Why wouldn't Connor Murphy's parents check Connor's phone for texts from Evan?

and realize "Wow, you're not in his contacts at all and you have no texts to each other."

it's 2017, just absolutely realistically as teens they would've been texting.


the more you stew on the plot of that show, I feel the foundation starts to crumble a bit.

Updated On: 10/13/17 at 10:27 AM

They mention this in the show, though? Like, they looked through Connor's e-mails, etc., and didn't see him there... and then Evan mentions they communicated over e-mail using a different account.

You can buy that or not, but you're sort of skipping over them actually addressing this point directly in the show. Will Roland even says them having a secret e-mail address they only use to talk to one another makes them seem like closeted gay lovers...

Evan could have said they used Snapchat to talk. Those messages erase themselves after a few seconds. Also, if they didn't know his password, they couldn't have gotten into his phone. Assuming he had an iPhone, Apple doesn't make fail safes to get into their phones without passwords.

DEH has more plot contrivances than a 1930 Musical Comedy. If you start thinking one, you will inevitably find another, and another and another.....forever ruining the show for you considering its supposed to be a "serious" musical drama. Thus its better not to think about it and just enjoy the ride of the show, like you would Hair.

As others have already pointed out, DEH won't age well.

The instant communication that modern technology enables is a major stumbling block for a lot of drama, to be honest. It is just not very compelling to see people send or receive texts. Always being available means information is harder to withhold...not to mention the relentless pace of advancement.

I have a lot of problems with DEH, but I think it handles modern technology as well as it can without being instantly dated and unproducible in six months.

Updated On: 10/13/17 at 12:01 PM

I honestly can't think of a major piece of theatre I've seen that has depicted contemporary communication realistically in a compelling way.

I am willing to forgive contrivances there so long as the character reactions are believable. That's where DEH fails for me- not in how it relies on some contrivances for its forged letter plot.

The characters are not poking holes in it because the bookwriter wrote characters who aren't using logic in regards to how everyone including teens use current technology.

If they had set this show in the 90s or the early 2000s they would've gotten away with a lot more.

But then they would lose the whole "social media spreading the word" element to the show

You folks are right that updated technology is hobbling dramatic tension in storytelling.

Updated On: 10/13/17 at 12:32 PM

I agree that it is an alternate reality. It can't be our reality, even if it's outdated, because I was a teen of the 2000s and I think text messaging was more prevalent than social media if we were going to use the outdated iPhone ringtone as some sort of signal at what the time period was. Further, the fact that is an iPhone means it's way past the point where text messages was already the common mode of communication of at least younger people if we want to argue that it was not already the common mode of communication for all people. So I think you're right that it's an alternate and somewhat outdated reality.

Updated On: 10/13/17 at 12:58 PM

I heard DEH was based on a true story that happened when Benj was in high school. Based on his age, that would've been around 2000. It was a nice idea/addition about the video going viral which helped to make it more relatable to today's teens, but requires more suspension of disbelief

rattleNwoolypenguin said: "The characters are not poking holes in it because the bookwriter wrote characters who aren't using logic in regards to how everyone including teens use current technology."

Yes, but that is their right. When you create fictional characters in a fictional world, you get to decide what they do and think.

As an audience member, you can decide the writer of those fictional characters in that fictional world failed or succeeded.

But when you start making it an interactive role-playing game of how those characters would and should have reacted, that is where you lose me. Since, I saw the show, and they reacted the same way every time I attended. They'll probably buy Evan's story again tonight, too.

There are people who go to mentalists who say those people's dead mothers are sending them messages from behind the grave. Anyone can look up how they do a lot of those things. But you know who doesn't? The people who want those messages and want to believe they are true because they reinforce a belief they want to carry with them.

You could say this about any show from the last century. Personally, I miss the sudden ringing of the landline phone as a plot device.

rattleNwoolypenguin said: "Yeah, not saying that at all. I'm saying this is on the book writer."

If you say so, but the subject line ponders why fictional characters didn't do something...

maybe, they don't have his passcode to unlock his phone



kidding, I see your point though