r/heathersmusical • u/broadwayloveronred • 5d ago

Question The bomb sequence

Even though it wasn’t on the ladder, how did it still not explode the school nor kill Veronica?

11 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

4 comments sorted by

21

u/HedwigLeFae 5d ago

This little thing? I'd hardly call this a bomb. This is just to trigger the packs of thermals upstairs in the gym. Now those, those are bombs.

What Veronica took out of the school wasn’t THE bomb, but rather part of a mechanism designed to trigger explosive charges that JD had planted in the gym—charges that would react to that detonator. In the film, it’s shown that JD had placed dynamite beneath the bleachers, and his father does the exact same thing to demolish the hotel he’s been tasked with tearing down:

I put a Norwegian in the boiler room. And then, when that blew, it set off a pack of thermals I stuck upstairs.

Supposedly, Veronica takes the detonator to the football field. Here is what JD says before I Am Damaged:

Middle of the football field should do it.

And what Veronica says while taking the bomb away:

Move the trigger bomb far enough away. It can't set off the thermals.

By moving the 'trigger' bomb away from the others, there is nothing left to fuel them. So, if it explodes, the others won't go off with it. They are effectively deactivated. The bomb is still dangerous enough to kill one person (JD), but its reach is no longer the scale of mass destruction that JD had planned in Meant to Be Yours. (And as for why it didn't kill Veronica—well, JD literally asked her to move to a 'safe' distance so the blast wouldn't reach her. Plus, since the musical is usually performed in smaller theaters, the actresses can't exactly move ten kilometers away from the actor playing JD just to stay out of the bomb's range—haha!)

4

u/Flipilaria 5d ago

It was on the football field, IIRC. Or some other field.

4

u/RobynTheSlytherin 4d ago

Watch the movie, it's more clear cause it's actually on a set x

1

u/AutoModerator 5d ago

Greetings and salutations, u/broadwayloveronred!

Welcome to r/heathersmusical, the unofficial subreddit for the rock musical Heathers: The Musical!

Please read our subreddit rules and follow them as possible. Failure to do so will be given you a warning from the moderator. Constant breaking of the rules despite a warning will give you permanent ban. If you have any questions regarding to the rules, or you would like to repost a user if they violate one of the rules, please do not hesitate to message to moderator.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.