Here's our theory:

Woody is definately gay. More importantly, he's behind all of the crash. Why? Because he's gay? Maybe. But not because of Peter.

Here's how it went down.

Ms. Dumass stumbled upon something about Woody (that Woody is working with the Fitzpatricks, probably). At the same time, or perhaps because of what she knew, she blackmailed Terrence. She threatened to expose herself to his fiance if he didn't dump her.

Ms. Dumass takes the journalism class on a field trip to see Woody, and Terrence. Woody knows Terrence won't want to see her (hence the argument W & T get into in the background - T says something along the lines of "Why did you do that?" or something).

Why do we think Ms. Dumass is important? Because she's the only person on the bus who absolutely COULD NOT get off. She had to chaperone. And more details to follow.

So as the show progresses, we find out that, maybe, Terrence is involved. He, of course, is Woody's patsy. No guilty man, being tracked by the police, would be so stupid as to break into someone's house. UNLESS...they knew that house had evidence to prove his innocence. To who's house am I referring? Ms. Dumass's.

More than likely, though, it has nothing to do with Woody being gay. It has to do with the scam he's pulling with the Fitzpatricks. What the hell am I talking about, you ask?

Simple. Remember in the FBLA class when the teacher says that when a small city incorporates, the center becomes richer, and the outskirts of town increase in crime and drugs? It's not about making the town better, it's about making parts of the town worse.

Woody wants to incorporate to increase the money in Neptune, and the Fitzpatricks would profit off the increased crime and drug abuse in the outskirts. Somehow, Woody and the Fitzpatricks are working together, and we believe Ms. Dumass found out.

As for why a person would throw a whole bus off a cliff if they only wanted one person dead is simple. At first, everyone thought it was a suicide, remember? And if you killed an entire bus of people, it wouldn't look like you were targeting just one person, so no one would figure out why you did it - and as such, no one would figure out WHO did it.

Unfortunately, Curly is still involved...perhaps Woody worked him over? Curly gave off a gay impression to me...who knows, here.

Nonetheless, we're sure about the rest.

I don't doubt Woody is behind the crash. But i'm not thinking in terms of the young boy theory as much as the whole updating the police force for better real-estate. In the FBLA club they were discussing positive changes to Neptune. And one mentioned was a new, better, police force. What better way to get that vote then putting scum behind bars the kill kids on busses (even if you are the one that caused it). And let's be honest since Keith stopped being sherriff the town as gone downhill. And before Logan walked into Woody's office, he was on the phone talking about the real-estate again. Sell more real-estate with better police protection for the 09ers.

Sherriff: Somone parked in my spot again, have their car tow'd.
Deputy: It's the Deputy assistant to the mayor's car.

My latest thoughts have been about why would someone force the bus over the cliff if they only wanted to kill one person. What if they wanted to kill more then one?

I'm now leaning towards the idea that Woody (I'm still convinced he did it) wanted to kill three of the bus riders, Peter Fererre, Marcos Oliveres and Cassidy. The 'mayor' was the one who picked the classes/clubs that would be on the field trip so that allowed him to get his victims where he wanted them.

I think Curly told Woody how he rigged the 'Long Haul' truck stunt over drinks or something. After the crash, Curly realized that Woody must have done it so Woody made the calls to the PCHers to get rid of Curly.

I definitely got the impression it has something to do w/ not wanting Mac around big brother and not that he's uninterested in the ladies. As far as the bus crash, all signs point to Woody with the "outing of all outings" message (Versatile Toppings) by someone on the bus, the groping of Logan, his hangar with explosives and whole video thing. Of course, because of all the hints I agree that it's possible if not probably that Officer Mahoney is a red herring.

Regardless of whether Woody is behind the bus crash, the comments have helped convince me he has the same pedophilic tendencies as our DHS workers. How this ties in to the bus crash and Cassidys reluctance to get in on w/ Mac are still unclear to me though. Best guess - Cassidy was molested by Woody, Cassidy is understandably messed up about it but Dick assumes Cassidy is just a wuss with the ladies so he tortures him at every opportunity (where the Mac storyline comes in), Cassidy is the one behind the video looking to bring down the Mayor.

Was he supposed to be on the bus? Maybe it was meant for him, w/ Woody wanting to silence Cassidy and not the Pirate S.H.I.P poster? I'm sure I'm 90% wrong but that's part of what makes this the best show on TV.

Damn good episode.

Lots of good stuff. My funniest moment however was after Logan was sworn in and then headed for the door. Woody asked where he was going and Logan said "To fire the sheriff". Good stuff!

I don't think that Beaver's reaction to Mac had anything to do with his being gay; not at all. In the parking lot after the dance, he kept referring to not wanting to be at home with Mac while Dick was there. Especially just before he walked away from her--"It's just...that Dick will be there." We already saw Dick try to force Beav to rape Veronica in season 1. Dick humiliated Beav about sex when he first saw him holding hands with Mac, too. Dick has been playing some serious mind games with poor Beav! And I think it's left him with a lot of...issues. But not homosexuality.

That being said, I agree that the Shocker/Scout's Honor bit was the best random quote, although Logan getting his hand "burned" by the Bible in Woody's office was the best set piece. And, yeah--Woody's got a major pederast vibe going. I tend to agree with him being the target of the "outing of all outings" line, too.

The Mayor did it!!!

Versatile Toppings (3/15/2006):
'Mayor' Woody did it to silence his teenage gay lover (Peter Fererre) who was about to 'out' him. - Remember the post on the 'Pirate S.H.I.P.' message board Veronica and Mac found from MizzP about the "outing of all outings".


Plan B (4/5/2006):
Beaver was molested in his youth by his little league coach (the Mayor).

The Mayor made a pass at Logan after he was lifting weights.

- - - -

I've been build up my theory on other sites and then I come here and find others on the same track. Guess I'll have keep an eye on what you folks think.

I think there's definitely a connection between Beaver and Woody. Clearly both have some sexual issues, perhaps a prior relationship with one another that someone would blackmail the other about? say with a dvd in the mail...

The mayor would definitely send a bus off a cliff rather than risk sex-with-a-minor-boy dirt coming out before the election. But what is with the incorporation scheme? Didn't we learn a week or two ago that Beav is buying up real estate in the unincorporated part of town? Is he trying to manipulate the price appreciation that will occur when Woody goes to jail and incorporation plans go down the tubes?

Help me people, I feel like it's within our grasp!

A pretty damn good episode, especially the ending. It's slowly confirming our hypothesis, but at the same time it still has a huge air of uncertainty to it, which I love.

My only comlaint about the episode was that the whole Wallace/Jackie/Wallace's Gal thing felt really rushed, like it was re-written at the last minute or something.

Also, was the "This is my over the moon face" an intentional nod to the West Wing (Richard Schiff's Toby did the same thing in Season 5's 'Jefferson Lives') or an unintentional one?

I'm doing a West Wing marathon (ok, so its taken 5 weeks so far) of all of the seasons, to finish before the Series Finale, and I just about dropped my sandwich to hear the exact same bit that I heard last night :)