Lessons From the John Wick Series

      I recently watched all four John Wick movies. I got them mostly for John, Cindy's husband, to watch in his convalescence. He tends to like the hard action films, so these were right up his alley. I'll be honest, the action sequences got a little repetitive after a while, and you already knew John Wick was going to win every time. His plot armor was far more bulletproof than his suits were, and that's saying something. This being said, in a way they're full of subtle nostalgic callbacks to the Matrix, Highlander, Assassin's Creed, Rambo, and a few other action films and franchises and they end up being a kind of comfort food even if you haven't seen them before. The first film is kind of a self-contained story which can stand on its own. The next three are really a six and a half hour sequel movie broken into three parts. 
     There are a few things I can say about John Wick and the storylines which stuck out to me as teachable moments. The first is that John is the one who brings almost all of his suffering on himself after his wife dies. It is true that he was attacked, his car was stolen, and the puppy his wife gave him to help him grieve was murdered in front of him. I'm not saying that was his doing. But it was his response to these things which set everything in motion to completely destroy what he had left of the "normal" life he had built with his wife, Helen. It was his choice to get revenge and rampage through the Russian mafia which put him on back on the radar of the man who held his marker. It was his choice to kill that man on Continental grounds that got him "excommunicado" with the High Table, and all those who helped him after that punished severely. It was his choice to kill the High Table Elder which upped the bounty on him and caused them to destroy the New York Continental, excommunicate Winston, and systematically hunt down anyone who could be helping or harboring him which led to the death of his friend who managed the Continental in Osaka. Ultimately, it was John Wick's choices which led to his own death, and the deaths of many if not most of his friends. None of it would have happened if he had just walked away to begin with, let them have the car, buried his puppy, and moved on. Don't get me wrong, I get why he did what he did, but all actions have consequences not only for ourselves, but all those around us. In the end, he lost everything he was fighting to keep, including his life, leaving a trail of bodies that numbered in the hundreds, not to mention the lives shattered of people whom he had counted as friends and even family.
     The second thing I want to point out here is that his solution, as an assassin, was to kill the people he held responsible for causing his suffering. He broke the High Table's rules, the High Table sent people to enforce the penalty for breaking them. He killed the people they sent. They sent more, always more. He killed High Table leadership. They appointed new leadership. His problem, as Winston pointed out to him, was that he couldn't kill all of them. The High Table organization was composed of hundreds of thousands if not millions of people. It was like the Hydra. You kill one head, two more grow back, and they just keep coming. Ultimately, Winston's wisdom was that John had to work within the High Table's rules to truly find a way to end it, and he was right. When John told him that he would kill anyone sent after him, Winston replied, "I know you will." He had no doubts about the matter. What John wasn't counting on that Winston understood is that they would never stop sending people, and John simply couldn't kill them all. They would eventually overwhelm him, and very nearly did several times if not for timely interventions. John's ending was more him trying to make restitution to Winston and Caine and save them as he finally understood that the only way by that point was in fact his death. On his terms, yes, but his death nonetheless. In the end, the rules were satisfied, the High Table was satisfied, and everyone involved was left to pick up the pieces and rebuild what lives they had left.
     A third thing from John Wick is this: He who lives by the sword dies by it. It's not divine retribution, it's just reality. Jesus said this to Peter in the garden at his arrest, but the Buddha also said something like it to a general who came wanting to be taught the Dharma. He told the general, “He who goeth to battle, O Simha, even though it be in a righteous cause, must be prepared to be slain by his enemies, for that is the destiny of warriors; and should his fate overtake him he has no reason for complaint. But he who is victorious should remember the instability of earthly things. His success may be great, but be it ever so great the wheel of fortune may turn again and bring him down into the dust.” (The Gospel of Buddha. Paul Carus)
     All John had to do was walk away and leave Baba Yaga in the past. Leave his equipment in the concrete. It wouldn't have made for a good action movie with a sympathetic anti-hero, but it would have prevented all of the death and destruction which followed.