I’m not sure if you noticed the number 82, it was key. In the opening sequence the apartment # where the kid got shot was 82, the blackjack player asked for a 2 and got an 8, the coil of rope on the roof was shaped like the # 82, all the weather updates were 82 degrees and…., all the phone numbers contained the # 82, and in the audience of the quiz kids program, someone was holding up an Exodus 8:2 sign. I’m not a religious guy, but I looked it up and Exodus 8:2 says, ‘and if you don’t give up I shall smite your borders with frogs.’ 82 was used as a literal foreshadowing of this event.
But PT Anderson, the Writer/Director didn’t put that in because of the religious significance, he wants people to draw their own conclusions, and this is what I drew. First off, the whole movie was based on the premise set up in the beginning…all these things that happened by chance that were unlikely, yet they happened. Prior to the frogs scene, we see a picture in the library which says ”....but it did happen.” In that way the frogs were something meant to be accepted and not question it. But why was it there?
Essentially, the real clue comes in the verbiage of Exodus 8:2 “if you don’t give up’, and the previous scene where the movie became a musical, and all the characters were singing the Aimee Mann song, “Wise Up”. The point of the movie was driven home by this critical scene…each of these characters was trapped in a hell mostly of his or her own design, and “it’s not going to stop…until you wise up.” This frogs faling was essentially the turning point, the wake up call…it was the time for them to make changes. It was something that just happened…..it was unlikely that they could escape from their self imposed prisons, but in some cases, it did happen, for the most mundane of reasons. The frogs were a device, symbolic of the mental leap they had to make to move on.
Like I said, it was deep.