Human Highway

In the morning at the gas station-diner, Otto Quartz declares he must fire an employee to shore up finances. Kathryn protests and refuses to leave, crying at a booth while the jukebox plays The End of the World. The moment sets the tone of economic desperation that threads through the day.

At the nuclear power plant, the nuclear garbage men reveal that radioactive waste is routinely mishandled and dumped on Linear Valley. They sing a remake of Worried Man Blues while loading barrels onto an old truck. The revelation injects a grim undertone into the day.

Irene overhears Otto plotting to fire everyone, destroy the buildings, and cash in on a fraudulent insurance claim. She demands to be included in the scheme and tries to seal the deal with a kiss. The moment foreshadows the corrupt impulses driving the town.

Lionel harbors a crush on waitress Charlotte Goodnight, while she favors the milkman Earl Duke. After an earthquake, Duke enters the diner in white, flirts with Charlotte, and offers her a milk bath. A white-dressed Duke's presence adds surreal tension to the chaos.

A limousine stops at the gas station and Lionel learns that rock idol Frankie Fontaine is inside. He imagines a lavish, drug-fueled lifestyle and declares, 'Now there's a real human being!' The encounter crystallizes Lionel's fantasy of fame.

A bump on the head sends Lionel into a dream where he becomes a rock star backed by wooden Indians. Irene treats him to a milk bath backstage as the fantasy expands into a desert journey with his entourage. The line between waking life and dream becomes blurred.

In the dream, Lionel's entourage travels the desert with the wooden Indians, who then go missing. Native Americans gather at a Pueblo bonfire to burn the missing figures, turning the sequence into a surreal ritual. Lionel performs and dances around the bonfire as the fantasy peaks.

The desert episode segues into a long studio jam of 'Hey, Hey, My, My' performed by Devo and Young. The moment sustains the feverish energy of the dream and blurs the line between performance and reality. The sequence dissolves back toward waking life.

Lionel awakens as Booji Boy proclaims the 'hour of sleep' and distributes shovels to everyone, ordering them to 'dig that hole and dance like a mole.' A choreographed Worried Man Blues unfolds while the planet glows with radioactive light. The town braces for global nuclear conflict.

The cast climbs a stairway to heaven as harp music plays, signaling a ceremonial response to the catastrophe. The planet is enveloped in a radioactive glow, yet the performers remain festive and defiant. The sequence fuses celebration with annihilation in a final tableau.

In the post-apocalyptic frame, Booji Boy stands as the lone survivor among ruins. The opening credits return, offering a cynical counterpoint to the day’s chaos. Some director's cuts place this scene at the film's end, emphasizing the circular structure.

The film loops back to the present frame as Booji Boy delivers cynical prose, and the credits recur. Different cuts place this reset at the end, highlighting the film's self-referential, satirical edge. The sequence frames the apocalypse as a cyclical, media-saturated moment.