Baccano!/Recap/1934 Peter Pan in Chains/Color Pages

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


The Delinquents' Chatter

The members of Jacuzzi's gang describe Jacuzzi and how they befriended him in the first place. They call him a crybaby, but a calming kind of guy and a Martyr Without a Cause. They liken Jacuzzi and Nice to a pair of connected jigsaw puzzle pieces, with Jacuzzi's magnetic heroism drawing in the others.


Ricardo talks to herself(?)

Ricardo complains about the situation she's found herself in--Chris, Graham, and Sickle are engaged in a confusing Melee a Trois, with Ricardo watching from the sidelines. She admits that both Chris and Graham seem to be having a lot of fun, and that she's a little jealous of them--Chris never looked so happy when he was with Ricardo.

Once, when Ricardo and Chris were putting together a jigsaw puzzle with Lua, Chris compared himself to a perfectly square jigsaw puzzle piece--a unique piece that can't connect to another.

Ricardo muses that Graham and Sickle must also be square pieces--they fit together with Chris so well, but they can slip away and scatter easily. If they can find a frame to hold them together, Ricardo thinks, they would make a wonderful picture. She wonders if she could one day find connections herself, but moves on to wondering how she can stop the battle unfolding in front of her.


The Prisoners' Conversation

Ladd tells Firo that his girlfriend Lua enjoys putting together blank jigsaw puzzles and painting pictures on the completed puzzles. He then explains that Lua breaks apart the finished puzzles and laughs blankly afterwards--Ladd considers this to be a Charm Point. Firo is not surprised that Ladd and Lua are birds of a feather, and tells his own story--his friends and girlfriend in New York always build elaborate domino setups, only to knock them down. Firo thinks the dominoes are a waste of time.

Ladd likens it to life--living on in spite of the inevitability of death is what makes life so interesting. He explains that he really enjoys it when he gets to teach this to people who don't understand it.

Ladd then compares Lua's life to a jigsaw puzzle, and adds that once all her pieces come together, he'd like nothing more than to kill her. Then he apologizes to Firo for going off on a tangent about his love life.


At a Bar in New York

Czes is a little anxious after hearing the news about the incidents in Chicago. Maiza points out that the Martillo Family is a little too calm at such a time, and Ronnie notes that everyone there is just too relaxed. Maiza recalls that Elmer might fit right in with this atmosphere, but adds that Renée might be an even better fit.

Czes silently wonders how Ronnie knows Elmer.

Ronnie notes that rather than being calm, Renée is better described as "disconnected" from others. If she were a puzzle piece, she would be the kind of piece that lacks connections and can only hold others down by force. Ronnie goes on to mumble quietly that the created ones could only escape from her fate if they found solid connections to others.

Czes tries to snap Ronnie out of it, but Ronnie is too absorbed in his thoughts. Maiza wonders what he's mumbling about, and Ronnie tells them to ignore what he just said-- he simply drank too much. Maiza claims that Ronnie's not drunk on alcohol, but on himself.

Ronnie doesn't deny it.