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* DramaticIrony: Happens a lot with each timeline unknowingly showing a different outcome as in another.
** Cop Joe presses for his Uncle Frank to get help for his drinking with Frank reluctant but helping. Meanwhile, Musician Joe is pushed by a sober Frank to seek help for the drinking problem he refuses to believe he has.
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** Episode 10 shows the same concert honoring Joe's mother in each timeline and in each one, she ends up reconnecting with an old flame.
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* InternalReveal:
** Episode 10 has Cop Joe finally discovering Jenny had his son.
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* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: When Music Joe brings their son's yearbook to Jen, he mentions that since being told he was a father, he tells her that he feels like he's "outside his body watching from somewhere else."

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* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: When Music Joe brings their son's yearbook to Jen, he mentions that since being told he was a father, he tells her that he feels like he's "outside his body watching from somewhere else."
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** All the changes to the timelines are because one guy's choice of where to spend an evening nearly a decade ago. This affected the choices of the people around him and ten years later many of them live very different lives.

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** All the changes to the timelines are because of one guy's choice of where to spend an evening nearly a decade ago. This affected the choices of the people around him and ten years later many of them live very different lives.

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* PaperThinDisguise: Invoked when Rock Star Joe wants to go to his son's Halloween party, claiming he's fine in his cowboy "disguise." Jenny fires back he's a world-famous rock star wearing a cowboy hat.
* PlayingWithATrope: The format will often allow us to see a trope played out differently across the timelines. Often one timeline will play a trope straight, another will subvert it and the third one will double subvert it or avert it altogether.



* PaperThinDisguise: Invoked when Rock Star Joe wants to go to his son's Halloween party, claiming he's fine in his cowboy "disguise." Jenny fires back he's a world-famous rock star wearing a cowboy hat.
* PlayingWithATrope: The format will often allow us to see a trope played out differently across the timelines. Often one timeline will play a trope straight, another will subvert it and the third one will double subvert it or avert it altogether.

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Alphabetical order.


* {{Hypocrite}}: Amy can come off this way in Rocker Joe's timeline as she's upset with Joe keeping quiet for so long he had a son...yet wait a while to him she once slept with Bobby Diaz.
* InsultBackfire: When her teacher puts her down for caring about her son rather than studies, Jenny quotes Madeline Albright's famous line of "there's a special place in Hell for women who won't help other women." Smirking, the teacher replies she and Albright were at Columbia together "and one of us finished first in our class."
* ItsAllMyFault: Joe blames himself for his father's death on 9/11, because he decided to stay in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity to practice with his school band instead of going to a football game in UsefulNotes/{{Denver}} like his father wanted, meaning his father was in the city and died with other first responders when the towers collapsed.
* LawOfInverseFertility: In the pop star timeline, Joe and Amy desperately want a baby but seem unable to get past the first trimester.
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: When Music Joe brings their son's yearbook to Jen, he mentions that since being told he was a father, he tells her that he feels like he's "outside his body watching from somewhere else."
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Because the show examines how relationships change depending on the choices people make, there is an enormous supporting cast to cover each timeline.

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* {{Hypocrite}}: Amy can come off this way in Rocker Joe's timeline as she's upset with Joe keeping quiet for so long he had about having a son...yet wait waits a good while to tell him she once slept with Bobby Diaz.
* InsultBackfire: When her teacher puts her down for caring about her son rather than studies, Jenny quotes Madeline Albright's famous line of "there's a special place in Hell for women who won't help other women." Smirking, the teacher replies she and Albright were at Columbia together "and one of us finished first in our class."
* ItsAllMyFault: Joe blames himself for his father's death on 9/11, because he decided to stay in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity to practice with his school band instead of going to a football game in UsefulNotes/{{Denver}} like his father wanted, meaning his father was in the city and died with other first responders when the towers collapsed.
* LawOfInverseFertility: In the pop star timeline, Joe and Amy desperately want a baby but seem unable to get past the first trimester.
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: When Music Joe brings their son's yearbook to Jen, he mentions that since being told he was a father, he tells her that he feels like he's "outside his body watching from somewhere else."
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Because the show examines how relationships change depending on the choices people make, there is an enormous supporting cast to cover each timeline.
Diaz.


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* InsultBackfire: When her teacher puts her down for caring about her son rather than studies, Jenny quotes Madeline Albright's famous line of "there's a special place in Hell for women who won't help other women." Smirking, the teacher replies she and Albright were at Columbia together "and one of us finished first in our class."
* ItsAllMyFault: Joe blames himself for his father's death on 9/11, because he decided to stay in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity to practice with his school band instead of going to a football game in UsefulNotes/{{Denver}} like his father wanted, meaning his father was in the city and died with other first responders when the towers collapsed.
* LawOfInverseFertility: In the pop star timeline, Joe and Amy desperately want a baby but seem unable to get past the first trimester.
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: When Music Joe brings their son's yearbook to Jen, he mentions that since being told he was a father, he tells her that he feels like he's "outside his body watching from somewhere else."
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Because the show examines how relationships change depending on the choices people make, there is an enormous supporting cast to cover each timeline.
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** Diaz himself counts. In Cop Joe's world, he and Amy are having an affair and Diaz having used campaign funds to cover it up and clearly out for himself. In Nurse Joe's world, being shot seems to have affected Diaz as, after a bout of self-pity, he adjusts to being in a wheelchair and happy with his family; and in Rock Star Joe's world, Diaz [[spoiler: makes a pass at Amy only to end up shot dead]].

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** Diaz himself counts. In Cop Joe's world, he and Amy are having an affair and Diaz having used campaign funds to cover it up and is clearly out for himself. In Nurse Joe's world, being shot seems to have affected Diaz as, after a bout of self-pity, he adjusts to being in a wheelchair and happy with his family; and in Rock Star Joe's world, Diaz [[spoiler: makes a pass at Amy only to end up shot dead]].
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** After being absent in the episodes involving Nurse Joe, his Uncle Frank finally shows up in Episode 6...as a drunken, clearly homeless bum.

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** After being absent in the episodes scenes involving Nurse Joe, his Uncle Frank finally shows up in Episode 6...as a drunken, clearly homeless bum.

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* TheOneThatGotAway: Played with. Cop Joe clearly regrets no asking Amy out and they both jump at the chance to get together when they paths cross again. Musician Joe and Amy got married and seemed very happy but it quickly becomes apparent that the marriage has issues and they are no longer communicating well. Nurse Joe is happily married to Jenny while that timeline's Amy is happily married to Eric. Are Joe and Amy meant to be together or are they happier with other people?

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* TheOneThatGotAway: Played with. Cop Joe clearly regrets no not asking Amy out and they both jump at the chance to get together when they paths cross again. Musician Joe and Amy got married and seemed very happy but it quickly becomes apparent that the marriage has issues and they are no longer communicating well. Nurse Joe is happily married to Jenny while that timeline's Amy is happily married to Eric. Are Joe and Amy meant to be together or are they happier with other people?



* PoorCommunicationKills: Musician Joe refuses to tell his wife that he just found out that he has a son and is trying to locate him. He thinks he has good reasons for this but it creates stress and suspicion in his marriage to Amy causing her to make poor decisions since she thinks that her marriage is imploding. Thankfully, he finally comes clean to her about it in Episode 6.

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* PoorCommunicationKills: PoorCommunicationKills:
**
Musician Joe refuses to tell his wife that he just found out that he has a son and is trying to locate him. He thinks he has good reasons for this but it creates stress and suspicion in his marriage to Amy causing her to make poor decisions since she thinks that her marriage is imploding. Thankfully, he finally comes clean to her about it in Episode 6.
** The Nurse Joe version of Eric is able to have a great conversation with Amy on their date and they start dating and then get married. The Cop Joe version of Eric gets frustrated on the date and cannot answer a basic question about his plans for the future. His inability to communicate with his Amy kills their potential relationship on the first date.
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* TheOneWhoGotAway: Played with. Cop Joe clearly regrets no asking Amy out and they both jump at the chance to get together when they paths cross again. Musician Joe and Amy got married and seemed very happy but it quickly becomes apparent that the marriage has issues and they are no longer communicating well. Nurse Joe is happily married to Jenny while that timeline's Amy is happily married to Eric. Are Joe and Amy meant to be together or are they happier with other people?

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* TheOneWhoGotAway: TheOneThatGotAway: Played with. Cop Joe clearly regrets no asking Amy out and they both jump at the chance to get together when they paths cross again. Musician Joe and Amy got married and seemed very happy but it quickly becomes apparent that the marriage has issues and they are no longer communicating well. Nurse Joe is happily married to Jenny while that timeline's Amy is happily married to Eric. Are Joe and Amy meant to be together or are they happier with other people?
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* FamilyVersusCareer:
** Nurse Joe gave up thoughts of becoming a professional musician or a police officer because he needed to find a steady job which would allow him to support Jenny and their child. Jenny gave up on law school for the same reason. In that timeline Amy and Eric concentrated on their careers and are now trying to adopt a child.
** Musician Joe and Amy postponed having a family in order to support Joe's career. Joe now wants children but Amy had multiple miscarriages and is now trying to jumpstart her own political career instead.
** Cop Joe and Amy stayed single and focused on their careers. Jenny was a single mother but her family helped her financially so she went to law school and became a prosecutor.


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* TheOneWhoGotAway: Played with. Cop Joe clearly regrets no asking Amy out and they both jump at the chance to get together when they paths cross again. Musician Joe and Amy got married and seemed very happy but it quickly becomes apparent that the marriage has issues and they are no longer communicating well. Nurse Joe is happily married to Jenny while that timeline's Amy is happily married to Eric. Are Joe and Amy meant to be together or are they happier with other people?
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* NostalgiaFilter: In Cop Joe's world, Celeste erupts at Thanksgiving on how everyone "deifies" their late father, ignoring his angry outbursts (including throwing a Thanksgiving dish at her) and never talk about his darker side. While not brought up, it's possible this is the same in the other two timelines.

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** In all three timelines, Joe's sister, Celeste, lives as a style influencer in California, although it's indicated she's closer to Musician Joe than the other two versions.



* RankUp: Cop Joe is promoted to detective after he saves a congressman's life from an assassin.

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* RankUp: Cop Joe is promoted to detective after he saves a congressman's life from an assassin. He later accepts a downgrade back to patrolman, thinking he's better off as a street cop.
* RememberTheNewGuy: Episode 9, set in Thanksgiving, has all three timelines visited by Joe's never-before mentioned sister Celeste.

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* {{Hypocrite}}: Amy can come off this way in Rocker Joe's timeline as she's upset with Joe keeping quiet for so long he had a son...yet hasn't told him she once slept with Bobby Diaz.

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* {{Hypocrite}}: Amy can come off this way in Rocker Joe's timeline as she's upset with Joe keeping quiet for so long he had a son...yet hasn't told wait a while to him she once slept with Bobby Diaz.



* OnceAnEpisode: Each episode ends with a split screen of the three Joes having slightly different experiences in each timeline.

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* OnceAnEpisode: Each episode ends with a split screen split-screen of the three Joes having slightly different experiences in each timeline.


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** Episode 8 does it for Amy who in Nurse Joe's world is with her husband, in bed with Cop Joe and alone after [[spoiler: confessing to Musician Joe she cheated on him with Diaz]].
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* InsultBackfire: When her teacher puts her down for caring about her son rather than studies, Jenny quotes Madeline Albright's famous line of "there's a special place in Hell for women who won't help other women." Smirking, the teacher replies she and Albright were at Columbia together "and one of us finished first in our class."

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* {{Hypocrite}}: Amy can come off this way in Rocker Joe's timeline as she's upset with Joe keeping quiet for so long he had a son...yet hasn't told him she once slept with Bobby Diaz years before she went to work with him.

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* {{Hypocrite}}: Amy can come off this way in Rocker Joe's timeline as she's upset with Joe keeping quiet for so long he had a son...yet hasn't told him she once slept with Bobby Diaz years before she went to work with him.Diaz.


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* OriginsEpisode: A variation in Episode 7 which shows the aftermath of Joe's graduation and how the three timelines diverged.
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* {{Hypocrite}}: Amy can come off this way in Rocker Joe's timeline as she's upset with Joe keeping quiet for so long he had a son...yet hasn't told him she once slept with Bobby Diaz years before she went to work with him.
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** Singer Joe is the bleakest of the three. This Joe is much more of a {{Jerkass}} and deals with infertility, infidelity, and the conflict of the son he just found out existed having been adopted by other people. The problem is he's making too strong an effort to be in his life despite just learning of him weeks ago. It's flat out mentioned by Jenny his approach could ruin all three families involved. Additionally in this timeline, both his wife Amy and Congressman Diaz are shot.

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** Singer Joe is the bleakest of the three. This Joe is much more of a {{Jerkass}} and deals with infertility, infidelity, and the conflict of the his son he just found out existed having been adopted by other people. The problem is he's making too strong an effort to be in his life despite just learning of him weeks ago. It's flat out mentioned by Jenny his approach could ruin all three families involved. Additionally in this timeline, both his wife Amy and Congressman Diaz are shot.
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** Singer Joe is the bleakest of the three. This Joe is much more of a {{Jerkass}} and deals with infertility, infidelity, and the conflict of the son he hadn't known existed having been adopted by other people. The problem is he's making too strong an effort to be in his life despite just learning of him weeks ago. It's flat out mentioned by Jenny his approach could ruin all three families involved. Additionally in this timeline, both his wife Amy and Congressman Diaz are shot.

to:

** Singer Joe is the bleakest of the three. This Joe is much more of a {{Jerkass}} and deals with infertility, infidelity, and the conflict of the son he hadn't known just found out existed having been adopted by other people. The problem is he's making too strong an effort to be in his life despite just learning of him weeks ago. It's flat out mentioned by Jenny his approach could ruin all three families involved. Additionally in this timeline, both his wife Amy and Congressman Diaz are shot.
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** Singer Joe is the bleakest of the three. This Joe is much more of a {{Jerkass}} and deals with infertility, infidelity, and the conflict of his son being adopted. The problem is he's making too strong an effort to be in his life despite just learning of him weeks ago. It's flat out mentioned by Jenny his approach could ruin all three families involved. Additionally in this timeline, both his wife Amy and Congressman Diaz are shot.

to:

** Singer Joe is the bleakest of the three. This Joe is much more of a {{Jerkass}} and deals with infertility, infidelity, and the conflict of his the son being adopted.he hadn't known existed having been adopted by other people. The problem is he's making too strong an effort to be in his life despite just learning of him weeks ago. It's flat out mentioned by Jenny his approach could ruin all three families involved. Additionally in this timeline, both his wife Amy and Congressman Diaz are shot.

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* ForWantOfANail: All the changes to the timelines are because one guy's choice of where to spend an evening nearly a decade ago. This affected the choices of the people around him and ten years later many of them live very different lives.

to:

* ForWantOfANail: ForWantOfANail:
**
All the changes to the timelines are because one guy's choice of where to spend an evening nearly a decade ago. This affected the choices of the people around him and ten years later many of them live very different lives.
** In the timelines where Joe does not follow up on his MeetCute with Amy, Eric asks her out instead and she agrees to meet him in a restaurant. In the Cop Joe timeline, Eric rushes to the restaurant still wearing his graduation gown and is flustered when he realizes that the restaurant is a tad more upscale then what he expected. He fails to answer Amy's question about his dreams for the future. When Amy gets bad news, Eric tries to comfort her but it is a clumsy attempt that almost knocks over a bottle. Amy leaves the restaurant and ten years later does not even remember the aborted date. In the Nurse Joe timeline, Eric drops Joe at a party and Joe advises him to change clothes. Eric wears a more serious looking shirt and feels more confidant about himself. He easily answers Amy's questions and they quickly bond. When Amy gets the bad news, Eric holds her hand and makes her feel better. They spend the night talking. Ten years later they are married. Their lives completely changed because Eric wore a slightly different shirt in each timeline.
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* BreakTheHaughty: Diaz is a smug, arrogant politician with many skeletons in his closet. In the Nurse Joe timeline he is shot at a rally and left disabled. This forces him to change his approach to life and he tries to be a better person in the future. In the Cop Joe timeline he survives the shooting intact and it makes him more arrogant resulting in [[spoiler: Amy turning against him and him being arrested for corruption]]. In the Musician Joe timeline the rally is postponed and Diaz avoids having a life-changing event [[spoiler: until he is killed during the rescheduled rally]].


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* PlayingWithATrope: The format will often allow us to see a trope played out differently across the timelines. Often one timeline will play a trope straight, another will subvert it and the third one will double subvert it or avert it altogether.
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* YouCantFightFate: In the pilot, Cop Joe stops a shooting of Diaz at a rally. Nurse Joe then tends to Diaz after he's shot. In each case, the shooter is [[spoiler: the brother of a woman Diaz had an affair with who later killed herself]]. At the end of Episode 6, that man [[spoiler: shoots Diaz (and Amy) at a rally]].

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* YouCantFightFate: In the pilot, Cop Joe stops a shooting of Diaz at a rally. rally, while Nurse Joe then tends to Diaz after he's shot.shot in that timeline. In each case, the shooter is [[spoiler: the brother of a woman Diaz had an affair with who later killed herself]]. At the end of Episode 6, in Music Joe's timeline, that man [[spoiler: shoots Diaz (and Amy) at a rally]].
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* WomanScorned: Downplayed but Joe's treatment of Jenny affects how she handles her pregnancy with his child. Nurse Joe chooses to go with Jenny so she tells him about the pregnancy and they get married. Cop Joe does not try to reconcile with Jenny so she does not tell him about his son and raises the child on her own. Musician Joe chooses Amy over Jenny so Jenny not only does not tell him about the child but also gives it up for adoption.
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* AssassinationAttempt: In the pilot, a gunman tries to shoot Congressman Bobby Diaz at a campaign rally. In Cop Joe's timeline, he's on duty at the rally and stops the shooter; in Nurse Joe's timeline, Diaz gets shot and Joe tends to him as he recovers in the hospital; and in Music Joe's timeline, Joe has a concert in the same venue, causing Diaz to reschedule the rally and thus avoid being shot.

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* AssassinationAttempt: In the pilot, a gunman tries to shoot Congressman Bobby Diaz at a campaign rally. In Cop Joe's timeline, he's on duty at the rally and stops the shooter; in Nurse Joe's timeline, Diaz gets shot and Joe tends to him as he recovers in the hospital; and in Music Joe's timeline, Joe has a concert in the same venue, causing Diaz to reschedule the rally and thus avoid being shot.shot [[spoiler: until the next rally when the assassin kills Diaz and wounds Amy]].
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** Diaz had an affair with an intern who subsequently killed herself. Her vengeful brother comes gunning for him.
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* PoorCommunicationKills: Musician Joe refuses to tell his wife that he just found out that he has a son and is trying to locate him. He thinks he has good reasons for this but it creates stress and suspicion in his marriage to Amy causing her to make poor decisions since she thinks that her marriage is imploding.

to:

* PoorCommunicationKills: Musician Joe refuses to tell his wife that he just found out that he has a son and is trying to locate him. He thinks he has good reasons for this but it creates stress and suspicion in his marriage to Amy causing her to make poor decisions since she thinks that her marriage is imploding. Thankfully, he finally comes clean to her about it in Episode 6.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


* ForeShadowing: In Episode 6, Cop Joe's Uncle Frank says that years ago, he got in trouble and Diaz helped hush it up or otherwise "I might not be a cop anymore." At the end of the episode, Nurse Joe is met but his Frank, a drunken homeless bum, indicating in this world, he didn't get that help.

to:

* ForeShadowing: In Episode 6, Cop Joe's Uncle Frank says that years ago, he got in trouble and Diaz helped hush it up or otherwise "I might not be a cop anymore." At the end of the episode, Nurse Joe is met but by his Frank, a drunken homeless bum, indicating in this world, he didn't get that help.

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* ForWantOfANail: All the changes to the timelines are because one guy's choice of where to spend an evening nearly a decade ago.

to:

* ForWantOfANail: All the changes to the timelines are because one guy's choice of where to spend an evening nearly a decade ago. This affected the choices of the people around him and ten years later many of them live very different lives.


Added DiffLines:

* PoorCommunicationKills: Musician Joe refuses to tell his wife that he just found out that he has a son and is trying to locate him. He thinks he has good reasons for this but it creates stress and suspicion in his marriage to Amy causing her to make poor decisions since she thinks that her marriage is imploding.

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