Long time no see everyone on Villains Wiki! Time for me to do a PE Proposal again. Except this is not a proposal of a character, this is more of a removal proposal actually. Now, I saw the discussion on another site (Read: TV Tropes) regarding this character and this prompt me to watch the movie again even though I had a hard time doing it.
Yes, a confession to make, I watch the movie during my childhood days and this character in question? I admit that it was one of the highlights in the movie and I'm a huge fan of him. Having just rewatched the movie again, I think this character deserves a reexamination. Who is he? Let's find out!
What's The Work[]
Reservoir Dogs is a 1992 crime film directed by Quentin Tarantino that tells us the story about two mobsters, Joe Cabot and his son, Eddie Cabot, alongside their accomplices whose name were concealed in order to cover up their identities and they are none other than Mr. White, Mr. Blonde, Mr. Orange, Mr. Pink, Mr. Blue and Mr. Brown as they attempted to rob a jewelry store.
Unfortunately however, things went awry during the heist as there is a mole that set them up which resulted on a police shootout and Mr. Orange being gravely wounded as the robbers ended up hiding themselves in an abandoned warehouse and things went interesting from there with a non-linear story and an interesting plot twists.
Now, the character in question I'm going to talk about is definitely one of my personal favorite character of the movie of course and he's the most psychotic member of the robbers. Who is he? Meet Mr. Blonde.
Who is He/What Has He Done[]
Mr. Blonde or better known as Vic Vega or Toothpick Vic is one of the accomplices of Joe and Eddie Cabot and yes, he was definitely one of the psychotic members of the bunch. Once got arrested after robbing some precious items in the Company Warehouse, he was released four years later and was given one more job before he truly become a free man: Robbing a jewelry store alongside other accomplices which he happily takes his job to do so.
Unfortunately, during the robbery, after all of the men were set up, it was revealed that Mr. Blonde kill several people because one of the tellers set off an alarm to call the cops which infuriates both Mr. White and Mr. Pink, suspecting that he was the guy who brought the mess and also suspecting that Mr. Blonde is dead during the shootout between the cops.
As Mr. White and Mr. Pink argue with each other in the abandoned warehouse, Mr. Blonde comes in as he buys a drink which enrages Mr. White due to the mess he had caused. Trying to calm the situation down, Mr. Blonde then gives them a special present as they beckoned them to his own car: It was then revealed that during the massacre, he kidnapped a police officer named Marvin Nash and then put him in a trunk of his car.
Overjoyed by his discovery, both Mr. White and Mr. Pink decided to interrogate Marvin about the people who set them up as the three beats Marvin in a remorseless fashion before Eddie comes in and stop the ruckus. When Eddie orders Mr. White and Mr. Pink to get rid of the cars parked in the warehouse in order to save their own skin, he also orders Mr. Blonde to look after Marvin and the wounded Mr. Orange much to White and Pink's dismay due to Mr. Blonde's track record but decided to do so anyway.
As the three left the warehouse, Mr. Blonde then decides to use his spare time by having a fun with Marvin: A.K.A. Torturing him as he listen to an upbeat song, "Stuck in the Middle With You" with him cutting Marvin's ear first and then attempts to burn him alive. Fortunately however, Blonde in the end was killed by Mr. Orange who was revealed to be an undercover cop so yeah...
Why Doesn't He Qualify[]
Now, I will admit that during my first time watching the movie, I never see Mr. Blonde as Pure Evil and I think I still hold the same sentiment now. Heinousness standard? I think I'll give the leeway on. Sure, the part about him massacring innocent people was...A bit offscreen and you'd be forgiven for that given the story of Reservoir Dogs is quite non-linear at best but what give me a leeway is that the impact that it had on the scene and I guess its pretty much similar with what happened to Iris Sepperin, that and the onscreen deed of torturing an innocent cop should put him over the baseline.
However, with that said, I'm going to address his elephant in the room on why he doesn't qualify. According to a TV Tropes user, Ravok, right here, it is stated that he has a huge loyalty towards Joe and Eddie Cabot. Now then, having seen Ravok give his statement on this, I decided to see the movie or myself to see if that mitigating factors does hold up and what's my stance on this?
Well...
Honestly, I kind of agree with Ravok and he does bring up some decent points as I could see where he's coming from. Now hear me out alright, I quite agree that his loyalty is quite genuine and the biggest takeaway with Mr. Blonde's mitigating factors is that the scene where he ended up in a prison for 4 years in a row. This was further cemented on Eddie's dialogue on him when Eddie sees through Mr. Orange fabricated story about Mr. Blonde attempting to rat them out and this is the dialogue in question special thanks to Ravok:
"He (Mr. Blonde) was just released from prison. He got caught at a company warehouse full of hot items. He could've walked away. All he had to do was say my dad's name. But instead he shut his mouth and did his time. He did four years for us, and he did 'em like a man. And we were very grateful. So, Mr. Orange, you're tellin me this very good friend of mine, who did four years for my father, who in four years never made a deal, no matter what they dangled in front of him, you're telling me that now, that now this man is free, and we're making good on our commitment to him, he's just gonna decide, right out of the fuckin blue, to rip us off? Why don't you tell me what REALLY happened?!"
The flashback scenes in my books is also the factor that really cemented his mitigating factors as it was shown that Joe knows that Blonde was in prison and he gracefully accepts his imprisonment for 4 years and was grateful towards Joe as he gave him some stuff to survive the prison which he gladly appreciate it. Now then, I'm going to anticipate the questions like this:
- "But wait Elfen, isn't Mr. Blonde act like a jerk towards Eddie in the flashback scenes?"
- "Elfen, you need to re-check the scene where he said that he has no boss and this proves that he has no loyalty to everyone but himself. Aren't this stuff supposed to mitigate his standards?"
- "Elfen, please address if Mr. Blonde is the one who is truly responsible for the police shootout that got them in the mess in the movie."
Now, I can understand why you guys think that way, Eddie does had a bit of a vitriol against Mr. Blonde to the point they have a wrestle match together, but it doesn't diminish their cordial relationships together. As far as how responsible he is on the police shootout, yes, he does shoot several innocent people, but keep in mind that the movie blatantly makes it clear that even without Mr. Blonde doing it, they're been set up the whole time due to the mole on the team and Mr. Blonde is not the person who is responsible of setting them up. Which led me to this:
I should note that I also believe in Ravok about Mr. Blonde's loyalty being one of the plot point of the movie to expose Mr. Orange being the mole. The flashbacks, what Eddie had said and how Mr. Orange had acted over the course of the film to the point that Joe had some trust issues towards Mr. Orange literally cements Mr. Blonde's loyalty as a plot point and thus, I think in the end, Mr. Blonde loyalty ended up being the mitigating trait that take him out from this trope.
Final Verdict[]
Now, I want to remind you guys: Mr. Blonde is definitely my personal favorite character in the movie (Heck, if you ask me, I had a pfp of him in TV Tropes or at the very least my Facebook), I love his dialogues and his charming personality even though he does commit some reprehensible shit in the movie and I love the song that he played when he tortured the cops that stuck in my head until the present day and it's still one of my favorite songs ever.
But yeah, in the end, I don't think he's belong on this category but that's okay, I will admit I never see him as one during my first watch of the movie and there's nothing wrong with a character being removed from PE. In fact, I think his mitigating factors literally made him becoming a much endearing character in my books after watching this movie for the second time and of course, this proves that PE is not a badge of honor. With that said, I can understand why you guys will disagree on my stance on Mr. Blonde and there's nothing wrong with it. I'll leave you guys to decide on this one.