Board Thread:Episode Discussion/@comment-5430952-20200104163125/@comment-5430952-20200113084417

The Devil&#039;s Advocate WP wrote:

Yeah, but Jacques reacting that way was even more absurd. He didn't manipulate his way into the Schnee family and control of the SDC by being someone who falls apart because he forgot to prepare for his actions being exposed. Also, Jacques giving Watts his personal log-in without preparing for a double-cross seems like the dumbest move ever for someone like him. This was lame story-telling, plain and simple. Made him look like an amateur.

Here is a more plausible way for this to have played out: Weiss plays the footage and Jacques becomes nervous, but rapidly transitions into being indignant. Jacques says the footage is clearly faked, raises that his daughter is disgruntled after being disinherited for her life-endangering actions at the charity ball, and then demands to know the source of the "so-called" footage. At this point either Weiss refuses to out her mom as the source, giving him the opportunity to further attack the authenticity, or does and he immediately responds by highlighting Willow's alcoholism to impugn her credibility.

Would have been a far more believable scene had it played out that way. It also would have been more believable if they fought over it, only for Ironwood and the other Council members to say clearly there needed to be an investigation to determine the truth of the claims. At that point, they get interrupted by the whole business with the heat being turned off, so any further action or discussion is delayed. However, instead we get this ridiculous display. I seriously hope they aren't basically concluding things with Jacques this way as that would be like Adam all over again, only worse. I think you're forgetting one crucial detail: Jacques was already thrown off once he learned the heating in Mantle had been deactivated, on his authority no less. Which meant that he would've blamed for whatever chaos befell Mantle as a result. Think about what that would've done for his carefully crafted image. He was no longer about thinking about bringing down Ironwood, more like how he was going to mitigate the damages that were about to ensue. So there was no way he would've been able to bluff his way out of Weiss' accusations, especially when she had incriminating evidence, which also caught him saying he'd lay off all his employees if he didn't need their votes. Shows how much he cares about the people.

Jacques is definitely a Smug Snake,like many of the villains on the show (which includes Adam as well). They always try to be bigger than are, though once their ruse is exposed they fall to pieces, just like Jacques did in Episode 9. Sorry if you were expecting more from him, but his fate is now sealed, and I daresay his role in the story is basically over. I'll be surprised if we ever see him again, at least now he won't be able to hurt anyone else.