and again harps on how it's a small dead-end town, so regardless if Jane Doe joined the choir ten minutes before the accident, the rest of them would have recognized her as having been a part of it. It's not like it was one of those dozens-strong show choirs.
It was a lazy hand-wave of a plot element. "They didn't even know she existed because she was new." Uh, okay. Even when a show asks the audience to accept a lot in terms of its world, something like that always manages to sorely stick out. It's like a mic dropping into the shot.
The team wanted a creepy gothic horror doll girl, so they shoehorned one in.
Updated On: 12/14/16 at 12:28 PM
Posted: 12/14/16 at 12:36pm
It would have made more sense if Jane Doe wasn't in the choir uniform/part of the choir. She would have been a random person who was also on the ride, and her character shouldn't have mattered, but she was intriguing. I think that actually would have given more power to the ending.
Posted: 12/14/16 at 1:36pm
It would make sense if there were more choir members who were also on the roller coaster and jane doe was one of them, but everyone else survived except these six. But since jane doe doesn't have a head the other 5 characters don't know which other choir member she is. That seems like an easy fix that could be said in a line or two.
Posted: 12/14/16 at 1:40pm
Call_me_jorge said: "It would make sense if there were more choir members who were also on the roller coaster and jane doe was one of them, but everyone else survived except these six. But since jane doe doesn't have a head the other 5 characters don't know which other choir member she is. That seems like an easy fix that could be said in a line or two."
Since that is what I thought the case was, it definitely worked fine for me. 
Posted: 12/14/16 at 1:45pm
I am really getting a kick out of this thread, that people are trying to make this show make sense! I loved the show, but I'm not looking for it to conform to the real world of logic, but go ahead if it suits you! Next, please explain how Jane Doe comes to be wearing a doll's head. And I'm not being snarky here.
And just as an aside...
My theater buddy commented after the show how cool it would have been for the mechanical fortune teller to be the one who survived!
Updated On: 12/14/16 at 01:45 PM
Posted: 12/14/16 at 2:03pm
It's not even attempted to be explained, so I guess that's another handwave of "the fortune telling machine did it."
The thing is, it doesn't have to conform to real world logic. But it has to conform to its own logic. And it doesn't.
Posted: 12/14/16 at 2:31pm
Kad said: "The thing is, it doesn't have to conform to real world logic. But it has to conform to its own logic. And it doesn't."
This is a very good point. I took a masterclass with Winnie Holzman a few years ago, and one of her pieces of advice was to stick to the rules you (the writer) create for the world of the show.
Posted: 12/14/16 at 4:42pm
I think my favorite part about the entire thing was the fact that each and every audience member can have their own unique takeaway from it depending on your perspective. Life, "the ride", etc.
The friend I saw it with had a completely different interpretation of the story. And our other friend had an even more different takeaway. That's the point.
Posted: 12/14/16 at 5:37pm
I had a lot of problems with the logic of Jane Doe but my biggest issue was
Karnak didn't know who she was because he didn't read her fortune. Once she's chosen to go back, he knew all about her.
