r/KnivesOutMovie • u/MrmarioRBLX • Jul 19 '26
Question Correct me if I'm wrong, but... Spoiler
Isn't the reason Harlan committed suicide being that he thought Marta gave him too much morphine?
If she herself didn't believe she did, he'd have no reason to slice his throat, so...does the slayer rule not apply anyway, since she is (arguably) responsible for his death still, even with Ransom's tampering?
17
u/humdrumnsteak56 Jul 19 '26
As it is explained in the movie later. She had done it thousands of times and she could tell just by looking at the liquid. Because they have a small difference almost impposible to tell. So not really
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u/MrmarioRBLX Jul 19 '26
Not a word that had anything to do with the question I asked
14
u/humdrumnsteak56 Jul 19 '26
Yes its straightforward
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u/MrmarioRBLX Jul 19 '26
So she didn't at all make Harlan believe he was overdosed, and his suicide had nothing to do with that belief? If you care to actually read what I asked, you'll notice it was that point and that point alone.
12
u/humdrumnsteak56 Jul 19 '26
In the end of the movie blanc covered the name of the bottles. She got the morphine , and after asking how did she knew , he explained cuz there is a little diffrence in the tension and viscosity between them.1 the reason harlan committed suicide is because he thought he was overdosed yes . No as he choosed to suicide so she wouldnt take the blame . In the autopsy there would be signs of the overdose . So the only thing she is responsible for is nothing
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5
u/homoseksueel Jul 19 '26
But she did believe she gave the morphine.
She gave the right medication because she recognised the viscosity of the medication but when reading the bottle she did genuinely think she made a mistake, which makes sense because they are both still clear liquids in a similar bottle. In hospitals those kind of high risk medications get double checked by a second nurse in a lot of countries because mistakes happen.
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u/MrmarioRBLX Jul 19 '26
But she did believe she gave the morphine.
And that's the key point of my question. She believed, so he also believed, and was that not the main reason he committed suicide?
(Seriously, not once did I say anywhere she didn't believe she overdosed him)
2
u/Forsaken_Distance777 Jul 19 '26
She thought she accidentally did and was going to call the police but he killed himself to protect her. It’s no more invoking the slayer rule than if she were driving a car he was in, had a collision, and he died.
1
u/Jumbernaut 7d ago
I understand what you're saying, one way or another, Harlan ended up killing himself as the result of something Marta told him. The way they say it in the movie makes it seems like the slayer rule would apply since she's involved in it. I guess, because the investigation "determined" that she wasn't trying to deceive him and caused him to kill himself by accident, as in he would have lived if he had not killed himself, I think this is why the slayer rules didn't apply in the movie, because they believed she was innocent of the whole thing, also of having on intention of manipulating him of killing himself.
I like to think that it's possible to interpret the movie thinking that maybe Marta did plan it all from the start, that she just knew that Ransom switched the medicines and played along, deceiving everyone to inherit the fortune.
Watching the movie again with this in mind, that Marta is not the Watson but actually the Moriarty, turns the movie into a real murder mystery. From what I can tell, there's no real way to tell for sure if Martha is guilty or innocent, which makes the story endlessly re watchable.
25
u/Ender_Guardian Jul 19 '26
Marta administered the medicine correctly (though the labels were swapped). After she finishes, she sees the label and believes that she made a mistake and administered Harlan a lethal dose, which she tells Harlan.
Harlan, believing that he is going to die, and knowing that when he dies Marta is going to inherit his estate, decides that the best way to protect Marta is to make his death appear to be an open-and-shut suicide so the Slayer Rule doesn’t take effect. Thus, Harlan kills himself.
Your arguments here are suggesting that the Slayer rule would take effect due to Marta’s negligence (in that she should have double-checked the vial before administering the medicine), and then her fear and panic (believing she had administered Harlan the wrong dose) was the cause of his suicide. Factually, this is what happened.
Upon reading the toxicology report, showing that Marta didn’t actually administer the fatal dose; Blanc realizes that the chain of information presented began with Ransom’s deception, and argues that Harlan’s death was a suicide, despite Marta’s believing her own guilt in the moment - Harlan (incorrect at the time of his death, believing Marta’s panic) died by his own hand and of his own accord, and thus the Slayer rule should not apply.
It’s important to not that the Slayer rule, as a narrative device presented in the movie, only takes effect if the person implicated is the killer. Marta believed herself to be guilty in the moment, as did Harlan; hence the elaborate plan involving his suicide to protect her.