When he found the "citizen" envelope on the desk why didn't he get his identity back and then just turn Sullivan into the police? It doesn't make sense how he handled the situation at the end. Please help me understand this
shareDude was pretty messed up psychologically from his years undercover, physically/mentally exhausted and extremely paranoid.
Indeed, running out was probably not the optimal decision --- but a mistake easily made given his mental state.
Yeah that makes sense but what about his plan of having he, Sullivan (Damon), the African american cop, and then Mark Whalberg on the roof? That seemed very thought out. What was he trying to do their?
shareTrue. But that was much later when he probably calmed down and was thinking of his next step. That moment in the office, he was just emotionally overwhelmed and wasn't thinking. He had to get out of there.
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Your response makes the most sense
shareYeah that makes sense but what about his plan of having himself, Sullivan (Damon), the African american cop, and then Mark Whalberg on the roof? That seemed very thought out. What was he trying to do their?
shareI think he really wanted to be one to arrest the rat. By that point Billy was also beyond paranoid about who he could trust in the police community to help him. That's why he only reached out to Madolyn, Trooper Brown and Dignam.
See you in hell, candy boys!share
I think in the office he panicked. He was burned out and didn't know HOW many there were bad. I think he just did a runner.
From a distance he formulated a plan and put it into action, deciding to do what you said, out the crooked guy. But it went South on him.
It might not be tidy but it seems realistic enough. They showed him becoming increasingly paranoid and unstable near the end.
well i think he thought that if sullivan cant be trusted then no one could
we are infinite......
Costigan could not trust anyone since he did not know how many moles there were....hell Sullivan did not know there was another mole working in the department.
shareI was just re-watching the film and this bothered me as well. The film is otherwise well-excecuted with really well-woven storyline. The reason this particular pivot point near the end bothered me is that Costigan was constantly doing things to survive as best as he could and running would easily put him at significantly more risk than exposing Sullivan right there with all the feds & cops around. Since he had phone call tapes to back him up as we found a few minutes later in the storyline, he would have a level of protection that would be well enough to cover him and get his "identity" back as he wanted.
shareHe didn't know who to trust and Sullivan had already erased his identity - not sure Costigan knew it at the time - but it would have been his word against Sullivan's. One has been undercover with a record and the other is an upstanding law officer. He probably didn't think he could turn to anyone. The only person left was Marky Mark's douchebag character and the two never got along. I don't think he did dick to pull him out either.
shareHe wanted to be the one to arrest him I think, he even said to Sullivan that he didn't care if the charges didn't stick he just wanted to do it.
The thing I didn't understand is why he didn't reach out to Dignam directly instead of just telling a cop to bring him. I know he was suspended but there could have been another way for him to get in touch with him.
He also should have hid the envelope underneath the stack of files and whatnot, if he was gonna flee like that. Otherwise Damon sees it immediately and realizes he's onto him.
shareI think he was concerned about a number of things:
1) He thought Sullivan might have already known that he knew and was about to kill him so he bolted.
2) The Citizin/en envelope wasn't a 100% sure thing that Sullivan was the rat so it was too early to do anything.
3) Even if he was sure that Sullivan was the rat, he would need to gather something more in order to arrest him. Otherwise, it would just be the word of a guy the cops all knew (Sullivan) vs the word of someone they had never met.
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