MovieChat Forums > The Alienist (2018) Discussion > Killer's motivation SPOILER ALERT

Killer's motivation SPOILER ALERT

posted 6 years ago by whynotwriteme (7584)
2 replies | jump to latest

When Kreizler begins talking to the killer about his mother issues, the killer mockingly says"You think it's because of THAT?" leaving Kreizler to believe he was wrong.

However, some time before, as the killer is tormenting the captive boy, he seems to be mentally re-enacting a bath scene between he and his mother... He says stuff like "She only loved me when she bathed me" and "Pretty little bird in it's nest" (referring to boys genitals) "It's so nice I'll cut it right off". or words to that effect, which seem to be things his mother told him while bathing him.

So when the killer denied that his mother was the reason for the killings to Kreizler, it seems to me he was lying.

[–] Otter (24464) 6 years ago

Well, I'm willing to define his motives as, well, crazy and evil!

But yeah, most people don't really understand their motives for doing things, especially things they're ashamed of doing.

[–] OratiaGlake (1251) 5 years ago

I think it was because of his mother as well as other things, so the killer may have implied he was incredulous that Kreisler seemed to be inferring it was only about his mother. The killer must have been motivated by so many things, things that we/the team knew about, like the mother, the atrocities he saw, his father’s photographs, his own sexual abuse etc. as well as probably his own compelling sexual urge when at the kill....’he was naked and as stiff as a flagpole down there’.