Post 3
Cord confronts Duncan in the dojo. Duncan says to Cord that Joe feels
he owes Cord. Cord replies, "Good old, boyscout. He does." Duncan
says they could just away then. Cord says he'd gone to a great deal
of trouble to flush out Charlie. Duncan says that Charlie doesn't
know what Cord is, and is therefore no threat to Cord. Cord says that
Charlie is like them. He'd just keep coming. Then Cord draws his
sword and says "en garde". They fight. Cord slaps Duncan on the face
with the flat of his sword at one point. He uses unorthodox tactics.
Eventually, Duncan defeats Cord, but lets Cord live. "Joe Dawson just
saved your life, so you're even," Duncan tells Cord. He adds that
he'll continue to spare Cord's life so long as he stays away from
Charlie. "For the boyscout," says Cord with a laugh and leaves.
Cord is wating outside Joe's when Charlie emerges. "Everybody comes
to Joe's," Cord says in an amused tone. "Charlie, come and play,"
Cord challenges. Charlie grins ferally and come after Cord. Cord
says "You're a good soldier and a brother and I don't like to kill
brothers." "Kiss my black ass, man," says Charlie. They start
fighting with knives. Cord pretends to be impressed with Charlie's
abilities. "Charlie, that was nifty. Did MacLeod teach you that?" he
asks in a patronizing tone. "Please entertain me for a while." They
fight some more until Cord disarms and stabs Charlie. "Say goodbye to
MacLeod for me, and say hello to Mara," Cord says. Then he tosses the
dying Charlie off the roof where they were fighting. He watches
Charlie land and says "That must have hurt."
After Charlie's death, Duncan gets the location of the weekend warrior
camp from Joe and goes after Cord. When Duncan finds Cord there, he
says "You should have killed me, MacLeod." "It's not too late," says
Duncan. At the beginning of their final duel, Cord wounds Duncan
superficially. "It's not so bad," Duncan comments. "I'm not done
yet," Cord replies in a self-satisfied tone. They continue to fight.
Duncan leads Cord away to more open ground. "Search and destroy,
little s****," says Cord. When Duncan defeats Cord again, Cord says
"Outstanding!" in admiration of Duncan's abilities. Duncan says "I'm
not done yet," and takes Cord's head.
Questions For Further Study
1) Do you think the Rolex watch that Cord offers the Vietnamese woman
in the flashback really fell off a truck, or did Cord take it from a
dead American? If Cord looted a dead American body, what would this
tell us about Cord?
2)The Cord in the Vietnamese flashback is a ruthless killer, but he is
very loyal to the men under his command. Do you respect this Cord?
Do you see signs of the Cord who appears later?
3)The Cord we see in the scenes that take place after Vietnam is only
concerned with his own self-interest. When Cord rescued Joe, he had
no idea whether Joe would survive to return the favor. Was rescuing
Joe the only unselfish act Cord ever performed, or did Cord change for
the worse over time? What could have changed Cord?
4)In the Balkans flashback, why did Cord supply Mara and Charlie with
defective weapons? Did Cord routinely do this, was he stuck with a
defective ****pment that he needed to unload or was Cord bribed by an
officer in the army of the dictator that Charlie and Mara were
fighting? What do you think is most likely?
5) Did Cord lie about the pistol that Mara was holding, disarm her
and then kill her with it, or did he draw his own pistol?
6)In the weekend warrior camp, Cord's opponents are fighting under a
Confederate flag. Did Cord see himself as fighting against slavery in
that context? Was Cord ever a slave, or was he born free? We know from
the Watcher CD that he fought in the American Civil War. Did Cord
flash back to his Civil War experiences when he fought at the weekend
warrior camp?
7)Cord speaks of "owning Joe's ass". Does Cord have any concept of a
relation****p between equals, or is the world a battleground with an
all pervasive military hierarchy for Cord?
8)Why does Cord sense that Charlie is the type who would just keep on
coming after him when Duncan who supposedly knows Charlie better,
doesn't realize this?
9)Cord tells Duncan "en garde". Do you think Cord studied the French
style of fencing, or does he just want to give Duncan the impression
that he did in order to mislead Duncan about his fighting style?
10)Was Cord sincere when he says to Charlie "I don't like to kill
brothers" or was he just trying to catch Charlie off guard? Did Cord
ever feel a sense of solidarity with African American mortals?
11)Cord says to Duncan "search and destroy, little s****". Why would
he call Duncan a s****?
Cord does indeed have a history, and he may be a more complex
character than he appears to be.
Next time I hope to post about Ian Bancroft in this episode.
Professor Shomeret
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