First off, the animation in the last panel of last Thursday’s strip was pretty hard to catch, so here’s a freeze-frame of same:
I thought that’s the kind of approach Nolan is likely to take if he wants to be subtle: being rather unsubtle, but only for the blink of an eye. It’s the cheapest way.
And today Captain Emo is receiving the answers to his question(s) from that panel, and I guess they are mostly as could be expected: The Professor was completely convinced beforehand, Zorba considers great wealth to be an awesomely convincing argument and Biff has not completely fathomed what the question actually is about. Mopey, as had also already been indicated, is the sole hold-out – well, and Sephy, who doesn’t even bother to say anything after she has spoken.
Captain Emo’s reaction to the not-unambiguously-enthusiastic way his offer has been received strictly follows villain protocol. He is required to allow his guests some time to think it over, and he’s also required to couch the statement that they are virtual prisoners in the meantime in evasive and ironically polite language. Unfortunately, the scriptwriter wasn’t quite able to pull that last one of, but I guess it counts for something that they at least acknowledge the requirement.
More on Thursday.