In storytelling, every little thing has meaning. Even if there was no intent from the author, the tiniest details are imbued with meaning. Some are better than others at making sure every little part is just so.

In “Pulp Fiction” (1994), John Travolta’s Vincent Vega is terminally constipated from his heroin addiction. He talks to himself in the bathroom, standing up, because the true nature of his long bathroom monologue would be a little gauche. Though it would be fitting, he can’t talk to The King, because that was already used in “True Romance” (1993). However, we do know that he’s “An Elvis man.” Eventually, his habits catch up to him and he dies “shot up” in the bathroom.

It’s likely that most heroin users don’t begin shooting up. Instead they begin by snorting. Often this happens via a “key bump.” Who was it that shot up Vincent Vega? Who was it that keyed his car? “You lookin’ at something, friend?”

Heroin is also known for a distinct smell of vinegar. Is there a future for an addict? “You see, this profession is filled to the brim with unrealistic motherfuckers. Motherfuckers who thought their ass would age like wine. If you mean it turns to vinegar, it does. If you mean it gets better with age, it don’t.”

Some manage to get out before they bottom out. Samuel L. Jackson’s Jules Winnfield has a revelation from the bathroom via Jerry Seinfeld’s illegitimate half-brother. He survives getting shot-up, and decides to leave to become a bum. As we learned from “Trainspotting” (1996), withdrawing from heroin causes diarrhea. This is of course a symptom of dysentery, which the father of Bruce Willis’s Butch Coolidge suffered from in Vietnam (a war that made many addicts). He suffered through this to make sure Butch got his birthright, a watch. You know, time? The same watch that he goes back to reclaim as Vincent dies on the toilet. Immediately after that, Butch makes a violent peace treaty with the drug kingpin that was willing to chase him all the way back to indochina. Instead of indochina, Butch is heading back to Knoxville where the watch was originally purchased, a long time ago.

I’ll leave it to you to add your own theory about Uma Thurman’s Mia Wallace and her use of cocaine leading to an almost fatal heroin overdose. Maybe find a way to incorporate that they didn’t win the trophy at the dance competition, but instead stole it? How about the fact that they didn’t sit in the Marilyn Monroe section?

Is this all coincidence? If your response to all of this is “Man, I don’t even have an opinion,” then I know someone who wants to shoot you in the head. “Well, you gotta have an opinion.” And in my opinion, Quentin Tarantino must have had a very interesting time in Amsterdam.