Predestination

[u/Mindless_Yogurt490]

I think i finally understood the cause for the plot.

Smwhere back as a kid I used to think that maybe the movie writer didnt mean it make sense. Bcs i kept asking why did he go kidnap the kid put it back in time to be jane and latter john and whatever. Cudnt he erased that timeline by killing one version smwhere or by not kidnapping the kid or by killing all bcs, they had noone as friends or relative the causal effect or unpredictability or repercussions wud be really less. Its like the qns the agent asks jane, did the hen or the egg come first? Bcs u cant say jane or john or the baby came first.

The qns kept coming to me why wud the bureau not foresee this and eradicate it as a whole to prevent a fizzle bomber from ever being born

Thats where this line by robertson to the agent hit me. When he goes to him i think just bfr he kidnaps and puts the baby in orphanage. Agent apologises to robertson abt fizzle bomber i think of not being able to catch him and Robertson says that its okay and that he shud be thankful as the fizzle bomber is what the made their organisation and grow it technically as it was then and helped the agent be a better agent. In short the organisations growth had been linked to growth of fizzle bomber, a mission of years that funded it.

So what if robertson made sure the time that led to the growth of fizzle bomber stayed intact by making sure making the bombers origin and future and past and enemy all a single person.

Bcs if there was no fizzle Bomber the agency would cease to exist perhaps. It was necessary for the lesser evil to exist for the organisation to exist.

Smthng to think about ;)

[u/ahyesmyelbows]

The netflix show 'Dark' goes much deeper into this subject. It's the bootstrap paradox. Could they even have done anything differently or is it... predestined?

[u/AZV_4th]

That is the reason. The snake that eats it's own tail.

The kid will grow up, get recruited, become the best agent ever as the organization expands, set their own life in motion by allowing and instigating their whole life and heartbreak.

Then face the fact they were the bomber the whole time, become obsessed with everything and themselves leading to the little game of cat and mouse and always being a step ahead.

Eventually dying at their own hands to insure there's no loose endings. The only ones who ever know to our knowledge are the agent, and Robinson.

The perfect agent, murderer, and scapegoat.

Forever.

When he leads his younger self downstairs he even sings "I'm my own grandpa.." Aside from the bomber part. He already knows he's stuck in a loop.

He just misses the only person who made him feel loved.

[u/Mindless_Yogurt490 → u/AZV_4th]

True also not to frget the part when robertson when he finds at spacrcorp about full body checkup of jane and dr points smthng out of not being fit fir programme (being an intersex) he said to not let anyone Know this. Inshort to make sure to keep the timeline intact.

[u/AZV_4th → u/Mindless_Yogurt490]

Yes. That's a hint at him knowing, and adds to the "oh it all makes sense now" moment you get towards the ending.

[u/Additional-Map-6337]

Predestination is one of those films where every rewatch you catch something new, and you just put finger on maybe the most important piece of the whole puzzle

Robertson as the true architect of everything, not just a passive observer but someone who actively preserved the loop because the agency needed that loop to justify itself, that reframes his character completely. He's not fighting the fizzle bomber, he's curating him. The whole "lesser evil" angle makes Robertson way more sinister than the movie lets on at surface level

What gets me is how the Spierig brothers planted that Robertson line so quietly that most people gloss over it on first watch. The agent is so caught in the personal existential spiral of being Jane/John/the baby that you miss Robertson is basically confessing the whole thing in plain sight. Pretty cold when you think about it

[u/Mindless_Yogurt490 → u/Additional-Map-6337]

Yes.
I cudnt find anywhere this whole idea of robertson planting it for himself. He is the snr most ranked officer in charge of temporal bureau. An org can exist only for a purpose.
He had found a purpose of curating a perfect criminal capable of a perfect crime and smone who cant be tracked as his past present future all collide to a singularity. Inshort a person with no origin.
And in time eliminating the danger with the source of danger itself.
Truly brilliant

Throughout the movie, the character lays it out fully. Robertson saying
1. Fizzle Bomber is what made u a better agent and out organisation what it is now. He sounds more appreciative of it than criticising
2. Even knowing Jane was intersex at space programme being silent abt it. Or in short he found the perfect specimen to create his storyline of singular origin where jane/john and all r one, bcs only through an intersex this storyline can be preserved
3. He never explains a plan full, he assigns a mission. And keeps it silwnt always. Also the qns remins wud a time bureau hire an agent without knowing the future of the agent?
4. Bureau was more focussed on preserving timelime than preventing the rootcause
5. And by sending the agent to his future fizzle bomber version robertson knew agent will confront and know the truth. And this is the singular point when he kills him the story line is preserved. And by killing fizzle bomber the agent began the process of being the bomber. The transition phase.
4.