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Did Judi Denchs' M metaphorically shoot herself in the foot?
"Make no mistake I have no compunction about sending a man out to his death.." she boasted in Goldeneye.
In Skyfall that came back to bite her hard on the arse. Maybe if she hadn't been so cavalier about an agents life she would be alive now. Maybe if she had put more emphasis on the lives of her agents one wouldn't have survived and come gunning for her.
I liked her M. But she seemed to take pride in making life or death decisions about her agents. She never had much empathy.
MOD EDIT: Title changed for those unfamiliar with the expression.
In Skyfall that came back to bite her hard on the arse. Maybe if she hadn't been so cavalier about an agents life she would be alive now. Maybe if she had put more emphasis on the lives of her agents one wouldn't have survived and come gunning for her.
I liked her M. But she seemed to take pride in making life or death decisions about her agents. She never had much empathy.
MOD EDIT: Title changed for those unfamiliar with the expression.
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Comments
Oh dear, shooting oneself in the foot is a metaphor for self inflicted damage.
It doesn't have to be physical. Decisions which cause consequences down the line.
Not, surprisingly, news.
She seemed to have a macho cavalier attitude to her agents straight from GE. She was proud she had the balls to send a man out to his death. That disregard for human life backfired on her.
Agent Ronson's bleeding to death? Leave him to die.
Can't get a clear shot at Patrice without hitting Bond? Order the shot anyway.
Every agent's identity compromised? Let them be executed.
Bond unfit for active duty? Send him out anyway.
M really doesn't have a good track record in dealing with her agents in SF, does she?
You're nailed the crux behind the M character in SF for me. Her death was really her comeuppance for her actions throughout the movie. However, before this becomes a thread about the series's continuity; the GE M and the post CR M are different people living in two different continuities despite being essentially the same character. It's best to not think about it and I now pray this thread doesn't descend into a continuity discussion.
I would say the GE M and the SF M are exactly the same character. She shows the same cavalier attitude to human life in the "sexist mysognist dinosaur" scene. Shes even like it in the Hong Kong scenes in DAD.
I am a Judi Dench fan so I like her M but there is something ironic about her death.
I think the script deals with it really well and uses it to really underline who M is and what she stands for. It's foreshadowed when Mallory gives her the option to leave with dignity and M says she just wants to get the job done. That's what really defines her character... she the ultimate utilitarian who sacrifices whatever or whoever is necessary for the greater good. It just so happens that, at the end of Skyfall, the one she needs to sacrifice is herself. But she sends herself out to her death just as she would send anyone else, "too many people are dying because of me."
The reason she's "sentimental" about Bond is because she sees that utilitarian nature in him too.
This.
In a sense, this is like the old Bond-M relationships, where M would wonder why Bond is acting like an overgrown teenager and then tell Bond to do whatever he thinks is necessary and defend him to other members of the government.
James Moloney's post is right on the money for just about everything else.
This.
"every agent's identity compromised? Let them be executed" Indeed, she should have had all those agents pulled out as soon as that list escaped Bond's pursuit. They were all dead meat. All those infiltrations needed to be aborted, even if she didn't give a whiff about the agent's lives. Any of those agents could also have talked and revealed god knows what.
I'm glad by movie's end we had a normal M back in the chair, and in a proper M office.
This is exactly how I interpreted this thread's title, too.
And then I started reading and well, I just completely disagree, so I am moving on now to other threads. But you're not alone in thinking of that first, @NorwegianBond. I literally thought, "What? Didn't people realize she bled to death from a wound, probably on her side ...?"
I love Judi's M, in all of her portrayals, and in no way is her death in Skyfall any sort of comeuppance for her character - in my opinion, of course.
But maybe the task was hopeless and they were all doomed no matter what or it is quite possible that she was working feverishly behind the scenes to save her agents, before the list could be decoded. But based on her generally ruthless utilitarian approach in this film, one does wonder. Mallory though was right I think to scold her and tell her she was finished. And good for Bond to give her an earful to when he showed up at her flat. Nice touch, helping himself to her booze as well. :)
We don't see the missiles codes being changed in FYEO while MI6 is looking for the Attack. But my point is moving sleeper agents is a difficult, risky, hazardous business. It can lead to the sleepers death and the operative in charge of bringing him back. Moving them might actually reveal them. It was safer and wiser to go after the list and stop Silva. Just it was a better bet to go after the list when Rolson was already dying, to get the list back, which would have saved more agents.
What do you mean by "normal M"?
And what was the previous one then?
Well, he wasn't her best agent, was he? He hacked the Chinese without authorization, which could have created at best a major diplomatic incident, in a very sensitive time, during the Hing Kong Handover, which could have seriously hurt, even destroyed, the relationship between UK and China. M handed over the Chinese an agent that has proved unworthy of trust and that was maybe already showing evidence of his mental instability and megalomania. In exchange, she received six prisoners (if the Chinese gave back six prisoners in exchange of one, I guess Silva was not merely spamming their inbox with porn). I call this dealing with her agents pretty well and doing her job with professionalism.
Truth is we don't know have any idea what efforts she was making to save the agents. Who knows. I would think though that once that list was gone, ie after her reckless "take the bloody shot" command allowed Patrice and the list to get away, then you have to assume that the agents are now all compromised and its time to get them out. We have no idea what efforts she made though. She seemed like an M that was out of control. ie not a normal M.
Her attitude towards Ronson was brutal. At least Bond knew what to do. Bond did tell her off good though when he turned up at her apartment. I don't believe the filmmakers were asking us to empathize with her in this film, at least not in the early going. We viewers tend to see things through Bond's eyes and Bond didn't seem very impressed with her, and this is a seasoned veteran Bond now.
I think Mallory summed it up best. He was actually quite civil with her when he could have given her a real dressing down. He told her that the list shouldn't even exist, which might explain why she was so crazed about getting it back, screaming at Bond about Ronson, as if Bond didn't know what to do, and screaming at Eve to take the bloody shot. She knew that she had effed up and was desperate to correct her mistake., but I don't want to quibble about how much she cared about those agents, or what efforts she made. We really don't know, but I do think @doubleOnothing's post above, outlining her utilitarian tendencies in this film is revealing. She did at least mellow as the film went on. I am happy to see her gone though. This much Bond and M drama that we've seen over the last three films does tend to wear. I am looking forward to the new Mi6 regime with Mallory in charge and a fresh new MP. Good to have Q back. And hopefully Tanner will stick around too. He was somewhat underused in the original continuity.