sadmad: I'm a little perplexed about an element of this latest
revelation here.

OS: What would that be?

sadmad: You've each asserted your belief that whatever else may have
been fraudulent about the goings-on during the making of JM2, that
one of the few things we saw that we could probably take to the bank
as being real, were David's feelings about or toward Linda.

OS: Yes. That would be accurate.

MM: Within limits, of course.

sadmad: How so?

MM: It appears that the more we delve into those goings-on attendant
to the show, the more we find ourselves confronted with some new
level of chicanery, distortions and manipulations. So it kind of
makes you want to put an asterisk, so to speak, by just about
anything and everything - know what I mean?

sadmad: Yeah, certainly.

OS: But, in a perverse way, that's why this whole investigation of
ours into JM2 has become so absorbing and so endlessly fascinating
for the two of us.

MM: You said it. The Kennedy assassination, the Vietnam War, the
disputed election of 2000, the build-up to the Iraq War - whew!, all
small potatoes compared to the layers of deceit, dishonesty, fraud
and manipulation we've uncovered while looking into this silly piece
of fluff television.

OS: What was your question, then?

sadmad: Do you think the FOX/RSL producers came to Linda and
presented her the 'deal' you cited - flat out - or did they arrive at
it after having to 'negotiate'?

MM: Interesting question.

sadmad: Linda knew how David felt about her, right? So even if she
had found out about what the premise of the show actually was and
what kind of payoff would be in-store for the girl who he ended up
choosing at the end, wouldn't she, then, upon agreeing to come back,
have been reasonably certain that if she just even menially played up
to him a little bit, he would've picked her and she would walk away
with the prize?

OS: Good point.

sadmad: Well?

MM: Good one, sadmad. All we can do, in this case, then,
unfortunately, would be to extrapolate a guess for you.

sadmad: Go ahead.

MM: Bearing those factors in mind, it would seem to point in the
direction that at least one of the parties involved did not want to
leave anything to chance. Or so it would appear.

OS: So a possible scenario would be that Linda prepares to leave
Tuscany and the little world of JM2, fed up with the demands of
having to do this and do that at the whim of the producers, as well
as get back to her boyfriend in Prague and her pal Karolina -

MM: - then the producers have a brainstorm and see a way they could
add a nice plot twist by bringing her back later on.

OS: Only Linda really wants to get away (not from the jealousy of the
other girls, of course) but from them, and, maybe, from feelings of
guilt over David's feelings for her -

MM: - so maybe she gives them a polite 'thanks, but no thanks', and
they, in turn, up the ante.

OS: Like, 'Hey, Linda, here's the deal. If you come back and play
ball with us to the end, then here's what we're prepared to offer'.

MM: At which case, Linda said 'dobra!' (Okay!)

sadmad: Hmmm. So you're intimating that in this case, as in so many
others, everyone has their price?

MM: We hadn't thought about that angle before you introduced it,
sadmad, truth be told. So, again, we're just trying to construct as
likely a scenario as possible, given the context and the information
we have.

sadmad: I guess the best case scenario, as far as Linda is concerned
then, would be that she genuinely wanted to leave, at least in part,
because she she didn't want to lead David on, but was corrupted by
FOX and RSL to do just that.

OS: Who knows? Whatever else you may think of us, we're not total
cynics, you know? There's no hope regarding any of those shameless
FOX/RSL producers, but we're ever hopeful about the motives of the
rest of the world.


(Part VI to follow.)