Headscratchers / Soul

As this is a Headscratchers page, spoilers will be left unmarked. You Have Been Warned!

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It makes no sense for Joe to stay outside the bathroom while 22 is taking a shower in his body, since neither would mind the nudity

• It's a kids movie. Showing anything else would raise some eyebrows from the MPAA.
• As for the problem with inside the movie, why should Joe actually do that? I don't see a reason.
• Maybe it isn't so much the nudity as it is the fact that Joe has fallen victim to The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body a couple times at this point. So he might be worried he'll react badly if 22 accidentally splashes water on him.
• Also, even as a cat, its most people's courtesy to not walk in on others while they're bathing. Even though 22 is technically in his body, it's probably still a habit to not be in there with her. Also, he's letting her enjoy the wonders of life, and what's better than a hot uninterrupted shower?

Joe's mother shows no concern at all when her son suddenly seems to have a conversation with a cat

• People talk to their pets all the time.

When Terry has found Joe and goes to tell two Jerrys about it, the one voiced by Richard Ayoade remembers he set one Joe Gardner up with 22. However, he still knows Joe only as Dr. Börgensson

• The file had a picture of Joe in it, so presumably it recognised him as Dr. Borgensson.

How can Joe leave his body

• It is not explained how Joe can get in The Zone and consciously leave his body to go talk to Moonwind. If this were possible, the others shown to be in The Zone would also be aware of this new world they had never seen before and certainly lose their concentration right away.
  • Not quite. The other souls in The Zone haven't been dead and been introduced to the concept of The Zone, or knows that there are other people there. Joe KNEW the Zone was an actual place and what to look for, while everyone else is just getting wrapped up in what they are currently doing.
  • Moonwind himself is alive and in The Zone when he's sailing on his boat. It's not explained how The Mystics Without Borders do it, but presumably once Joe knew it was possible, he could do the same as them, just using his own method of getting in The Zone. The normal people in The Zone are too absorbed into their actions to realise they can do it, but Joe knows better already.

First time in centuries

• Is Joe really the first person to ever reject being dead? Because that would mean everyone but Joe is okay with death. That or Joe is the first to die unexpectedly in the history of all of space and time.
  • Most likely no. Keep in mind that at the end, until he gets told that he has another chance, he was going to die through going to The Great Beyond. This means that most likely, any human being who went through Joe's experience wasn't given the same opportunity. Unless a whole lot more people had Joe's exact same experience, but then The Great Beyond and Before would become much more widely believed in.
  • Joe may not be the first person to try to reject death, but he may have been the first to successfully evade it in centuries. Given how well run the Great Beyond seems to be, it's likely that most people in Joe's situation panicked in the same way he did when he first died and manage to end up in The Great Before, but, unlike Joe, explain their situations, and, after being calmed down, sent to the Great Beyond, coming to terms with their deaths.

The cat's soul

• When Joe goes into the cat, they show the cat's soul is put on the conveyor belt to the great beyond. Does the cat still have a soul or was his soul pulled from the great beyond when Joe got his soul pulled out of him?
  • One of the accountants probably figured that it wasn't the cat's time yet, so the cat's soul was prevented from entering the Great Beyond. When Joe wakes up in the subway station, we see the cat happily returning to its owner, showing that the cat's soul was correctly returned to its body.
  • Terry probably caught it when the cat caused his count to be off by one, and quickly realized the cat wasn't supposed to be there. He might've then took the cat's soul with him while hunting down Joe, thus why the cat is resurrected in its own body at around the same time Joe is.
  • I just picture Mr. Mittens sitting on one side of the Door and refusing to go through.
  • Cats have nine lives!
    • This is the canon explanation from the director: Joe just ousted 1/9th of Mitten’s souls.

How is Joe dying?

• When 22, and later Joe, return to Joes body, there's absolutely no indication that anything is wrong with Joe. No broken bones, no head trauma, could leave the hospital and walk around the city with no problems and no other issues that would be expected for someone who fell down an open manhole and whose soul was about to go to the Great Beyond. So how was Joe so close to being dead?
  • So the movie could happen.
  • OK, then the question is changed from why to how
  • This is likely a question in-universe, as well. Remember, Joe is assigned a therapy animal, a cat named Mr. Mittens. This indicates that he presented with no major physical trauma. This would make his case "psychogenic death", in which an otherwise healthy person, due to some form of trauma, gives up the will to live.
  • Perhaps the shock of the fall gave him a heart attack? That would explain why he has no visible injuries or brain trauma. Maybe his health issues will arise later on in his life due to his incident.

22’s meltdown

• Joe wasn’t paying attention when Jerry explained what a spark was and thus misinterpreted it as someone’s sole purpose in life but why did 22 believe Joe when he said that they don’t have a purpose in life and turn into a lost soul? 22 has been there for eons probably so wouldn’t they already KNOW what a spark is?
  • 22 had already been proven wrong about life on Earth, so it might have made her question other things. Besides, she had come to care for Joe and hearing him say all those mean things to her made her depressed, which can make a person do questionable things.
  • As well, it may have caused her to come to a wrong conclusion. One many people decide. If everyone is supposed to have a spark but you haven't found it, maybe you can't find it because you don't have one. How do you live knowing that you'll never have something to live for.

Jerry, Jerry, Jerry, Jerry, and Terry

• How come all the Physical Representations of all unified points of the multiverse are all called Jerry except for the one named Terry?
  • Terry has a different job than Jerry.
  • Also, Jerry is probably a hivemind.

Check His Wallet

• How come Joe Gardner's identity was unknown to the hospital, wouldn't they check his wallet for ID? Did he somehow lose it in the sewers?
  • Not plot relevant.
  • Was it indicated that they didn't know who he was? The only line I remember is "Did you find a Next of Kin?"; they'd have to know who he was to even attempt that.

Is there ever any indication how old Joe is?

Age is usually important to I-feel-like-my-life-has-been-a-waste plots.

• His father is dead and his mother has gray hair. I suspect that Joe is in his 40s/50s, and his mother is in her 60s/70s.
• For what it's worth, Jamie Foxx is 53, though I suspect Joe is probably a bit younger than that, probably mid/late 40s. Ultimately, the exact number isn't important, just that he's been around for a while but still has a lot of life to live.
• It's All There in the Manual, but according to the official Pixar website, he is 46.

Why did Moonwind only work as a sign spinner on Earth if he was so advanced

• I would assume that if Moonwind were committed to his vision of saving lost souls, he might tell others and have better fortunes on Earth. Also, why did he choose a job where he was on his feet all day if he was making trips to the great beyond at all times of day?
  • If he told other people then he'd most likely be viewed as a crazy hippie and disbelieved. Even if he were believed, his whole desire was to help souls that were "lost", which he could do perfectly fine in the way that he was doing already. He didn't seem to be looking for fame or fortune at all. Also, a job where you are constantly moving all the time would probably help an ability that relies on you having to get into a zone AKA a euphoric mindset. People who exert energy can often get into a zone whilst they are doing so.
  • Sign spinning is his accomplishment. He can only save lost souls when he’s spinning. If he devoted himself to earthly pursuits, he’d be miserable and useless.
    • He could open up an ashram
  • He could just be happy with his job as a sign spinner on earth, it allows him to do his other job of saving lost souls which is important and he gets to makes some money and live/visit the earth doing it.

Why is Terry's gender a question mark?

• The name Terry is male, the character looks male, and the character has a deeper sounding voice than the female register. It is voiced by a woman but the same is true of Bart Simpson.
  • It's strange, because despite all of that Rachel House's voice is distinctly female. It's deep, but not to the point to where you could really call it masculine and women can have deeper voices than most people. Plus Terry can double as a girl's name too.
  • Yeah, the counterpoint is that the name Terry is neutral, “looks male” is a matter of opinion, and that’s just what she sounds like, man.
• Also, Terry isn't human and is of the kind of order and existence where gender doesn't matter, so they may well lack a binary gender altogether.
  • Terry doesn't really have any indicators of being male. There is no Tertiary Sexual Characteristics or Bizarre Sexual Dimorphism at play here either; the Counselors, and Terry as well, are literally non-indicative scribbles with no distinction between which ones could be male or female, and that's if any even identify as either/or in the first place. None of the Counselors seem to hold it in much importance, and since they don't see bound by Earth's rule, Terry's gender may very well be a question mark.
  • Jerry is non binary.

Did Joe ever pay his medical bill to the hospital, and did the hospital search for him after he left the building?

• They were looking for Mr. Mittens at least. The bill could have been sorted out offscreen after the movie's end.
• It’s possible Joe and his mother figured out how to pay his bill together after they celebrated Joe being alive. As for why the hospital was only looking for a cat, you got me?
  • Therapy animals are often owned by volunteers. Probably the cat's owner was the one looking for him, and she has nothing to do with the hospital chasing down Joe.

Free taxi?

• Joe never pays for taxi he takes home from the hospital. Why was the driver ok with that?
  • Maybe the Taxi Driver decided to give him a break seeing as Joe was just hospitalized and likely still out of it (and this being the US, probably had a hefty medical bill to deal with). We don't know how far away the hospital was, so it might not have been that big of a fare.
  • Also, we later see Joe had his phone with him the whole time. While 22 was uneasy using it, it's still feasible that he might have somehow paid using an app (there are several ways to do that).

Free haircut?

• When did (22 as) Joe pay Dez for the haircut? Did Joe (as Mr. Mittens) have her put some money in his pants pocket before they left his apartment?
  • I think Dez might've given him the haircut "on the house", because he had already told someone else to wait because he considered it an emergency when he saw Joe's messed up hair. Plus, considering how much Dez appreciated the conversation he just had with "Joe" (really 22), would probably be another reason for Dez to give the haircut for free to Joe.
  • Since Joe is a regular customer, Dez probably put it simply on his tab, when he noticed Joe was behaving strangely that day.

What the heck is a Spark, anyways?

• They talk about Sparks a lot throughout the movie and, obviously, at first we're meant to think that a Spark is a purpose. But after The Reveal that they aren't, they never really explain what they are. Am I just missing something?
  • I interpreted a "Spark" as simply a general enjoyment of life.
  • It's never outright stated, but the Spark seems to be the desire to live a life of your own.

Why can't Joe be both a teacher and a musician?

• Throughout the movie, Joe is seen being pressured to be a teacher when all he wants to do is play music. But where does it stipulate that he can't do both? Why can't he teach and play music on the side? Plenty of people juggle two careers, and Joe's mom makes a good point that you can't eat dreams. It's all fine and dandy if Joe wants to pursue music as his passion, but is it really so unreasonable to expect him to also have a backup plan in case being a musician doesn't work out? Besides, if his former student who gets him the gig with Dorothea is anything to go by, he seems to be a decent music teacher. That former student accredits Joe with getting him into music, so Joe must be capable of inspiring his students. This movie seems to suggest that it's fine to chase after your dreams and not worry about how you're going to eat or live, which if you ask me seems like kind of a bad moral lesson to teach kids.
  • The schedules might not be compatible. The gig starts pretty late and is implied to run for hours; that wouldn't combo well with having to be up early the next day to head to the teaching job, even ignoring all of the off-hours work that goes into teaching such as grading and lesson planning. On paper, you're right, they're not necessarily mutually exclusive, but Joe would be better off picking one for the sake of his mental and physical health. (And God forbid Dorthea decides to go on tour, uprooting Joe from the teaching job even if he did try to do both.)

So... is Joe the only soul to have ever escaped death or even attempted it?

• The whole thing with Joe giving death the slip is treated as something that's never happened before, but I'm positive other souls have rejected death before Joe and probably tried to escape. Even if they didn't succeed, it still seems strange that Joe is the only soul freaking out and trying to escape. Also, what about near-death experiences? Are NDEs souls that escaped death?
  • Terry is actually the one who says this is unusual and makes a big deal out of it. The Jerrys just do the equivalent of rolling their eyes and try to help out Joe rather than freaking out and insisting he must go to the Great Beyond. Instead, they use it as a tool to motivate him to help out Soul 22. It seems they've seen NDEs before and are unsurprised by Terry overreacting, hinting this happens a few times. Terry says "This hasn't happened for a thousand years!" Then the Jerrys look at each other as if to say Here We Go Again!.

No taste, smell or touch in the Great Before, but...

• Joe learns that they can't taste, smell, or even feel any pain in the Great Before, because those are human things, but they can still hear? And see? Those still need ears and eyes. Not to mention Joe reacted when one of the souls bit him shortly after arriving, but shouldn't he have noticed that it didn't hurt?
  • The You Seminar probably has it's own way of simulating sight and sound for its residents, otherwise all the things they do to help them find their Spark would be a lot harder. Though that begs the question as to why they don't simulate the other senses, since Joe proves pretty definitively that a lot is missed without the full set. As for Joe's reaction to the bite, it might have been instinctive; he expected it to hurt, so he reacted as if it did, not immediately registering that it didn't.

It's quite impressive that 22 was an outlier in not wanting to go to Earth.

• When you think about it, the odds of being born into a good life are not very good. One could be born into a totalitarian country, be born into poverty, be born as a second-class citizen, or be born to abusive parents. It's quite hard to appreciate nature when you're born into one of those situations.
  • When 22 was last seen they were on course to land somewhere in Western China (the poorest area of the country) with cloud cover making it impossible to see where exactly, in a region populated by Uyghur (an oppressed minority). So that's three of those things right off the bat.
  • It’s also possible that the person or animal that 22 is eventually born into will be her(his/their) future family’s reason to look for and work towards a better life.
  • Considering they normally seem to vet who they hire as mentors (note that they tend to be successful people) and otherwise give little to no exposure to the new souls what Earth is like (count how many times 22 is amazed by Earth—that's how many things are missing from the You Seminar, and that's just what we see), such souls are probably sheltered from how much life on Earth can kinda suck.

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