Claudia wrote
: Is that right?
: > >since it could have been : > >caused by scrambled brain impulses caused by the malfunction.
: No. It's a deliberate act. The malfunction didn't "scramble his brain : impulses," it removed his restraints.
That's your interpetation.
Not just mine, and it's one that fits all the facts. Look at the script too-- Avon says the Limiter is "feeding scrambled impulses into his brain." It's not the *brain's* impulses that are scrambled. It's the limiter's.
The text doesn't give us to believe that
we're seeing the true Gan. I'd grudgingly allow that it leaves the possibility open,
Why grudgingly?
but on the other hand we have:
AVON: It's not my field, but if I am right, then the limiter is feeding scrambled impulses into his brain.
which pretty directly contradicts you.
No it doesn't, see above.
The other couple times Avon
says "if I'm right", he is. ;-)
He also says, "It's not my field". If the author didn't want to generate doubt then there would have been no qualification. Later Professor Kayn, an expert (one of the exclusive specialists to whom Avon defers earlier in the episode, saying that they're the ones who know about this), says regarding Gan:
KAYN: Farron is a bureaucratic fool. I'm talking about stability, Renor, stability. With no stability there is no progress. RENOR: Progress to what? Brain implantation? KAYN: A dangerous psychopath? Certainly. Or would you prefer he'd been executed?
OTOH, I agree with you regarding Jenna and the manacles.
But not with your tone.
It took me two hours to answer that letter. If you think my tone was off then that's why. Anyway, it takes two to tango. If people are going to send a letter which is sharp, they shouldn't get all moral when they get a reply which is somehow less than friendly.
Jenny
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--- Jenny wrote:
: No. It's a deliberate act. The malfunction
didn't "scramble his brain
: impulses," it removed his restraints.
That's your interpetation.
Not just mine, and it's one that fits all the facts. Look at the script too-- Avon says the Limiter is "feeding scrambled impulses into his brain." It's not the *brain's* impulses that are scrambled. It's the limiter's.
I have to say, given the half a dozen or so times in the last couple of years that I've watched "Breakdown" (how sad is that !) That the impression I got from the script is that Gan's homicidal mania is caused by the scrambled impulses caused by the limiter. These impulses are removed by Kayn and hey presto Gan returns to normal. This is entirely feasible, people who suffer severe head injuries can become aggressive and violent afterwards. This happened to a friend of mine a few years ago after he was involved in a car accident. He is now pretty much back to normal.
He also says, "It's not my field". If the author didn't want to generate doubt then there would have been no qualification. Later Professor Kayn, an expert (one of the exclusive specialists to whom Avon defers earlier in the episode, saying that they're the ones who know about this), says regarding Gan:
I think the author may be establishing the need to urgently find a neuro-surgeon. Avon's competency with a vor-ray scan or what ever it was, does not equate to an ability to perform complicated brain surgery. Also the remark is in character. "it's not my field" is intellectual speak for "Whilst I have not studied the subject formally, I'm probably still right". (in Avon's case we can discount the probably). Nowhere do Kayn or Renor suggest that Avon's diagnosis is incorrect.
KAYN: Farron is a bureaucratic fool. I'm talking about stability, Renor, stability. With no stability there is no progress. RENOR: Progress to what? Brain implantation? KAYN: A dangerous psychopath? Certainly. Or would you prefer he'd been executed?
Kayn also describes the crew as muderers, maniacs and mindless destroyers. This is really rather inaccurate, even in Season 4. The expression may be an indicator of Kayn's political sympathies rather than a considered diagnosis.
OTOH, I agree with you regarding Jenna and the
manacles.
But not with your tone.
It took me two hours to answer that letter. If you think my tone was off then that's why. Anyway, it takes two to tango. If people are going to send a letter which is sharp, they shouldn't get all moral when they get a reply which is somehow less than friendly.
It's probably unwise of me to comment on the tone of the debate. Suffice it to say that there is no reason that we cannot fundamentally disagree in our interpretation of the show without abandoning the civilities of debate.
Stephen.
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On 11 May 2001 as I do recall, Stephen Date wrote:
--- Jenny wrote:
Avon says the Limiter is "feeding scrambled impulses into [Gan's] brain."
It's not the *brain's* impulses that are scrambled. It's the limiter's.
I have to say, given the half a dozen or so times in the last couple of years that I've watched "Breakdown" (how sad is that !) That the impression I got from the script is that Gan's homicidal mania is caused by the scrambled impulses caused by the limiter. These impulses are removed by Kayn and hey presto Gan returns to normal.
Given that the purpose of the limiter is to prevent the implantee from killing, and that it apparently functions by inducing some kind of mental override when it comes to the actual deadly impulse, it always seemed natural to me that when it malfunctioned it was those precise impulses previously tampered with that were being affected. In other words, that a device intended to stop a man from being able to bring himself to kill at all, even in self-defence, instead made him *want* to kill.
Jenny is correct in saying that Gan is not merely lashing out in pain, though I'd guess from his reactions that he *is* probably suffering pain as well; he is clearly homicidal during the limiter malfunction.
-
Harriet Bazley -
Jenny Kaye -
Stephen Date