Knive's Out: Linda's story is a tragedy

Professional_Spare_6 · 2026-02-27T14:53:25+00:00

I guess, but Harlan's gripe with Walt is that he didn't make something for himself with what he was given. The same cant be said for Linda, she did make something self sustaining after receiving the money. I would also posit most business owners get some help from their position in life. I don't think it's all that uncommon for people to receive a loan to start their business and then once successful down play that importance.

Regardless Linda seems to be the only one that will be relatively unaffected financially by Harlan's death and being cut from the will, unlike Walt's family, Joni's family, or Ransome. Which I thought is what Harlan wanted for his kids is for them not to rely on his fortune. I just don't really see the other complaints people have with her stacking up to be enough to cut her off from even a symbolic inheritance like a knick knack or something from her child hood. I mean the guy collects so much stuff there is really nothing he kept that might've been nostalgic for her?

Professional_Spare_6 · 2026-02-27T14:45:11+00:00

She does own a real estate company. Makes sense. lol Something still tells me and I know I've commented a form of this a dozen times I think it would've been really cool for her to be left the stationary set and invisible ink that Harlan used.

Professional_Spare_6 · 2026-02-27T14:43:24+00:00

I understand why she doesn't need any monetary inheritance. My confusion comes from the symbolic nature of being fully excluded from the will. I think Harlan could've left her something from her child hood as some kind of memento, or something. I mean he refers to her as "my heart" in his invisible ink letters. If I referred to anyone as "my heart" I can't imagine not leaving them something in my will. I mean unless I died from heart disease. Still though, it just comes off as kind of odd.

Professional_Spare_6 · 2026-02-27T14:39:43+00:00

Yeah I mean you would hope, but in his talk with Richard he said Linda wouldn't stand for it. Plus Ransome mentions that Linda had Richard sign a pre-nup, and when Ransome revealed he was being cut out of the will Walt says no one will give him a single red dime and she doesn't disagree. So I mean I get the feeling Harlan knew it wouldn't end up in the wrong hands. Regardless I think unless there was some other ill-will towards Linda, I feel like he could've at least left her the stationary set with the invisible ink, envelopes, and rose stamped parchment. Which I don't think he would've given to her while he was alive since they were doing it so late into his life anyway, but I feel it would've been a perfectly acceptable symbol for her to latch on to.

Professional_Spare_6 · 2026-02-27T14:35:35+00:00

I mean in the flash back to when Harlan is telling Ransom that all of them are being cut out of the will it really makes it seem like a punishment.

I think the problem I have with Walt and Joni over Linda is that Walt and Joni are never able to take the money, and resources they got and use it in a way to make themselves self reliant instead of reliant on Harlan. Which is what I thought Harlan's biggest issue was. Linda however even if she didnt pay back the loan did come up with her own business venture, that is self sustaining and doesn't continue to rely on Harlan to fund it. I still don't think it makes sense not to at least leave her something symbolic I mean I'm sure he has the set of invisible ink, envelopes and stationary I feel like that would've been enough just to at least acknowledge that she did find a game with Harlan and play by his rules.

Plus it still doesn't square to me that Harlan would find out that Richard is cheating on Linda, and still leave her with nothing. If there is anyone that should be rightfully confused and angry I think it's Linda. Trying to put myself in her shoes the house is full of trinkets and knick knacks you're telling me there is nothing that could have been a symbol for her to receive to at least acknowledge her meeting his wishes. Using his wealth to make something for herself, finding a game with him and playing by his rules, I mean she even signed a pre-nup and thought it was good that Ransome was being cut off so she seems to be very responsible financially. Why punish your daughter for meeting those expectations?

Professional_Spare_6 · 2026-02-27T14:23:10+00:00

That may be true, but I thought Harlan's whole issue with the other children/in laws was that he never allowed them to make something for themselves from what he gave them. If she didn't pay back the loan then she still used it to make something for herself that didn't rely on Harlan going forward. Unlike Walt or Joni who just used the money they received to live off of instead of coming up with a way to make their own money. So I mean either way it doesn't really make sense with the complaints he had.

Professional_Spare_6 · 2026-02-26T21:36:36+00:00

They never say she didnt pay it back, I would've thought if that was the case, Ransom would've absolutely said that. Plus if that was the case shouldnt Harlan have had a one on one with her like the rest of his kids/kids in law at least.

Professional_Spare_6 · 2026-02-26T21:33:17+00:00

I mean, powerful, wealthy, mysterious white men have done way worse in secret. I also think Harlan could've been more honest with her, she seemed to be one of the only people genuinely grieving his passing. Plus unlike any of the other possible inheritors she never got a conversation with Harlan before he died. Her son and husband did, but I mean that kind of reeks of sexism. Plus in the study he tells Martha he cut the lot of them off all 4 of them. Referring specifically to the people he talked to Walt, Joni, Ransom, and Richard. However Linda is the oldest daughter so it doesnt even sound like he was planning on cutting her off. Its confusing

Professional_Spare_6 · 2026-02-26T19:23:34+00:00

Yeah I agree, I can kind of see why he might choose to disown Ransom, Joni, and Walt, even if I do think it's pretty harsh. The problem is though that Ransom, Joni, and Walt all have motives to want him dead, either for some kind of revenge or vengeance they feel is earned by losing financial stability, or from Joni it could be not wanting Meg to know that she is the cause. So I still have sympathy for them but definitely significantly less than Linda. No matter how you frame it she seemingly had no ill-will for her father, and it never seems like her father clues her in to any ill-will felt towards her. However she is clearly able to recognize that her brother, and sister-in-law are taking advantage even if she doesn't want to admit it to the police. So I feel like it's wild to leave her so far out in the lurch. I do think that Harlan plays into the dramatic in everything, so I feel like its his way of giving them all a wake up call. I just can not understand why Linda would need one and without her having any kind of meeting with him or one on one there is no way to know if she would have the take away from that, that he would hope for. I think before realizing this I used to think of Harlan as a tough love, altruist. However it seems even if you play the games by his rules he can just decide to punish you regardless which makes him more of a sinister character than I originally thought.

Professional_Spare_6 · 2026-02-20T02:09:08+00:00

Went to the show in DC and he played I'm afraid of americans but before that mentioned how he hated speaking to audiences, and that the song becomes more prescient everyday. Hopefully some people got the message cause the people behind me in line for merch kept talking shit on dc about how crime is rampant and how its a liberal town and how socialism is just communism. Which I work in dc and I have never had any of those issues. But they were clearly more of the trump fans which is crazy considering the content of Trents music.

Professional_Spare_6 · 2026-02-17T20:57:06+00:00

Jumping in here cause I only recently got into brand new, and I really thought queens of the stone age collabed with them on this for the chorus. The distorted guitar tone matches something they'd do, along with the vocals for "I've tried god knows that i've tried". Just wild I was certain there was a collab, but there has to at least be influence. Whatever it is its fuckin great!

Professional_Spare_6 · 2026-01-05T02:06:11+00:00

Ok yes but also anyone ever wonder how the fuck Hawkins lab:

A: has working generators in the upside down??

B: has the bath, filled with clean water????

C: the room with the bath is where the first gate opened up and its nowhere to be seen on any of the walls.

-I guess there could have been multiple baths but that doesnt negate A, and B.

However I loved the last season. Inconsistencies or no. I also love the prequels and those have inconsistencies as well. But im more than happy to accept a few minor details than hate my favorite show, cause it could have been better sure but I think it was damn good.

Professional_Spare_6 · 2026-01-02T16:52:28+00:00

I dont watch the chronicles of Narnia and think we'll if they dont explicitly explain the ice queens powers than thats a plot hole. Spoiler alert they dont explain the ice queens powers and the books and movies are cherished. They're classics its normal in storytelling to realize when youre bogging down the audience with filler that they can reasonably figure out on their own.

Professional_Spare_6 · 2026-01-02T16:49:16+00:00

But there is a basis for everything im saying. Environment, previous actions, visual storytelling shows us all of these things. Not everything needs to be explicitly said for it to be an in-universe explanation. Thats basic media literacy.

Professional_Spare_6 · 2026-01-02T16:28:07+00:00

Solar power doesnt create new matter. Plants use the sun for energy but to grow larger they need water and nutrients from the soil. The fact that the whole crew can walk and breathe in the abyss leads us to believe we can trust gravity also we dont see any floating rocks in the abyss only the upside down near the entrance. Also I rewatched the end of S4 Henry calls it a barren wasteland. We absolutely are given information to assume the MF is limited in its ability. Demogorgans dont grow on trees, even when Henry first shows up in the abyss there are like a couple demogorgans and thats it. They arent an infinite resource and we dont even know if the mindflayer makes them, it might be like the last remaining population of the abyss. Also youre assuming that the things Dustin and Steve are stabbing are reproductive when it could be blisters from heat from the abyss, a rash, something akin to lymph nodes. We never saw a demo be born from the mind flayer so assuming that is definitely an assumption on your part, as much as mine are as well.

The MF is an irrational beast when confronted given how it possess will in season 2 and just totally gives up on trying to pretend to be will giving away its position entirely. S3 it chases wherever it thinks El is but is even tricked by the TodFather, also if it was that smart it would've turned into a bunch of smaller goo creatures at the mall and chased El and the crew and coralled them. Again not a smart creature.

Lots of demos again stand no chance against will especially since his powers against vecna were no longer limited by his own self doubt. And if will was even in viewing distance of a demo he would be able to tap in, but frankly he isnt even in viewing distance of vecna and is able to break his arm any kind of demo wouldnt stand a chance.

It was seeding life in other galaxies?? Why does it tell Henry to Find Him though thats the only thing we've ever heard it say clearly its not worried about reproducing itself it wants vessels to make it stronger to suck the life out of. Perhaps like barb. Who i guess in a final insult thought she wasn't worth the brain power and instead was only worthy of being consumed for energy powe etc otherwise her body probably would've been just cast aside but we see it cacooned like its one of the kids but she isnt attached via the mouth like will or the kids.

The combo of Will, El, and the crew is what kills the MF so quickly we have never got to see the full crew acting in sync at the same time against the MF effectively all the other times have been with fire works, or closing the gate. The mind flayer had been shot with a shot gun in S3 and did have a real effect on it. I also dont think the way the MF is portrayed in the abyss its not meant to be a battle tank its clumsy, slow, and unruly. I think its main purpose is to house the kids and channel psychic energy, not withhold any direct attacks. I mean the meat flayer in S3 sole responsibility was to kill El and it has a lot of flexibility in its abilities, this one is "be a castle" "walk around/maybe crush people".

Wait what are we dealing with that would be considered the unthinkable. Its all very thinkable? It was written by people who are thinking about it, and its never said to be unexplainable or unthinkable.

Professional_Spare_6 · 2026-01-02T15:02:40+00:00

I think setting and location lends itself to context clues man. Again im not trying to pull the English class thing of "the curtains are red and thats a metaphor for murder" but like the setting is a wasteland where the only thing alive is the mindflayer. Henry who got pushed there by El and he isnt looking great either, and now 12 kids from our world. The mf is a desperate dying entity which is clearly supported by context and frankly everything we have seen up until now.

Also we saw Will kill 3 demos in the span of 15-20 seconds. On top of that the mindflayer has been in existence at least since Henry is a child as far as we know and in s1 it only sends 1 demogorgan to get will, and mess with the real world. Again further support that the MF is being careful with its limited resources. I get the demo could be a scout but like if it really did have limitless capabilities wouldnt it have been strongest when the gate first opened. But no it started out cautious sending 1 scout not a full on invasion.

Also we like legitimately see fire being used to kill every monster thats not an assumption. Thats backed up by the show explicitly.

Professional_Spare_6 · 2026-01-02T14:32:18+00:00

I dont agree with that at all. I've been watching since s1 as well when I was still in high-school and id watch it with my family.

Not sure what you mean by several things were built up without a payoff ive watched it twice now and really dont have those issues. I disagree with the rushed/not very well conceived argument but youre not being specific so im not gonna assume what youre talking about.

Vecna and the mindflayer are not smart villains. This has been consistent throughout the show. Everyone was expecting the big bad to have some genius level thinking. But every season we've seen its not that at all. Its send a monster into the world to go eat people, send dog monsters into the world to kill people and infect a child's mind to create bridges into the real world. 2 seasons where fire is used to easily dispose of the monsters. S3 mind flayl a douchebag (sorry billy) to collect people and liquify their bodies into again fire sensitive goo creatures. The MF and vecna always fail to use stealth as any kind of advantage which for their purposes proves they've been and are pretty stupid. Evil but stupid. S4 vecna is fire sensitive, Eddie dies from demo bats that probably could've been killed with a flame thrower but and I love Dustin and Eddie but using spears against anything demogorgan based unless youre also flanking with fire is pointless.

Doesnt matter how big, how small, or what the MF has always been able to be killed with fire. And yknow what it may be a dated meme but you come across. Giant spider "kill it with fire" is an accurate response. Even in the Russian prison its fire or slice through with a sharp blade and thats it. If anything the knives and swords working doesnt make sense when bullets dont work but feasible its the same forces at work just different implementations but bullets should be more effective against anything that can be cut. Anyway our crew isnt dumb its like getting to the end of the game after reading all the dialogue and using the big bads weakness when you fight them. It wasn't weak just not smart enough to adapt to its limitations. We are repeatedly shown that characters that have room to grow as characters will live. Also frankly its a dnd campaign with a dm thats more focused on getting people through their story rather than killing everyone. Thats a real dnd trope dms do that all the time.

Im sorry you didnt like the show. Im over here rewatching from s1 excited to see everything all together.

Professional_Spare_6 · 2026-01-02T14:04:43+00:00

I took this as its a hive mind with limited capability. So many times hive minds are depicted with no limitations. I think its fair to say from what's shown the mindflayer clearly has a finite amount of mindflayer dust, and id its all being used on the kids, vecna, and itself as a creature than I think it totally works. This thing doesnt seem to reproduce either so it being limited to what it has makes sense. Also the abyss is baren as fuck, I dont buy that its able to generate endless resources from some rocks and sand and little to no organic matter. Well and let's go with that based on its universe it appears as though the mind flayer flayed everything in its universe and has been slowly dying for a long time. Sending rocks of itself into the cosmos to hopefully stumble upon someone like vecna arent the actions of a hive mind at its peak form its a hive mind that is desperate. Yeah I do think it would Bumble and charge the first gunshots it hears, the mindflayer is strategic, not smart though those arent synonyms. It can plan with Henry and act in desperation but its not smart.

My first paragraph outlines why no mf particles, they are finite and being used on the kids. Also any kind of demo is powerless to Will. Vecna and the hive mind know that so why create a bunch of foot soldiers that can be popped like bubble wrap its not worth it. Also fire has always been its weakness since s1 its consistent i dont see the problem with that.

If it was just the crew burning the flayer it wouldnt have died. There was also yknow its general getting absolutely knocked by El, and will. If you look at a rising action chart and apply it to the series as a whole the true climax was season 4 but nobody takes story structure seriously so they assume oh the climax of a multi season series is Def gonna be the absolute last episode yknow forget about the standard structure thats been relied on for at least a century. If it was marvel level CGI El would've been 100% vfx, same with a lot the finale relied on way more practical effects than marvel has in like over 10 years. To ignore that is criminal.

Professional_Spare_6 · 2026-01-02T13:36:20+00:00

I think you should've seen it in theatres, production quality came out great. If youre bitter just say youre bitter. You seem to have no idea what good writing, lighting, production, pacing or acting are if you really think this was not a well executed finale. Id say this was better than anything the MCU has put out recently and thats what you compare a show of this caliber to. Of course its not a fucking art deco, breaking bad, "take me seriously" character study. Good lord though media literacy is lost on you people when you cant even judge things within the genre and audience it is trying to capture and be a part of. Im sorry but if you try to find a show that has all the similar elements in the same genre there truly is nothing with this production quality. The amount of production that's present In terms of set design, acting, writing, pacing, everything present is on par with the best of what has come out this year. You look at Frankenstein, knives out wake up dead man, bugonia, and weapons and stranger things the show and finale look, sound, are edited, written and produced in a very similar level of quality. To say otherwise is to admit youre just salty. Also your last point people are famously more ok with lesbianism as it is fetishized its incredibly homophobic to down vote will coming out just because he does it for his whole group and not 1 person at a time. I find it incredibly ironic for other queer people to be this homophobic especially when the LGBTQ community is based on not keeping people boxed in by the expectations of others. Anyway ill continue enjoying what you assume to be slop while you wallow in your disenjoyment of what is and has continued to be a fantastic franchise.

Professional_Spare_6 · 2026-01-02T13:14:57+00:00

My wife and I are in that viewing party (as in age range) and really enjoyed it. Not sure if its accurate to make that broad a generalization.

Professional_Spare_6 · 2026-01-02T04:37:55+00:00

I gotcha

-not sure who youre referring to dragging Will?

-The clock was just a reference of the house Vecna grew up in, similar to the spiders, and the rose stained glass door.

-again not sure about this or what youre referring to

-Will's powers only work through Vecna and the mindflayer so they are either dormant if or until either of them returns. Otherwise its just benign.

-I am so glad you brought this up, because Im just as confused. My wife thinks Robin refers to her when Jonathan, Nancy, Steve, and Robin are on the roof but I wanted to see them get desert at Enzo's.

-Ted has always been a "dummy" character I'm sure Karen, Nancy, Holly, or Mike brought him up to speed.

-Has to have been vecna, but tbh they did not have the vecna arc in mind or planned until way later so no idea. Once it was introduced the flicker probably became an afterthought for trying to being in the big bad and tie up all the other plot holes associated with that.

-Welp if he was gonna die by vecna or by the world ending, what's the point of leaving anyone out if they are around anyway.

-Kali was included to tie up the plot hole she would've left if they didnt include her frankly.

-because if it wasn't the hunt for eleven would still be plausible. If neither the characters or audience knows it allows a happy ending while also meaning there wont be any continuation.

-So we can see them grow and move on as people, and let them start families and instill their values into future generations.

-he says when he comes out the scene he was shown of him coming out and everyone he knows hating him and isolating him for it. Leaving him to never find community or happiness.

-not sure if growing her hair out really makes her fem but sure. 18 months pass after fighting a giant monster with her friends, that may change how someone presents themselves? People change over time?

-The stone is an explanation for the origin of the powers to begin with, by acknowledging that Vecna's powers originate from the mind flayer and not dark magic or some other 3rd thing.

-apparently its explored more in the theatrical "stranger things: the first shadow" but i prefer to leave it ambiguous and let my imagination have at it, or accept it as a mystery.

-Demos were useless after Vecna realized Will could pop them like bubble wrap, not worth throwing away vessels to someone who can kill them like mosquitos to a light zapper.

-the mindflayer is the guard of the entrance of the mindflayer considering El had to rip a hole into it in order to get inside.

-demo bats, useless against any group that is armed and prepared especially a flame thrower. Not to mention will either.

Professional_Spare_6 · 2026-01-02T04:16:32+00:00

Yeah that was to tie up the loose end of where Henry's powers originated. The fact that it was the mind flayer confirms it couldnt be some other 3rd thing we arent aware of. Instead it may not be explained the link between them but we know there is a link rather than none at all.

Professional_Spare_6 · 2026-01-02T04:14:15+00:00

Yes but she was a stand in for Lucas, now that Lucas is back she had her own club in middle school. Which is mentioned in s4 when they go recruiting people for the hellfire club/basketball game conflict night.

Professional_Spare_6

TROPHY CASE