Who is the "Enemy Within"? The Pact Vs Joker Vs Waller Vs Batman? o.O
So I've lost sleep over all these different possibilities that are out there. Right now, I consider everyone except the obvious faces as a suspect.
Let's start with the obvious one.
1. John. John is very very confusing because when you look at him and you consider the significance his character has in entertainment today, you don't feel like the writers would simply downgrade him to being a mentally unstable errand boy. You know it in your gut that they have bigger plans for John and it's evident in the title cards for Ep 4 and 5. He's the obvious name to have taken out The Riddler and no one else is as heavily suspected as John right now. No one even comes close honestly. But again, this doesn't really feel plot twist worthy. Like I said, he's too obvious and they know that. In fact, majority of us have seen this potential "twist" coming and have taken precautions against it by being as kind to John as humanly possible. I don't know. Something just doesn't sit right with John being the "big reveal". It feels too underwhelming to be the case.
2. Waller Waller is shady, which is also obvious. She's aggressive in her job and that's all I thought it was at the time, but when she refused to show up during The Pact's terror attack, it raised an eyebrow. I didn't consider her to be a suspect at first because Avesta looks very "justice-oriented" and seems to respect Waller greatly and vice versa. But her reasoning to not want to "risk her people" seems out of character and I don't really get why I think that. She doesn't follow the book. She apprehends criminals by any means and gets any info she wants by any means. She criticizes Avesta for being too reckless in her pursuit of The Riddler to impress Batman, which is why I don't really get why I feel like her refusal to show up was out of character. But at the same time, it was HER plan and she already knows the kind of destruction The Pact are capable of, so why the sudden cancellation? There's something about her we don't know about, that's all I'm saying.
3. The Pact The Pact are the enemies on the surface, but I wonder about their motives. If I remember, The Riddler had a personal vendetta against Waller but I forget what. Torture I think it was? I don't remember, I'll have to go back and look. But anyways, The Pact are confusing too, but not in terms of being an "inside threat". They're far from that. They're the enemies Telltale wants us to have our focus on. But what is their motive? Why do they need The Riddler's body? What could they possibly do with his corpse? Some crazy part of me thinks that they're not exactly "enemies" but rather extremists that challenge Waller and The Agency because SHE'S the threat we're ignoring. Another idea is that The Pact and Waller are somehow in it together, which would explain why Waller allowed them to take Riddler's body, but that's stretching it to me primarily because Bane and The Riddler had a fine, respectable relationship from the way Bane talked about him and most likely shared his hatred for Waller as a result, along with his personal vendetta as well, whatever that may be.
All that said, John is the most obvious and most natural "inside threat", but I'll be a bit disappointed if this were the case, after the big twist they dropped on my head with Vicki in season 1. I'll only accept this twist if the execution is crazy good.
What do you guys think?
Comments
I think you're way off on what 'The Enemy Within' means. I believe it refers to the darkness inside you or at least something like it. How far you'll go seems to be a big theme this season. So I believe it mostly refers to Bruce but I think it could also refer to John.
This is what losing sleep does to me. Lol, I should have thought of it like that too as it makes a lot of sense as well. Still, these possibilities would make an interesting discussion.
Waller does not want us to know what the Riddler had on the agency, so she had him killed. Im my opinion she is the enemy, not John unless you sleep with his girl.
The Enemy Within probably has more than one meaning and most likely refers to more than one person.
One of those people is obviously Bruce, who made his way inside the pact, he is "the enemy within" in that situation.
Of course, it could mean just that, though if they named the season after this whole situation, it'd imply that Bruce being inside the pact is something that'll last longer and be a bigger deal than what it seems to be presented as so far. So I'd be willing to bet it's more than just Bruce being inside the pact.
I agree with IronWoodLover. The Enemy Within likely has multiple meanings. I'd personally like The Enemy Within still to reference some personal struggles for Bruce while he's within the Pact rather than it simply be referencing his under-cover status. I love a good soul searching story line with blurred lines. Much like AgentZ46, I think it does include how far Bruce and by extension - The Player - is willing to go or how far can you go without becoming lost.
If you'd like to think of the Enemy Within as a person however....
The Enemy Within could also be referencing whoever killed The Riddler -- as this would be a 'traitor' amongst the Pact, as not all seem to have agreed upon his recent demotion. I do still believe it was a member of the Pact that killed him, although someone under Waller's orders would be possible I suppose. I'd just be disappointed that The Agency would be capable of that kind of sloppy subterfuge. It wouldn't be necessary to kill the Riddler to rope Bruce Wayne in -- all she really needed was his identity. It's not as if she couldn't have been just as convincing to say she couldn't trust the Riddler to be her inside man on this.
The other easy possibilities could be John or not yet suggested :: Harley. A lure of this season is developing the Joker, and therefore becoming an unwitting participant in developing the enemy within an unstable, co-dependent man. Harley is the other big factor in developing that enemy, and hopefully is more of a mastermind worthy of the role reversal in the coming episodes.
I also think it was Harley who killed the Riddler. Partly I think this because of the cocktail of drugs that was in the dart which killed Riddler. She has a degree in psychiatry and would have had medical training and probably know about drugs, and have had access to some.
I think Waller could be an enemy within, too, if she influences Bruce to be more brutal in how he conducts himself. On the one hand, we have Gordon who always attempts to influence Bats to use the least amount of violence. On the other, Waller has no patience for that approach and wants to see him beat the crap out of Eli to get information.
There are many possibilities for who "the enemy within" might be.
That doesn't match up though. When they retrieved the Riddler's body, she criticizes him for allowing himself to die and that they needed him for the "next stage" whatever that is. I suppose it could be an act on her part, but it doesn't add up to me. Of course, whatever the next stage is, it seems like he's useful, dead or alive.
Waller's team came up with a counter-agent to Bane's dose. It's not far-fetched to think that the team would be able to come up with a concoction suitable for murder. The only thing stopping this theory from being legitimate to me is Waller's use for the Riddler alive. Then again, I could easily see this being a way for Waller to get Gordon and the GCPD out of power by sabotaging their success while crafting a suitable mask. Same for the Harley theory.
That is the theme of this season. Everyone wears a mask. Literally and figuratively.
I can honestly say I have no idea where this season is going simply because of that theme.
Pretty sure it means that we will do some shady shit for the remaining of the season
It should be interesting, I noticed in John Doe's house there is a picture of Riddler with an arrow through his neck. Regardless of what happens I think we are going to be in for a lot of double-crossing in these last few episodes.
I've been asking that question the whole season.
Personally, I think it's got to do with at least one of two things.
Do we trust John when he denies killing Riddler?
John killing Riddler is too obvious to be believed. I don't think Telltale would do that.
There is obviously a twist somewhere, my money is on Waller. She has the means and the motive, not to mention she never was subtle as to how far she is willing to go to do what she feels is right.
Riddler had dirt on the Agency, once Waller knew about Bruce being Batman Nygma was no longer needed, thus she had him executed.
The remaining element is who did it. The silhouette definitely looks like John, but surely it's someone else. Maybe Deadshot, maybe a random assassin. Hopefully we get some answers in episode 3.
I assume she will turn on us at some point, maybe even reveal Batman's identity.
You're probably right, in that it being John is too obvious.
If Waller does end up revealing our identity to the world, all bets are off. That's some huge motivation for the player to completely dismantle The Agency.
I think the person who killed Riddler is Alfred. I know it sounds far-fetched, but I think it wil an awesome plottwist no one would be expecting. We've already seen Alfred dealing with trauma in episode 1 and 2.
Based on the recent trailer (so this may be debunked in a few days when we get the full release), maybe "The Enemy Within" could be spun as John's ordeal. He seems to have some multiple personality disorder, hidden emotions or something similar to that... That would be his "Enemy Within".
I bet by the end of this season someone will be able to spin this as "everyone has an enemy within" or something... just a thought.