Knives out laundry scene logic
One scene of Knives Out is totally out of otherwise magnificent plot with concise logic. What happened in the laundry at 1209 Columbus Rd before 10AM?
As the movie says after using a huge overdose of morphine you have about 10 minutes before you die. That is absolute key premise for the whole plot. How could Ransom possibly inject morphine to Fran within 10 minutes before 10 am or any close to it? As he was with Marta discussing the report etc. including car chase, to finally be captured by the police. Or how could Fran in the laundry possibly be still alive when found at that time by Marta, long long time after huge overdose of morphine?
My take: The only way I see it is fatal error in the plot. Marta had to find Fran alive to make the final scene more dramatic, and to bluff Ransom to make him confess. So 10 minutes limit simply went out of the window, or should I say main premise of the plot went out of the window.
Best Answer
At 8am or so, Ransom meets Fran in the laundry (as per her original blackmail note). He doses her with morphine, ties her up, stages the scene, and leaves to meet Marta. Marta gets there around 10am.
What's been established in the movie previously is that injecting someone with the amount of morphine that Marta thought she'd injected Harlem with is fatal in 10 minutes. Ransom may simply injected Fran with less morphine or in a different body part. He's not a medical professional.
From harmreduction.org, about opioid overdoses:
Opioids fit into specific receptors that also affect the drive to breathe. If someone can not breathe or is not breathing enough, the oxygen levels in the blood decrease and the lips and fingers turn blue- this is called cyanosis. This oxygen starvation eventually stops other vital organs like the heart, then the brain. This leads to unconsciousness, coma, and then death. Within 3-5 minutes without oxygen, brain damage starts to occur, soon followed by death. With opioid overdoses, surviving or dying wholly depends on breathing and oxygen. Fortunately, this process is rarely instantaneous; people slowly stop breathing which usually happens minutes to hours after the drug was used. While people have been “found dead with a needle in their arm,” more often there is time to intervene between when an overdose starts and before a victim dies.
Pictures about "Knives out laundry scene logic"
Why did Fran say you did this?
As Fran is dying, she appears to whisper to Marta, "you did this," implying she was onto her and was going to expose her. In reality, she was onto Ransom, having been in the house during the funeral as he was switching the medicine labels back.Why did the knife not go through Marta?
In both real life and in Knives Out, the slayer rule states that a murderer cannot inherit the property of their victim. So although Harlan left his entire estate to Marta, if the family could prove that she killed him, it would void his will, and ownership of his assets would revert to his family.Why did ransom make Fran call him Hugh?
Because of her accent "you did this" is almost indistinguishable from "Hugh did this". She said this because in one of the first scenes in the movie it is explained that Ransom's real name is Hugh but it is only "the help" that call him Hugh, so that is name that Fran used.Did ransom stab Marta?
At the last moment, Marta vomits on Ransom, revealing that she had lied and that Fran actually died at the hospital. Enraged that he had been tricked into admitting murder and arson, Ransom attempts to stab Marta but the knife turns out to be one of Harlan's many props.Knives Out (2019) - Ransom's Out of the WIll Scene (4/10) | Movieclips
More answers regarding knives out laundry scene logic
Answer 2
I have discussed this with multiple people, including nurse, and came to this conclusion:
First there is huge difference between intravenous and intramuscular injection - Marta to Harlan intravenous vs Ransom to Fran intramuscular injection. With intramuscular it usually takes way way longer for substance to get into blood system.
Second as mentioned in answer I accepted, Ransom uses way lower dose - looking closely at scenes - 3 ml syringe vs 10 ml syringe Marta uses with Harlan. So in micrograms calculation based on Marta's "100 overdose vs 3 intended" this would convert into approximately to 30 micrograms with Ransom using full 3 ml syringe. Which is still 10 x more than "standard" dose.
Combined effect of these could possibly prolong Fran's life enough to be found by Marta alive at around 10 am, about 2 hours after Ransom did the injection.
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: Matthias Zomer, Olga Lioncat, Artem Beliaikin, sergio souza