Saagar Kote
‘Small Engine Repair’ deals with the lives of three friends named Frank, Packie, and Swaino. It chronicles their bond through difficult moments, as they deal with emotional turbulence. During Frank’s incarceration, Packie and Swaino look after his young daughter, Crystal. Years later, Frank lives with teenage Crystal, separated from his wife Karen. With the daughter showing ambition to achieve more in life, and with distance growing between him and his friends, Frank makes his living running a small repair shop in Manchester, New Hampshire.
In order to redeem the friendship and set things right again, Frank plans a night of fun with his buddies. However, unexpected elements and secrets threaten to upend the friendship and change the lives of the three men. As the storyline comes to an end, the friends deal with a chaotic question, which doesn’t seem to have an easy answer. As they struggle to deal with a profound moral issue, their future hangs in the balance. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Small Engine Repair Plot Synopsis
Frank gets out of prison and reunites with his friends, Packie and Swaino. He goes to his old repair shop, where his friends bring over his daughter, Crystal, a young girl. Years later, Crystal is now a teenager who loves her father dearly and is a bit of a rebel. She talks to her father about her prospects for college. She intends to go to a good college, but there seem to be financial difficulties. Swaino and Packie visit the father and daughter, and Crystal shares a deep bond with her father’s friends, too. They all enjoy a casual dinner, and Crystal gels with the group of men with ease. The daughter tells the group that she got accepted into UCLA, and they all congratulate her. Karen, Frank’s separated wife, takes her daughter out for a date.
The three men go to the bar to continue the night. Swaino and Packie get into an argument while the two of them flirt with two women at the bar, and Frank flirts with a woman named Dottie. Crystal and Karen show up at the bar, where the former borrows her father’s credit card. Later, the three friends get involved in a bar fight after Swaino and Packie get involved in a fight with random men at the bar. Frank gets angry and tells his two friends to never see him and Crystal again. At home, Crystal seemingly texts an admirer online. Three months later, Frank invites his two friends and plans a small reunion with them after their fight months back. He meets Swaino and Packie at “Frank’s Small Engine Repair Shop,” which he runs for a living.
It is revealed that he invited Packie and Swaino separately, without telling them about each other’s presence. When the two of them see each other, they instantly start to argue. Frank says that they have been friends for three decades and should not let their friendship be affected by small matters. He offers peace and also shows them that he has purchased expensive scotch for the night. The three friends watch a game on TV and reminisce about the past, especially about their bond with Crystal. Frank makes a deal with a stranger on the phone, who tells him he’s bringing something. Packie helps Swaino get some knowledge about Instagram and helps him post a photo. Frank narrates a story about his date with a single mother in the past, and tells them how he admired her because of the way she bonded with her son.
It is revealed that Karen is back in town. Swaino warns Frank not to get involved with her again, and also casually remarks that Karen will ruin his life. Frank gets angry when Swaino talks about Crystal being afraid of him. The two get into a fight, but stop eventually, realizing that they are just angry. Frank gets a call from Chad after the former gives the latter the address. Frank tells his friends that the youngster, Chad, will be selling him Molly for the party. As the three smoke drugs outside the repair shop, they bond with each other again, becoming friends again. Chad drives into the scene and gives Frank some Molly. When Frank goes in to get the money, Packie and Swaino talk to Chad. Later, the three friends continue smoking drugs, while also inviting Chad to join them.
Later, outside, Chad tells Swaino and Packie a story about a girl. He boasts that he connected with a girl on Instagram and also convinced her to share intimate pictures. He also reveals that he spread her photos online, which devastated her. He tells them that the girl tried to take pills to kill herself due to the cyber invasion of her privacy. Chad comes back inside the repair shop and waits for his payment for Molly. However, as he is about to leave, Frank violently strikes Chad from behind with a wrench.
Small Engine Repair Ending: Is Chad Dead or Alive?
It is revealed through a shocking twist that Crystal was the one who was harassed by Chad. He connected with her on Instagram and then misused her intimate pictures by spreading them online. He even gave her the nickname “Pancake,” making fun of her body. This led to Crystal feeling isolated and helpless. Overcome by cyberbullying and ridicule, she decides to take an extreme step. She takes pills to kill herself and be done with the pain. When Frank discovers his daughter on the floor, he shifts her to the hospital, leaving her life hanging in the balance. After violently striking Chad, Frank talks to Packie and Swaino, who are both shocked at what they have just witnessed. They start to worry about the situation and suspect that Frank had actually killed the kid.
However, it is revealed that Chad is still alive. After shifting Chad to an isolated space within the repair shop, Frank says that he actually planned the night with them in order to execute his revenge plan against Chad. He didn’t intend for the night to just be about fun and laughter, but also about violence and justice. He tells them that he intends to shoot Chad, chop his body up, and get rid of the evidence, for which he needs their help. Initially, the two of them hesitate about the plan, but eventually agree, despite Swaino’s reluctance. Frank also plans to dispose of the body of the nineteen-year-old boy. The three friends enter the isolated room covered in plastic. Frank did this in order to prepare for killing Chad.
The young boy cries, begs, and desperately pleads for his life. Just as Frank is about to shoot Chad, Packie realizes something and stops Frank. Packie says that he posted on Instagram some time back, and so did Chad, who has more than two thousand followers on Instagram. Despite his anger, Frank finds it difficult to kill the boy due to the complications. As the three friends deal with the complex situation, Chad says that his rich lawyer father will ensure that the three of them will suffer. Just as the chaos reaches new heights, Karen shows up at the repair shop, making the situation more complex. Frank tells her that their daughter is in the hospital and also tells her the whole story about Chad. She confronts Chad for hurting her daughter.
Frank says he is going to turn himself in for the situation and asks everyone else to go away. However, at this moment, Karen comes up with a clever plan. Later, the group decides to reverse the cards on Chad and bully him into forgiveness. Packie unzips and stands close to Chad, to make it look like Chad is having oral sex with him. This moment is recorded by the others on the phone, leaving them with something to control Chad for the rest of his life. They threaten to make oral sex footage go viral. Chad agrees to never speak about the night to anyone and leaves. His life is spared by the adults, who establish control over him and his life. Thus, Chad is alive, but he will live his life regretting what he did to Crystal.
How Does Crystal Get Justice?
Crystal goes through a difficult journey after being bullied and harassed by people online. Due to Chad’s actions, she is forced to attempt suicide, landing her in the hospital. The idea of justice in this case becomes a chaotic element, taking different forms. It can be said that Crystal does get justice due to the fact that Chad was beaten up by Frank and the others at the repair shop. Frank and his friends, along with Karen, establish a hold over Chad’s life, having enough to keep him in a state of fear and panic. Chad will also live his life dealing with the consequences of the way he treated Crystal. This establishes the fact that Crystal gets justice, as the one who ruined her life also ended up ruining his own.
However, this is retributive justice at best, and doesn’t negate the fact that Crystal will be affected by PTSD and other issues for a while. She decided to take her own life, which will presumably leave a lasting impact on her feelings. She gets justice, but whether or not this is “true” justice is a matter of debate. Battling for her life at the hospital, she is undergoing tremendous mental and physical challenges. Chad’s fate and the way her family handled the issue might bring her some relief, but for her to really feel free again will require a difficult emotional journey, aided by her family and friends. Since Crystal is shown to be a free-spirited and confident girl, it can be presumed that she will find her own way to secure justice, provided she comes out of the hospital alive.
Is Crystal Dead or Alive? Will Frank and Karen Get Back Together?
Based on the visual evidence towards the end of the narrative, it can be presumed that Crystal is most likely alive and will be discharged from the hospital soon. At the very end, Frank, Karen, Packie, and Swaino visit the girl at the hospital. Frank holds his daughter’s hand and tells her that her family is there for her. It is at this moment that Crystal shows signs of life after trying to kill herself. Her fingers move, and they grab Frank’s fingers, showing that she is still alive. Not only will she survive, but she will also be able to live in a space where her family will be there to take care of her. Despite the challenges faced by her and the serious issues of cyberbullying that she encountered, she somehow finds the strength to fight back to life.
Frank, although showing signs of anger and violence, manages to understand that his daughter needs him more than ever. Earlier in the narrative, it is revealed that Crystal got into UCLA. This means that she will have a better life to look forward to once she regains her physical and mental health. If not for Frank’s timely actions, she may well have met her end. She survives due to the combined forces of her father’s love and her own will. Frank and Karen go through a tumultuous journey in their partnership. Having become parents at a young age, they go through a phase of separation, mostly due to Frank’s time in prison. At the beginning of the narrative, it is established that the two of them have almost no love left for each other, and hints at the fact that they are separated for good.
But, as the narrative reaches its concluding phase, things take a turn. When Karen shows up at the repair shop, she is emotionally comforted by Frank, and the two of them share a hug. They show signs of bonding as they execute their plan on Chad. After years of miscommunication and separation, they finally get a chance to work together on something. It can be presumed that the two of them will also realize that Crystal will need both her parents to recover from her trauma, as she is shown to be close to the two of them in the narrative.
Due to the fact that they finally show signs of understanding each other, it can be presumed that they will consider getting back together. However, it is also possible that they will just remain good friends and stop being negative towards each other in the future. Since the family reunites in an emotional moment at the hospital, it is more likely that Frank and Karen will find a way to be part of each other’s lives again. Thus, despite the circumstances, the couple and the family find a way to move towards something optimistic.
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