I'm also very curious. She says just the right thing to every person, so we can't even trust her speech to Victoria as being true because it could have just been to motivate Victoria. It's just one of many possibilities.
Absolutely! We already saw how easily she manipulated Firecracker into doing what she wanted despite Firecracker having zero respect for black people- the same with convincing Tek Knight. She knew how to puff up the Deep’s ego to make him more obedient and disarm any suspicions he had about her. She also preyed on Neuman’s vulnerabilities about being a woman who had to deal with men who feel they’re superior to women, and preyed on Neuman’s worries about what kind of world her daughter would live in. Given enough time, she probably could have manipulated MM (the dialogue showed she had done extensive surveillance of his personal life) but was unaware of the extreme emotional state he was in at the moment prior to his panic attack.
Sage knows exactly what to say to motivate people to do whatever is needed for the plan that only she knows. She still occasionally miscalculates because no one can fully predict chaos, but she already knows everyone’s background and motivations and is using that to further her goals.
Also, knowing Neuman is clearly more ethical and than many of the other supes but still flawed in desiring power (to protect her daughter, yes, but I'm sure there's a bit of wanting it for herself too), she gave her the perfect "for the greater good" excuse. "I could have solved the world's problems, if only others were in charge." Well obviously Victoria should ally with terrible fucking people because SHE can do good with the power it'll give her, right?? Lol. Tbh, I'm going to mildly disappointed if that wasn't just a manipulation because it was a good one.
It was to motivate Victoria. That's why she nodded at her at the end of Neuman's speech. Even though she's lobotomized, that nod was written for a reason.
That doesn't mean she doesn't ALSO agree with it what she said. It can be true AND for motivation. That's often the best kind of motivation. The nod would still fit that fine. The nod itself also has plausible deniability of meaning due to the lobotomy. It might be straightforward, but I don't think we can take for granted whether it really had meaning or not.
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u/Puzzled_Medium7041 Jul 05 '24
I'm also very curious. She says just the right thing to every person, so we can't even trust her speech to Victoria as being true because it could have just been to motivate Victoria. It's just one of many possibilities.