Bruce Springsteen's music provides an emotional touch to this episode, songs well chosen for the scenes even if they were released at a later date than the scene setting. With all its faults, this episode is especially poignant in this day and age as the heartland manufacturing jobs that the four main characters would once have likely wound up in after high school, which would have given them a secure if not luxurious lower-middle class existence are now all but gone today. As a result, the four are left with unrealistic dreams of glory in highly competitive, cutthroat fields of athletics and entertainment or a desperate turn to shady, illicit activities that nearly always lead to a bad end, with a few low paying, dead end positions in between as the only respite.
Of course there are faults. The music dates we mentioned. But are we really to believe that May drove a stolen car in the open for a dozen years without anyone catching on? Even if she changed the license plate, the VIN number would be detected by DMV's across the country. Speaking of cars, even in 1980 that 1972 Chevelle SS convertible driven by Clem would have been way out of reach price-wise for someone like him; this car in the pristine condition that this one was in was worth about $5-7k in 1980, which was quite a lot of money then; equal to $28,000-$30,000 now, because the car was so rare, especially in convertible form (Chevelle SS convertibles today go for $50k-$100k). Not to mention the fact an 8 year old 1970s car subject to Pennsylvania winters with salted roads would likely be a rust bucket by 1980 and not anywhere near the shape this car was in. A standard Chevelle, Malibu, Challenger, or Cutlass in appropriate rusty condition would have been a better choice and would have emphasized the modest background and lack of opportunity available to these four.
Even so, the episode provides an poignant, reminiscent look at what Heartland America was and what it is now, with the Boss pulling the emotional heartstrings which have an all-too-solid and disconcerting basis in reality in them. It all provides food for interesting thought at the direction America is taking today.
Of course there are faults. The music dates we mentioned. But are we really to believe that May drove a stolen car in the open for a dozen years without anyone catching on? Even if she changed the license plate, the VIN number would be detected by DMV's across the country. Speaking of cars, even in 1980 that 1972 Chevelle SS convertible driven by Clem would have been way out of reach price-wise for someone like him; this car in the pristine condition that this one was in was worth about $5-7k in 1980, which was quite a lot of money then; equal to $28,000-$30,000 now, because the car was so rare, especially in convertible form (Chevelle SS convertibles today go for $50k-$100k). Not to mention the fact an 8 year old 1970s car subject to Pennsylvania winters with salted roads would likely be a rust bucket by 1980 and not anywhere near the shape this car was in. A standard Chevelle, Malibu, Challenger, or Cutlass in appropriate rusty condition would have been a better choice and would have emphasized the modest background and lack of opportunity available to these four.
Even so, the episode provides an poignant, reminiscent look at what Heartland America was and what it is now, with the Boss pulling the emotional heartstrings which have an all-too-solid and disconcerting basis in reality in them. It all provides food for interesting thought at the direction America is taking today.