the "bean school? excellent!" line is an homage to bill and ted, although it's a little weird lol. it just shows how outdated their tastes in media are ig (banger movies but old)
i downloaded the musical through another website, there's a bunch online you can just search "youtube to mp3 download" and they'll pop up then i edited everything in capcut! it's a free app
Also Grace literally breaking the rules as she's very clearly against praying/worshipping anyone but god but then doing so at the end as she uses the powers of the Lords in Black. So she literally breaks the rules to become the ruler of the world.
Fun with subtitles: when Ruth complains during play practice, she says she loses her SPOT when people don't stick to the script, but the official closed captions say she loses her PLACE. Nice bit of meta :)
I dont know if it actually was a refrence or not, but during the Hatchettown song when they're wll circling/pointing to the mayor it reminded me of the part in Feast or Famine when everyone was circling the store owner. I havent really seen anyone mention that part
9:36 The first use of the nerd in the coffee shop was 5 years prior to nerdy prudes. It's the same character. It's been Pete all along. It's a running gag.
@7:57 random idea, what if the mayor used the book to become the mayor and somehow the consequences of that were having to raise steph which is why he is so cold to her. but the lords in shadow wanted this because raising her leads to the book being used again
I don’t see nearly enough people talk about the line ‘’ or until another Richie comes along’’ Clones with full memories are a thing in this universe…..
Ruth didn't actually have the worst death. Ritchie did. If you pay attention to the beginning, his death was brutal and drawn out. He wasn't just physically tortured, but psychologically as well. Max gave him hope that he'd escape only to be caught again (that scene at the beginning when Ritchie is running from Max). He suffered for 2 hours before finally being killed. Ruth's death was bad, but at least it was quick. She only had to endure a few seconds of pain b4 death
I meant more that Ruth's death was worse in the sense that her death was essentially played off as a joke with not only the death itself but the way it was portrayed versus Richie's whose wasn't lol /nm
fun fact! in High School is Killing me, im pretty sure they arent even saying "class of 2021", theyre saying "class of 2020-wern" source: Jon Matterson and Jeff Blim's NPMD watchparty
It’s really weird watching this musical now knowing I graduated in 2021 and that I can relate to every one of the nerdy prudes in some fashion. It’s like this musical was sniper-trained targeted for me
Something also funny is around the 7-7:03 mark Max says I won't rest until I've tasted Chastity's little 🍑 and later on he gets sent to the black and white after doing ykw with grace
Extra fun fact, the "I'm not a loser" leitmotif appears multiple times in the background of songs, including near the end of "Just for once" at around 7:57 ish in this video and a version of it plays in the first like 22 seconds of High School is Killing Me 💥
You missed one of the smallest and one of my favorite details 😢 At 14:00 he says - cut through pine Brook - you know like in the guy who didn't like musicals when they go to save Alice and Paul say to cut through pine brook as a short cut.
I haven’t seen anyone bring this up so I just want to point out that in a meta way, the church of the starry children is StarKid themselves. They’re bringing the Lords in Black back to Earth by making these shows about them. Starry Children = Star Kids
part 2 things that didn't make it into video that I thought might warrant a mention: Mayor turns all the townspeople against each other in the wake of heat on himself. There's tons of little musical references like these throughout the show, its nuts. I think the Mayor sacrificed Steph's mom. That's the implication I got at least. Early implication that Grace is gonna be tooooo into that book. The background of the school is filled with foreshadowing for the musical. And the tears start coming and they don't stop coming and they don't stop coming (you brought it up but I'm bringing it up too XP) This time when Steph calls Peter a nerd, while he's a little annoyed he doesn't look hurt, because he knows it's not a sign of being used.
I'll keep a running tab of small details I noticed that didn't make it into the video for one reason or another: You pointed out Grace covering her mouth, she specifically seems to cover it to censor her saying "fuck" in the song, from what I can tell the last time the kids sing about their melody being off, the melody actually breaks in the song Early confirmation that in all timelines, Hatchetfield hates Sycamore. Literal Monster actually foreshadows a lot about Max post becoming a ghost. We also see why he needs remedial algebra as his tutor quit on him. Finally, the true terror of Max is shown: he's fully aware his life is basically over after high school, so unlike most bullies, he doesn't really have a limit besides what would put him in jail. Pointed out but not explained in vid: "October surprise" as in she was an unwanted (or at the least, unplanned) child. Also doubles as a little joke about the musical coming out in October. Her father belittles her intelligence, something that most characters will do throughout the musical, all except Peter, who regularly points out she's smarter than she thinks she is. (You pointed out the contrast with her father, but he's not the only character who calls her stupid. She knocks her own intelligence AND the lords in black call her stupid later) Max saying "you're a nerd because I say so" is foreshadowing how later no matter what people say to convince him they aren't nerds or prudes, he kills them anyway because *he* decides that. We learn via Grace's fantasy that while she likes imagining some "mitigating" factors like Max being Christian, she ultimately wants him to not only be a deviant, but wants to be one herself "I fully expect you to betray me" signifying this AND foreshadowing later events. Grace's songs are notably... not "simpler" but more straightforward and up tempo, and it pulls the rest of the gang into her same style of avoiding curses and "purer" speech. Lin Manuel Miranda being referenced makes for good foreshadowing of the bullet catch later. When Steph calls Peter a nerd he looks genuinely really hurt, like he's been reminded of the possibly transactional nature of their relationship. Confirmation that in every timeline, Hatchetfield hates Clivesdale. We finally learn why Richie's hair is like that, he's the school mascot. Max using "Bitch" will be reoccurring and a good nod to his Friday the Thirteenth style puns and antics later. Max decides who's a nerd, and cruelly reminds Richie that even if he thinks he's not a loser, he's dead anyway.
I love the changed meaning of cool as I am as the song goes on. When he first says it it’s framed as him saying I’m as cool as I think I am, I’m as cool as she thinks I am as a self deprecating thing like I don’t think I’m cool so why would she? And then he says she’s smarter than she thinks she is, and then starts saying it as in ‘maybe if I think I’m cool she will too’ and maybe I *can* be cool
Ohhh just realised Peter asks Grace to just be cool in High School is Killing Me and she says never But it’s her who tells everyone to be cool beans That’s it, don’t think it means anything rly, just thought of that
A general note to the underscore... At the axe man song from the nightmare times and through the stories we hear the "hatchet handle" motif, so it was already composed then and related to the Hatchetfield High School
7:30 Honestly that might be what the entire song’s about. She’s singing about being middle-aged and nothing she says really feels ingenuine. As someone who has had horrible social anxiety since I was eleven, when you get to the point where you can barely do anything it really does feel like your life is over, you don’t feel like you’ll ever improve and you don’t feel like you’ll ever get to do the things you want to do. I couldn’t even hang out with my friends easily because most of the time we would see each other was at school which required leaving the house. Doing absolutely *nothing* for at least a year, especially if it lasts longer, just makes you depressed
a little thing I noticed because I’m in my Star Wars era right now: 1st) Ruth refers to Steph as Pete’s ‘Leia’ when she calls him to Pasquali’s 2nd) in ‘Cool As I Think I Am’, the second verse is another Leia reference (“Princess Leia told me, I’d just as soon kiss a Wookiee”) 3rd) in the reprise Steph says “if I really did love you, you’d have to say” to which Pete responds “I know” which is how Han Solo responded to Leia’s love confession in the second Star Wars movie (whether Steph’s next line about Pete not being as cool as he thinks he is is related to him making a nerdy Star Wars reference or him quoting Popular Cool Guy Han Solo - or it could just be another callback to the original song) anyway I thought that was cute and I haven’t seen anyone else mention it 🥰
This might be a reach but when Peter says "His fists are always half cocked" in the song literally monster it kinda (barely, again, this is a reach.) foreshadows max literally catching the bullet Steph uses to try and kill Peter with.
I also have thought that Jagerman saying "and I will not rest until I taste Grace Chastity's little peach" is foreshadowing the fact that what finished him off was sleeping with Grace.
After seeing it again I HAVE to mention the Star Wars references in Cool as I think I Am Reprise: In the original Cool as I think I Am, Pete compares Steph to Princess Leia (based on Ruth's analogy) and in the reprise after she says "If i really did love you- you'd have to say.." and he replies with the iconic "I know" said by Han to Leia. It's small but i live for it.
Max has a bit of the same power as Hannah, though Hannah and Lex both directly look at the camera at times in BF, Max outright addressed the audience, also, Emma probably forcibly had her eyes opened at the end of TGWDLM because she both sees and tries to interact with the audience
My guess is the "october surprise" line means Steph was conceived around San Valentines, hence why her father doesn't seem to care/love her, she wasn't in his plans for power, and like we see, only takes care of her for fear of "what will they think about the mayor?!"
