Though the film was a good chilling mystery, it still had some weak plot lines that didn't fit in with the movie. Such are the scene where Reuben is captured by the Chinese guy and then gets killed, Peter killing Helen's caretaker at the bar, and the relationship between Reuben and M.J. These have no significance really to be in the film so why are they in it?
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The caretaker's death was supposed to be a copycat of Jeffrey Dahmer, who killed gay men. However, it didn't quite make sense since Dahmer took them back to his apartment and later ate his victims. This film had a lot of small inconsistencies like this.
shareWhile Dahmer did indeed kill his victims in private, the evidence only supports him eating part of one victim. He did keep body parts of others tho.
shareI don't see the scene where Peter kills Helen's caretaker, Andy, as unfitting -in fact, it sets the suspense a degree higher by showing that Peter Foley is getting closer to Helen and that she's probably the next one; and also, because the one link between Helen and the world outside is taken away from her.
But I agree that the other two plot lines that you mention -I would add in some weird or seemingly unfitting/unnecessary office scenes, such as Reuben buying dinner for himself and M.J., the kind of triangle between her and Reuben and her ex, and other somewhat humorous scenes- don't seem to serve any purpose.
Just watched the film again, here is the significance of Ruben's death: In the first scene in the movie with MJ and Ruben they are at the training facility, MJ shows her marksmanship by shooting a target in the shoulder, taking out the suspect's ability to fire the weapon, without taking his life, something Ruben is somewhat ambivalent about, as when he shot, he just filled the target with bullets.
When the Chinese guy has Ruben at gunpoint, MJ uses this marksmanship, but her strategy fails because the suspect uses his other arm, the uninjured one, to shoot and kill Ruben.
The scenes are about character development, as when we get to the end of the film and MJ shoots Peter, she has no hesitation about pulling the trigger several times to assure that he is dead.