Restart

While Chase tries to understand his past and determine his future, his new friends, old friends, parents, and enemies are busy trying to tell him who he was and is. Aaron and Bear are intent on fighting, if necessary, to restore the version of Chase with whom they are comfortable. Meanwhile, Brendan works to convince the video club that Chase is now a saint, and Shoshanna sneers that he is a demon. His father Frank does everything to encourage Chase the football star to reemerge. The car wash manager is ready to call the police, thinking that his notorious presence at the car wash must be the reason for the tumult.

Of course, Chase is not the only person whom others try to force into predetermined molds. Joel, Solway, and even the misunderstood Kimberly must find ways to escape the assumptions of others so they can be themselves.

Throughout Restart there are certain locations where characters experience significant events, revelations, and powerful emotions. This is akin to the common human tendency to impute special significance and power to certain places that hold personal meaning, like your favorite room in the house, a treasured vacation spot, an unforgettable sight, and so on.

Restart is replete with these poignant locations. The first and most obvious is Chase’s roof, from which he fell and to which he returns on several occasions for reflection and revelation. Heaven on Ice, the frozen yogurt stand where Shoshanna dumped ice cream on Chase and later shares a booth with him, is another such site. The principal’s office is another spot of revelation for Chase. The first time he visits, he realizes he and his father are the two greatest sports heroes in the school’s history; the second time he realizes the principal wants him to lie to spare himself and his friends. Solway’s room is also a poignant location. In multiple visits Chase learns about himself, about Solway as a person, and about Shoshanna’s talent. Solway’s room is also where Chase returns the Medal of Honor. Finally, there is the judge’s courtroom. Chase remembers the indignation he felt during his first visit even as he experiences humiliation—and later redemption—on his second visit.