SCRIPT BREAKDOWN: Superbowl 58
SCRIPT BREAKDOWN:
SUPERBOWL 58
SUPERBOWL 58
Super Bowl LVIII was an American football game that was played to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2023 season. In a rematch of Super Bowl LIV, the American Football Conference (AFC) champion and defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs defeated the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers 25–22 in overtime to secure their second consecutive Super Bowl championship and become the first team to go back-to-back since the New England Patriots in 2004.With this being the Chiefs' fourth Super Bowl appearance and third win in five years, many have said this game established them as a dynasty.
SCRIPT BREAKDOWN: SUPERBOWL 58
For the most part, the script worked. It ended on a high note for sure. And got us hyped for the final film in the trilogy.
And I'm glad it wasn't the predictable "Golden Boy gets the touchdown to win and gets the girl." No, they were smart enough to save the proposal storyline for the final part of the trilogy. If they'd blown that here, we'd need a whole breakup/redemption arc and now we can skip that (hopefully).
I still had a lot of issues with it. There weren't enough callbacks to the first season to help people who didn't start watching until Taylor was a guest star. A lot of people didn't see the significance of being down by 10 points, as that was more of a call back to the people who were watching WAY back.
NOTE: I am going to hold off on one thing. I would like to question why San Francisco chose to get the ball first in OT... but I'm going to wait and see if this plays out as a plot point in the final film of this trilogy.
THE FIRST ACT DRAGGED
Don't get me wrong. It was telling the story of great defense... but I don't think they did enough to have the narrators spell that out more for people. They definitely lacked in character progression with MeCole Hardman. There should've been a look back at how he was drafted to the Jets and was so sad and only got five receptions... before being traded and building his way to his Superbowl moment. I get that they wanted it to be a surprise, but that lack of character development hurt when he caught it and people didn't all know who he was. Character development HAS to be stronger next year.
PURDY GOOD. PURDY, PURDY GOOD
I liked how they build Purdy up to be a spoiler - the kid you don't expect, but maybe HE'S the hero of the story... but I felt it was weak to spend all year telling us how he isn't good enough, only to totally adore him when he's almost there, and then shit on him and act like he didn't belong as soon as he couldn't finish it. The flip-flopping of the narrators on this issue was just really poor writing.
The ongoing joke of Deebo always being hurt but then immediately back never got old. "Coach says it's okay to bleed from the ear!" hahahah, oh Deebo.
MISSING THE POINT
I think a good majority of us knew where the story was going as soon as Moody missed the extra point. But man, what a pivotal moment of storytelling. The pain. The fear. The way everything became "Oh, so we're going to go to overtime." Man... it was powerful, heartbreaking, exhilarating, and frustrating all at once. Absolutely a beautiful way to set this final act up. Whoever thought of this, my hat's off to you.
I'm still confused what the point of the Greenlaw injury was. If you're going to take the time to put him on camera, force us to watch his injury, follow him on the cart to the back, etc... we have to have an emotional connection to the character. There was almost no real build up to him before this point and then they just dropped the story and barely brought it up again. This should've been cut. The movie was too long as it was.
THE PATH TO REDEMPTION
They planted seeds to make Kelce look like his emotions might get the best of him. Something he'll have to work on in order to finish the story arc to come back stronger next season.
But will they win in the finale? 20 years ago, I would've said, yes, absolutely. But I'm going to go out on a limb and say there's another lesson in this storytelling. I feel like we're going close. Incredibly close, but as Kelce ties the TD Record for Tight Ends, the real Big Bad - Rob Gronkowski - will rise and capture Taylor, leaving Travis to choose between Football Immortality and the woman he loves.
WE'RE NOT HEADING WHERE YOU THINK WE ARE
Fear not, fellow fans. While there will be heartbreak on the field, I caught on to the biggest piece of foreshadowing in the story. Did you notice how they kept Taylor Swift away from Clark Hunt?
As the Chiefs tear up and talk about how close they were, Taylor is going to reveal she bought the team at the end of the next film. And we'll end on the happiest note of all - That the team will shake it off and try again.
EXTRA SCENE
In the after credits, Taylor will reveal she's changing the name to "Something way less racist" and we'll see the beginning of the tensions leading the next trilogy.