STUDY: Pop Squad

1 HOOK (~1500):

The stories start with unnamed protagonist walking into a kitchen. It’s a mess. His partner walks in and they look things over. Protagonist is reviewing the place, comparing it to his place and wondering 1why people would live in such squalor. Kids are running around. Pentle, his partner, takes the women away so protagonist can do his job. He kills the kids.

Purpose: The hook shows us something strange in a seemingly familiar world. Why are mothers fugitives? Why are they hiding? What the fuck? Why did the cop kill them?

2 WORLD/CONTEXT/SETUP (~1100)

Protagonist travels out of the jungle. Cleans himself up. Goes to a concert where Alice, his wife is playing. He’s in a masslift going up. He’s in the concert watching. It’s amazing. He thinks about this concert and its meaning due to immortality. He looks at his hands, there are pinpricks of blood on it. He picks at it. He thinks about all that time that Alice practiced. He thinks about the dinosaur. Applause for the performance.

Purpose: we establish this is world where people live forever and they have crazy concerts. We establish that the hero is really bothered by this dinosaur stuffy.

3 WORLD/CONTEXT/SETUP (~2200)

They’re at a party. He looks at the old city. He’s still thinking about the kids and the dinosaur. Alice wonders what’s wrong with him. They talk about why anyone would give up rejoo. She talks about the benefits of it. Talks about the negatives of people who give it up and go kid-crazy. She asks him to go to the rejoo booster with her. Illoni finds Alice and pulls her away. There’s a big speech about her work. They give Alice a dinosaur, the same one that the kid had earlier. He falls down in a panic mode.

Purpose: we establish further the benefits of rejoo vs. crazy people who have kids. Alice gets a dinosaur and it drives the hero crazy. Drive him the obessessions.

4 HERO IN B-WORLD (~1000)

They’re at the redo clinic waiting room. He thinks about Alice putting the dinosaur next to the bedside table. He shoved it under the bed. We’re introduced more to the world of rejoo. How it works, how people get it, who does it, who doesn’t. We see the rejoo process dramatized via Alice. She feels good. She wants to have sex. She talks about how it doesn’t make sense again… and he start shouting about it. ranting. Going crazy. He’s mad. She stops him. Are you sure you’re OK?

Purpose: We see what rejoo does to people, but how world-wise other people do it and waste it too. they talk about people who get off it and hero gets REALLY mad. The dinosaur thing is REALLY bothering him.

5 BELLY OF THE WHALE? (~1600)

Can’t be with Alice. He’s working along the coastline. Just busy. Keeping himself busy. Dramatize a scene about a brown girl. He kills the baby in front of the mother. This is not done. Its against procedure. He screwed up because Pentle can’t get evidence. The brown girl calls him a fucking pig and say she has dead eyes. That’s what gets him. That’s a big fight between him and the brown girl. Pentle talks to him about the baby. How she didn’t know how to keep it quiet and that’s how the neighbors heard. They talk about how dumb this is. How foolish it is. They talk about how resourceful they are even though there isn’t a baby industry anymore. They talk about how the lack of evidence might let the girl off, but they have a high rate of recidivism. So it’s only a matter of time. Protagonist thinks about the concept of recidivism. Like for druggies.

Purpose: This dinosaur thing bugging him, it’s making his work go bad. He screws up big time at his job. His partner is worried about him. They talk about it.

6 (~700)

He’s in the car looking for where to buy the dinosaur. He’s obsessed with the damn dinosaur. Alice wants her home but he’d rather find out where to buy the dinosaur. He calls her to get the name of the place.

7 (~ 800)

He goes to Ipswitch collectibles and looks at toys. The owner is 90 and offers to help, doesn’t want it. A woman comes in. Protagonist can tell right away all the tell-tale signs of a mom. Mom buys a train-set. Protagonist makes a comment that startles her.

Purpose: The obsession is real. He has to find this damn toy now.

8 (~500) DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL:

TELLING MONTAGE - He’s doing his job, it’s everywhere. Babies are everywhere. The Jungle is teeming with them. It’s eating at him. What else is eating at him? The address of the mom he saw at the toy store. He’s tempted to visit her, but he doesn’t because jobs keep coming up. He finally visits.

Purpose: Speed up time here since he already got the address. Now he just needs to decide to execute on it.

9 (~3500) CLIMAX:

He slams the door in. She sees him and deflates. Not shocked or surprised. Just deflates. She knew he was coming. But then he starts asking questions. He’s breaking script. He’s sitting down and having a cigarette. The kid wanders up to her mom’s lap to nurse. He looks at her and talks about all he consequences of getting off rejoo to do it. He’s asking her why she does it. She doesn’t answer. He’s getting horny looking at her because she’s got that mom look, and the cigarette he’s smoking is obviously a penis metaphor because it grows grey and limp at one point and Bacigalupi is so obvious here and I’m surprised I didn’t notice the first 5 times I read it. The jungle is this fecund forceful nature of rebirth and breeding. C’mon Colin. How can you miss it? Anyway. The kid stops feeding and takes his hat and wants to put it on him. It’s a game. Then she goes and plays blocks. Then the mom finally talks. She tell him that we need to do something new. She’s not selfish. She’s wakes up every morning and she sees life anew through her eyes and that’s worth everything to her. He tells the guy that he’s got dead eyes, they all have dead eyes and they wouldn’t understand. Then he offers his gun to her and taunts her. Do you want to shoot me? Would you kill one life for this other one? And she jumps at it, but he pulls it away and she’s heartbroken because this was her one and only chance. She put all her bets on it. And now she’s sobbing on her dirty kitchen table and her kid is bawling and the protagonist can shoot the kid, it’s a clear shot. But he doesn’t. Instead he walks outside, runs in the mud and feels the rain like it’s new again.

Purpose: Wraps up several things: the obsession, he needs to resolve the big question of it bothering him. He needs to resolve that he’s found her. he needs to resolve this dead eyes thing. The limp cigarette and getting horny is part of him feeling that hunger for life but also how useless he’d become. He lets the woman at the gun and not care because he needs that adrenaline rush. He gets answer out of her for why they have babies.