Act 2, Sequence 4: Jaws

Against his better judgment but drunk enough to fight his fears, Brody goes out with Hooper to track the shark. With sonar equipment installed on his boat, Hooper drives the boat into deeper waters until the sonar detects a large object, the half-submerged boat that Brody recognizes as one that belongs to a local fisherman.

Hooper dives underwater to take a closer look and soon locates a gaping hole in the side, embedded with a tooth. He looks closer and sees the ghostly head of the fisherman. Hooper panics and drops the tooth as he swims back to his boat. Brody and Hooper try to convince the mayor to close the beaches, but he refuses.

The mayor returns to the same old argument that they cannot close the beaches because of economic concerns. The 4th of July arrives, and the mayor convinces people to go into the water. Brody is helpless to do anything of value in protecting the tourists, but insists that his son only sail his new boat in the area called the pond, where he thinks the kids will be safe. All is well until a fin appears and chaos ensues as people scramble for shore. But the fin is simply a prank by two kids. Then another shark fin is spotted heading for the pond, and Brody’s wife reminds him that his son is boating there.

The shark attacks a guy in a rowboat and tips over the boat with Brody’s son. Brody’s son is shock by the guy’s death. Things are very much worse, as the summer is over for the local businesses. At the hospital, Brody’s FOURTH CRITICAL DECISION, as the MIDPOINT arrives, is to insist that the mayor sign the papers to hire Quint to kill the shark.