Grand Theft Auto V’s Four Burning Questions

The first Grand Theft Auto V trailer did its job of simply letting people know that a GTA game was coming and gave its setting as Los Santos. This second trailer introduces us to the three playable main characters and give us a glimpse into what they're like and what they can do. We now know that Michael, the older guy living in the mansion with the pool, was the one giving the voiceover in the first trailer; the guy talking about why he moved "out here."  Adding the psychotic Trevor and the ambitious Franklin to the world Michael inhabits could make for all kinds of exciting criminal action. And that's the whole point of these trailers and the speculation that follows: when the firehose of information is turned on you've got to drink it all in because soon Rockstar will be back to giving info with a medicine dropper. Now,we've got months to move around pieces of the puzzle of what could be in this game and we're going to embrace the whole process.

Keeping in mind that what you hear the characters say and what you're being shown when they say it don't always go together, here are the Four Burning Questions we have for Grand Theft Auto V.

Is Franklin all balls and no brains?

The scene where Franklin and his buddy appear to be asking Michael, who's sitting on a bus bench, where a particular house is was striking to me. If, Franklin is a repo man looking for a house where he can find the car he needs to take back, it's risky to ask a dude in a suit sitting on a bench in a beachfront neighborhood. Los Santos is fictional place so maybe they don't have the social, civic and cultural dynamics that we have in this world. All I'm saying is if that scene is taking place in Venice or Santa Monica, California Franklin doing that means he either doesn't give a "F" or he's just not bright enough to know that a repo man doesn't do that. And yeah I've watched enough of those repo man reality shows to know that those people are in fact all balls, no brains and with camera crews.

How are Michael and Trevor best friends?

The little we've seen of both Michael and Trevor would suggest two entirely different approaches to crime. If Michael was successful enough as a bank robber that we can live as lavishly as it seems, then it seems he wasn't a direct-attack, frontal assault, gorilla-style type of criminal --which is exactly what Trevor appears to be in the few scenes we see of him yelling at and attacking people.  Trevor's scars from a life of crime seem obvious: dude is wearing a dirty white t-shirt whether he's jumping from moving vehicles or flying planes. That's just how he rolls no matter what. Michael, on the other hand, is established from the get go as somebody that appreciates luxury and an upscale lifestyle. If the only thing these two have in common is their ability to steal money then that must be one hell of a bond.

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Dude, is that your dog?

There are two scenes in the trailer with a dog featured prominently. Whether this is the same dog in both or two separate pooches, they appear to be there for very specific reasons. This dog or dogs clearly isn't afraid of cars either as he's shown to run from behind a one car that's skidding to a stop so the guy in the passenger seat can let loose a few shots. The next then shows a dog scrambling across the hood of a car in pursuit of something. One scene you could write off as trying to showcase variety. Two scenes back to back like that of a dog actually doing something? Dogs or a dog must be a factor somehow. They make great sidekicks in video games and some, like Call of Duty Black Ops, even use packs of them as high level super weapons. I'm just saying, you tell me the last time you saw a dog in a video game on a leash.

How much sh*t is Michael's son going to get into?

Taking the time to introduce James, Michael's son, in the clip must be for a reason. We get to know Michael right at the top so coming back to his family is intentional. Plus we know James is roughly 20 years old and likes to smoke weed. It could be that Michael is simply a background character used for comic relief and all of the criminal action in GTA V is generated purely by the actions and decisions of the three playable characters. OR, James is a weakness, a soft spot of guilt in the otherwise impenetrable armor of precision and cold efficiency Michael has used throughout his bank robbing career. In this way, the son is used to flesh out the character of the father. Unless there's some kind of twist where James isn't really Michael's son, like this is some kind of Tyler Perry movie, I suspect James is there for a specific reason.

The latest trailer for Grand Theft Auto V, in one instance, satisfied a great thirst for new info and media about the game; got gamers salivating for its early 2013 release; and stimulated a whole new slate of questions that had keyboards cooking in recent days. Speculating speculators have been unleashing wave after wave of half-baked thoughts and unfounded opinions all over the internet for a solid week now. As welcome as the second trailer for GTA V was, we still have to look at everything we know about this game in proper context.