(Spoiler alert for pretty much the whole Saw franchise.)
When I started this blog, I didn’t expect to hop on current events beyond passing mentions. I also didn’t anticipate my blog would become quite so horror-dominated. In fact, I thought it might be too soon for another horror post, and perhaps I should write something about Christmas or Hanukkah/Chanukah (like why the latter seemingly has 50 acceptable English spellings).
Plans change.
The killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO, and the widespread, persistent public adulation of the alleged shooter (even by some people who normally don’t condone violence of any kind), got me thinking.
Wasn’t this the plot of an entire Saw movie?
I’m not here to argue politics or the (de)merits of vigilantism; there are plenty of other online venues for that sort of thing. However, I’m totally down to analyze Jigsaw’s warped ideas of justice and their long-term effects within the Sawniverse.
For those unfamiliar with Saw lore, “Jigsaw” primarily refers to John Kramer, the terminally ill engineer who designs the Rube Goldberg-esque mechanisms that give the series its notoriety. His apprentices, particularly trap survivor/daughter figure Amanda Young and loose cannon Detective Mark Hoffman, frequently help execute John’s games and even put some personal touches on them (namely, rigging the devices to make them unbeatable).
The self-righteous John, who follows a twisted ethical code à la Dexter Morgan, vehemently disapproves of these impossible tests carried out under the Jigsaw name—despite the blatantly unfair elements in a few of his own traps. He’s skilled at spinning his hypocrisy into perceived moral superiority, though, causing certain people both in and out of universe to insist he’s not technically a murderer. James A. Janisse gives a brilliant rebuttal to this notion in his first Saw Kill Count; the moment is around 5:32, but you might want to watch the whole video/playlist/channel.
Saw VI—filmed and released prior to the real-life signing of the Affordable Care Act—centers around a health insurance executive whose policy decisions come to bite him in the ass when he’s captured for his own personalized game. By this point in the timeline, Hoffman has fully taken up the Jigsaw mantle after the deaths of John and Amanda (though the two continue appearing in numerous flashbacks).
The movie opens with a sequence wherein two predatory lenders must compete to sacrifice “a pound of flesh” (more on that later). After a brief nod to Saw V’s events, the main plot begins.
Healthcare CEO William Easton’s first trap forces him into a breath-holding contest against office janitor Hank. Since Hank is a heavy smoker, he naturally loses, reminding the audience that Jigsaw can be a real dick in terms of victim selection. As far as viewers know, Hank never did anything wrong besides develop a nicotine addiction—and who among us hasn’t consumed something we know is unhealthy?
Without Hank’s death, though, the plot would be over before it started. Thus, William moves on to his next test, which presents him with a choice between saving his secretary Addy or his file clerk Allen. According to the health insurance industry’s strict bottom line, the “right” decision would be sparing Allen, who’s much younger and healthier than Addy. However, when William realizes Addy has a family who will miss her, he defies his own policy and saves her life.
William’s third game entails guiding his lawyer Debbie through a painful steam maze and removing the trap that threatens to impale her. He succeeds in helping her reach him before the clock runs out—only for her to attack him because the key to Debbie’s freedom is literally inside William, and she doesn’t exactly have the time or tools to extract it in a way that also allows him to live. Fighting ensues, and he manages to fend her off until the device strapped to her makes its point.
The penultimate trap is one of the deadliest in the entire series: the Shotgun Carousel. Its riders are William’s so-called dog pit, six employees responsible for their company’s formula which denies health insurance to two thirds of applicants. In a bit of poetic retribution, William is only allowed to save a third of the people aboard.
Our protagonist’s last test turns out not to be his at all, instead putting his life in the hands of Tara and Brent—the wife and son of a man who died after William turned him away for having a pre-existing condition. While grieving widow Tara can’t bring herself to condemn William, Brent can. The teen activates the trap, rendering William half the man he used to be.
His death may be cathartic to viewers whose loved ones have been casualties of the U.S. healthcare system, but it visibly traumatizes Brent and Tara. It also negates any lesson William might have learned from his ordeal, and all potential to create positive change from a place of privilege.
We’re left to wonder: if William had survived, would he have followed an Ebenezer Scrooge arc and truly reformed? Would other CEOs change their ways, knowing Jigsaw was probably watching their every move like a fucked-up Santa Claus? (I guess this is sort of a Christmas post, after all.) For that matter, what happened to the two dog pit members William chose to save? The subsequent films mostly leave these questions unanswered, but occasionally offer snippets of world-building.
During Saw 3D, aka Saw: The [Not-So-] Final Chapter, the audience gets to sit in on a support group for survivors of Jigsaw’s games. This includes Simone, who escaped the previous movie’s Pound of Flesh trap by the skin of her teeth (well, skin of her arm). Understandably, Simone is still pissed about her permanent maiming; she says the only thing she gained from the experience is “handicap parking at the damn mall.” We never learn if she quit lending money to people who couldn’t afford to pay it back. Likewise, one of the two Shotgun Carousel survivors is present but has no lines, and we don’t know if her newfound appreciation for life translates into appreciation of others’ lives.
Jigsaw (2017) is a soft reboot that serves to introduce Logan, the most boring Jigsaw apprentice, who is retconned into having been part of the team all along.
The awkwardly-named ninth movie, Spiral: From the Book of Saw, is a standalone story about a Jigsaw copycat who exclusively targets corrupt cops. It unintentionally comes across as ripped from the headlines, since its release was delayed by COVID until May 14, 2021, less than a year after George Floyd’s murder. I could probably write a whole separate post about the franchise’s portrayals of law enforcement; in short, though, the Sawniverse very much has the same systemic problems our world does.
The most recent installment, Saw X, is an interquel set between the first and second movies, and it’s such a spectacular return to form that I’m perfectly willing to suspend my disbelief and pretend Tobin Bell and Shawnee Smith haven’t aged in two decades. It also ties directly to Saw VI’s healthcare motif, with a story about John Kramer’s trip to Mexico for an experimental brain surgery (a last-ditch move after William Easton denies coverage for a more above-board version of the procedure, as seen in a flashback in VI). When OG Jigsaw learns the whole treatment is a big fat lie, he gives his scammers the chance to perform real surgery—on themselves.
Although Jigsaw’s games pull no punches in criticizing for-profit healthcare and other exploitative entities, they seemingly do little to actually improve ordinary people’s quality of life. Whether this is an indictment of extrajudicial punishment as a whole, or more a rebuke of torture as a didactic method, remains unclear. Of course, the Jigsaw killers have yet to run the full gamut of test subjects. I, for one, would be curious to see their handling of rapacious plutocrats, self-serving public servants, cyber criminals, and the like.
This post took me so damn long to write that it’s now actually Christmukkah. I may be a gorehound, but I do have a mild sentimental streak, and I’m sincerely grateful for everyone who has supported my blogging efforts. I hope you’ll continue reading my (hopefully less sporadic) posts in the coming year. Happy Sawlidays!
Media Shower 