Post 3
In the present Richie says he's found a school called St. Simon's on
holy ground that will take Mikey. Mikey doesn't want to go until
Duncan bribes him with a trip to a switching yard on the way.
Tyler King shows up at the switching yard, and Richie shepherds Mikey
away while Duncan fights King for a final time. King obviously
admires Duncan's fighting abilities. He says "I think you should give
me the guy with the missing hard drive, and then we could go do
lunch." "Sorry," says Duncan.
After Duncan takes King's head, he discovers two dead cops and comes
to the conclusion that Mikey is responsible. When he catches up to
Richie and Mikey, he tells Richie that Mikey can't go to St. Simon's--
not after he's killed cops. Finally, Mikey tells Duncan what happened
to his previous caretakers--that an Immortal (Tyler King) took Alan's
head and that he'd made Alan's mortal wife, Helen, "quiet". Duncan
says that Richie can't hide Mikey and he can't stay in a jail cell
forever. Richie responds that he'll find a place far away. "Alan and
Helen tried that," Duncan points out. Richie realizes that Mikey has
come to the end of the road with only one solution to his
difficulties, the tried and true one of the Game. Duncan says " I'll
do it," but Richie says Mikey is his responsibility and takes him into
the nearby train tunnel where Mikey himself decides to be beheaded by
an oncoming train.
Later Richie comes to Duncan's fixer upper. Duncan is working on the
house . Richie offers to help. Duncan asks if he wants to talk about
Mikey. "What's to say?" says Richie. They hear a train whistle in
the distance.
Questions For Further Study
1) Why do you think Duncan bought the fixer upper house? Did he
intend to live in it?
2)Why did Duncan ask Richie's opinion of the house? Did he think that
Richie would be living there?
3)Is Duncan gratified when Richie says that Duncan is his best
friend? How does Duncan feel about Richie at this point?
4)Duncan must be aware that Richie learned to help the helpless from
Duncan's example. Is he glad that Richie is following his example, or
is he concerned about Richie's judgment?
5)We learn from the Watcher CD that Chaske, the Indian in the 1868
flashback in this episode, was the brother of Little Deer's first
husband Makina. It's likely that Duncan would never have met Little
Deer or her son Kahani if he hadn't tried to help Chaske. Does Duncan
realize this in the present? Does he wish that he had never
encountered Chaske, or would he feel poorer for never having known
Little Deer, Kahani and all the Lakota in that village?
6)Why didn't Duncan realize that he couldn't simply take Chaske to a
doctor and then leave town? Wasn't he aware of the Indian War and the
bitter feelings of the white settlers toward Indians?
7)Could Duncan have done anything differently that would have allowed
Chaske to get out of town alive?
8)In the present Duncan tells Richie that he thinks there's some sort
of plan for the universe. Is this a statement of support for any
particular religion, or just a general belief that there a presence of
the divine?
9)How did Duncan know that Mikey had done the killing when he saw the
two dead cops?
10) Would Duncan think that Mikey's death was more or less preventable
than Chaske's? Which of these tragedies would bother Duncan more?
11)Was Duncan aware that Mikey chose to be beheaded by a train? What
would Duncan have thought of that?
12)If Richie had wanted to talk about his feelings about Mikey's
death, what would Duncan have said to him?
This is my last lecture on "The Innocent". Next time I'll be posting
my first lecture on "Leader of the Pack" after I've had the chance to
view the episode and take notes on it.
Professor Shomeret
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