What was the point of this scene?
>>67114866
He got free gas
wanted to know what kind of man marries into a gas station family
>>67114866
Filler...............
>>67114866
It sets up the coin thing for the ending
Shows Chigurh doesn't murder everyone and has some sort of weird code
>>67115560
This but it also shows he's willing to murder people simply for inconveniencing him, just as Carson Wells states later.
>>67114866
It's about fate, the whole novel/movie is about fate.
Chigurh sees himself as God, an unstoppable force not to be fucked with, yet still passing fair judgement on others.
At the beginning, he allows himself to be captured by the deputy because he's arrogant enough to believe that he could break free. Which he did, thus making himself feel unstoppable.
Even the Sheriff started to believe that he was invincible, a form of ultimate evil.
Yet in the end, McCarthy cripples him in the dumbest, most bullshit chanced way possible, showing that nothing is unbreakable and no one is unstoppable, and fate comes in many forms, be it a coin toss or a stop sign.
>>67114866
I don't know if you are trolling, but I'll take the bait and answer anyway.
We already established that Chigurh is a violent sociopath. The point of this scene was to show his philosophy and self justifications for his actions. This is what supposedly is going on in his head for the rest of the movie. He doesn't see himself responsible for his own actions. He is just a tool, and whoever he harms made a wrong choice. He also looks down on people don't stick by their beliefs. This is why when the only man says he married into owning the store, Chigurh is disgusted. He is not his own man. Also later in the movie when the lady the runs the trailer park won't be intimidated into giving out Josh Brolin's work address, He looks at her with almost a respect. He sees it as honorable that she won't bend. Even though he could have easily killed both her, and whoever was in the bathroom, he left without fucking with them like he did the gas station guy.
>>67115849
>McCarthy cripples him in the dumbest, most bullshit chanced way possible, showing that nothing is unbreakable and no one is unstoppable
I thought it was great. All of what he did and he's still subject to something as common as a car crash.
>>67115684
>For inconveniencing him
But that's clearly wrong
He's disgusted at the fact that the owner of the gas station inherited it from his wife's parents
After that he does the coin shenanigans
Sooooo did he kill the guy from accounting?
>>67115862
>He looks at her with almost a respect
He looked pretty pissed off.
>>67115963
Carson Wells: Even if you gave him the money, he'd
still kill you for inconveniencing him.
He's a peculiar man.
Might even say he has principles,
principles that transcend money or drugs.
...or anything like that. Not like you.
>>67116067
>Might even say he has principles,
That's not just an inconvenience then
>>67114866
It establishes his coin gimmick, to be recalled later at the end. It also fleshes out the character a bit, and lets us know that it is possible for Anton to have contact with other human beings who he doesn't kill, though for him this is unusual.
The numerology of the coin and its transit also have some significance, which you can choose to ignore, but I would prefer to discuss.
First of all, the coin is dated 1958, and traveled 22 years "to get here", 1980. At the mother in-law's funeral, a rare death in the film which is untouched by violence, her headstone is very clear for a beat: "AGNES KRACIK, 1922-1980". This is an obvious and intentional complement of the coin speech, but I don't attach particular significance to it.
Numbers are important in this film. I have repeated my observations and general theory multiple times on /tv/, so I won't go back into it unless someone really wants to hear it. In this case, I will only say that 22 gives us a sense of scale, for the events of the film: it all starts with about a dozen bodies, and this scale of death is roughly repeated (doubled) over the course of the film, as violence begets more violence, and the harshness of the region bears down on all the principals, frequently killing them.
>>67115862
I don't read the fat lady at the front desk sequence that way at all. Anton was clearly considering murdering her (whether he really wanted to or not), and the toilet flush simply jarred him awake, that this is not worth his time. It was no respect there, that look was a threatening look of wanting to do violence but not following through, which is why the woman recoiled at it the way she did. It's like when someone isn't just being odd, but giving off creep-vibes and bad-weird behavior and normie women pick up on it, because about half the time they're right.
>>67115849
How does he cripple him?
>CALL IT
>>67116648
He doesn't literally. Just a way of saying he took away his power.
>>67115498
Surprisingly, this guy is right. Anton doesn't pay for anything. He doesn't pay for the snack, or the gas, or the medical supplies. And in the end, he gets all the money.
It's a statement about capitalism, and Anton is the end of the game that is the American Dream. He is bringing the "machine" of capitalism to a grinding halt. Remember what he says to Carson?
"I can get 14,000 dollars. I just gotta go to an ATM"
"An A.. T.. M.."
