Well look at that! Bright Falls actually shows up on Xbox Live on time this week. Hopefully that trend will continue next week. If they’re sticking to the schedule they originally announced, the last two episodes should go up a week from today. In the mean time we’ve got the fourth episode, which is called “Local Flavor”.
New to Bright Falls? Bright Falls is a series and this is episode four so you really don’t want to start here. The other episodes are all online, so start from the beginning and make sure you don’t miss anything. Episode 1: Oh Deer, Episode 2: Time Flies, and Episode 3: Lights Out.
After spending some time with Sam and Daniel last episode we’re right back to following Jake. Local Flavor was notable for having a good deal of both funny and frightening moments, even though it was only four minutes long. Sometimes those moments even overlapped, which isn’t an easy thing to do. It’s a real testament to the series that it can pack so much into such a tiny package.
“The plot thickens!” is pretty much the Bright Falls motto – however, after three straight episodes of fleshing out the mystery, the pieces are finally starting to come together. Many of the characters are still a complete mystery, but the time lapse clues are droping right into place. With only two installments remaining, I think we’re deep enough into the series to formulate some solid theories.
EPISODE SPOILERS BELOW
We’re inside some kind of hardware store, and the clerk is telling Jake it’s going to take six days to order it. Six days?! Outrageous! Just what Jake is trying to order is never stated. Our protagonist is looking incredibly worn out. He realizes the order request isn’t timely enough and buys some duct tape. Naturally the question here would be just what is he trying to order? The very next scene shows the front of his car duct taped together. I think it would be safe to say he was probably trying to order a new headlight or something, but don’t be surprised if this too is revealed to be part of some insidious plot.
At the diner, a woman is going crazy in the parking lot. It appears as if she’s trying to knock out a light. A cop sees and arrests her. This is one of an increasing number of references we’ve seen to lights. While light and darkness continues to be a major theme in Bright Falls, there has been some very specific destruction of lighting fixtures. If you’ll recall just last episode – which is even called Lights Out – Sam was replacing one of many broken lightbulbs outside the building.
It’s possible that some crazy town person is killing the lights (maybe even this woman), but I think it’s someone more bizarre. More on that in a second.
Jake tells the waitress Rose about the incident in the parking lot. They look outside, but there’s no police car. Just as Jake is about to look like a mental patient yet again, the cop car pulls up outside the window. Jake sees the crazy woman violently flailing in the back seat and makes the connection. It’s the woman from his psychotic flashes in episode 2! Have we seen this woman before though? Is it also the woman who was laughing behind him at the diner earlier in that same episode? If it is, it looks like she’s been having a rougher time than he has.
As Jake watches the commercial for Deerfest, he starts to space out again. He has another psycho-montage, filled with just as many clues as before. If you can keep your eyes open through the terrifying nightmare imagery, here’s what you’ll see:
– Someone standing in the woods
– A car screech into a 180
– Someone being drug through the dirt
– A spinning fan
– The deer in the road
– A repetitive voice in the woods
– Red and blue lights on the wet highway pavement
The episode ends with the very opening of Bright Falls episode 1. The body pulled in from the lake is revealed to be Jake. What’s that all about? I hope it’s not blowing your mind or anything, because its about to get weirder.
I think it was Jake who attacked Sam last episode.
Let’s examine the flashes we just saw. The person standing in the woods is probably Daniel. The framing of the shot is done carefully so as not to show his head, but it looks like the type of clothes he’s usually wearing. The car and deer stuff is probably all from the accident. I think the red and blue lights are something yet to come, and the fan is from Jake’s motel room. These are all things Jake has seen or likely will see. By showing us the scene with the crazy woman, Local Flavor also suggests this is true of Jake’s last set of flashes.
The person being drug through the dirt is most definitely Sam. If you look at his clothes, there’s no doubt there. The shot of the woods is likely where Sam was attacked, and the sound we hear might even be Sam’s laugh. Maybe this also suggests why Daniel is appearing in the flashes.
I think Jake is freaking out like that woman did. I think he was probably the one destroying lights at the motel, and I think he probably attacked Sam without knowing it, I’m careful not to call these flashes visions, as I think its possible that everything Jake has seen may have already happened. We know from the end of this episode that not everything we’ve seen has been in chronological order. He has these periods of missing time, and I think he’s out doing crazy violent things without even being aware of it.
There was a lot of good conversation last time in the comments, so I’d love to hear what everyone thinks of this theory. You can leave your ideas about this and anything else related to Local Flavor (like what does that title even mean?) in the comments below.