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Bartholomew's Replies
Yes, Redmayne was an excellent choice. I also thought the newly introduced character of Zina was intriguing, with one toe in the world of the super rich and powerful. I might watch season 2 to find out her next move, and also to see if my hunch about Gary turns out to be correct or not.
His real address and his real name. I guess he was just a contract-murder neophyte.
Some other inconsistencies:
The Killer was so paranoid about the other man traveling from Paris to Santo Domingo that he stayed overnight in Miami, but didn't warn his girlfriend about the potential danger.
Instead of renting a car, Q-Tip and the Brute just took a cab to the location of their hit, and then had the cabbie wait there while they did their job.
The Killer had an electronic safe buried in his yard, but no security cameras.
And that was from only one account. He probably has several, plus his property.
Redmayne's Jackal says something similar, that he would wait "as long as it takes" for his target to show up. A statement which makes his rush job on Fest even more inexplicable.
The movie Jackal reacted immediately to the car cutting the corner, so I don't think fatigue contributed to the crash. He was driving fast though, probably wanting to get to the Montpellier chateau before dark.
I'm probably judging the series a bit harshly because the movie is one of the best police procedurals ever made. When I heard about the series, my hopes were raised for another great policier whose longer running time would allow it to go into even more detail and include things that had the movie had to omit. Unfortunately they went for a standard action thriller instead.
I don't mind if they update the story to the current time period. The Bourne Identity did that quite well, bringing in a whole bunch of new tech. The problems with this series are that they completely changed the main character and they turned a believable story into one that requires complete suspension of belief.
The Jackal of the book and movie was an expert sniper but he wasn't trying to break any world records. He shot from less than a quarter of the distance. He also wasn't able to predict de Gaulle's every movement.
The Jackal of the series was a superhuman who could see into the future and make impossible shots.
To shoot Fest through a revolving door, he had to accurately predict the position of both Fest and the door seven seconds into the future. He did know the path Fest would take and might be able to make a reasonable guess as to how quickly he would move. However, the rotation of the revolving door would be as random as a roulette wheel.
The position of the door would determine whether the bullet had to pass through one pane or two, and how much it would deflect each time based on the angle at which it hit the glass. The Jackal would have to calculate where to aim in order for the bullet to be deflected into Fest's head. And he had to do those calculations before the door was even put in motion.
Since that's not actually possible, it really was just a crapshoot. Had he missed, he wouldn't have gotten another chance. That would have meant not only losing the payment but also damaging his professional reputation.
The Jackal from the book and movie didn't gamble like that. Sure, not everything went according to plan. He crashed his car because someone else was driving on the wrong side of the road. But that was just the random unpredictable nature of life, not intentional gambling on his part. Seducing the woman and sleeping in her room was actually a strategy to reduce his risk in case the police showed up at the hotel overnight.
The 1973 movie is excellent and is a faithful adaptation of the novel. That is the version I'd recommend to anyone who enjoyed the novel.
This series has very little in common with the book other than the title and some vague similarities in the general plot outline.
I'm not assuming anything. We (and the Jackal) don't know how the gang will react. Loyal to the Cuban or not, having their boss killed makes the gang look weak. Not doing anything about it would make them look even weaker. Other gangsters might take advantage of that perceived weakness to take over their turf. Assuming that the gang will just sit back and do nothing is a huge risk.
You said that "Stoke saw his face, and this is his last job, so he probably preferred him dead. A sloppy gun maker would eventually get caught and sell him out." If the Jackal is worried that Stoke might sell him out, why not warn him in time to get away? The best explanation I can come up with is that the Jackal was hoping Stoke would die in a shootout with the MI6 team. But again, that would be such a huge gamble, it doesn't make sense.
What is an invasion of privacy? And why do you say that Elias doesn't trust the police? If he doesn't trust the police, why have them securing the area while he gets into the car?
A drone would have been spotted, and then UDC might have stayed inside. Would the Jackal be willing to gamble on that too?
The series also did not show the Jackal flying a drone, even though every other significant step taken by him was shown. They even show him doing mundane things like shopping for a watermelon and paint. If he had used a drone, they would have shown it.
We do know from the news reports and the phone calls from reporters that Fest was a public figure and actively involved in politics. Even if Fest was a recluse, it wouldn't make sense to gamble on a one-in-a-million shot. Flushing out your prey is only a good strategy if it allows you to get get a good shot at it. If you miss, you'll never get a second shot.
The guard didn't have to sacrifice his life, he only had to position the PWC to block the Jackal's view. If he had just stopped, UDC could have taken cover behind the vessel. Given that the Jackal had already shot the guard on the other PWC that approached, taking off toward him was a bigger risk to the guard's life.
Fest was a politician aiming to be the next Chancellor. He'd be making public appearances, holding press conferences, and giving interviews on TV. If nothing else, he'd be leaving and returning from his home and his office.
Watching UDC swim wouldn't tell the Jackal how long UDC could hold his breath or how far he'd be able to swim underwater in that time. UDC was also swimming off his private island with a 2 mile exclusion zone, so it wouldn't be easy for an outsider to watch him.
The police do provide protection when someone is a murder target. That's why all the police were around when the family left for the funeral. Elias still had to act as if he was a potential target, even if he didn't think he was, or else the police would become suspicious of him.
Worry that Stoke might describe him would be a very good reason for helping Stoke evade capture. If the Jackal was hoping that the MI6 agents would kill Stoke, he obviously lost that bet. He gambled again by getting close enough to kill Stoke, almost getting killed himself and allowing the agents to see his face, which defeated the purpose of killing Stoke anyway.
The Jackal could have met with the Cuban and told him he wasn't interested. Or, he could have told Alvaro to set up the meeting for the following week, giving him time to come up with a plan. What will the Cuban's gang associates think when their leader gets killed at a meeting where the guy he was supposed to meet didn't show up? They might attempt revenge the very next day, kidnapping or killing Nuria and Carlito. So, killing the Cuban just before leaving town was another huge gamble, and there was no reason to kill him anyway.
Was it satisfying as a mystery, with clues pointing to the culprit and everything wrapping up logically in the end?
Nah, I just like to read these forums before watching a good movie for the second (or third...) time so I can watch out for details I missed on previous viewings.
Most of the Maplewood family scenes were in the evenings, so I guess Chloe was asleep. Trish was carrying her when she and the boys left the house following Bill's arrest, and she was also mentioned two or three times before that, like when Billy was asking about staying home without a babysitter and Bill asked if he'd be willing to change Chloe's diapers.
She was hoping to get raped so she would "know authenticity".
Any attempt by Benny to blame the murder on his parents would fall apart pretty quickly, and I think Benny was smart enough to know that. For one thing, his parents were out of town at their weekend place on the farm when the girl disappeared. There's a good chance that the farmer's family or someone else would have seen them there. And then, the discussion between his parents that the police were viewing wouldn't make much sense. Why would they murder a girl in their apartment and only afterward be concerned about Benny's presence? Lastly, the police will certainly canvas the neighborhood for any available security footage or witnesses who saw her going to the building. The livestock gun actually belonged to the farmer. He noticed it missing soon after and would remember that Benny had also been there that weekend filming the pig slaughter.
I think Benny was planning to turn himself in all along. That's why he had his head shaved. He wanted to make himself look tougher in preparation for prison. He was completely caught off guard by his father's decision to dispose of the girl's body.
I don't think Jane had any reason to lie about being pregnant. She'd already told her father that college was a waste of time and she wanted to enter the family business.
Brooks emptied Smith's apartment because he couldn't be sure that Smith didn't have copies of the photos stashed there somewhere, whether printed out or on a memory card. If Brooks killed Smith, the police would eventually search the missing man's apartment. If Smith killed Brooks, Brooks wouldn't want his family being embarrassed by evidence that Smith might decide to turn over to police. Taking absolutely everything was faster than searching everything.
Then you'll be relieved to know that least one person did. When Mr. Smith was in Earl's car and they were about to set off in search of a victim, Earl told him to buckle up, which he did.