Line #6 Theatre/ThinkTwice


1	-> "Incidentally, many good detective stories have the same flaw (which is not a technical flaw)--namely, that the villain initiates the action. (An exception is my play ''Think Twice''.) In a murder mystery, a detective acts only because somebody was murdered; then he must take action to solve the mystery and avenge justice. I personally dislike stories in which the evil side is the motivating factor; but that is predominant in literature today, because of the culture."
2	-->-- '''Ayn Rand'''
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4	In 1939--four years before ''Literature/TheFountainhead'' was published--Creator/AynRand wrote her {{Reconstruction}} of the classic detective story, where her "beef" with the vast majority of murder mysteries, as noted in the quote above, would be dealt with.
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6	In the resulting play, the detective is almost a secondary character, as opposed to the actual hero, and the play's strength comes more from the relationships among the many suspects--with each other, and to the murder victim. ''All'' of the suspects have a viable--and in most cases, ''justifiable''--motive to do in the murder victim, and most of them note that they're grateful to whomever the murderer might be. Various tropes common to MysteryFiction are [[SubvertedTrope subverted]], [[DiscussedTrope discussed]], [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructed]], and [[{{Reconstruction}} reconstructed]]--all with an [[UsefulNotes/{{Objectivism}} Objectivist]] [[AnAesop Aesop]] driving everything. Rand herself was especially proud of the TwistEnding--which, as it stands, is the entire reason for the title, ''Think Twice''.
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8	Sometime during the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, on July 3rd, engineer and humanitarian Walter Breckenridge invites his wife, son, and friends and associates to a lavish house he's recently bought. He will demonstrate his latest invention--a generator of free energy--that night, in a fireworks display. He intends to give the invention--and all its secrets--to the world.
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10	That night, his demonstration is interrupted--and he is found beside the machine, murdered. The next day, DA Greg Hastings and his detectives arrive to answer whodunit and ''why''. His investigation will ''not'' be a typical one, because...aside from Walter's Russian friend Sergei (who may or may not be a [[DirtyCommunists Soviet operative]]), ''no one'' is shedding a tear over the man! Why would the beneficiaries of a humanitarian's generosity wish him dead? And how many secrets does this group have? Think you know the answer to the mystery? ''[[TitleDrop Think Twice]]''.
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12	!!This play provides examples of:
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14	* TheAce: Steve Ingalls runs the laboratories Walter owns, and was responsible for all the inventions credited to Walter. Steve was more-or-less okay with the arrangement (as Walter had good marketing skills), but then Walter announces he will give away all the designs of the generator to "the world". [[spoiler: The fact that this would mean the Soviets could power an unlimited arsenal--and that Walter doesn't care about that--is the last straw for Steve.]]
15	* TheAlcoholic: Harvey, due in part to his wife's death and in part because [[spoiler: Walter took his crippled son away from him, ostensibly to "care for him"...and then refused to give Billy treatment for his legs.]]
16	* AssholeVictim: Walter is a subtler version of this than most. As per most Creator/AynRand villains, he's an altruist--and constantly presumes to run the lives of those close to him, which everyone comes to chafe against. The mystery involves whether or not ''this'' is what led to his murder, or whether someone whacked him for the invention.
17	** Sergei is a ridiculously self-righteous altruist who hates Steve and constantly expresses astonishment (even though it's constantly spelled out by everyone) why any of them would want to kill "their benefactor". As such, his being a ButtMonkey--and eventually [[spoiler: the fall guy for the murder]]--is all what he arguably had coming. Especially since [[spoiler: he's a KGB operative who wanted to use the machine's technology for Soviet weaponry.]]
18	* BatmanGambit: [[spoiler: Turns out Steve concocted an elaborate plan to frame himself, by making the clues pointing to him so ridiculously ''obvious'' that Greg (his FriendOnTheForce) will automatically assume that it all means Steve is innocent.]]
19	* BelligerentSexualTension: Adrienne and Steve.
20	* BetaCouple: It's implied throughout the second act, and especially by the end, that [[spoiler: Helen and Harvey]] are about to begin a relationship.
21	* BettyAndVeronica: Helen and Adrienne for Steve. [[spoiler: Helen eventually makes it a point to step out of the way, telling Steve it wouldn't be honest of him to marry her, as he's truly in love with Adrienne.]]
22	* ButtMonkey: Greg and Steve have a ''lot'' of fun at Sergei's expense.
23	* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Flash, endlessly. The fact that he can get highly opinionated just makes it worse.
24	* DaChief: The detective, Greg Hastings, is the District Attorney.
25	* DeadpanSnarker: Many of the characters at one time or another, but especially Steve, Adrienne, and Greg.
26	* DirtyCommunists: Sergei is suspected to be a Soviet agent, which he denies vehemently in BerserkButton fashion.
27	** ThoseWackyNazis: As the play was originally written in 1939, Sergei's character was a German who might be a Nazi, prior to Rand updating it for the UsefulNotes/ColdWar.
28	* TheDitz: Flash is indicated to be a ridiculously slow-witted dunce...who for some reason was hired by Walter to be Billy's ''tutor''--an example of BlackComedy and, subtly, a demonstration of Walter keeping everyone "down" so they can "rely" on him.
29	* DontYouDarePityMe: One of the many reasons Billy hates Walter. Also, Harvey doesn't want charity from Steve or Helen.
30	* EveryoneIsASuspect: And most of them want to keep it that way.
31	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Hastings points out that Sergei's "foolish" demeanor does ''not'' clear him, as someone in his position might ''pretend'' to be foolish. [[spoiler: Of course, Steve plays the same kind of game by dropping "obvious" clues pointing to him. Hastings, alas, doesn't catch on to this parallel.]]
32	* FramingTheGuiltyParty: [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in an especially unique way: [[spoiler: the ridiculously obvious clues pointing to Steve leads Greg to rule him out, and he orients his case around who would've framed him. Of course, Steve framed ''himself'' so he'd be free of suspicion...and then framed Sergei with much subtler, elaborate clues. As it turns out, Sergei ''did'' try and kill Walter once before, so he ''is'' guilty, sort of.]]
33	* FriendOnTheForce: The detective, District Attorney Greg Hastings, is good friends with Steve.
34	* GenreSavvy: Much of the appeal of Greg Hastings as a detective is his laying out for the other characters various tropes of murder mysteries--such as the fact that he doesn't put much stock in fingerprints on a gun because anyone who's ''seen a movie'' wouldn't leave their prints there! Also, he's quite GenreSavvy about Rand's philosophy--note his remarks about people saying they hate money.
35	** A meta-example: Rand herself noted that someone who's GenreSavvy enough about her philosophy should have a ''pretty'' good idea who the murderer really is--and that, as such, she wouldn't be able to write too many murder mysteries:
36	--> "Do you think that I would ever [[spoiler: give the central action in a story of mine to anyone but the hero?"]]
37	* IAmSpartacus: [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed,]] as no one ''confesses'' to the murder...but many of the suspects do seem to enjoy poking holes in their own alibis, as if to emphasize how glad they are Walter's dead. PlayedForLaughs in BlackComedy fashion, especially when Hastings loses it:
38	--> '''Hastings:''' ''(Leans back in his chair, disgusted)'' Is there anyone here who does ''not'' want to be the murderer?
39	--> '''Flash:''' [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Oh,]] ''[[ComicallyMissingThePoint I]]'' [[ComicallyMissingThePoint don't!]]
40	* TheJeeves: Curtis, the butler. He's pretty much a secondary character, beyond suspicion--and ''remains'' that way; the questioning of him happens off-stage, subtly averting any suspicions that TheButlerDidIt.
41	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Steve acts pretty cold, but turns out he genuinely cares about the other heroic characters--he just respects the rule of DontYouDarePityMe. Par for the course with Ayn Rand's heroes.
42	* LaserGuidedKarma: The last time an attempt was made on Walter's life, it was [[spoiler: Sergei]], who had planned on framing [[spoiler: Steve]]. Here, Walter was murdered by [[spoiler: Steve]]--who then successfully frames [[spoiler: Sergei]].
43	* MacGuffin: The machine [[spoiler: Steve invented and Walter marketed]].
44	* PetTheDog: Helen has many throughout to emphasize that, though she was married to Walter, she is ''nothing'' like him. She hates what he's done to everyone as much as anyone, and following his death, she offers to sponsor Tony's pianist career and Billy's treatment--and she arranges to [[spoiler: give back legal guardianship of Billy to Harvey.]]
45	* SpiritedYoungLady: Helen is classically feminine and quite dignified and elegant, but chafes against her husband buying the lavish "classic" house behind her back, as she wanted a modernistic home she'd have a hand in designing herself. It's also indicated that she will manage her husband's fortune--and put it to much more noble (and less "altruistic") use.
46	* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''Literature/MurderOnTheOrientExpress'', with nearly all the suspects having understandable axes to grind against the murder victim--and the detective's GenreSavvy line about fingerprints.
47	* SympatheticInspectorAntagonist: True to form, with Rand's love of GoodVersusGood, Greg Hastings can easily come across this way. It's an unspoken given that, as nearly everyone is grateful that Walter is dead, they're sort-of hoping that the murder will be unsolved. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by Hastings himself:
48	--> "God help us when people begin protecting each other! When they start that--I'm through."
49	* SympatheticMurderer: As noted, most of the characters are verbally grateful to whomever the murderer might be.
50	* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Adrienne comes off as TheLadette or a TomboyWithAGirlyStreak, and she and Helen have this dynamic.
51	* TwistEnding: [[spoiler: Steve Ingalls, who throughout the play has been established to have been framed for the killing through "obvious" clues, actually ''was the killer''! He framed himself, in order to clear his name early on!]]
52	* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Walter, which is why it's such a surprise to Hastings that all his "beneficiaries" ''hated'' him.
53	* WhoMurderedTheAsshole
54	* WrongGenreSavvy: [[spoiler: A central assumption in Greg's investigation is that someone framed Steve, because the clues are too ridiculously obvious--and if Steve ''were'' to be the murderer, he'd have been much more clever and ''clean'' about it. It never occurs to him that ''that's precisely the point''--that Steve's using reverse psychology.]]

Context Theatre / ThinkTwice