@RCH2288 said:

Move up the ranks so fast? I mean i know he wasn't validated and was a sleeper. But how did he become so high up in the chain? Was it because he saved Hernan's life during that riot? Since Hernan was a major shot caller for the Mexican's? Also, right after that he gets sent to the SHU. The fight he had with the Mexican guy at the SHU? did i miss something? He came out of his cell and they both made a bee line for each other as if they knew to fight in the yard? Was Money just pissed because he had just been served his divorce papers and needed to take it out on somebody?

I think the rise up the ranks was one of the few fairly coherent parts of the film and it had to be quick in order to squeeze it into 90mins. He was willing to kill, loyal, might have saved Hernan's life and had a brain. Plus an unexpected vacancy came up when the original outdoor cage guy was sentenced to death. And... it was all meant to have taken around 7-9 years in real time.

I also completely missed the reason for attacking the Latino guy outdoors, I assume the background to that was lost on the editor's floor or wasn't well articulated.

Other fundamental questions:

• Why did Money kill Shotgun if Money's intended end result was exactly what being grassed up by Shotgun would have provided? Just killing him for fun? He sure didn't care about grassing up given that Money then betrayed Hernan less than 24hrs later, a guy who hadn't wronged him at all and considered Money as a friend.

• Why would Money want to become the head of a gang and then destroy the finances of the gang by giving $1 million of firearms over to the police for nothing (when previously he is shown as being motivated to provide money for his wife and kid)? Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.

@RCH2288 said:

Move up the ranks so fast? I mean i know he wasn't validated and was a sleeper. But how did he become so high up in the chain? Was it because he saved Hernan's life during that riot? Since Hernan was a major shot caller for the Mexican's? Also, right after that he gets sent to the SHU. The fight he had with the Mexican guy at the SHU? did i miss something? He came out of his cell and they both made a bee line for each other as if they knew to fight in the yard? Was Money just pissed because he had just been served his divorce papers and needed to take it out on somebody?

I think the reason he moved up the ranks so fast is, as someone previously stated, they had to fit it into a 90 minute movie. As far as why he got into the fight when he was in the SHU that comes down to prison politics. In California, the Mexicans are broken up into 2 factions. The Northerners and the Southerners, and they do not get along. The Southerners refer to themselves as the eses, and they have had an alliance with the whites in prison since the 50s or 60s. The Northerners do not have that alliance and most of them come from rural and farming communities. Which is the reason why Redwood screams “rip that farmers head off”.

@Fergoose said:

@RCH2288 said:

Move up the ranks so fast? I mean i know he wasn't validated and was a sleeper. But how did he become so high up in the chain? Was it because he saved Hernan's life during that riot? Since Hernan was a major shot caller for the Mexican's? Also, right after that he gets sent to the SHU. The fight he had with the Mexican guy at the SHU? did i miss something? He came out of his cell and they both made a bee line for each other as if they knew to fight in the yard? Was Money just pissed because he had just been served his divorce papers and needed to take it out on somebody?

I think the rise up the ranks was one of the few fairly coherent parts of the film and it had to be quick in order to squeeze it into 90mins. He was willing to kill, loyal, might have saved Hernan's life and had a brain. Plus an unexpected vacancy came up when the original outdoor cage guy was sentenced to death. And... it was all meant to have taken around 7-9 years in real time.

I also completely missed the reason for attacking the Latino guy outdoors, I assume the background to that was lost on the editor's floor or wasn't well articulated.

Other fundamental questions:

• Why did Money kill Shotgun if Money's intended end result was exactly what being grassed up by Shotgun would have provided? Just killing him for fun? He sure didn't care about grassing up given that Money then betrayed Hernan less than 24hrs later, a guy who hadn't wronged him at all and considered Money as a friend.

• Why would Money want to become the head of a gang and then destroy the finances of the gang by giving $1 million of firearms over to the police for nothing (when previously he is shown as being motivated to provide money for his wife and kid)? Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.

I wouldn’t say, Herndon hadn’t wrong him at all, considering that he sent one of his men to kill Money in a previously arranged deal with Shotgun. And this is after the riot where Money saved Hernans life. As far as your last question. I think it just comes down to morals and ethics, deep down Money is a good person who did not see seem to think there was any other way out. He essentially sacrificed himself for what he saw was the good of his family. On the other hand Shotgun is not a good person and he used violence to obtain power and maintain control.