Thelma's new rap album just dropped!note
We play through Thelma & Louise! Joz ups her standards for violence. Carolyn answers the call of the step line dance. Andy interviews himself.
Episode 11 of Film Reroll. Based on the 1991 movie.
What Louise and her best friend Thelma intends to be a pleasant road trip takes a dark turn when the latter is sexually assaulted by local sleaze-bag Harlan. After beating him to a pulp and leaving him there to die — in self-defence — our protagonists find themselves in a race against time, where they do everything in their power to get to the Mexican border before they are caught by the police, who they are convinced will never believe their story.
Starring Jocelyn "Joz" Vammer as Louise, Carolyn Faye Kramer (First Appearance) as Thelma, Andy Hoover as "Brad Pitt" and Paulo Quiros as the Dungeon Master.
Followed by The Wizard Of Oz.
Tropes:
- Acting for Two: When Andy is given Detective Hal Slocumb to play as along with "Brad Pitt", he decides to go interview Darryl Dickinson about his wife, with the issue being that Andy had hijacked him as well at the start of the campaign. As such, although he was hesitant to do so, he is convinced to go and interview himself.
- Boastful Rap: Thelma starts performing one after comparing her situation to something out of a rap video. Louise stops her by taking away her mic.
- Body Horror: Louise injures Harlan quite thoroughly. According to his doctors he has lost all of his teeth, is probably never going to walk again, will need facial reconstruction, and is likely going to have to pee through a tube from now on. It's a miracle that he still can talk as clearly as he does.
- Chekhov's Gun: In an unusually dark example, our protagonists use their remaining can of gasoline to light themselves on fire during their suicide.
- Death by Adaptation: Thelma's husband Darryl Dickinson is said to have starved to death because he never learned how the microwave worked.
- Everyone Has Standards: Paulo Quiros has no issues with playing a rapist like Harlan, but being forced to banter as him is apparently too much.
- Groin Attack: Louise punches Harlan in the crotch during their fight. He takes four damage, falls down to the ground next to Thelma and starts to throw up.
- Hope Spot: There are two factors making it seem like the campaign might have a happier ending than the movie. First, our protagonists never get their money stolen, and get much closer to their goal of reaching Mexico than they did in the film. Once they are stopped by the police, said police are led by not one but two (fairly) Reasonable Authority Figures who are trying to not have them killed. They specifically ask a female officer to talk to the suspects to show that they are listening to them. Unfortunately, she is not any better at calming down our protagonists than the male cops in the movie were, and despite the changes to the situation, Thelma and Louise still commit suicide by driving away from the police. The biggest difference is that they blow themselves up rather than drive off a cliff.
- I Am Not Leonard Nimoy:
- J.D. is referred to as "Brad Pitt" both in and out of universe. It's even the name used in the episode description (shown above) and on his character sheet.
- Due to Andy also playing Detective Hal Slocumb (played by Harvey Keitel), Paulo briefly exploits this at one point:Paulo: Harvey Keitel.Andy: Yeah. Speaking.Paulo: (almost laughs) You're a respected actor.Andy: Thank you. Thank you.
- I Know Mortal Kombat: Louise is able to avoid the cops because she has learned about the tactics they use from police dramas.
- Lethal Chef: Darryl is so bad at cooking that he asks the police detective interrogating him if he can help him get the hang of his microwave.Darryl: I- I don't know, I can't eat anything, I've been trying to microwave all this different stuff, like peanut butter, it's just not- it's a nightmare... in here... Can you cook anything, detective?
- Medium Awareness: As the gang are being chased by policemen, "Brad Pitt" knows that his life is in danger, because he has seen the movie.
- Misplaced Wildlife: At first, Thelma says that she and Louise are chased by wolves, but when the other players say that they are probably too far south to encounter those, she changes her mind and says that they are actually chased by coyotes.
- Narration Echo:Joz: What's the weather like?
Paulo: It's beautiful out. It's a gorgeous day.
"Louise": Isn't it beautiful out?
"Thelma": It's gorgeous! - Off the Rails:
- Almost Inverted. Our protagonists manage to get all the way to New Mexico this time, which is much further than they originally did. The players even argue that the movie almost feels like an Off the Rails version of their campaign.
- Reddit user AngelusCowl actually mapped out the routes taken by both the movie protagonists and their Reroll counterparts,
and found the exact location when the campaign went off (or on) the rails.
AngelusCowl: The routes permanently diverge at Springer, New Mexico. In the film, Thelma & Louise lock the police officer in his trunk and opt to go west on backroads, rather than head directly for the border. In the Film Reroll, they proceed to the Santa Fe area without issue (and recollect JD). From here, the film has its climatic conclusion at the Grand Canyon, and the Reroll zigzags almost due south, ending at the Quarai Mission Ruins. - Original Character: Police Colonel Ethan Omaker from New Mexico. Notably, he is the first O.C. in the series to have his own pre-prepared character sheet.
- Pyromaniac: Thelma really wants to light the wooden bridge they just drove over on fire in an attempt to stop the police chasing them, but Louise feels that they can afford to lose neither the time nor the gasoline.
- Railroad Tracks of Doom: As they are being chased by the police, the gang are forced to cross a railroad right before a train passes. They succeed, trapping the police on the other side.
- Rape as Comedy: While Paulo Quiros tries to play Harlan's Attempted Rape of Thelma for drama at first, it soon derails into this.Paulo: Thelma.
"Thelma": Yeah?
Paulo: He leans you against the hood of a car, his arms on either side of you, pinning you in. He pushes you in for a kiss...
"Thelma": Oh God. I just threw up. Please! And you smell like fish and chips!
"Harlan": Sorry, I like fish and chips.
"Thelma": Oh I don't. I had a bad experience... I don't even know how to fish, but I've always wanted to go to Europe.
"Harlan": Baby, I'll take you to Europe...
"Thelma": Well how 'bout we get on a nice plane? I don't think we're gonna get there on the roof of this car.- On its own, Harlan telling Thelma to suck his dick wouldn't really be funny, but the way he does it here is completely ridiculous.
Thelma: I saw it in his eyes with blinking morse code. He said suck my dick. - Reading the Stage Directions Out Loud: A side effect to Carolyn's dedication to staying in character is that Thelma always comes across as if she is describing her actions out loud, sometimes in third person. (The In-Universe reason given for this is that Thelma is Thinking Out Loud due to loneliness, as Louise — her only true friend — spends most of her days working.)
- "I'm eatin' mah candy bar!"
- "Thelma rolls her eyes."
- "Thelma picks her nose."
- "Dial, dial, dial, dial..." note
- Shout-Out:
- After Andy fails his investigation roll to get a lead on Harlan's attackers, he has Detective Slocumb put out an APB in which he says "Suspect is hatless. Repeat, hatless."
- Thelma and Louise listen to Nirvana on their car radio.
- They also hear somebody say "Shire... Baggins..."
- Joz Vammer mentions L. Ron Hubbard, and that she used to think that his name was "Elrond."
- When Thelma and Louise reach Santa Fe, Louise suggests they stop there and open a restaurant. The players then compete to come up with more musical theatre shout-outs, resulting in a fairly clever reference to Hamilton and a rather strained reference to Shrek: The Musical.
- Thelma compares Louise and Harlan's fight with something out of Game of Thrones.
- At one point, Thelma starts singing, "How many roads can a woman drive down?".
- Skewed Priorities:
- When Ethan Omaker tells the Governor that he is chasing two violent, escaped female criminals, the Governor is most interested in whether or not they are cute and what they are wearing. note
- Darryl Dickinson isn't really that concerned about the well-being of his wife, he's just annoyed by the fact that nobody is cooking dinner for him anymore.
- Shown Their Work: Invoked. The players use Google Maps to ensure that the roads their characters take are plausible.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Harlan, barely. In the original movie, he was simply shot dead. Here, Louise gives him a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown which he does survive, though he is disfigured and likely crippled for life.
- Too Dumb to Live: Andy's portrayal of Darryl Dickinson has him be too incompetent to use the microwave. When Detective Slocumb shows up to interview him, he admits to trying to microwave whatever he can get his hands on (such as peanut butter) in a vain attempt to have some form of food. It eventually gets to the point where by the end of the campaign, as Thelma and Louise are preparing to do their Bolivian Army Ending against the police, Thelma wonders what ever happened to Darryl... prompting Andy to declare then and there that he had starved to death two days ago due to not knowing how to cook.
- Unreliable Narrator:
- During his first meeting with Thelma, J.D. claims that his mother was named Thelma... and Louise. Later, he claims that this was actually his stepmother's name, and that his real mother was named Saguaro, just like the cactus the ladies were just talking about.
- Harlan claims that Louise was an Ax-Crazy Hysterical Woman who attacked him for no reason after he kindly took care of her drunk friend, and possibly refused her offers of sex, he says that he doesn't quite remember. (It's unclear if his mind is hazy enough for him to actually have a Self-Serving Memory regarding the event, or if he is just playing the blame game. Whatever the case is, Detective Slocumb apparently believes his story completely.)
- What Measure Is a Mook?: Discussed. Just before Thelma and Louise go out in their blaze of glory, Carolyn asks for reassurance that none of the police manning the blockade are going to become collateral damage, and mentions that she always hates it when random extras get killed off in action scenes, because they're people too who probably have families and everything.
- Would Not Hit a Girl: The Governor really doesn't want to have two women shot, especially not when they're kissing. Unfortunately, they don't get the memo.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Because of how Andy chose to play Darryl Dickinsonnote in the first scene, Paulo cracks that Christopher McDonaldnote was convinced he was in Death of a Salesman.
