Jolly Isn't So Bad
Originally, Jolly just wanted his money. I think that
if Victoria had given it to him, he might have gone away contented. When
he perceived that she was playing games with him--calling him then running
away--and that she probably had a partner--Fraser--he became upset. One
can understand that. After all, he's an escaped convict. He must be very
nervous. The telephone call from Ray's house was probably not the first
contact he has had with Victoria. Victoria hadn't planned to kill Jolly at
the zoo. She had called Jolly from Ray's house to have him meet her there.
When she got the call from Fraser "warning" her that Jolly knew where
she was, she went along with the warning and that's how Jolly followed her as he
saw her leaving as he was driving up. She, of course, took Fraser's gun
with her.
Jolly had a chance to kill Fraser in the zoo but instead he slices his hand and
gives him a warning--"You think you know her--you don't!"
I don't think that Jolly would have tried to kill Victoria before he had a good
chance to try to find out from her where the money was. She had already
taken all of the money so that when he got to the hiding place, it was gone.
The other bank robber, Ed, was dead. Fraser says she had been living with the
man who planned the robbery. Who was that--Ed or Jolly? Jolly said
in the zoo that he presumed that Ed had told Victoria where the money was after
she said, "You never told me where you hid it."
At the zoo, Victoria when talking to Fraser about the robbery says that they never found “the money we stole.” She doesn’t make excuses about her participation in the robbery even while she’s lying to Fraser about not knowing where the stolen money is.
Jolly says very little in the episode but what he says is fascinating. Jolly says to Victoria, “And things went very wrong, didn’t they?” in an almost accusatory tone. I think there’s more of a story there. When Jolly catches Victoria in the zoo, he says that he can always make more money but he’ll settle for “peace of mind.” Later, he spits out the line to Fraser, “You think you know her, you don’t.” (This theme is later picked up by Bob Fraser. It’s obvious that Fraser doesn’t know Victoria at all.) I find the past story of Jolly and Victoria intriguing. There is a hint of a possible double-cross. I don’t think that any of Jolly’s lines are throwaway lines. As a pure villain, he would have uttered more ordinary, trite lines focusing on the money. Instead, he says the above. Quite interesting!
I’m not quite sure what Fraser meant when he says at the end, "And I should have let you go." I have a couple of theories, however. Let us play out these scenarios.
Fraser lets Victoria go instead of turning her in. The evil Victoria goes to retrieve the money—the stolen half a million dollars—the location of which she apparently learned from Ed. Victoria, now in love with Ben, decides that he should join her in her life of crime, i.e., living on the stolen money. She needs to convert the money into non traceable commodities of some sort, so she thinks to herself, "Gee, maybe Ben can help." If she asks him directly, he will refuse, of course. She may not realize this fact because he has let her go, so, in her mind, he isn’t that good a cop. When she asks for his help, he will, of course, try to persuade her to turn over the money. I see nothing but conflict in that scenario.
Let us assume that she decides to exchange the money herself and not involve Ben. When she successfully accomplishes this task, she finds Ben, because, of course, she is in love and wants to be with him. Ben may notice that Victoria is living well and has lots of money to spend. I see conflicts in that scenario.
Meanwhile, back at the prison, Jolly learns that Victoria has not been apprehended. He is fearful that she may know the whereabouts of the stolen money. Jolly may have good reason not to trust Victoria. "You think you know her. You don’t." That statement to Fraser is probably based on some bad past experiences that Jolly has had with Victoria. In any event, we know that Jolly escapes from prison when Victoria is released. Jolly would probably have escaped earlier when re realized that she hadn’t been caught. Victoria, not being the kind of person to share, would probably have planned to kill Jolly earlier. After all, he seemed to want at least some of the money. Why should she give it to him when she could kill him instead. Somehow, the evil Victoria would have involved Fraser, even if only to tie him to her. She may have realized that he has now started down the slippery slope of giving up his moral rectitude and principles by letting her go.
A Possibly Good Victoria?
It is remotely conceivable that after gaining her freedom, Victoria may have written an anonymous note to the authorities revealing the whereabouts of the stolen money. Somehow, I can’t quite see this as a possibility. Her later actions are so vicious, especially towards a totally innocent Ray, that I don’t believe that even ten years in prison could warp a person to that extent. This type of character was probably formed long before she went to prison.
Based on ten years of prison life, I might be able to understand her seething desire for revenge on Fraser. Now granted, Fraser did nothing wrong but, in her mind, loving her and turning her in was betrayal. I might be able to understand why she shot Jolly. After ten years in prison, becoming hard and callous, she probably thought of Jolly as a threat to her existence which she saw as her ability to survive on the money. Jolly is a dangerous criminal, an escaped convict, who might have gotten the money and killed her anyway. Worst of all, Jolly knew that she was still alive and if he had been apprehended, her entire plan would have been ruined (see below). I can even understand why she shot Dief. Dief got in her way while she was trying to steal Fraser’s gun. Framing Ray, however, is beyond my comprehension.
Shooting Dief
Actually, (and I hate to say this) shooting Dief is the one act on Victoria’s part that I can somewhat understand. This was not a premeditated act. Dief got in her way and unless she abandoned her entire elaborate plan, she had to shoot Dief. She needed that gun in order to frame Fraser for Jolly’s murder. If she hadn’t shot Dief, he may have alerted Fraser to the fact that his trunk had been tampered with. She could have told Fraser that she was taking the gun because she had spotted Jolly and was afraid and needed the gun immediately but that story is a little weak and could have ruined her entire plan.
Apprehending Jolly
Unfortunately, telling Fraser that she had spotted Jolly might have resulted in immediate action on Fraser’s part. Fraser and Ray would have tracked Jolly sooner and might actually have caught him. Jolly might have told them some things that Victoria didn’t want them to know. Also, of course, if they had taken Jolly into custody, Victoria wouldn’t have a chance to murder him.
If Victoria had told Fraser that Jolly was after her and Fraser and Ray actually had apprehended Jolly, her whole plan to ruin Fraser and Ray would have gone down the drain. Fraser and Ray would only have been under suspicion for possession of stolen money, not murder. Jolly, of course, would have told the authorities that he had seen Victoria—therefore, she wasn’t dead. She would have had to flee Chicago with the traceable, unconverted stolen bills. The State’s Attorney would have to wonder why Fraser and Ray had brought Jolly in. By the time Jolly finished explaining the Alaskan sister switch, the State’s Attorney would have realized that the planted money was a set-up.
Framing Ray
Victoria’s most vicious act was framing Ray (not that murder isn’t vicious but, from a criminal’s point of view, there were extenuating circumstances). She made the call to Internal Affairs to provide damning proof against Ray. Even from the point of view of a criminal with an elaborate plan, I cannot justify it. If she felt that the friendship between Fraser and Ray was so strong that he wouldn’t leave Ray then it was a stupid move to put Ray in jail because Fraser would stay to try to somehow clear Ray.
Framing Ray served to tie up the loose ends of her plan and it was entirely vicious, evil and degenerate. I presume that she planned to kill Fraser with Ray’s backup gun if he continued to refuse to go with her. Fraser would be dead and Ray would be in jail for murder. The motive would have been the stolen money. If Fraser went with her, she planned to have Ray go to jail for possession of the stolen money and as an accomplice in Jolly’s murder. Any way that you look at it, the plot against Ray was excessive, unnecessary and horrid.
Good Riddance
Fraser should have let Victoria go long ago. He should have let go of the idea of loving such a person. He would have been better off not harboring ten years worth of longing, regrets and thoughts of a love with a person he had "known across a thousand lifetimes." He had realized early on that "she had a darkness inside her." He had probably cut himself off from other real possibilities by wallowing in the dream of this love to the point that he could no longer think straight. Ten years is a long time to be in love with a person who you thought might possibly be an innocent victim. He was entirely fooled by this woman and now it was probably too late to let go of this long-term obsession that was mixed with guilt and regret. He’s still under her spell at the end of Victoria’s Secret. Fortunately, however, in Letting Go, we can determine that he finally did let her go.
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