Joker Gambit

"What are you up to, Joker?" ~The Batman

I'd argue that the secret to Joker's consistent success vs the "World's Greatest Detective" (Depending on the writer) was his ability to appear random, or impulsively make decisions on the fly (Not unlike feral Wolverine vs an opponent that tele/empathically anticipated his moves.) So, I'd define the Joker Gambit as such:

Any plan, or system that is complex enough with enough red herrings to appear indistinguishable from complete chaos. When he does have a plan (Instead of being his usual random chaotic evil psychopath) even the reader can't quite tell if he's just being random, or executing a complex multilevel plot that's indistinguishable from chaos. The Fridge Brilliance is it doesn't matter if it's intentional on his part, or just written that way. Basically, throwing in the entire dicebag to cover up the actual plot, and motives. It looks like an Indy Ploy, but is it?

Compare/contrast with the Bat-gambit, as a foil for it. Bats can reasonably expect the Joker to do something random when pressed, but that doesn't actually help him anticipate/manipulate his next move. For example, you can depend on Mr. J to break out of Archam, because the vast majority of his stories start out that way. However, WHEN is he going to do this, how, and to what end? Even TGDBM doesn't know, because it's at least superficially random. It could be April Fools, the day before, knowing it's expected, then take the day off, and start his rampage on April 12th after the police go "Whew" and relax a little.

A possible side effect of Joker Gambits is the hero is so busy putting out fires, and following false leads he can't interfere with the core of The Plan. Contrast with Xanatos Gambits/Speed Chess, where that's Part of the plan. Essentially where the Random, and/or "Random" elements make The Plan actually doable, by keeping The Profiler busy.

Lots of examples in Criminal Minds. For instance, any time they can't use Victimology, or Geographic Profiling because they're (Often literally) all over the map. In these cases, it's invoked by the writers, because the Un-sub actually is too random to predict. Therefore, Profiling is actually more effective against organized pathologically consistent criminals than disorganized psychos.

"Normal" is the perfect example, because Norman drives around until some random lady in a nice car pisses him off, and it's not until Reid identifies his preferred corridor that they can narrow it down. They still are basically incapable of getting ahead of him until Villain Decay starts to set in, and they can lock him into a BSOD with the realization that he's actually a Family Annihilator.

Further examples shouldn't require that it's intentional, only that there is a The Plan, and any effort to predict it is foiled by the seeming randomness and/or Red Herrings (As part of The Plan.) Obfuscating irrationality, possibly with shades of Refuge in Audacity. Also doesn't depend on the Gambiteer doing it intentionally, if The Plan goes awry, but still succeeds, or almost succeeds long after it should have by the random element, or ability to shift to Speed Chess better than the opposition. Another possibility would be setting up the Rational Adversary for a random situation to counter his rationality.

The primary defining feature is the Random Factor as part of the plan, or a possible part of The Plan. So, The Profiler (And reader trying to anticipate the ending) can't know whether it's random, a red herring, part of The Plan, or some combination of the three, intentional or not! (On the character, or writers' part.)

The Batman has done this numerous times against the Riddler, Tempus Fugit, and other OCD villains when the Bat-Gambit didn't work. So, pull out the Bat-Monkeywrench, or play The Joker Card! (TGDBM has a Joker Card on his Utility Belt when the vilain of the week can't be countered any other way, it's of course useless against the Joker.) An excellent example is throwing a bag of dollar coins at 2-Face while his is in the air. Topping his yes/no random element with an even more random element.

edited 10th Jun '14 11:22:59 AM by Psiberzerker

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