Probably Unanswerable Questions
Chuck's family; losing Wilson as a blessing; Chuck's sanity; The Martian as a rip-off; the sequel plot; Chuck's move at Bettina's ranch
In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 01:01:21Read transcript
- Does Chuck have any family? He is presented as an only child with dead parents and only Kelly.
- A Vancouver reader, Paul Parsons, asked whether losing Wilson was the best thing for Chuck, since returning with the volleyball would get him institutionalized; this is agreed.
- Did Chuck go insane on the island, and can someone snap back to normal after years of talking to a volleyball?
- Did The Martian rip off Cast Away? It seems like Cast Away in outer space, which is fine.
- A previously written sequel pitch, 'Cast Away 2: Wilson Lives', imagines a dark thriller with Chuck as a volleyball-obsessed serial killer tracked down by an old FedEx friend.
- Chuck's move at Bettina's ranch would be small talk, then 'so crazy story' and two hours of telling it; she would be all in about 45 minutes in.
- An online essay reading Wilson as Chuck's alter ego, discarded once Wilson floats away, is called too big a stretch and vetoed.