Let’s take stock of our story.
What we know: Mayor Russell Napolitano -- we'll call him Russ because it’s easier to type -- is selling his subway plan to the city. We’re not sure if he has a motive other than the common good, but we saw him retrieve an envelope under highly dubious circumstances that we now know contained information about an unexpectedly large methane field in the heart of the proposed train’s route.
What we don’t know: Why is this methane field secret? Who directed Russ to the information and why? What is its significance?
What we know: Celeste’s husband Larry was murdered by a Scottish thug, apparently at the behest of Larry’s old friend and perhaps business partner Sydney Pizer. Sydney, another Scotsman, is somehow connected to that country's peat industry. He has been developing a prototype car that possibly runs on alternative fuel. (Is it methane? Peat?)
Larry has been buying up land near the proposed Wilshire Boulevard subway route. Larry’s wife has the hots for Russ.
What we don’t know: What was the precise business relationship between Larry and Sydney, and which of the above situations, if any, got Larry killed?
If things still sound a little confusing, at least we’ve begun to know where to look for some answers.
For starters, Celeste needs to be informed by police of her husband’s death. Far be it from me to write the next scene for you, but wouldn’t it be interesting if they come to the house in the middle of the night and find the mayor there? How would Russ handle that? How would the cops?
Whatever you decide, make sure it digs a nice hole that Russ will spend the rest of the movie trying to get out of (only to dig himself in deeper for a while).
Next, would this story benefit from a second protagonist -- maybe one whose goal comes into conflict with the mayor’s? If so, that person could very easily be one of those cops. Or better yet, a P.I., who maybe has already been following Celeste or Larry or Russell for different reasons and just happened to stumble into the biggest case of his career.
Or not.
I have to go.... I’ve said too much already.
The next part, as always, is up to you.
