Muir's Life After The C.I.A

The movie doesn't tell us what happens, it just leaves us with the fact that Muir spent his last dime saving Bishop and his girlfriend, and now he is in deep doodoo because he has no money and no job. But then again, it's kind of a karmic balance because he is the one that put the girl in prison in the first place.

Very moving ending.

Of course, we hope that Muir will somehow use his wits to build a new life, presumably with a new identity. But he's gettin' kinda old to do that.
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It's likely that the whole thing will be swept under the rug so he will probably still have his pension. I do think that the $282,000 is supposed to represent his life savings at the time otherwise the gesture would be lost. I mean whats the big deal if he give up 282K if he has another half a mil stashed somewhere. I don't think we are supposed to think he will be left destitute however. Most likely he owns his house wherever he lived before retirement so that would likely be sold to give him a nice sum of money. I think this is what he intended to "live off of" after he bought his retirement property with his life savings. Now he will just have to rethink all of that.

In Muir's office safe, you can see about 20,000 Dollars in 100 dollar bills. So he had other means than just the money he used to bribe the Chinese official.

You guys are forgetting that by burning bridges to CIA this guy is saying no to his pension, Medicare plans, just for existing in United States, having any kind of life anywhere in the world because if he does something other than live in a hole they are eventually going to find him, super spy or not, looking at reflective surfaces isn´t going to get him out of that one. The ending is weak. He would be counting on CIA forgiving him, which they might do, but might not, Chinese would still take the incident very seriously. Rescuing this woman who took part in bombing of a building that lead to death of premieres son, sending US troops to Chinese soil, in reality that would be a huge. In many ways it fits to the style of the movie, its unbalanced.

No they left the question "what happend to Muir afterwards" unanswered, but there are little Hints.

Question/Quote: "so he gave up his life savings,..."

Answere: Yes he liquidated all of his assets and therefore took great losses, as someone already pointed out. And the hesitation with which Muir considers parting with that life savings at first tells me there ain't a whole lot left after that. Because as you can see in the Movie when Muir is negotiating with the Chinese guy who has the authority to turn off power to the island, he goes backwards and forwards and he ends up giving him as much as he had in his account (282,000). Also earlier in the Movie when his contact in Hong Kong said "Come on, it's not like it's your own money" he pauses and looks depressed for a second or two, because he is about to spend more or less most of his life savings Money to save Bishop and the Woman.

Question/Quote: "...he no longer has a job,..."

Answere: It was his final day, anyway. Even without this... "Situration" it would be his final workday as he is about to retire. He spend most of his Money to save the life of Bishop, but not his Job, because its his final work-day, as he is retiring. So he is NOT risking in getting losing his Job.

Question/Quote: "...and hes got no wives to support him..."

Answere: He only had one wife. I am NOT sure if he is still married or if he is alredy divorced. But he was not married 4 times as he said. It was basically a Lied when he said this:

Robert Aiken: Patricia?
Nathan Muir: Yeah, my third wife.
Dr. William Byars: My God, how many wives have you had?
Nathan Muir: Four. You want to hear about them or Bishop?

So the Wifes he mentions when he was ask, were all Cover-Ups. It was cleared in the End of the Movie.

- He said he had four wives.
- There was one in Germany.
- [Harkker] His first wife was Korean.
- [ Byars ] And Peggy, that's three.
- He was only married once.
- Who are the others?
- Here it is. Patricia Lemour, Sandra Harris and Peggy Dye. All agents or civilian assets. They were all cover wives.

So he only was married once. And married instad of marry inmply that he was married but he is already divorecd as we see him alone at the Beginning from the Movie. He gets wake up with a Phone Call, but he is still in Bed, alone.


Question/Quote: "...isn't he screwed? how is he going to go to the Bahamas or retire with no money"

Answere: As somone here in this Thread already pointed out, Muir within those 24 hours showed that he had more intelligence or at least more guile than all the others in the room put together. I personally don't think that he would have a backup plan at that time, because he himself was suprised about the "situration". He admitt it, he was wrong about Bishops feeling about the Woman. Muir thinks that Tom would get over it, but as it turns out, he looks for her, found out that she is in a prison in China, and then starting a rescure Mission, that failed.

Nathan Muir: Hadley was a concern. Not only to Middle East ops but to Bishop's life. So I brokkered a trade with the Chinese government, using Hadley in exchange for a U.S. diplomat convicted of espionage. And she was flown to a high-security prison near Su Chou, eastern China. The place was cleared out and a "Dear John" saying they were through... was forged and left for Bishop to find.
Troy Folger: It appears you underestimated Bishop's feelings for her.
Nathan Muir: Yeah, I underestimated it.

So he had no so Idea what to do after that but I bet he has so called Back-up Plans for Siturations like this. Like: "What would I do if I lose all my Money, for whatever reason and what would I do if I have to run away from the CIA, because I 'kinda betray' them." So I belive he would have back-up plans. There is allways a Plan B. He told Bishop to save his money, so he would have it if he needed it one day, and he said in the Meeting that there were 2 Plans to kill the Target in the Middle East. One was to use the Doctor and the Second aka as Plan B was to use the Bomb. So you allways have a Back-up Plan. And if not, I belive that since Muir is such a intelligent guy, that he can always find a way to earn money. Also as other pointed out I'm pretty sure that his Idea was the CIA don't find him after he's left Langley. Please notice how he left in such a hurry from Langley. Also he is not going to the Bahamas, since he spend his money for Bishops rescue. And with the rescue he is now getting problems. Because he broke many CIA rules, for example he faked the Signature of the Director and fake the whole Mission authorization. But again: I belive he knows how the agency works and in no way shape or form will they bring charges up against him because it would be PR suicide as someone already said. I also doubt that they would put him on trial because there would be a risk that Muir starts to speak to the press about how the CIA left an agent and US citizen to die, whether he was captured on a private mission or not.
So they would need to silence Muir (and Bishop too). Probably too much hassle (killing them) and the most effective way to silence both would be to let them be. I doubt Bishop will be able to keep his job and I also doubt that he wants to remain an agent. He probably joins forces with his girlfriend as someone here already has written. If the Chinese government makes no big deal out of it then I believe both get away with their actions. But I doubt that the Chinese government will make a big deal out of it. Because its not good PR for them, and they need the "good relationship" because of the various negotiations with the US Gouverment. But even if the US Gouverment could just deny that the Rescure was made by them. And Muir just demonstrated that he's a better agent than anyone in the conference room, so he'd have more than enough intelligence to evade capture.


Another Thing no-one mentioned here before is: As the movie has shown at the End, the CIA does let all there Members sign a "non-disclosure agreement", that means both Side, the CIA a n d Muir can't talk open about this Incident, they have to keep it a Secret. Because this is classifiled as "Confidantial".

Nathan Muir: We done here?
Troy Folger: Nondisclosure agreement. Aren't you going to read it?
Nathan Muir: Read it a thousand times.
Nathan Muir: Aiken, would you escort... Mr. Muirfrom the building?

So this Non-disclosure agreement avoid that both Parties can ever talk about that Incident, hey have to keep it closed, like it never happend.

So the movie basically doesn't tell us what happens, it just leaves us with the fact that Muir spent his last dime saving Bishop and his girlfriend. Of course, we can only hope that Muir will somehow use his wits to build a new life, presumably with a new identity. But we don't know for sure. (Or he somehow keep living his old life, because of the Agreement, and they never arrest or sued him for his actions, but in opossite he can keep his pension also. How knows?)