Could someone who's seen the movie recently enough to remember remind us what Calhoun did to Felix that was so "wicked" and clearly deserving of holding a grudge? I don't remember her doing anything that bad, and Felix clearly didn't hold whatever it was against her.
Considering who these comments belong to, I'm ready to just assume whatever he's talking about is bullshit, but I'd be interested in having more context.
It sounds like they're talking about when Felix called her a "dynamite gal," which set off a PTSD flashback of her fiancée (who also often called her a "dynamite gal") being eaten by a Cy-Bug on their wedding day because she didn't do a perimeter check. This flashback is shown immediately after Felix accidently sets her off, so we know why she suddenly tells him to leave as it happens. Felix didn't deserve that, but calling Calhoun's reaction abusive, let alone evil, is a huge stretch.
And for all we know, she may have apologized offscreen.
It sounds like they're talking about when Felix called her a "dynamite gal," which set off a PTSD flashback of her fiancée (who also often called her a "dynamite gal") being eaten by a Cy-Bug on their wedding day because she didn't do a perimeter check. This flashback is shown immediately after Felix accidently sets her off, so we know why she suddenly tells him to leave as it happens. Felix didn't deserve that, but calling Calhoun's reaction abusive, let alone evil, is a huge stretch.
It's possible I need to see the movie again but, I remember her leaving him out in the middle of nowhere, where he very likely could've have been devoured by those bugs running loose. Or died of starvation and thirst or simply gotten lost forever in the system, never to be seen or heard from again.
I would've understood had she angrily told him, "Don't ever call me that! I know you don't mean anything by it, but I can't stand it! Don’t push me on this!"
And if Felix had stubbornly, relentlessly pressed the issue, well, then his punishment would have been far more justified. Disproportionate, yes but, it would have been more his fault because he refused to heed her warning.
But, she didn't even give him the courtesy of a warning, not even a warning delivered with gritted teeth. Instead, she ejected him from her vehicle with unrighteous fury and deserted him, like a little kid being dumped in the most dangerous part of town, where all the psychopaths and murderers dwell.
And all for what? A freaking compliment delivered with the utmost adoration and love? Ohhh yeah, what a sweetheart. I hope I marry a lady like this one someday.
========
"And for all we know, she may have apologized offscreen."
And what was so disgusting about her apology it needed to be censored and handled offscreen?
"I'm so sorry for what I did to you back there, Felix. You were just being your sweet, adorable self and I treated you so horribly. I can't believe I was so mean to you, you could've been killed out there, please forgive me."
This is what Pixar was trying to protect their child audience from? What the ever-loving eff!
Re: Steak Calhoun's backstory isn't technically real and yes she knows this, but she still has PTSD because of it, since it's programmed into her (just like how Ralph is programmed to know how to play his Bad Guy role despite not actually being a cruel person). This is made pretty clear. We see her demonstrate this twice in the movie (once right before she goes into Sugar Rush, and the "dynamite gal" scene), and this is the real tragedy of her backstory - she still suffers from PTSD even though she knows it didn't really happen and her fiancé Brad was never alive.
It's the same reason all of her soldiers are aiming their guns at the window during her and Felix's wedding, even though it's unlikely that her real life would play out like in her backstory: it's still a safety precaution that gives her peace of mind.
Re: the scandalized kid/soccer mom who doesn't understand character interactions:
One, this isn't a Pixar movie for the 8000th time.
Two, Felix and Calhoun are main characters, but they're secondary main characters in a film with limited runtime, and this also isn't a preschool movie. This all means we don't see every detail of everything they will ever do narrated and spelled out onscreen to explicitly clarify against every single misjudgment somebody could make. For starters, Calhoun leaves Felix in front of the castle, not in the middle of nowhere - he's in a safe area as far as she knows.
Three, Calhoun isn't open about her feelings and prefers action. She gives Felix a huge "no hard feelings" kiss returning his affection after he helps her defend Sugar Rush, as a concise way of addressing the shuttle incident (since you apparently conflate acting erratically or regrettably in a PTSD episode as "evil", even though that would require malicious intent). This is more efficient than having a whole extra five minutes for her to give a big OOC speech, in a part of the movie where other plots required more time to get their point across than this one did.
It's just like how we don't see the Nicelanders all explicitly verbally apologize onscreen in the epilogue, we just see Mary giving Ralph a cake as he mentions them treating him more nicely, and the rest of them are seen bringing pies to the new neighborhood Felix built for Ralph and the homeless characters to live in. (Plus Gene gets exploded out of his room by a dynamite character in the bonus level with Q*Bert and friends, as some payback for being a jerk).
The movie assumes you have the capacity to read between the lines and put basic details together.
I believe the quote is referencing one of the Transformers films. Megatron says this to Optimus Prime. Prime responds with a cold "Once...", reminding Megatron and the viewer that his own deeds have shattered that brotherhood many times over.
Side note, I have zero sympathy for the fish dog. It knows what it did.
Leave a comment