It’s the end of the month, and time once again for our monthly review series. Our muse for the month of October is Louise, the titular character from a short story, titled, “Louise’s Ghost.” But before we dig into all the deliciously juicy gore, here’s a disclaimer.
Disclaimer:
The following review contains spoilers. With that said, please support the official release before reading this or any other review on the topic. Without further ado, let’s begin.
Plot:
Louise’s Ghost is a 2001 short story, written by Kelly Link, part of her collection, “Stranger Things Happen.” It was also featured in Peter Straub’s 2008 anthology, “Poe’s Children: A New Horror.”
In the story, there are two women who are friends, both of whom are named Louise. One of them has a toddler named Ana, who only eats green food, and believes that she was a dog in a past life.
The other has a ghost who lives under her bed, and comes out occasionally. The ghost in question is a bald, naked man who sometimes levitates above her bathtub in the middle of the night.
The two Louises meet up for lunch as often as they can to catch up with each other and talk about life. They have known each other since childhood, and have been best friends for a very long time.
Louise calls her mother who lives in a nursing home for advice on how to get rid of the ghost. Her mother suggests salt and water, but has no memory of Louise’s friend named Louise, or her daughter, Ana. This is a very important detail.
It is also revealed that the Louise who is Ana’s mother, only dates cellists due to her belief that they all have low sperm count. Louise would have proximity to cellists considering that she is also involved in stage work.
Louise, on the other hand, only sleeps with married men she meets at her job. She sleeps with them in hotel rooms, then he showers and leaves her there by herself.
Louise tells the cellists about Louise’s ghost, and they become curious and wish to play for the ghost, hoping to gain supernatural talent if one of them can get the ghost to haunt their cello.
Louise agrees and orders catering to host them in her home, hoping they can get the ghost to leave with them. The cellists play as Ana sleeps soundly inside one of the cello cases. They take a cigarette break when the ghost doesn’t appear, and Louise asks Louise if the ghost is even real.
Louise insists it is, but doesn’t try too hard to convince her. All along, she’s had a change of heart, and is in fact, hiding the ghost inside the closet, serenading it with some music of her own that she had previously purchased from a record store.
The cellists return from their cigarette break and continue playing, louder this time, and the lines between fantasy and reality become blurred as Louise pictures herself in a wild orgy with some of the cellists.
Eventually, the ghost hears the cellists playing, and decides that he prefers their music instead. So he shrinks himself, which he tends to do occasionally, and goes to live inside one of their cellos, and they all eventually leave, except for one.
He spends the night with Louise, much to the dismay of her friend who takes Ana and leaves angrily. Realizing the error of her ways, Louise tries to reconcile with Louise for sleeping with her favorite cellist, but to no avail.
Distracted in her fury over her friend’s betrayal, Louise misses her footing one day, falls off the edge of a stage, and dies. Louise is soon contacted by Louise’s attorney who tells her that Louise is dead, and that it was her will for Louise to raise Ana in the event of her untimely death.
Louise is confused because Louise died still angry at her, but eventually she agrees to raise Ana. The two have always had a quarrelsome relationship, and Ana says that she would rather live with her father, who lives in Oregon. Louise tells Ana that she would like Oregon, because it’s green.
Then she arranges for Ana’s father, who is ironically not a cellist, to come and take her away with him. Louise attends a concert in Louise’s honor, hoping to see her ghost. She looks through her opera glasses, and eventually spots Louise’s ghost living inside one of the cellos.
In the end, it is revealed that Louise’s ghost was a story that Charlie, the youth counsellor at their summer camp told them as teenagers about the way their friendship would blossom into adulthood.
The two girls think that Charlie is kinda cool. They think she is pretty, and she lets them ride the horses bareback during the day. But she can get scary at night, especially when she tells them stories by the campfire. They are rather apprehensive of her. Then they hold each other’s hand and look at each other saying, “Are you scared?” “No, are you?” “Not as long as you’re here.”
Analysis:
It seems pretty obvious to me that Louise’s ghost had come presenting the opportunity to bless the cellists with extraordinary gifts due to his fondness of music. Why he didn’t visit the other Louise who had more proximity to the cellists is probably due to her having a daughter, and him not wanting her to see him.
The ghost could also be a manifestation of Louise’s conscience for only sleeping with married men instead of dating cellists the way her friend did. Charlie introducing the element of death in her story only serves to make the story scarier and more believable to the girls who probably don’t scare easily.
This is the kind of story to be told over roasted marshmallows by the campfire. A spooky treat for those cozy autumn nights. I give it a four out of five green marshmallows.
It is the end of the month and time once again for our monthly review series. Our muse for the month of September is none other than Miss Sadie Thompson. But first, here’s a disclaimer.
Disclaimer:
The following review contains spoilers, so I strongly recommend watching any film that features the character of Sadie Thompson before reading this or any review relating to this muse. Now without further ado, let’s begin.
Introduction:
Sadie Thompson is a fictional character appearing in several films, plays and prose between the 1920s and the 1950s. Her first appearance was in a 1921 short story titled, “Rain,” by W. Somerset Maugham, part of his collection titled, “The Tremling of a Leaf.”
In film, her most notable portrayals were by Gloria Swanson as the titular Sadie Thompson in a 1928 silent picture directed by Raoul Walsh. And by Joan Crawford in “Rain,” a 1932 talking picture directed by Lewis Milestone, and the one that I will be reviewing today.
Plot:
Sadie Thompson is a young woman who is stranded on the Pacific island of Pago Pago. Outgoing by nature, Sadie enjoys drinking, smoking and partying with some of the young sailors she meets during her stay at an inn on the island. Much to the dismay of Alfred Davidson (Walter Huston), a brooding old missionary and religious zealot who complains that she is disturbing him and his wife.
Her sassy demeanor soon catches the eye of one of the sailors at the inn, one Sergeant O’Hara (William Gargan). As Sadie starts falling for O’Hara, Davidson starts digging into Sadie’s past and learns that she is a prostitute. He also discovers that she is wanted by the police in San Francisco.
Meanwhile, Sadie’s new boyfriend, O’Hara, whom she affectionately calls “handsome” throughout the picture, tells her about a friend of his who fell in love with a prostitute. They are now happily married and living in Australia. O’Hara wants to take Sadie away with him to Australia so she doesn’t have to answer for her previous crimes in San Francisco.
But just as he is making plans for them to join his friend, Davidson starts working on Sadie’s psyche. First he threatens to use his influence with the governor on that island to make certain that Sadie is sent back to San Francisco. Then he uses guilt and shame to convince her to seek repentance for her promiscuous ways.
As Davidson’s manipulation takes root and he continues to break down Sadie’s will, he finds it easier to convince her that the only way to truly repent is to willfully go back to San Francisco and face the punishment for her past crimes. She agrees and O’Hara notices that she is not being herself and tries to snap her out of it, but she pushes him away and insists that she needs to be “saved.”
Brainwashed and isolated from her friends, Davidson has free reign over Sadie’s mind and dictates her every action right down to the way that she dresses. With a newfound obsession with purity, Sadie soon begins to dress more modestly and without make-up.
Eventually she agrees to return to San Francisco and Davidson admires her as a “beautiful creature of god.” However, in the next split second, he loses control and breaks into her room where he rapes her.
The natives find Davidson’s body washed ashore the following morning. Suicide or murder? Who knows. Any scenario is possible. Devastated, Sadie reverts back to her old self again and leaves for Australia along with O’Hara to begin their lives anew.
Key Takeaway:
Davidson tried to brainwash Sadie into becoming someone she is not. While all along, he was secretly lusting after her despite being a married man, and lost control in the end. It is ironic that his losing control made Sadie revert back to her true self.
O’Hara loved and accepted Sadie as she was. She didn’t have to change her character, perhaps only her profession after they had gotten married. It just goes to show you that anybody who is trying to make you change does not love you, they only want to control you.
Another red flag that let’s me know Davidson was working her nerves was when he said that god wouldn’t forgive her unless she went back and faced the penalty for her past mistakes. Assuming god was benevolent, it wouldn’t want you to suffer for your past mistakes.
The point would’ve been to correct you and not to humiliate you, especially if it was a “victimless crime” that you committed out of lack and fear. There are those who are intentionally wicked who actually get rewarded in this world while those trying to do the right thing must suffer for the ego of the wicked. Religious hypocrisy at its finest.
And who is Davidson to lead anybody to salvation when he cannot even control himself? But the first red flag of all was when he led with threats in the first place. The heat check is the oldest trick in the book.
If they heat check you and you let it slide, that’s how they know they’ve got you. I give this cautionary tale on overzealous religious sadism and the malignant mentor a four out of five jazz listening tramps, and I’ll see you on the next one.
It is the end of the month, and time once again for our monthly review series. Our muse for the month of June is David Palmer, the fictional president appearing on the hit action thriller “24.” But before we begin, here’s a disclaimer: The following review contains spoilers, so I strongly recommend that you watch at least the first five seasons of “24” before reading this, or any reviews on the topic. Without further ado, let’s begin.
“24” is an American television action series that was created by Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran in 2001. It starred Kiefer Sutherland as field agent Jack Bauer of the Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU), and Mary Lynn Rajskub as Chloe O’Brian, his intel officer.
It also starred Dennis Haysbert as David Palmer, the first African-American President of the United States within the 24 universe. Haysbert’s portrayal of Palmer on 24 inspired Barack Obama to run for President in real life. 24 lasted for 8 seasons and over 200 episodes between 2001 and 2010. It was revived as a 12 episode miniseries in 2014, shot on location in London, and featured William Devane in the role of President James Heller.
24 was a highly popular series, and very unique for its time, particularly due to its real-time format. Each season of the show followed its protagonist, Jack Bauer over a 24 hour period, hence the name of the show.
Background:
David Palmer (Dennis Haysbert) was a United States democratic senator from Maryland. He first appeared during the pilot episode of 24 (Midnight and 1:00 AM), on the day of the California Presidential primary. Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU) soon uncovered a plot to assassinate Senator Palmer and called in their ace field agent Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) to investigate.
CTU assumed that the threat level around Palmer had escalated due to him being a Black presidential candidate, and as such they doubled down on their security measures.
Palmer was made aware of the threat on his life, and casually laughed it off, literally saying, “I thought it was something serious.” Meanwhile, Palmer had other problems within his own camp. He was worried that a scandal might erupt after news reporter Maureen Kingsley (Devika Parikh) threatened to reveal that Palmer’s son Keith (Vicellous Shannon) was involved in the murder of his sister, Nicole’s (Megalyn Echikunwoke) rapist some years prior. The fact that Nicole’s rapist, Lyle Gibson, was white didn’t help matters much.
Throughout the course of the night into the following day, Palmer’s wife, Sherry (Penny Johnson Jerald) was gradually revealed to be a power mad sociopath who used underhanded tactics to try and get Keith to lie and cover up his involvement in the death of his sister’s rapist.
Palmer being the moral compass, decided against it, even though he knew that the scandal involving his son could cost him the presidency. Not only does this put a strain on Palmer’s relationship with his wife, but also his son who revealed that Palmer often prioritized his career over his family. Keith further revealed at some point that he had to seek counseling for the situation involving his sister and her rapist.
The threat on Palmer’s life escalated as Bauer was framed for an attempt on his life at a press conference that took place between 7:00 AM and 8:00 AM, all while dealing with his own missing wife and daughter (Leslie Hope and Elisha Cuthbert respectively).
Jack Bauer and David Palmer finally met face to face between 2:00 PM and 3:00 PM, and had a man to man talk where Palmer accused Bauer of wanting revenge for the men he lost during a US led covert mission in Kosovo that took place two years prior during the Yugoslavian civil war of 1999.
Bauer explained that he was trying to save Palmer, and they soon realized that Andre and Alexis Drazen (Željko Ivanek and Misha Collins respectively), the sons of Victor Drazen (Dennis Hopper) wanted revenge for their father’s murder that took place during the mission.
In that moment an alliance was formed as both Palmer and Bauer would go on to help each other in many of their future missions.
President David Palmer:
Day 2:
Season 2 of 24 took place 18 months after the California Presidential Primary. David Palmer had since been elected president despite all the madness that was allowed to take place around him on that day. The scene opened to Palmer spending some rare yet quality time with his son Keith on a fishing boat, in a lake near Los Angeles.
Their leisurely activities soon came to an abrupt end as duty called. This time, it was a nuclear bomb threat that was being carried out by “Second Wave,” a terrorist sleeper cell led by Islamic extremist Syed Ali (Francesco Quinn).
CTU field agent Jack Bauer who had been inactive since the events of season one that led to the death of his wife Teri (Leslie Hope) at the hands of CTU mole Nina Myers (Sarah Clarke) was called into CTU to help track the bomb. Jack was initially hesitant until he received a call from the president.
Throughout the course of the day, Jack was able to thwart the bomb threat, and apprehend Ali with the help of Kate Warner (Sarah Wynter), whose sister Marie Warner (Laura Harris) was involved with one of the members of Second Wave.
As the day progressed into night, Palmer’s chief of staff, Mike Novick (Jude Ciccolella) was revealed to be part of a conspiracy to remove Palmer from office due to his hesitance in retaliating against three countries based on a tape recording of a conversation that took place between Second Wave and high ranking officials from those countries.
Novick was very instrumental in helping Palmer win the presidency over a year ago. But now he has joined Vice-President Jim Prescott (Alan Dale), and eight other cabinet members in attempting to remove Palmer from office through a clause in the 25th amendment.
Eventually, with the help of Jack Bauer and CTU, they were able to prove that the tape recording was a forgery, thus proving that Palmer’s leadership is effective. Palmer resumes his presidential duties and immediately fires Novick as his chief of staff.
Day 3:
Season 3 of 24 took place three years after the events of season 2. Palmer is now up for re-election, while recovering from a virus that he was exposed to through a handshake at a press conference at the very end of season 2.
He also has a new chief of staff, his brother Wayne Palmer (DB Woodside). This was also the first time that we got to meet Chloe O’Brian (Mary Lynn Rajskub), who would later go on to become the secondary protagonist of the series.
Wayne disapproved of Palmer’s affair with his doctor, Anne Packard (Wendy Crewson), saying that she is not like Sherry. Even though Sherry kind of went overboard, at least she knew how to play the game. The virus that Palmer was introduced to was just a demonstration of the biological terror threat that CTU along with President Palmer would be faced with throughout the course of the day’s events.
As the day progressed, Palmer’s re-election was constantly threatened. First by the suicide of Dr. Packard’s ex-husband, that caused her to end her affair with Palmer to save his chances for re-election. Then Wayne’s affair with Julia Milliken (Gina Torres), the wife of Palmer’s top campaign funder Alan Milliken (Albert Hall) who demanded that Palmer fires his brother after he discovered Wayne and Julia’s treacherous affair behind his back.
But no scandal threatened Palmer’s presidency quite like his deranged ex-wife Sherry’s involvement in several deaths throughout the course of the day. First, she prevented Julia from giving Alan his medication after she caused his heart attack.
Then Julia murders Sherry before turning the gun on herself right in front of Wayne who was unable to stop her in time. This last devastating blow was enough for Palmer to forfeit his chances for re-election, giving his competitor, senator John Keeler (Geoff Pierson) a clear shot at the presidency.
Post Presidency:
Palmer was still very much active as an ex-president. On Day 4, he was asked to assist acting president Charles Logan (Gregory Itzin), after power was suddenly thrust upon him during a national crisis that saw Air Force One being shot down by Habib Marwan (Arnold Vosloo) while President John Keeler was on board.
Palmer made almost all the tough judgement calls on behalf of an indecisive President Logan whose leadership was not brought into question like Palmer’s was during season 2.
The Chinese requested the extradition of Jack Bauer after they held him responsible for the death of one of their officials who was killed when he came under friendly fire during a botched mission at their embassy in Los Angeles.
Palmer decided to help out his friend by helping him fake his death. He was one of only four people who knew that Jack was still alive. The other three people were Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard), Michelle Dessler (Reiko Aylesworth), and Chloe O’Brian (Mary Lynn Rajskub). Unbeknownst to Jack, his phone call to Palmer during the season 4 finale was the last time he would ever speak to his friend.
Assassination:
Day 5 took place about 18 months later, and began at 7:00 AM in Los Angeles on the day of an official visit from the Russian president, Yuri Suvarov (Nick Jameson). Palmer was visiting his brother Wayne at his condominium when Wayne noticed that he seemed preoccupied over something.
He told Wayne that he was feeling a bit melancholy over a conspiracy he was able to uncover. But before he could explain what it was he uncovered, he was shot by a sniper only two minutes into the episode.
The assassin then targeted the other three people who knew Jack was alive, forcing Jack out of hiding. Jack was able to save Chloe while taking out the shooter, but Tony and Michelle weren’t so lucky. Jack then spent the rest of the day hunting the person behind the assassination, only to uncover a vast, complex web of corruption and cover-ups going all the way up to the oval office.
Charles Logan, the weak, indecisive president whom Palmer helped during a national crisis was now complicit in Palmer’s assassination, and it was up to Jack Bauer to help expose him and remove him from office.
With the help of Mike Novick, Palmer’s former chief of staff who betrayed him during the events of Day 2, along with Logan’s own wife, Martha (Jean Smart), Jack was able to expose Logan at Palmer’s funeral during the season finale. As Palmer’s casket was being air-lifted to Washington by military convoy to be buried at Arlington cemetery, Jack was captured by the Chinese and taken to a Chinese prison camp to be tortured for the next two years.
Legacy:
Palmer’s legacy is polarizing, mixed with admiration and caution. Though he displayed strength and faith in his leadership during some of the most challenging times on that show, he was too willing to answer the call of those who wouldn’t hesitate to throw him under the bus.
Understandably, as the first Black president, he felt the need to be overly good almost to a fault. Similar to Obama, he wouldn’t have won if his public image wasn’t spotless beyond question. Both men were right in that regard, but Palmer’s fatal flaw is that it attracted others towards him who felt the need to use him, then discard him when they realize he cannot be used. This fatal flaw ultimately cost him his life.
Personal Takeaway:
The issue at hand is not a racial one in the strictest sense, because they do the same thing to Jack Bauer. They call him out of retirement to help fight their battles when they don’t know what else to do. Then they want to punish him when he uses strategies that actually work, such as torturing his suspects during some of his interrogations. And all along, I’m over here on my couch yelling at the screen like, “You want their help, or don’t you?”
As a man, you’ve got to think twice before fighting everyone’s battles for them, especially when you know they don’t appreciate you. As a Black man, it’s even twice as bad for you than it is for the next guy. It is imperative for me to state that people’s perceptions of you won’t change by you trying to remain spotless.
You will go from being invisible to being a target, and people will think they can just use you to help further their agendas. I have experienced the same while dealing with racist hypocrites at work, but I have lived to tell the tale, because who feels it, knows it.
As a man, the only thing that you should worry about being spotless are your boundaries. Other people’s madness must not be allowed to thrive around you, especially when you’re trying to build a lasting legacy. You are going to become the villain of their story. But they already see you as either the villain or a minstrel show, so what the heck does it matter? Here’s to entering your villain arc. At least you know it’s for a cause as noble as self-preservation.
Despite all of that, both Jack Bauer and David Palmer are patriots who answer the call of duty, and are deserving of the respect of a grateful nation. Be that as it may, only some people are cut out for the kind of sacrifices that both men have made during the series run, and one of my biggest takeaways from watching 24 is that the job of a president and a field operative are certainly not for everyone. I give this cautionary tale of power and sacrifice a five out of five Purple Hearts, and I’ll see you on the next one.
It’s the end of the month and time once again for our monthly review series. Our muse for the month of May is Edward Nygma, alias, The Riddler. Particularly in his first appearance on Batman The Animated Series, during an episode titled, “If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich?” But first, here’s a disclaimer: The following review contains spoilers so I recommend watching the episode first before reading this or any other reviews on the topic. Now without further ado, let’s begin.
Overview:
Batman The Animated Series is an American television series that premiered on Fox in 1992. The series was created by Bruce Timm and Paul Dini as a 90’s revival of Bob Kane’s 1938 creation for Detective Comics, and originally consisted of 85 episodes across two seasons, the largest episode count for a single season of any children’s show at the time.
“If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich,” was the forty-first episode of the series. It originally aired during the show’s first season on November 18, 1992. Written by David Wise, Directed by Eric Radomski, and starred Kevin Conroy, John Glover and Gary Frank. It was also The Riddler’s debut episode.
The Premise:
Edward Nygma (John Glover) is an employee of “Competitron,” a toy manufacturer. The episode opens with Nygma arriving at work one cloudy morning just in time as the janitor was tossing his name tag in the trash. Nygma asked the janitor what he was doing and that was when his employer Daniel Mockridge (Gary Frank) who was standing there all along informed him that he was fired.
Nygma protested that Mockridge cannot do without him because he is the smartest game designer in the company. Mockridge replied that he can indeed fire Ngyma because the latter is suing him for royalty. As an employee of Competitron, Nygma previously designed a video game titled, “Riddle of the Minotaur,” and is now suing the company for royalty. Furthermore, Mockridge lives up to his name by mocking Nygma in the form of a rhetorical question, the titular question of the episode.
After some time had passed, Mockridge tried pitching Nygma’s work to Bruce Wayne (Kevin Conroy) and Luscious Fox (Brock Peters) who were initially hesitant. At some point during the meeting, Mockridge looked outside the window of the conference room and noticed an ominous riddle in neon light. The riddle read, “Why do multimillion dollar deals break down in the wasteland?”
Later that evening inside the Batcave, Bruce dons his Batman alter ego, and ponders on the meaning of the riddle as Robin (Loren Lester) ironically plays “Riddle of the Minotaur” on the bat computer.
“Holy irony Batman, it’s a good thing I’m already familiar with this game. I have a hunch we might be needing it soon.”
“Good thinking old chum, to the batmobile.”
Though they didn’t actually say any of that, I think it’s worth mentioning that their voices actually sounded a bit more cartoonish this time around, almost like they sounded in the classic “Superfriends,” cartoons from the 70’s, hinting at the fact that this episode is nowhere near as dark and brooding as other episodes.
Meanwhile over at Competitron, Mockridge walked into his office and found Nygma sitting in his swivel chair in the dark, donning his Riddler alter ego for the first time. No doubt the end result of trauma, and a need to get even. Mockridge humored Nygma, perhaps feeling a bit cocky that he might be able to get Nygma to create more games for Competitron, but Nygma had other plans.
He redesigned the Chinese finger puzzle in the form of some gold rings that look eerily similar to the symbol on the Olympic flag. He tossed the gold rings at Mockridge who was none the wiser and who tried solving it, only to unwittingly cuff himself with it, just as two of Nygma’s henchmen pounced on him.
Batman and Robin crashed the party just in time, and got into a fight with Nygma’s goons who managed to escape with Mockridge as their hostage. Sometime later that night as Batman and Robin were driving across the Gotham bridge, they noticed that the lights were flashing all across the city.
Batman, quickly realizing it to be morse code, translated the message, and it turned out to be another of Nygma’s riddles that read, “When is the Minataur’s owner as high as an elephant’s maize?” They quickly realized that maize is a wordplay for maze, and took off for the amusement park where they had to navigate a life-sized replica of Nygma’s video game in order to find Mockridge.
Robin used his experience from playing the Minotaur game to help navigate the maze, and after solving several puzzles and riding on a cool mechanical flying hand (unique to the DCAU), they eventually got to Mockridge and answered one final riddle in time to save him from being sliced in two by an animatronic, sword-wielding minotaur. It turned out that Nygma lured them to the maze intentionally to buy himself enough time to flee the city.
Wayne enterprise eventually bought Riddle of the Minotaur from Competitron, and Dick lamented during the aftermath that it’s such a pity they had to sell to a creep like Mockridge. But that was when Bruce interjected that “Mockridge may have his money, but he won’t be sleeping well.”
We then cut to a scene where we see Mockridge carefully bolting his door at night and looking under his bed, trembling with a shotgun before reluctantly climbing into bed and cowering under the covers. Bruce ended the episode by asking the question, “How much is a good night’s sleep worth? Now there’s a riddle for ya.”
Personal Takeaway:
This cautionary tale serves as a reminder of a clause that could be included in your employment contract depending on the nature of your job. A clause stating that your employer owns the patent to anything you invent for the company while employed to that particular company. Most companies have ensured to include this clause within their employment contracts. The same is true with music, animation and especially writing.
When I first got back to writing, and shortly before I created my blog site on WordPress, I tried freelancing for another blog site. Though I am avidly against using AI to write because I think it takes the soul out of writing, I nonetheless used Chat GPT to offer suggestions on what topics to cover. I did so for no other reason than to save my best ideas for my own upcoming blog.
So I gave them mediocre ideas while saving the topics near and dear to my heart for myself, because I knew that if I wasn’t smart about it, I would never own my ideas outright, I’d only get paid for them. Sure enough I paid the price for my betrayal in the short term because they never accepted any of my submissions, but to me it was worth it because I was rewarded for remaining disciplined in the long run.
The point that I am making by sharing that example is that if you have a bright idea that could potentially make you millions in the future, don’t share it with an employer, create it for your own profit and ownership. You’d be well within your rights to do so. It is your intellectual property after all, and make sure you patent it before pitching it to anyone.
Another thing to add is to always rent the rights to your intellectual property versus selling it off. Never sell to any individual or corporation because if you no longer own the rights to your work you are forfeiting your rights to future royalties.
Although The Riddler was the monster of the week in this story, he is really more of a tragic anti-hero who sold out his ideas for a quick buck. Edward Nygma was born but The Riddler was made, and the person who made him is the real villain of the picture.
Nygma wasn’t Mockridge’s only victim, he was just the one who took action, albeit misguided. Think of how many more families were plunged into undue poverty all due to Mockridge’s greed and betrayal. At least we know Nygma’s name. Think of all the other Gothamites whose names we will never know.
In the end, Edward Nygma got the poetic justice he so richly deserves, and I don’t think he stuck around long enough to witness the full extent of the damage that Mockridge was dealt at his hands.
Bruce Wayne’s question at the end pertaining to the value of a good night’s sleep was essential in weighing the pros and cons of guilt versus reward. The final scene that saw Mockridge bolting his door at night was the most brooding part of the episode. It came straight from out of a horror film right down to the music score.
Trivia:
It was mentioned in the episode that Nygma’s first initial along with his surname (E. Nygma), are a wordplay for enigma, meaning a man of mystery and intrigue.
This was a carefully devised strategy that Nygma used to trap Mockridge who otherwise wouldn’t have trusted him. Mockridge made the mistake of thinking he knew Nygma well enough and just assumed he was some harmless schmuck he could easily get over on.
Conclusion:
“If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich” was generally well received by fans of the show and went down in history as one of the most memorable episodes of the entire series. I give this cautionary tale of greed, guilt and doubt in one’s own potential a five out of five good night’s sleep, and I’ll see you on the next one.
