This video was sponsored by The Purge on USA Network.
A 10 episode television event.
Watch The Purge Tuesdays on USA Network and stick around to the end of this video if you
want to hear about how this episode sets up for the events of The Purge: Election Year.
Let’s roll that intro.
Welcome back to Things You Missed.
If it feels like we just Purged a few episodes ago, it’s because we’re getting over FIVE
TIMES the Purge coverage this year.
In today’s video, I’ll be breaking down everything you might have missed in ‘What
Is America?’, the first episode of this new series.
The first thing we see is a shower head beginning to dispense water.
This is a significant shot to open on because one of the ideologies of The Purge, is that
it’s a way for the rich upper-class to cleanse society of the poor, the homeless and the
mentally ill.
I’ve talked about the reasoning for this before, but to quickly sum it up, these are
all groups that rely on government money to fund food-stamps, shelters, etcetera.
So The Purge is more of an excuse to remove these groups; and there are actually many
instances where these corrupt politicians actually use the word “cleanse” to describe
The Purge.
So who is this group that’s being cleansed in the showers?
It’s robed Purge cult , possibly called The OMF, that we see giving themselves up
Purgers as part of a ritual.
So they are cleansing themselves for this ritual.
They also show great support for the idea of The Purge since they have been brainwashed
into believing they are not dying but going to this place called The Invisible.
Ever since The First Purge -- and this takes place about 10 years after -- blue flowers
have been a symbol of support for The Purge.
The cult displays these flowers outside of their school, the ones who are being Purged
have blue robes, blue towels, they ride in a blue school bus and even blue shower scrub
things.
I don’t know what they’re called.
It seems that they are allowed to switch from yellow robes to blue when they are old enough,
as mentioned by the kids Miguel encounters when looking for his sister, and only after
they’ve taken this ritualistic shower to cleanse themselves for the Purgers, because
after the shower, they change into the blue robes, and the yellow robes can be seen hanging
on the hook in the background.
In her letter to Miguel, Penelope mentions that she’ll be joining their parents on
the anniversary of their giving.
And then later at the cult training school, it's revealed that their parents’ lives
were taken on the night of the very first Purge.
I’m not sure if that’s a reference to the test Purge that took place on Staten Island
in the movie entitled, The First Purge, or if they are referring to the first nation-wide
Purge, that would have taken place the year after that.
I’d like to go back and rewatch The First Purge, and see if there are any references
to the parents or anything, but at the time of making this video, it’s not out on Blu-Ray
yet, but if you remember anything, or watch this video later on, please do leave your
findings in the comments.
I also have a theory about why these kids are willing to sacrifice their lives.
The first place that Miguel goes to try to find his sister is a rehabilitation center.
We don’t know whether she’s a drug addict or an alcoholic, but either one of these would
put her into the group of people that the NFFA political party is trying to eliminate.
I think this freaky lady who is the leader of the cult is an NFFA member who has rounded
up these kids or young adults who are recovering because they’re in a state where they can
be easily manipulated.
She then tricks them into believing they are doing something good by sacrificing themselves
to the Purge.
Another piece of evidence to support that theory is that in this iteration of The Purge,
we learn the answer to a long-pondered fan question: what happens to hospitals during
The Purge?
There are always patients who need to be treated, so you can’t just shut down hospitals for
12 hours the same as you do with emergency services.
It’s been stated in the movies that certain locations and people are protected, and in
this episode, the protection of hospitals in confirmed.
However, Miguel finds out that the rehabilitation center his sister had been staying in does
not have this same protection.
This doesn’t make a whole lot of sense from an operational standpoint, because these patients
could need the same constant care that a hospital patient would need.
But try looking at it from the NFFA standpoint.
Rehab centers are filled with those they don’t deem fit for society, whereas hospitals will
house some of their own, in fact, only the rich will be able to afford long hospital
stays, so it makes sense to have them be a safe haven.
Miguel’s search for his sister eventually leads him to a set of abandoned buildings.
From the outside it would appear they are still in support of The Purge as you can see
from the blue flower mural on the wall, skeleton figures as a sign of death and what appears
to be a caricature of a New Founding Father.
However, the inside looks like it was once the center of a civil rights movement.
There are paintings of civil rights figures like Martin Luther King Jr.
There are also quotes graffitied on the wall, such as “I freed a thousand slaves.
I could have freed more if only they knew they were slaves.”
I looked it up, apparently this is widely known as a quote by Harriet Tubman, although
there’s no proof she ever actually said it.
But the meaning still stands.
There’s also an MLK quote: “Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the
world better.”
The name Assata Shakur, who is known for murdering a state trooper and using violence to further
her agenda, also appears on the wall.
The second of the three main storylines follows a woman named Jane who works for an equity
firm, and is forced to work on Purge night.
A private equity firm usually manages investments funds.
Investment funds are similar to The Purge itself in that they in they involve a pool
of investors taking advantage of the size of their group.
It’s very similar to how the NFFA bands together to take advantage of the lower class.
Jane is trying to work herself up to a position of power within the company.
When visiting her Mom in the hospital, her Mom mentions something about Jane needing
to get a promotion, telling her she would have it if she had just “played the game”.
Jane doesn’t want to talk about it, it seems like a sore subject, but I’m guessing Jane’s
bosses are corrupt and asked her to take part in some shady business tactics or possibly
tried to take advantage of her.
There is some evidence of her employers’ inappropriate behaviour when one of her bosses
joins the rest of the workers via video call and Jane calls him out for being the type
of person to eavesdrop.
Then, in the most creepy way possible, he tells her that he’s always watching and
listening.
Outside of the building she works in, you can see a sign that reads: “The price of
freedom can be seen fro within these walls.”
If that’s not a red flag, I don’t know what is.
But on Purge night, she’s got some tricks of her own.
She goes down and makes some kind of transaction -- it looks like she’s ordering a hit.
Judging from the tension between her and her boss, I’ve gotta guess that she’s ordering
the hit on him.
But my guess is that her boss has cameras and microphones hidden all over the building,
and finds out about her hitman.
She thinks she’s safe at work, but if her boss comes after her, she could actually be
in great danger.
The last storyline follows Jenna and Rick, a married couple who attend an NFFA party
in order to try to close a deal to get funding for their business.
As they leave the house, you may notice a sign in the front yard reading “Sandin Security”.
If you remember back to the original Purge film, James Sandin, the father of the family
in that movie sold security systems for the Purge, but his cheap systems came back to
bite him when his neighbors turned against him for overcharging them on their security
systems.
In the end, James was killed, but according to this sign, his company lived on without
him.
When they arrive at the house, in addition to the blue flowers, there are eagle statues
that represent the eagle in the NFFA logo.
Once the party begins, the hosts give out gifts to their guests in the form of Purge
masks.
Each one is a cut-out face of a serial killer, and when I saw the characters putting these
on I pretty much almost lost it.
They look almost exactly like my FoundFlix masks that I’ve been wearing during the
Purge.
The cut-out eyes, the expressions, the grayscale.
I mean I wasn’t aware you watched my show, Mr. Demonaco.
I’m kidding about that last part of course, but anyways…
Rick gets David Richard Berkowitz, a serial killer from the 70s who took out 8 people
in separate attacks.
Jenna ends up getting Susan Denise Atkins, who was a follower of Charles Manson and she
had claimed nine lives back in the summer of 69.
I’m assuming those were the best days of her life, because the rest of them were spent
in jail.
I’ll be keeping an eye on RIck and Jenna to see if the masks they recieve end up foreshadowing
anything with their characters.
So that covers all of the Things You Missed involving the main characters, but before
our Purge time is up, I wanted to point out some things that could have snuck past you
about the world and the time period.
It’s mentioned on TV that this could the biggest purge ever, due to the massive amount
of Purge materials sold leading up to it.
Like this guy who buys 12 rolls of toilet paper.
I mean, I can only imagine he got caught TPing some house as a kid on Halloween or something,
and so he decided to spend his Purge night (where he can do literally anything, by the
way) throwing toilet paper on old Ms Jenkins’s place when there’s nothing she can do about
it.
But if the reports are correct and this is the biggest Purge, it makes sense how this
could lead into The Purge: Election Year, with people being devastated by the damage
of this year’s Purge and really turning against the idea, they’d be looking for
a candidate to get behind in the next election, which would take place in 2032, because Senator
Roan doesn’t win back the White House until 2 elections later in 2040.
It’s going to be hard to see from this image, but if you zoom in on any license plate in
the show, the state insignia are gone in favor of a design that says, A Nation Reborn.
I wonder if the 50 State system was somehow removed by the NFFA in order to keep them
in power.
Another note on the current political situation, America is currently at war.
When Miguel explains that he just got back from the Marines, one of the guys chimes in
and asks why he isn’t off fighting still.
So although we do know that a war is still going on, we don’t really know any of the
details.
The last thing to note, is that something major happened in last year’s Purge.
As Jane signs in at her office, the following can be heard on the radio in the background:
“We’ll see if any clever Purgers are able to duplicate last year’s epic Purge night
heist of Southern Holdisback, where four masked murderers were able to get away with twelve
counts of…”
We’ll see if any clever Purgers are able to duplicate last year’s epic Purge night
heist of Southern Holdisback, where four masked murderers were able to get away with twelve
counts of…
And that’s all we can really hear, but it will be interesting to see if we learn more
about that.
If you are interested in learning more, there are 9 more episodes of The Purge lined up
for you, Tuesdays on USA Network.
The only question is, will you hide?
Or will you seek?
Be sure to tune in next and see if you can spot the Happy Death Day reference they dropped
in the second episode.
If you’re excited to see that, go ahead and leave a like on this video.
And make sure you’re up to date on all the Things You might have missed in your favorite
horror franchises.
Remember to subscribe to CZsWorld for new horrors every week, ring that deathbell for
notifications and I’ll see you in the next one.
Assuming we both survive.