Our burning questions about Fast X (and a few answers)

polygon.com:

Tasha: Let’s face it, the Fast and Furious movies have moved far, far away from any kind of grounded, reality-based narrative that would studiously answer all our questions. This is more the kind of franchise that ignores physics and linear time, then has a character lampshade that by yelling about it in frustration.

In Fast X, the latest installment in the series — and one of two or maybe three (or more?) total wrap-up movies for the franchise — the yelling character is Aimes (Alan Ritchson), the new head of the Agency, the sort of “CIA but for the whole world” organization that keeps Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his people hopping around the world, stopping rogue agents and collecting dangerous tech.

Aimes has a lot of questions about how Dom, Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), and their sprawling crew of very simply characterized allies keep turning villains into cookout buddies, and why basic science doesn’t stop them from launching cars into space. And he doesn’t have any answers. We’re doing a little better in terms of pinning down Easter eggs, references, and mysteries in Fast X — but as a more casual fan of this series, Austen, I came out of this movie with a bunch of questions, and I’m hoping you, as an expert Fast family fan, can help.

Austen: Let’s race — or at least do the best we can, since the one thing the Fast Family can’t outrun are its retcons.

[Ed. note: Spoilers ahead for Fast X, and the Fast and Furious movies in general.]

Tasha: So Fast X gives us a big, obvious fake-out in the form of a big chunk of the Fast family away-team getting shot down in a plane that promptly explodes. There’s no way any of those people died, since they’re fan favorites, they go down without any big emotional drama, and we don’t