Winston's Backstory In John Wick Explained

aside from its title character the most important personality in the john wick action saga is winston the proprietor of the new york branch of the continental hotel his past is shrouded in mystery but here is what can be pieced together about it from what we've seen so far winston as of this video has not exactly fought in the same way john wick and the rest of his adversaries have but he has displayed some of his skill he is shown to be a pretty impeccable marksman but probably his most obvious skill is his capacity for leadership he commands attention and loyalty by doing actually quite little because it is clear that everyone interacting with him understands who he is and where he came from in much the same way that literally everyone in the universe interacts with john wick it's not just the rules giving him clout winston is known like john is but it's displayed with negative space and narrative it's what people don't do or say around him up to and including the adjudicator he's also an excellent negotiator able to talk down hotheads on the verge of breaking the continental's rules with the exception of john when he decided to kill d'antonio of course and acting as a power broker for the hotel all throughout the third movie if the high table is composed of an organized crime elite the ranks of continental managers must be as well rather than being the dons shotcallers and bosses of families however it may be reasonable to assume that the managers of the various branches are the erstwhile right hands of those at the table who better to run a hotel for hired killers than the best of those among them it's likely the closest any of them will ever have to a retirement and the idea does in fact have a teeny bit of canonical support through sofia's characterization we know the most about how to ascend to running a continental through sofia halle berry's character in john wick chapter 3 parabellum you do realize that i'm management now right i'm not service anymore john she is a former hunter and in ascending to the manager position of the casablanca branch of the continental she gave up a significant part of her life despite the safety the hotels are meant to provide apparently sophia either could not or simply chose not to take her daughter with her john then hid the girl for her which is what created the marker relationship between them sophia is less than ecstatic about fulfilling the marker and describes her life as management as the most peace she's ever had despite the loss of her child perhaps winston was similarly motivated in seeking to run the new york continental and later on fights so hard to retain his lordship over it and remain in respected in feared status with the high table he doesn't just take the job seriously he relishes it as he levels the rules against antonio in john wick 2 when he tries to have wick's membership revoked there's a personal flair in how he enjoys thumbing his nose at people of theoretically higher status than him in the third film the adjudicator gives winston one week to get his affairs in order before he will be replaced as manager as punishment for assisting jon i've been in service for over 40 years under the table serving the table everything is under the table i understand that you have your loyalties but this cannot be overlooked it's unclear if those 40 years of service is all time spent running the continental or not if it is he would have ascended to the job in his 30s which would likely be a prestigious thing for someone so young and such a long time and such a cushy job certainly could make anybody a little possessive of it john wick 2 ends with jon meeting winston at the bethesda fountain where winston tells him that the reckoning he will suffer in the next film is at hand we see winston make a phone call to make jon xcommunicado and he must give an identification number to certify the order one one one one one that feels like an awfully low identification number meant to evoke the idea that winston has been around for a long time longer than probably several members of the high table and definitely longer than whoever the elder is since he appears to be younger than even john wick time means history and history begets secrets so winston must have a lot of them we can't really be sure how long this underworld system is operated the only clue we have to the organization's age is the displayed gold coin in barata's compound he doesn't say how old it is only that it was extraordinarily difficult to track down considering the sheer amount of people registered in the system of this universe however only five digits in an id number and all ones at that means he could be somewhere close to the foundational infrastructure of the underworld as we understand it in the movies winston can pretty much have a claim to a catchphrase when he says that the rules are what separate us from the animals multiple times across all three films exactly rules without them we live with the animals is that the voice of experience does he remember a time before the rules he also tells the adjudicator that his loyalties extend far beyond the continental possibly beyond the jurisdiction of the table itself the biggest question for winston's background is where the friendly relationship with jon begins and now possibly ends it's frequently stated and even occasionally leveraged against winston that he is pretty fond of jon but understanding why is a game of speculative leaps of logic they don't appear to have much in common since john's rather a hothead and winston is savage in his calm icy attitudes towards others have a drink and relax for now winston gave john a marker at the end of john wick too a marker that is yet to be identified or cashed in as well as the hour head start to get away winston appears to owe jon a favor and the stakes have not gotten high enough yet for jon to feel like cashing it in winston knows john well enough to hold his sense of internal honor and emotional state against him as he does when asking which version of jon he wants to die before confronting the adjudicator who do you wish to die as the baba yaga the last thing many men ever see or as a man we don't know if the result which puts john over a balcony to fall four stories is a double triple or even quadruple cross but it nonetheless proves a level of intimacy between the two men in any other context you wouldn't hesitate to call them friends winston displayed total willingness to break rules for jon up until he was forced to declare him excommunicado in this universe that comes from trust earned off the back of taking risks for each other the tale waiting to be told between them will likely be part of the plot for both the fourth and fifth movies in the franchise is it a display of the ultimate trust to undermine the table or an ultimate betrayal to leave john to the wolves check out one of our newest videos right here plus even more looper videos 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Channel: Looper

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Id: 0mLvWFkAu7I

Length: 6min 51sec (411 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 21 2020