Dreyfus evaporates down to his eye tick at the end of this film. In the next one, he is back, very much alive, and at the sanitarium. I think PPSA can safely be described as Dreyfus' dream during his sanitarium stay. It makes sense since PPSA is the most outlandish film in the series.
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I have often thought the same thing. Even the things that happen to Closeau when Dreyfus is not around (his outrageous clumsiness, his outrageous luck evading the assassins & with the Russian spy) seem like they could be happening in Dreyfus' fevered imagination.
When it comes right down to it, REVENGE seems to follow RETURN quite logically, and seems to assume that most of STRIKES never happened.
I never thought of that before. Makes complete sense. I'd say right up to the moment where Clouseau visits Dreyfus at the mental institution is real. After the visit and Dreyfus' relapse, he is drugged again and dreams the entire thing.
** What's a knockout like you doing in a computer-generated gin joint like this? **
Another possible explanation is that what happened to Dreyfus was a temporary condition. At least that is what I thought when the next Pink Panther movie came out.
shareProblem is he becomes a flat out super villain in this. There's no way he'd ever be released, let alone reinstated. However, if you chalk this up to hallucination/dream, then it becomes more believable. You could even credit his earlier murder attempts as fantasies, if you like. He did have a public nervous breakdown, but never really tried to kill Clouseau. Once he recovered, he was allowed to resume his old position (even if it's probably unrealistic).
shareI don't think that was their intention, but I can see it. I was thinking the subsequent films just ignored this one in the same way they ignore INSPECTOR CLOUSEAU (1968). Maybe so they could include Dreyfus? The continuity of this series is pretty bonkers.
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