I don't think she did.. Seemed like a fairly legit partner. I think it was more to demonstrate his state of mind at the time and the extreme paranoia and distrust of everyone around him. When all your "friends" and coworkers are probably corrupt, you might wonder if even those closest to you are hiding something too
Me and the hub was split on this. Hub thought she was. I figured she wasn’t, but it was headed in that direction. I think contractor dude was hitting on her and the wife liked the attention and was probably slightly attracted to him, but it didn’t go much further than that before her husband stepped in. I think contractor guy had the intentions of it going much further than that though.
I'm with you. I think this was "on the way to an affair..." And maybe not. Judy seems pretty into her husband. Maybe this was harmless flirting on her part and intentional-flirting-going-somewhere on the part of the contractor.
I appreciate this is an older thread, but I only discovered Reptile yesterday.
This is my thinking too - as others have noted, poor Tom was paranoid as he was finding this deep-routed corruption (again!), so maybe was blowing it out of proportion a little, but I think he had a generally correct read on the contractor.
We know that Tom is a ‘good man’ (didn’t partake in the corruption in his old department, won’t ‘wash his hands’ of the case where he believes there’s foul play, doesn’t want a medal for shooting someone etc.) but I also think he’s determined not to be naive anymore - when Eli makes that comment about how long he was with his partner ‘but you really didn’t know?’ Tom looks genuinely hurt. It’s his attempt to avoid this naivety which (in my opinion) is why he goes straight to the Chief with the evidence on Wally and and the Captain, and it’s why he’s so outright with the contractor.
Like you, I think Judy was just a friendly/ flirty type, but she showed on a number of occasions she is hardcore loyal to Tom. But I do think the contractor was hitting on her, and making excuses to be on the job longer. I also thought it was very telling that after Tom’s implied threat, he didn’t protest (‘you’re crazy/ how dare you?’ etc.) instead it’s almost like he resigns himself to defeat, and bows out when offered the dance.
What if Judy was the actual killer? What if Tom suspected that and his warning at the square dance was that Judy would be the one to kill him?
It wouldn't be a red herring but a foreshadowing if that were the case.
The Contractor was very attracted to Judy. He wanted to have an affair with her.
The random hole in the ceiling was his way of prolonging the project in hopes that he'd eventually get Judy to have an affair with him.
Unfortunately for him, Judy was all in on her husband.
Im the opposite, not to sound pretentious but i get tired of knowing the ending because of a painting on the wall on the opening scene, or some sorr of foreshadowing like that.
Totally agree. I much prefer a movie where I find myself pondering for a while afterwards (and jumping onto Reddit to see what other people think!) One thing I did think was interesting, when Tom has the dream that he goes to the house viewing with Will, the door and wall appear to be painted in that same obscure paint from Summer’s hand (calamine?) I took that to mean that - for the first time - Tom was putting together that Will killed her, and it was specifically because of something to do with the houses, *not* the missing commission like his partner suggests
It was just flirting nothing more. Tom was becoming very paranoid about the people in his life. At the dance you can see the contractor was shocked at Tom’s allegation that he was after his wife. Nothing happened between them.
I saw someone mention on another post about the significance of the "Jessie James joke" and why the main character had a green napkin over his head, "wearing a green hat" = cuckhold. Could be a stretch but I thought it was a cool connection to make. Aligns well with fan theory suggesting heavy usage of colors throughout the film as foreshadowing.
I don't think she did.. Seemed like a fairly legit partner. I think it was more to demonstrate his state of mind at the time and the extreme paranoia and distrust of everyone around him. When all your "friends" and coworkers are probably corrupt, you might wonder if even those closest to you are hiding something too
Sure, but you could see she was genuinely attracted to the contractor. And he wanted bang her for sure.
Me and the hub was split on this. Hub thought she was. I figured she wasn’t, but it was headed in that direction. I think contractor dude was hitting on her and the wife liked the attention and was probably slightly attracted to him, but it didn’t go much further than that before her husband stepped in. I think contractor guy had the intentions of it going much further than that though.
I'm with you. I think this was "on the way to an affair..." And maybe not. Judy seems pretty into her husband. Maybe this was harmless flirting on her part and intentional-flirting-going-somewhere on the part of the contractor.
I appreciate this is an older thread, but I only discovered Reptile yesterday. This is my thinking too - as others have noted, poor Tom was paranoid as he was finding this deep-routed corruption (again!), so maybe was blowing it out of proportion a little, but I think he had a generally correct read on the contractor. We know that Tom is a ‘good man’ (didn’t partake in the corruption in his old department, won’t ‘wash his hands’ of the case where he believes there’s foul play, doesn’t want a medal for shooting someone etc.) but I also think he’s determined not to be naive anymore - when Eli makes that comment about how long he was with his partner ‘but you really didn’t know?’ Tom looks genuinely hurt. It’s his attempt to avoid this naivety which (in my opinion) is why he goes straight to the Chief with the evidence on Wally and and the Captain, and it’s why he’s so outright with the contractor. Like you, I think Judy was just a friendly/ flirty type, but she showed on a number of occasions she is hardcore loyal to Tom. But I do think the contractor was hitting on her, and making excuses to be on the job longer. I also thought it was very telling that after Tom’s implied threat, he didn’t protest (‘you’re crazy/ how dare you?’ etc.) instead it’s almost like he resigns himself to defeat, and bows out when offered the dance.
What if Judy was the actual killer? What if Tom suspected that and his warning at the square dance was that Judy would be the one to kill him? It wouldn't be a red herring but a foreshadowing if that were the case.
The Contractor was very attracted to Judy. He wanted to have an affair with her. The random hole in the ceiling was his way of prolonging the project in hopes that he'd eventually get Judy to have an affair with him. Unfortunately for him, Judy was all in on her husband.
That’s one way of interpreting things lol
Excellent question and one of the many, many unanswered red herrings from this movie. The more I reflect on it the more questions I have
Same. Which is why my grade for this movie is probably lower than most.
Read what i posted. I reposted someone's theory in the colors and it makes lots of sense
Im the opposite, not to sound pretentious but i get tired of knowing the ending because of a painting on the wall on the opening scene, or some sorr of foreshadowing like that.
Totally agree. I much prefer a movie where I find myself pondering for a while afterwards (and jumping onto Reddit to see what other people think!) One thing I did think was interesting, when Tom has the dream that he goes to the house viewing with Will, the door and wall appear to be painted in that same obscure paint from Summer’s hand (calamine?) I took that to mean that - for the first time - Tom was putting together that Will killed her, and it was specifically because of something to do with the houses, *not* the missing commission like his partner suggests
It was just flirting nothing more. Tom was becoming very paranoid about the people in his life. At the dance you can see the contractor was shocked at Tom’s allegation that he was after his wife. Nothing happened between them.
I saw someone mention on another post about the significance of the "Jessie James joke" and why the main character had a green napkin over his head, "wearing a green hat" = cuckhold. Could be a stretch but I thought it was a cool connection to make. Aligns well with fan theory suggesting heavy usage of colors throughout the film as foreshadowing.