Okay, basically the answer to your question is a giant "I don't know!" because, well, it's unclear. Bell does sacrifice himself to allow them to go home again, and in that moment, I think that is a fairly noble act. But I have no idea if it signals the end of the debate on the motives and morals of Bell; I certainly hope it doesn't as said noble act doesn't really explain all the rest of the shit he either pulled or has been accused of pulling. He says some exonerating stuff if we believe him, but as I said, a lot of it either doesn't add up, or flat out doesn't address things we've been told about him, like funding ZFT or what he did with the bits of Walter's brain. It's all very vague along the lines of, "I only helped Walternate as much as I had to to maintain my cover". I do believe Bell is committed to "our" side winning. I don't believe his methods of assuring that are particularly benign or what the hell else he's been up to.
The relevant season one info is that Bell is on the other side in dubious levels of communication with Nina. An ex-ZFT member who due to the context of the episode is about as trustworthy as one of them will get, says Bell is funding ZFT. A ZFT leader, David Robert Jones, is working to get to the other side and attacks Nina, stealing part of her arm, to do so. He implies to Olivia before he dies that he is going to see William Bell and the tone of voice is arguably threatening and certainly indicative of some rivalry. Nina herself says that Bell would never fund a terrorist organisation and that this is all Big, Bad Jones' doing to try and get back at Bell for firing him years ago and not thinking he was a genius.
None of which I really think adds up. So your theory is entirely plausible. I certainly don't think Nina is entirely trustworthy, nor should she be, and she's been working with Bell for a really long time.
That said, I don't think Nina and ZFT are in cahoots because she genuinely seemed to fear for Bell's safety and, well, they shot her (though she has kevlar ribs or something so she was all right, mostly). Possibly this was a complex coverup - I certainly believe her capable of it - but equally, she controls Massive Dynamic: I'm sure she could have set up a surveillance-free meet.
I think the main reason I'm not jumping on your train of thought is that if I'm being pessimistic, I somewhat fear that Bell's part in this will get whitewashed as the Noble Man Trying To Save Us All and every dubious action will get pinned on the Powerful Bitch Who Tricked Our Noble Man, you know?
Nina has more consistently been characterised as rather hero-worshipping Bell. Certainly Walter seems to resent that, both taunting her that Bell isn't the great person she believes during the flashback episode and his imaginary version of her being in love with the Bell in the Television in the Noir Musical episode.
Which, in itself, is just another unfortunate sexist stereotype waiting to happen. But one I'd rather circumvent by giving her her own shady agenda. It's one of the reasons I love the "Don't Trust Sam Weiss" anagram thing so much, because Nina was the one who sent Olivia to Sam Weiss in the first place. I definitely think she's playing a game that even her kissing buddy Broyles doesn't entirely understand, and who knows if William did. But I don't specifically think that she's on the side of the ZFT or controlling them. I'm still more inclined to believe that was Bell himself, and Nina is simply guiding Massive Dynamic through current events with her own thoughts on how to fight the coming war and make the most money while doing so.
BUT YES. THE LACK OF ALTERNINA IS A GLARING ISSUE OF CONSISTENCY THAT I RATHER THINK MIGHT SIGNIFY SOMETHING. I REALLY WANT TO MEET HER.
(Also I shouldn't think this much this late at night/early in the morning...) ;)
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Date: 2010-05-27 12:14 am (UTC)Okay, basically the answer to your question is a giant "I don't know!" because, well, it's unclear. Bell does sacrifice himself to allow them to go home again, and in that moment, I think that is a fairly noble act. But I have no idea if it signals the end of the debate on the motives and morals of Bell; I certainly hope it doesn't as said noble act doesn't really explain all the rest of the shit he either pulled or has been accused of pulling. He says some exonerating stuff if we believe him, but as I said, a lot of it either doesn't add up, or flat out doesn't address things we've been told about him, like funding ZFT or what he did with the bits of Walter's brain. It's all very vague along the lines of, "I only helped Walternate as much as I had to to maintain my cover". I do believe Bell is committed to "our" side winning. I don't believe his methods of assuring that are particularly benign or what the hell else he's been up to.
The relevant season one info is that Bell is on the other side in dubious levels of communication with Nina. An ex-ZFT member who due to the context of the episode is about as trustworthy as one of them will get, says Bell is funding ZFT. A ZFT leader, David Robert Jones, is working to get to the other side and attacks Nina, stealing part of her arm, to do so. He implies to Olivia before he dies that he is going to see William Bell and the tone of voice is arguably threatening and certainly indicative of some rivalry. Nina herself says that Bell would never fund a terrorist organisation and that this is all Big, Bad Jones' doing to try and get back at Bell for firing him years ago and not thinking he was a genius.
None of which I really think adds up. So your theory is entirely plausible. I certainly don't think Nina is entirely trustworthy, nor should she be, and she's been working with Bell for a really long time.
That said, I don't think Nina and ZFT are in cahoots because she genuinely seemed to fear for Bell's safety and, well, they shot her (though she has kevlar ribs or something so she was all right, mostly). Possibly this was a complex coverup - I certainly believe her capable of it - but equally, she controls Massive Dynamic: I'm sure she could have set up a surveillance-free meet.
I think the main reason I'm not jumping on your train of thought is that if I'm being pessimistic, I somewhat fear that Bell's part in this will get whitewashed as the Noble Man Trying To Save Us All and every dubious action will get pinned on the Powerful Bitch Who Tricked Our Noble Man, you know?
Nina has more consistently been characterised as rather hero-worshipping Bell. Certainly Walter seems to resent that, both taunting her that Bell isn't the great person she believes during the flashback episode and his imaginary version of her being in love with the Bell in the Television in the Noir Musical episode.
Which, in itself, is just another unfortunate sexist stereotype waiting to happen. But one I'd rather circumvent by giving her her own shady agenda. It's one of the reasons I love the "Don't Trust Sam Weiss" anagram thing so much, because Nina was the one who sent Olivia to Sam Weiss in the first place. I definitely think she's playing a game that even her kissing buddy Broyles doesn't entirely understand, and who knows if William did. But I don't specifically think that she's on the side of the ZFT or controlling them. I'm still more inclined to believe that was Bell himself, and Nina is simply guiding Massive Dynamic through current events with her own thoughts on how to fight the coming war and make the most money while doing so.
BUT YES. THE LACK OF ALTERNINA IS A GLARING ISSUE OF CONSISTENCY THAT I RATHER THINK MIGHT SIGNIFY SOMETHING. I REALLY WANT TO MEET HER.
(Also I shouldn't think this much this late at night/early in the morning...) ;)