Sometimes you just gotta do what you’ve gotta do, right? Snuka had a very clear suspicion – some might call it a premonition – that the point he was going to make would not go over well with Mopey. A high likelihood that the point would be disregarded with extreme prejudice and a level of violence somewhere between symbolic and moderate*.
The point he’s making is a pretty good one, of course – by any reasonable standard, the team should not allow Latho to do what he’s doing without any hindrance. They might not know what he’s doing precisely, but when dealing with an enemy the base assumption should always be that any kind of activity is potentially harmful to you. And, yeah, the team has played the opposite part in this sort of situation often enough to know the danger that overconfidence can play in this sort of context.
But in the course of being so gosh-darn sensible, the point overlooks two kinds of needs: the needs of the plot, and the emotional needs of the team. The plot-needs render any resistance futile, anyway, but the emotional needs also deserve their due. Mopey’s road to being one of the good guys wasn’t a perfectly straight one, and while she doesn’t really regret her decision to turn away from the dark side, it’s not like her aesthetic preferences weren’t hurt by it. So passing up one of the rare chances to legitimately act the villain within the boundaries of heroism and righteousness would always have been a difficult sell.
So, yeah, Snuka expected this to go over poorly, and thus he was prepared – with some able assistance from Biff, who’s also very used to all of this. So why did Snuka even bother? He’s also got emotional needs, you see…and passing up a chance to counsel correct behavior to people who are doing something wrong is hard to pass up for him, given how he is much more frequently on the other side of this sort of exchange…
More on Thursday.
*N.B.: A kick in the groin with a steel-tipped boot would not be considered moderate (or below) violence in any normal context. Don’t try it at home. These people are highly trained professionals with a long history of infliction and reception of violence. Also fictional.
…I’m going to be honest, this makes me respect Snuka in this moment! Pattern recognition on multiple levels, common sense, and planning and prepping for impending danger… he actually pulled off what most B-movie protagonists almost never seem to do.
Mind you, it’s against Mopey, and he’s likely been through the wringer with her enough to know how this’ll go down, but still, it’s impressive of him. Good job, young man!
Yeah, Snuka doesn’t have high intelligence, but he does have low cunning – and in many circumstances, that’s just as good or even better. XD (That’s how I would imagine his past to have formed him: he’s probably not good at math, but he can think of his feet and has a healthy sense for self-preservation.)