As much as I may be tempted to highlight, “SPRAY AND PRAY,” or the more inspirational, “Be willing…

As much as I may be tempted to highlight, “SPRAY AND PRAY,” or the more inspirational, “Be willing to do what others won’t,” I’m going to go with this:

MURI (CONT’D)

Ninety miles an hour down a

mountain road with an eight degree

grade... after how many beers?

(pause)

You weren’t so lucky.

(she remembers)

I was there in the ICU. I heard

your last heartbeat on the monitor.

Heard the alarms. They pushed me

away and I watched them shock you,

over and over and over.

(seeing it in her head)

And then you were gone.

Dan is speechless.

MURI (CONT’D)

Mom tried to help me detach from

you but I just... couldn’t.

I wanted you to see me. I wanted

you to hear me. I wanted you to

save our family. To fix it. To not

give up. To not walk away. But you

couldn’t see what you had in front

of you.

Dan is crushed, horrified, filled with guilt --

DAN

Muri. I haven’t done any of that.

MURI

You haven’t done any of that...

yet.

He looks off, ashamed.

This is Dan’s “come to Jesus” moment. It’s akin to Scrooge seeing his life visualized for him by the Ghost of Christmas Future. It’s George Bailey seeing what life in Bedford Falls would be like if he “hadn’t been born.”

This is a pivotal moment in Dan’s psychological metamorphosis and it plays directly to what I would argue is the story’s central theme: predestination.

Is it possible to change the future? Yes, the answer turns out, but only by changing the present. In Dan’s case, it really means the Present. As in, he needs to quit trying to escape his father’s destiny (from the past) and being consumed what his legacy will be (in the future). And he can only do that if he sees “what’s in front of” him.

That’s why the story shifting from the Future to the Present in Act Three is an inspired writing choice. It allows Dan to change in the present, which in turns alters his future.