MovieChat Forums > The Butterfly Effect (2004) Discussion > Another plot hole? Kaylee understanding ...

Another plot hole? Kaylee understanding the basement scene.

posted 9 years ago by WeJamEcono
3 replies | jump to latest

In the fraternity timeline, Kaylee does not seem to remember what happened in the basement scene at all. She admits this by dismissing it, saying her dad got rid of the video camera the next day. In the prostitute timeline, she fully remembers it and actually references it in a pretty messed up way at the diner (don't even want to type it out to be honest). Why does she only remember it in the latter? The event was evidently in place in both timelines. It is the cause for the fraternity timeline, and it is implied twice that it had not been "overwritten" and reverted back to the way it originally happened in the prostitute time.

The only thing I can think of is that she was either lying about it in the fraternity timeline to prevent "rocking the boat" of their relationship or nothing had spurred her to connect the dots of what her dad was actually doing. If the latter (and I think it is, considering how convincingly she seemed unaware), maybe she had repressed the memory or there was nothing traumatic enough to cause her to reflect deeply as to what was really going on. In the prostitute timeline and with her running away and getting put into prostitution (implied by the man in the van during the montage of results of the tampering with the dog-slaying event, which ended up causing Tommy's murder), perhaps her much more negative situation caused a deeper reflection about some of the worst parts of her at some point, which could have spurred her into connecting the dots about what was going on in the basement.

Thoughts?

[–] divisjoseph 9 years ago

Spoiler alert! SPOILER ALERT! Hmm good question, I suppose it is possible that she simply had repressed the memory during the fraternity sequence but I don't really think so. I always believed that in going back to that moment and telling the dad what a POS he was that he really did sell the video camera and never touched Kaylee. Your right it might be a plot hole, because when Evan goes back and rewrites a different memory, and then goes to Kaylee's dad asking her whereabouts he says something like "remember me? we had a nice chat when I was 7" it indicates that that part of history had not been overwritten. Yet we soon meet Kaylee and she has a vivid memory of abuse. But perhaps since he had ended up in that "reality" (the prostitute one) by changing an even earlier memory that anything that happened after that had followed the path of his normal life, and in doing so Evan only thought that he had changed the video camera scene because his power was very new to him.

If I had to bet money I would bet it was a plot hole, doesn't change the fact that I love the movie.

[–] KingCobra686 8 years ago

I think that was the change when he went back to save the dog, but the brother was killed. That event occurred later than the basement scene, so the basement scene shouldnt have been changed by it. I agree that this might be a plot hole for Kaylee to remember.

Kaylee's dad asking her whereabouts he says something like "remember me? we had a nice chat when I was 7" it indicates that that part of history had not been overwritten

Good catch, although you could explain this other ways. The dad never really confirms that he remembers that specific chat. To him, Evan just showed up out of the blue to talk about random chats and ask where his daughter is. Also, Evan could be getting mixed up as well, and forgetting which timelines he was in.

[–] trashtalker-35526 8 years ago

In both timelines Evan had stopped any significant abuse from happening in the basement scene, although Kaylee would still have remembered being there and her dad saying take off your clothes. When they are in the diner and Evan explains how he can go back in time, Kaylee gets upset with Evan and yells at him to go back in time and change something worthwhile like save the baby, then she says "or better yet go back and f*%# me in the basement, straighten me out". This implies that nothing had actually happened in the basement but Kaylee was aware that it could have and she's basically daring him to go back and do that, she's making a sick joke basically.