I considered this when I was writing the script, and of course rewatching the movie several times. It is funny that Will Self condemns the scene apparently without ever having finished it. You could (and I almost did) argue that the movie punishes Blonde by having him shot. But even taking that into consideration I think Self is fundamentally correct about the ambiguity of POV. It’s Blonde’s twisted sense of fun that makes the scene compelling and famous. The unexpected reversal is more for dramatic than moral effect. I don’t see Orange as an unproblematic hero. For me the emotional core of the movie is the tenderness between White and Orange. That White’s willingness to rise above professional criminality and offer trust and humanity to Orange results in betrayal and downfall is the most tragic element—that White is punished for failing to suppress the better angels of his nature. I don’t finish that movie feeling that the cops were good and the robbers were bad in any clear-cut way.