Case Findings

Case Findings

Case Findings is the forty-fourth episode of TribeTwelve, and the 4th video of season 2.  It was uploaded on November 11th, 2013.

Description

This is what I was able to find out about the briefcase's contents. I'm compiling what I was able to recover from the tape now and posting it on friday, it's some heavy shit.

Transcript

[The video opens on Noah sitting on his bed with the contents of the briefcase beside him. Noah points to the money.]

Noah: One hundred thousand dollars. That is just shy of one hundred thousand dollars. You may think that I'm happy about this, but I'm not. Because I am now the owner of mystery money, potentially stolen money. I don't know where this money came from. It could have come from anywhere. Since Milo is most definitely Mr. Scars, and...he's somehow alive now, which is news to me...maybe he stole this money from somewhere, a bank, a safe; this might even be Mary's money.

[Noah picks up a stack of bills and flips through them.]

Noah: I don't even know if this money's real or not; it could be a damn good counterfeit. And I would take a bill or two down to the bank... you know... just to see if this money is real or not. But I don't know if someone's tracking this money. Maybe they're tracing the fuckin' serial numbers! I could be in big trouble for owning this money! ...I know I'm sitting on 100K, but what's the use if I could get in serious trouble for even having it? I know I got to trust Firebrand here but this--

[Noah points to the money.]

Noah: --might be detrimental to me...However... there's been some distressing news come to light recently. A short time after I posted my last video, I got a call from Chris from DarkHarvest...tells me that his parents are dead...Alex's too...

[Cut to shot of "The Order".]

Noah: Murdered by the Order. He told me that... he's on the run now...

[Cut back to shot of Noah.]

Noah: ...And he asked me for a thousand dollars...and at first I didn't believe him because hey, I just chance upon a hundred thousand dollars, someone's gonna come wanting a piece. But then he starts posting videos, showing proof, showing that he wasn't lying... and his friends have just gone through a very terrible, traumatic experience and I feel absolutely awful for them. So to help them out, and... you know, make amends for what happened between us a year ago... I'm sending him two thousand dollars.

[Cut to shot of "Our Meet-up".]

Noah: I really fucked up when I met with the Order; I said their names... they have every right to be angry with me for that. Their parents' deaths are on my conscience, too.

[Cut back to shot of Noah.]

Noah: I know it's not a good idea to give out any of this money... but it's the right thing to do. You might think it's crazy... but I still consider them friends. Even after what happened. We can relate to each other. I told them to spend it sparingly, wisely, since it might be fake or be traced or something... If the money is claimed some time in the future, once I get a job, a solid paying job, I'm willing to work hard to pay off that lent money if I have to. Now, onto the other items in this case...

[Noah picks up the Rubik's Cube from the briefcase.]

Noah: Um, I got this weird Sudoku Rubik's Cube at a science fair back in grade school.

[Cut to shot of Noah trying to solve the Rubik's Cube.]

Noah: The more I tried to solve it, the more it seemed impossible, and in the end I couldn't solve the damn thing. I threw it against the wall so many times in frustration that it began to have trouble turning and it finally got locked into position, so I gave up on it. And over the years it collected dust in my closet, until Milo came.

[Cut to shot of Milo from "Submission #1".]

Noah: He started to mess around with it, and he ended up asking if he could take it home so that he could fix it for me. I said "sure", and I gave it to him.

[Cut back to shot of Noah.]

Noah: And now, it comes back to me.

[Noah turns the Rubik's Cube some more.]

Noah: Fixed. Not solved, but fixed.

[Cut to a shot of Milo's letter from "Extraordinary Circumstances".]

Noah: This message is really confusing... I can't tell if he's alive or not... I mean, look at this. "By the time you receive this, I'll surely be dead. I think you'll be able to figure it out in the end. I trust you."

[Cut back to shot of Noah, throwing the letter aside.]

Noah: At least he has confidence in me.

[Cut to shot of Milo's journal.]

Noah: This is Milo's journal. He had it when he visited me in '08, and uh, I remember him having it with him most of the times that I saw him. I never got to see what he wrote in it--

[Cut to shot of Milo writing in his journal from "Submission #5".]

Noah: --whenever I asked, he always said vague things like "observations" or "personal notes"... he didn't like to talk about it, that was one of his things.

[Cut back to shot of Noah.]

Noah: He always changed the subject when I brought this up. He never let me see what was inside-- I mean, it makes sense, it's his personal diary-- but, now he's giving it to me. And I'm pretty sure he wants me to read what's inside of it, because it's probably important shit that I don't know of yet. The problem is, it's locked. Now, I'm not good at picking locks, and I was really considering just getting, like a hedge clipper to cut through this metal binding on the side...

[Cut to shot of Milo's journal.]

Noah: But then I find this little slip of paper sticking out of the side of the journal...

[Noah takes it out.]

Noah: It's a fortune. "Find the key, learn the lesson." That stopped me.

[Cut back to shot of Noah.]

Noah: There was something I was missing.

[Cut to the shoes from the briefcase.]

Noah: Milo asked for a pair of shoes before he left. He needed work shoes. I gave him a pair of my old loafers--

[Cut to hidden frame images from "DEUS EX MACHINA".]

Noah: --noting that there were secret frames at the end of DEUS EX MACHINA, I checked all my shoes, found nothing.

[Cut back to Milo's shoes.]

Noah: I looked at the bottom of these shoes, and I noticed that there's holes in the heels from the wear. In the left shoe, there's this--

[Noah pulls out a fortune that reads "Be cautious while walking into darkness alone."]

Noah: --and in the right...

[He pulls out a key attached to attached to a strap, cut to a shot of the key in Noah's hand.]

Noah: ...a key.

[Noah pushes the shoes aside with the journal.]

Noah: So, as you might expect, I tried the key in the lock, and...

[He tries unlocking the journal. The key fits, but doesn't unlock it.]

Noah: ...it doesn't open.

[Cut back to shot of Noah.]

Noah: I know I was supposed to find this key. It has to be for this lock. It is the same size, and... and the fucking strap that it's on is the same material that the book is made out of. Because it doesn't work, I get this... this uneasy feeling in my gut. Like, maybe I shouldn't cut this open. Like maybe I'm hesitant to break this lock. I just get really bad vibes from these supernatural people, and like, the hints to make me look in the soles... find the key, learn the lesson... I found this on purpose. But why doesn't it work? I'm missing something, I know it. Been trying to figure it out for weeks now. I'll get it. I'll figure it out.

[Cut to Noah holding the tape, taking it out of its case.]

Noah: Finally, we have the tape. I was only able to get a handful of clips salvaged from it, the majority of it is either blank or too damaged...

[He shows a fortune from inside the case that reads, "If you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will gaze into you."]

Noah: I'm putting everything I managed to get off of the tape together now and I'll be uploading it this Friday. 

[He flips the tape around.]

Noah: It's... pretty eye-opening.

[Fade to black. The final frame shows a figure at the end of a hallway facing away with their hands behind their back, and the words "Answers are coming." in Firebrand's font.]

Analysis

• The first fortune Noah finds has the lucky numbers "42, 23, 16, 15, 8, 4". This is a reference to the numbers from "Lost".
• Judging by HABIT's information in "Severance", the key that Noah finds in his old shoes does belong to the journal, but it cannot be opened due to the intersecting eyes symbol on the key.

Notes & Speculation

• The money could have come from Mary's safe right after Mr. Scars killed Mary in the Obituary video.
• The "learn the lesson" part of the fortune may be referencing Noah learning about Severance from HABIT.

Trivia

• The phrase: "If you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will gaze into you", is the same one that Adam Rosner, the creator and protagonist of the series, used for the teaser trailer of the series.