I think the "we almost died multiple times in one day" story must be relevant for analysis as the plot background to some of these scripted videos tbh.
Link jumps in the cold river and disappears, Rhett follows him in, they both almost die, rhett almost misses his basketball game
in that video i believe link also finishes up saying something like "if you want more details you'll have to imagine them yourself"
no doubt it was a significant experience, and I get the sense that some of it is not for sharing because of that last part
It was a significant experience for sure and in my mind I kind of remembered it to be more intimate compared to how it was presented here in Chia Lincoln. Dunno if it was just wishful thinking on my part or it gave me this impression when (and if) they revisited the memory in more recent videos… (As always, I remember stuff but I almost never remember where and when I saw it. Btw kudos to the Anon who recommended Searchicality to me, I wouldn’t have found the GMCL episode mentioned here either without it.)
The “If you want more details” part is a little suspicious, especially coming as early as in GMCL. I am really trying to remember but I just think I had heard the story in a version in which the prolonged eye contact was more impactful. But don’t hold me to it, because I don’t remember at all when we heard the story again.
The incident might have inspired certain moments in their scripted work, most notably in TLCOBC, in which the most beautiful moment is literally when [SPOILER] Rex saves Leif from the Deep Lake Lair and we even get the eye contact thing (or rather Rex gazing emotionally into an unconscious / tranced Leif’s open eyes). Then of course the theme of Rhett trying to save Link from something or stepping in for his sake, only to fall on it himself just as hard, is a recurrent theme in their videos, ie in Hazel, in the Digging A Hole, the Time Capsule, the UnHaunted House (although there who tries to save whom is a little more open to interpretation).
However I am not sure how much more there is to it, again because I can’t remember whether other retellings of the incident have indeed been more intimate or not and it was just them looking for deer afterwards.
(In any case, I don’t think anything too crazy would have happened. By comparison, the Strawberry wine night seems more suspicious.)
