2020/01/08 - A Feast For Crows

[dr_eirik]

There were some issues before Steward began to steal money from the program which only made everything worse.

We don't actually know when Steward started monkeying with things, he could have been basically crippling it from the start.

He was talking with Thomas pretty early. I doubt that he was in on things from the very beginning. He was court appointed. If he was a friend or conspirator of Thomas then it came later. I think it became clear that he was in on things once he dropped Keenes salary. It sounds like it was a legitimate move, but perhaps done in a way to trigger Keene to move the plot forward in the first Temple Crashers arc. He says as much to Thomas on the phone.

[Argent]

There were some issues before Steward began to steal money from the program which only made everything worse.

We don't actually know when Steward started monkeying with things, he could have been basically crippling it from the start.

He was talking with Thomas pretty early. I doubt that he was in on things from the very beginning. He was court appointed. If he was a friend or conspirator of Thomas then it came later.

Why do you assume that he was corrupted by Thomas? He was picked by the ferrets (presumably out of a pool of possible agents) because of his name, so they didn't perform much in the way of vetting. There's no reason to assume that he wasn't crooked from the start.

[dr_eirik]

He was talking with Thomas pretty early. I doubt that he was in on things from the very beginning. He was court appointed. If he was a friend or conspirator of Thomas then it came later.

Why do you assume that he was corrupted by Thomas? He was picked by the ferrets (presumably out of a pool of possible agents) because of his name, so they didn't perform much in the way of vetting. There's no reason to assume that he wasn't crooked from the start.

I'm assuming it only because Thomas was intent on getting the money. Steward was presumably vetted by the courts before he was appointed. It's possible that the connection when from Steward to Thomas, but it seems like Thomas is the most likely instigator.

We're far past the point where that's relevant. The both got punished, and then Steward (it seems) went slightly mad.

[Amazee Dayzee]

If we do find out that it was Steward that pushed Thomas to go further than he planned, I would be really shocked.

[Argent]

Steward was presumably vetted by the courts before he was appointed.

Oh my sweet summer child.

I'm also kind of confused by why y'all think Steward's embezzlement was part of Thomas's plan to steal the gold.

[Amazee Dayzee]

It might not have been a big part, but I think the thought was that if the scheme to get the gold went pear-shaped (though they couldn't foresee JUST how pear-shaped it would go), they would at least have the money that they stole to try to escape.

[Argent]

There's basically only two strips with Steward in them where he's not sinister as heck. Well, three, if you count the wedding and he's just a background character.

[Amazee Dayzee]

Just looking at him and seeing how exasperated he is by the Miltons you would never think he was gonna be evil.

[dr_eirik]

Steward was presumably vetted by the courts before he was appointed.

Oh my sweet summer child.

I'm also kind of confused by why y'all think Steward's embezzlement was part of Thomas's plan to steal the gold.

We actually don't know that he embezzled anything from the estate directly, that might have been a way for Keene to deflect blame for financial losses away from his spending. It's all backstory that Rick chose (probably rightly) not to show. What we do know is that Steward worked with Thomas to get into the temple and steal the gold. It was basically said as such, since Steward set up the changs in Keenes salary in order to push him to open the temple. And Steward was going to only give Steward a billion.

[Amazee Dayzee]

If Keene is actively blaming the embezzlement of their money on Steward to cover up financial losses, then that makes him a HUGE jerk.

[NHWestoN]

... as well as liable for fraud charges!

[Amazee Dayzee]

If Steward didn't know he could press fraud charges then he's a worse public service employee than I had originally thought.

[Argent]

We actually don't know that he embezzled anything from the estate directly, that might have been a way for Keene to deflect blame for financial losses away from his spending.

It's far more likely than the ECP was responsible. I've already analyzed the potential costs of of even a vastly expanded ECP and it's a fraction of the costs of a joke theme park. Either Steward's a crook or he's criminally incompetent.

[Amazee Dayzee]

I'm going with him being a crook because I can't buy him being incompetent after explaining his plan and turning Marion and Lois into animals.

[VeryAngryDeer]

We actually don't know that he embezzled anything from the estate directly, that might have been a way for Keene to deflect blame for financial losses away from his spending.

It's far more likely than the ECP was responsible. I've already analyzed the potential costs of of even a vastly expanded ECP and it's a fraction of the costs of a joke theme park. Either Steward's a crook or he's criminally incompetent.

Either that, or he's more insane than we thought. Could be that he was embezzling funds, and the alibi he had created (that it was the ECP's fault) became part of a delusion that he now genuinely believes. He could think that his actions are bankrupting the Miltons, without it actually doing anything meaningful to them.