> they each got in from a different timeline, but they both get OUT in the same timeline.

Yes, that's about right. The point is that it's a paradox, but in the movie, those are fine.

> And, of course, I assume that Aaron3 came from his own failsafe2, which he brought back through with him when he made the jump from Aaron1 to Aaron2.

Right. This is the implication.

> I *think* this all makes sense, but I don't like to think too hard about what one would find if one were to shut down a box "in transit", although I suspect that it would just always be empty unless someone had got in at the A point and was going forward at the time. After all, shutting it off prevents the original B point from existing, so how COULD there be someone in there coming back? The future they were coming back from clearly can no longer exist.

This point is unclear. You can create paradoxes, as we see by Abe2 preventing the original Abes and Aarons from time travelling (meaning the future Abe2 came back from will never exist). Exactly how this affects travelers in the boxes is not explained.

> What the heck was that about? It seems clear from the rest of the movie that Abe cares about Aaron's family, but I didn't think it was anything like this... Do you think Aaron was just being a jerk, or was there something weirder going on here?

I think Abe wants Aaron's family. Like you say, it's clear that Abe cares about them -- in fact, he seems to care more about them than Aaron does. There are several hints to this throughout the movie, but they are very subtle. In the commentary, Carruth explains that there was a cut scene that reveals Aaron got married after his girlfriend had an unexpected pregnancy, so Aaron in some ways feels trapped by his domestic life.

> Probably my biggest question: what prompts Aaron1 to use the failsafe the first time? The obvious answer seems to be the party -- maybe Aaron3 lied to Abe2 when he said nothing happened the time he wasn't there? Or did he just want to look like a hero? It seems like a very strange way to go about looking like a hero, and would certainly say some odd things about Aaron. The narrator seems to imply that Aaron2 goes back because he wants to "engineer a perfect moment" but at that point it just seems more reasonable to be going back to refine things. Of course, if Aaron2 didn't screw up royally at the party, why would he need to go back? Maybe Aaron3 lied to Abe2 about the time that he WAS at the party as Aaron2, and maybe somebody got shot that time, too.

We don't know for sure, but I think what really sets him off is finding the failsafe box. The film is ultimately about the way the power of the boxes breaks up the friendship between Abe and Aaron. When Aaron discovers that Abe has been holding out on him and has reserved the right to erase Aaron's past, Aaron decides that he's going to beat Abe to it and will take control.

Stephen