I have a few comments, which assume you are familiar with the plot.
First, even though John/Jigsaw what’s-his-name comes across, now, as at least intelligible, he is still a sociopath. One can reasonably ask if he valued every moment of his life before he got cancer, and of course the answer would have been no. He did, after all, try to kill himself. Being possessed of the narcissism that afflicts all sociopaths, though, he now expects the world to view itself through his eyes, and he also sees no reason to differentiate his own pending death with those he callously–gleefully–inflicts on others.
Yet, as I said with regard to the last one, this is a drama, acted out on screen. No one actually dies. The point of the movie is not any of the characters, but the cumulative effect on we the viewers. And this movie did actually cause me to look more carefully at my own respect for life, and how valuable the freedom, time, and health I have been given actually is.
Emotionally, I am realizing–as I have seen in some dreams over the last few days I am not going to share–that in my own life even though I have explored evil and darkness with some care, I have not truly CONFRONTED it where it matters. I think we often find ourselves toying with ideas which skirt real issues. They are close enough to feel we are doing something, but far enough away to avoid active pain.
I am going to make a broad statement: the OVERWHELMING amount of evil in the world is hidden. It is latent in human interactions, and largely consists in life not lived, affection not granted, attention not given, ideas not conjured, positive experiences rejected.
Most evil is not living, then taking it out on others passively. This sort of malignancy is hard to see.
There are so many confused people out there, who have emotional problems, who can’t make things work, but who can’t see why. Evil, that is why.
I have often invoked the NLP notion of “channels”. All human communication consists in multiple channels. There is what you say, obviously. There is the way you say it–tone, body language. There is the TIMING of when you say it. There is what you DON’T say.
In communications I am terming evil, there is a disconnect between words and actions, between what is said, and what is actually being felt and meant by the communicator.
Jigsaw got a big grin on his face when he said “there will be blood”. But he spent the rest of the time more or less trying to act like a humanitarian, trying to convince Det. Matthews that he was somehow morally superior because he gave people choices, because Matthews himself has often been a dirty cop.
And I don’t doubt that many viewers of this series picked up the words, but missed the creepy bloodlust, pursued clearly in no small measure for its own sake.
It is so hard to see what is in front of you. I expend so much effort every day, and unquestionably fall far short every day.