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Subpages:
The beginning of the end for John Kramer and Jill Tuck.
General:
- John's life was one long nightmare. He was a successful civil engineer, Happily Married to his wife Jill, and the two were expecting a son... Until she suffered a miscarriage during a botched robbery at her clinic (committed by Cecil) and they went through a messy divorce. John's nephew was killed after he was sold a faulty motorcycle by a greedy dealer (Mitch). When John was diagnosed with colon cancer, it metastasized to his brain and could've been caught early had an intern at the hospital (Logan) not accidentally mislabeled his X-ray. He tried chemo and even tried to participate in an experimental drug trial, only to be denied health insurance coverage since it was expensive (William) and his tumor was inoperable. He then managed to secure a place in the experimental treatment, gaining a new lease on life... only to discover that it was a scam (Cecilia). Ultimately, having lost hope, he tried to commit suicide by driving his car off a cliff. To his amazement, he survived, which led him on the path to start testing the fabric of human nature.
- Perhaps what's most depressing isn't just that John faced so many hardships throughout his life. It's that he, originally a very caring philanthropist, had his life screwed over again and again, facing Hope Spot after Hope Spot, growing more dissatisfied, angry, and hopeless about his life and the people around him.
- Amanda's backstory, while much less explored, can count too. She was abused by her father as a child (as she claimed in the original script for Saw III), framed by Eric for a crime she didn't commit, sent to prison where she became addicted to heroin while inside, and was put in the Reverse Bear Trap for being the impetus of the robbery at Jill's recovery clinic where she was accidentally injured by Cecil, resulting in the unborn Gideon dying in her womb. All this before Amanda became a apprentice of Jigsaw.
- It takes a heart of stone not to feel even the least bit sorry for Eric, despite him initially being presented as a corrupt and violent bastard of a cop. After parting ways with Daniel following a heated argument in Saw II, Eric found himself lured into a trap of his own when it was discovered that his son has been kidnapped and forced into a game alongside people who had been previously falsely convicted by him. Eric quickly saw what was at stake and tried to play Jigsaw's game to secure Daniel's freedom, his increasing desperation and fear for his son's safety eventually forcing him to resort to physical violence as Jigsaw refused to budge. Knowing that his son was in grave danger Eric took it upon himself to drive to the nerve gas house with a badly-beaten Jigsaw to rescue him once and for all. Daniel had been removed from the location long before his father’s arrival, however, and Eric had unwittingly led himself into another trap, being abducted by Amanda Young and chained up in the disused and dilapidated bathroom. After brutally bashing his foot in with a toilet bowl lid and then snapping it to set himself free of the chain Eric crawled out of the bathroom fueled by a desire to see his son safe. In spite of this, however, he soon found himself recaptured and was forced to spend six months in solitary confinement. During this period Eric began to suffer from extreme sensory deprivation, his only source of companionship being the rats that lurked in the sewers. Moreover, he was haunted by the last thing he said to Daniel and having never found out if his son made it out alive or not.
- Eric was released six months later as a mere shell of himself, but soon found himself thrust into another game involving his colleague Daniel Rigg. In a desperate bid to end his suffering once and for all Eric attempted to hang himself on countless occasions during his game but to no avail, instead resigning himself to his ultimate fate as he awaited Rigg's arrival. In a tragic turn of events, however, Eric was accidentally killed by Rigg when the latter activated a trap that crushed his head with two giant ice blocks. Barring the question of whether or not Eric ultimately deserved his fate, it's undeniable that it was a horrific and prolonged end to his agony that was made worse by the fact that he never found any closure with Daniel. Furthermore, his death could have been easily avoided if Rigg waited even a second longer to enter the room, as then the timer would have ran out and Art Blank would've been able to trigger the release mechanism with his remote.
Movies:
Saw III:
- The Rack scene. At 24 years old, while driving drunk, Timothy accidentally killed Jeff Denlon's eight year-old son, and was utterly devastated by what he'd done. He was sentenced to only six months in prison, but he still carried the guilt of what happened with him, and it was possibly what drove him to become a medical student. Three years later, Jigsaw kidnaps him and puts him in a game, and asks Jeff if he's willing to help the man responsible for the death of his son. Timothy is condemned to a truly Cruel and Unusual Death where all of his limbs are slowly twisted 360 degrees around, eventually moving up to his neck. It's sickening to watch, as he's able to beg for help and cry out in pain right up until the end. Judge Halden implores Jeff to help, and he just stands there gloating. But eventually it sets in for Jeff exactly what he's doing after Halden is shot while trying to get the key to let Timothy out, and Jeff tries to stop the machine with his bare hands right as it's about to snap Timothy's neck, screaming that he forgives him, but it's too late.
- Amanda’s last words to John are utterly heartbreaking as she tears into him and his philosophy, and although her actions were forced, it’s almost certain her words aren’t.
- Amanda: She hasn't changed because nobody fucking changes. Nobody is reborn. It's all bullshit! It's all a fucking lie! And I am just a pawn in your stupid games.
John: I’ve tried to help you, Amanda.
Amanda: So help me! Fix me! Fix me, you motherfucker! I'm standing right here!
- The look on Amanda's face as she lay on the floor bleeding out at the end of the movie, where her absolute shock and terror is clearly visible. All because Hoffman wanted to take her out of the picture so he could become the new Jigsaw.
- One realizes just how callous Jigsaw is when even after Amanda is shot in the throat, he tells her this was her test, and even when she begs him for some form of support before, he doesn’t care.
- Jeff’s fury doesn’t bring his son back — it robs his daughter of her father and mother in one night after years of neglect, an affair, and divorce.
Saw IV:
- While Kerry’s death in the previous film was already hard to watch, and the reason for it downright cruel, it’s even worse to see her corpse left behind to rot, being eaten by rats. The sight of it makes Riggs so distraught he runs in immediately, and even Hoffman seems disturbed by it.
Saw V:
- Although it may depend on how much sympathy you have for them, since they're both part of a group of five who were involved (in varying degrees, ranging from devising the whole plan, to being the patsy deceived into starting it) in a fire that resulted in the deaths of eight people, Brit and Mallick in Saw V comforting each other before they go into the 10 Pints of Sacrifice is pretty tender. They help each other tie their arms with cloth to cut off circulation, and Mallick fearfully says that he can't do it alone, to Brit which reassures him that that he's not going to. They even hold hands above the box for comfort, and towards the end, you can see Brit with her hand in Mallick's hair. And finally, after they both wake up, she smiles and softly tells them that they won.
- Judging by the look on Brit's face when Mallick angrily asks her if she knew about the eight people living in the warehouse when she decided to have it burned down to take the property, she seems to finally realize the horror of what she's done.Brit: We killed eight people, and stole a property, and nobody cared.
Mallick: Nobody cared? Eight people and their families cared! The feds cared! Look at my fucking arm! I CARED! I CARED!
Brit: But you didn't face justice. None of us did.
Mallick: Why did they all do it? W-was it for money? This was your plan? You were the one behind it? There was eight people still living in that building! YOU HAD TO KNOW THAT! DID YOU KNOW THAT?!
Brit: (looks up from staring at the ground, tears in her eyes)
- Judging by the look on Brit's face when Mallick angrily asks her if she knew about the eight people living in the warehouse when she decided to have it burned down to take the property, she seems to finally realize the horror of what she's done.
Saw VI:
- For one of his tests, William is given a Sadistic Choice: two of his employees are held on platforms with barbed wire nooses around their necks. One is Alan, a healthy young man with no living relatives. The other is Addy, a middle-aged woman with diabetes and many close relatives. He has to let go of one of their ropes to save the other. The longer he waits, the tighter the ropes pull and the closer they both get to the edge. He struggles to hold onto both as long as possible, refusing to let go and screaming at Jigsaw that his company decisions aren't made like this. In the end, he tearfully apologies as he lets go of Alan's rope to save Addy. While William's policy at first paints him as a Corrupt Corporate Executive, he's far from heartless.
- Worse, at the end he's made a genuine Heel–Face Turn after passing his test, making this the first (and debatably only) time Jigsaw's twisted philosophy actually worked. However, he faces one final test, but this time from the wife and son of one of William's deceased clients. They're faced with either pulling a lever that'll impale William with multiple syringes filled with hydrochloric acid, which would kill him in the most inhumane and agonizing way possible, or spare him. William tearfully pleads with them not to, and his sister Pamela in the cage opposite them begs them to have mercy, and the wife goes for the lever but is unable to go through with it. However, her son steps in, claiming that William killed his father, and pulls the lever instead. He then looks on in horror as William is liquified with acid from the inside out.
Saw 3D:
- Before Bobby starts his last test to save his wife, he finally comes clean to her and admits he lied about having survived a trap before. Joyce, heartbroken, betrayed, plus realizing that all the good they've done helping others and encouraging them to live their lives to the fullest was based on deception (and unlike the other victims of Bobby's game, had no clue about any of this), tearfully asks Was It All a Lie? Bobby responds that he never lied about loving her, apologizing for putting her in this mess. But despite his efforts, he fails his test (a trap directly described like the one he lied about surviving) and is Forced to Watch in anguish as she's burned alive.
