History Fridge / KnivesOut

** She does say "that's excellent news" on the phone with the doctor, though...
** She actually says "that's great news", which to the doctor could sound like "that's grave news". This is further helped by her pronunciation being 'grey news', suggesting she could be cleverly relying on the doctor to interpret this from context as 'grave', and Ransom to interpret it as 'great'.

** Not to mention, how painful that must be in immediate contrast to her trusting relationship with her own parent, Harlan, demonstrated by his final note to her.

* Ransom is the only family member that Great-Nana addresses by name - and in private conversation, Harlan confessed to Marta that he and Ransom are alike in many ways. Perhaps implying that she and he have bonded because Ransom also reminds her of Harlan..

* Ransom doesn't seem to get along with ''any'' of his family, including his own parents. He murdered his grandfather for his inheritance; but given that Harlan's estate would have been spread among at least five or six people (two living children, three grandchildren and Joni might have received the share that would have gone to Neil), what happens when his money runs out? Linda may not be self-made, but she ''is'' wealthy in her own right - and given Richard signed a pre-nup her entire estate would go to Ransom. If he'd gotten away with murdering a relative for the inheritance once, what would stop him from ''doing it again''?

* Richard quotes "Immigrants, we get the job done." and mentions seeing ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'' at the Public, even though the Thrombeys are very xenophobic and will disparage immigrants and praise their work ethics in the same breath. It makes them come off as wealthy clueless liberals and/or tone deaf conservatives. Additionally, the Public Theater was where ''Hamilton'' premiered off-Broadway before moving onto the Richard Rodgers Theater on Broadway, the center and pinnacle of the English-speaking theatre world. Even though the show was already a smash hit from its premiere and generated incredible word-of-mouth marketing, Richard's bragging makes him sound like he's saying he liked ''Hamilton'' before it was cool, adding to the effect of him quoting one of the most popular lines from the show (that gets wild applause at every performance) without ''truly'' agreeing with it. Alternatively, he interprets the line differently - because immigrants have such great work ethics, to the Thrombeys they are only good for being servants who get the job done.

* Several times during the interviews, Blanc hits a key on the piano he's sitting next to for seemingly no reason. Each time he does so, the detective asks the person what time he or she arrives at the party. As confirmed by WordOfGod, this is Blanc's pre-arranged prompt for the detective to ask the question.

* Check out the poster on the main page. Everyone's wearing vivid colors, like they're characters from ''Cluedo''.

* An early indicator that Ransom hired Benoit Blanc: the two men have never met, and yet on their first meeting Benoit is hardly able to get two words out before Ransom is making cutting remarks about his accent. Almost as though he'd done his research beforehand?

* During Harlan's Go game with Marta, there's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it shot where Harlan, playing black, places a black stone in the middle of a diamond formation of black stones. This is a serious mistake because in Go, you're trying to ''create'' empty spaces surrounded by your own stones, or force the other player to fill in spaces they don't want to fill in. Filling in your own spaces, unforced, is never a good move. The fridge brilliance comes when you realize that he made that mistake because he was playing a fast game, without enough time to think his moves through thoroughly. Just as he also made a basic mistake in his plan to help Marta establish an alibi for the time of his death. He was so focused on the layout of this house, the location of the security cameras, and other kinds of physical evidence, that he never considered that a laboratory analysis of his blood would clearly show the overdose, immediately pinning responsibility on Marta despite his best attempts to help her cover it up. It might seem strange for a mystery author to forget that autopsies exist, but he thought he had just minutes to live and was therefore rushing to put together his plan, and making mistakes because of rushing things.

* Walt Thrombey gives the impression of a kindly older man with a cane who has CreativeSterility; doesn't write his own stories but wants to make film adaptations of his father's books because "that's where the real money is," but when his wealth is threatened he proves to be just as greedy and vicious as his family. Walt Disney famously cultivated a kindly persona, used a cane later in life, and built his career on making film adaptions to pre-existing stories, which the Disney Company is famous for still doing today. While Walt is unlikely to be a direct stab against Creator/WaltDisney himself, the condemnation he faces in-universe for just wanting to make film adaptations of existing stories and being vicious and money-driven under his kindly persona can be seen as a stealth TakeThat against the Disney Company in general.

* When calling Marta on behalf of her family to ask her to renounce the inheritance, Meg uses the claim that it rightfully belongs to the Thrombeys because "we're family". Throughout the film, Meg has been called a "Marxist". Marxism is in fact largely opposed to the concept of hereditary wealth (and certainly to the concept of hereditary wealth in sums of the tens of millions being passed on). It’s precisely because the idea that family members are entitled to a deceased family’s fortune is a tool for enabling the ultra-rich to retain their wealth and maintain existing power structures at the expense of the poor and lower classes. Assuming it is fair to describe Meg as either Marxist or Marxist-leaning (which, given her overall character, seems fair), either Meg doesn't actually know that in which case her understanding of Marxism is superficial, or she does and yet for one reason or another is willing to abandon her ideals when her own interests are at stake. Neither reflects that well on her.

* When Blanc interviews Marta, she tells him about the medications she gave him the night of the party, and tells him the correct doses, which is the only blatant lie she tells amidst a flurry of half-truths. As such, she doesn't vomit until later. Though the initial implication is that she was able to delay her "regurgitive reaction" by telling half-truths, it's possible that she didn't immediately vomit because she subconsciously knew that she had given Harlan the correct doses even though the labels had been switched.

* Ransom doesn't seem to get along with ''any'' of his family, including his own parents. He murdered his grandfather for his inheritance; but given that Harlan's estate would have been spread among at least five or six people (two living children, three grandchildren and Joni might have received the share that would have gone to Neil), what happens when his money runs out? Linda may not be self-made, but she ''is'' wealthy in her own right - and given Richard signed a pre-nup her entire estate would go to Ransom. If he'd gotten away with murdering a relative for the inheritance once, what would stop him from ''doing it again''???

* Richard quotes "Immigrants, we get the job done." and mentions seeing ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'' at the Public, even though the Thrombeys are very xenophobic and will disparage immigrants and praise their work ethics in the same breath. It makes them come off as wealthy clueless liberals and/or tone deaf conservatives. Additionally, the Public Theater was where ''Hamilton'' premiered off-Broadway before moving onto the Richard Rodgers Theater on Broadway, the center and pinnacle of the English-speaking theatre world. Even though the show was already a smash hit from its premiere and generated incredible word-of-mouth marketing, Richard's bragging makes him sound like he's saying he liked ''Hamilton'' before it was cool, adding to the effect of him quoting one of the most popular lines from the show (that gets wild applause at every performance) without ''truly'' agreeing with it.

* When Ransom has his VillainousBreakdown at the end where he confesses to having tried to kill Fran, before he realizes that Marta lied about Fran being still alive, we assume the disgusted look on her face is due to her being horrified at what he's saying. In fact the only reason she looks that way is that she's trying desperately to hold in her vomit for just long enough for him to implicate himself.

* Harlan mentions that Ranson can not tell a real knife from a fake one, [[{{Foreshadowing}} which becomes important much later on]]. But Marta is metaphorically shown to be able to. When she administers the correct medication, even when the bottles are mislabeled. She knows the deadly medication from the safer one by instinct.

* In Blanc's first interview with Marta he ruthlessly exploits her "regurgitave reaction to mistruthin'". After that, he knows he can ask her outright if she did it or if she knows who does. He never does. After their second interview, in which she gives a highly redacted and evasive account, he declares with a smile "Sounds about right. Thank you Ms Cabrera." ''He's just figured out how she fits in.''

* Why wasn't Fran at Harlan's funeral? It's possible that the family didn't consider her worthy of an invite either.

* While some are quick to point out that there wouldn't have been a suicide to begin with had Harlan allowed Marta to call an ambulance, it doesn't erase the fact that Ransom (or any member of the Thormbey family if they thought like Ransom) could have tried again and most likely ''succeed'' without as many outs as Marta would have gotten.

* When it’s revealed that Marta is Harlan’s sole heir, the family looks like they’re about to physically tear her apart. What would have happened if Blanc and the other detectives weren’t there to get her out safely?

** An even earlier clue is the basic premise of Act 1: the police, even a whole week after Harlan's death, are still working under the presumption of suicide and are initially only humoring Blanc with their redundant suspect interviews. The toxicology and autopsy reports are some of the first ordered and completed after a suspicious death, and there's no way they'd backlog the examination of someone that rich with such a demanding and influencial family. If Harlan had really OD'd, their investigation would already have found the lethal dosage of morphine and Marta, as Harlan's nurse, would already be the prime suspect in a presumed murder case. The fact that she wasn't automatically gives away that something shadier is going on and brings Marta's perception of events into question.

* Harlan's insistence on creating an entire plot so that Marta would not fall under any blame or suspicion for his death makes a lot more sense when we see how the family reacts to Marta being the recipient to all of Harlan's estate. He had just recently changed his will and had yet to reveal it to his family (except with Ransom). It's likely that he intended to carefully break it to them later on -- regardless of whether or not they ''like'' the news, at least he'd have the final word on it, and he probably counted on having enough time for the family to get over the news and to support Marta against their potential ire. However, come the night of his death: he and Marta thinks he just overdosed on morphine at Marta's hands, and his mind has already jumped two, five, ''ten'' steps ahead on what could happen to Marta if it got out: we know that he wants to protect Marta because of her mother's undocumented immigrant status, but he also knows his will change is going to cause even more trouble for Marta. While still tragic, and while it really could have been avoided if Harlan paused to take stock of his symptoms, his insistence on the misdirection plot is a lot more understandable afterwards -- even moreso when the family actually ''dares'' to entertain the idea of Marta giving up her inheritance under a ''suspected'' manslaughter charge.

* Why did Harlan's family turn out so vicious, entitled, and materialistic despite Harlan emphasize being a [[SelfMadeMan Self-Made Person]]? At first glance, it might seem like Marta is a better person because she's actually working class and unspoiled by money like his rich heirs. But there is another component: Her kindness. She was the only one who could beat Harlan at Go because she was just trying to make a pretty pattern while he played to win, Detective Blanc explicitly states at the end that her kind heart is her greatest strength. Harlan was a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, sure, but he still drilled into his family the value of money and material success (however self-made), rather than personal virtues like kindness, compassion, generosity, and altruism.

* The fact Meg's college tuition expenses are ''$400,000'' and there's no sign she's anywhere close to graduating indicates that she's just as spoiled and selfish as the rest of the family (or that, at the very least, despite appearances she's perfectly willing to enjoy a cushy ride on someone else's dime). While Joni is using Meg's college fees as a method of embezzling from Harlan, the fact that there are two payments being made heavily suggests that Meg's college tuition is still being fully funded. It can also be inferred that Harlan knows or at least suspects / wants to avoid this -- otherwise, why cut Meg off for her mother's misdeed?

* In Blanc's first interview with Marta he ruthlessly exploits her "regurgitave reaction to mistruthin'". After that he knows he can ask her outright if she did it or if she knows who does. He never does. After their second interview, in which she gives a highly redacted and evasive account, he declares with a smile "Sounds about right. Thank you Ms Cabrera." ''He's just figured out how she fits in.''

* While some are quick to point out that there wouldn't have been a suicide to begin with had Harlan allowed Marta to call an ambulance, it doesn't erase the fact that Ransom (or any member the Thormbey family if they thought like Ransom) could have tried again and most likely ''succeed'' without as many outs as Marta would have gotten.

* Harlan put the misdirection plot together rather quickly--probably mostly a combination of his decades of experience as a mystery writer and the adrenaline surge from the situation he's in. But he relays it all to Marta so calmly and fluently, and the plan is so airtight that only a detective looking very closely--which we see nobody but Blanc bothered to do--could bring it down. He knew where the security camera range cut out, he knew that Walt would just impatiently send him back to bed without talking to him (or even taking a closer look) if "he" wandered downstairs, he knew how to get someone into and out of his house without them being seen by the crowd of other people who were there. It may well be the case that he'd thought about something similar before: once his family turned against Marta (which they would have done eventually whether they knew about the will or not--and as soon as he told Ransom, surely Harlan figured the whole family would find out about the will), it was highly likely that they'd come up with some kind of allegation against her, be it abuse or medical errors or whatever, to get her out of the picture. He may well have had a version of this plan on the back burner for awhile, in case something were to happen and he needed to protect Marta from a false accusation of involvement.

* In Blanc's first interview with Marta he ruthlessly exploits her "regurgitave reaction to mistruthin'". After that he knows he can ask her outright if she did it or if she knows who does. He never does. After their second interview, in which she gives a highly redacted and evasive account, he declares with a smile "Sounds aboud right. Thank you Ms Cabrera." ''He's just figured out how she fits in.''