I watched episodes 3 and 4, where the story picks up after the double concert at Guadalajara, and… nothing.

First I thought my lack of enthusiasm was just because the documentary had left out the whole Holy Month of April 1993- saga.
The part where Bon Jovi had survived their near-break-up, updated their looks, made the contemporary album, only to find their tickets were no longer selling and this could be the final year they were a bonafide touring band!

And the legendary gig at the Rosemont, March 5 1993, where they had to carry Jon off-stage, because he was no longer able to walk.
That’s how spent he was…..

FOLLOWED BY THE APOTHEOSIS OF THE HOLY MONTH OF APRIL HOLY F HOW CAN YOU LEAVE THAT ON THE TABLE?!

I get it you know, that chronologically speaking for the story to work, you cannot have a pivotal moment in spring 1993, if you’ve just made the near breakup years 1990-1992, the heart of your documentary series.
I know.

But how about doing it in a non-chronological way?
You close the series taking us back in time to that struggle in 1993, and the culmination of frustration, of giving it their all, of nearly dying on that fucking stage because they knew that having survived EVERYTHING?
They were this close, to being nothing….

This close, to being kicked back into the 80s, ruthlessly and to suffer the same fate as their peers, becoming relics of a great era.
A musical museum.

Do you agree the whole thing would have been lifted to an ENTIRELY DIFFERENT LEVEL, had the final 10 minutes been a flashback to that rocky-as-hell first months of 1993, where the band ended up fighting for their life once more, and Jon needed to be carried off stage because he had collapsed from exhaustion?

Having the series close cutting back to 1993, seeing Jon collapsing on stage in 1993, metaphorically indicating he had given his life to hold on to his place in the spotlights;

Would have made us understand.

.
~Suzanne
🇳🇱 Tikkie
☕️ Buy me a coffee
🌎 Paypal

“the dramatic arc “Thank you, Goodnight” the Bon Jovi story managed to miss”
is the second gem-sized outtake from this week’s juggernaut post:
Messy 80s randomness versus the proper documentary
| Bon Jovi 1987 07 11 East Troy & Thank You Goodnight (2024)