Jul 22, 2017 · 1 min read
I could be remembering this wrong — I have to check my tats — but the movie does not end where it starts. It starts with Leonard killing Teddy; it ends with Leonard setting himself up for that to happen. He makes himself into a ticking time bomb. That’s how it ends. Also, we don’t know whether Leonard’s wife died in the attack or whether he killed her and created the memory of Sammy Jenkis as a coping mechanism. We end the movie knowing as much as Leonard, which is not very much at all.
I love your stuff, Shea, but this piece seems to be a fundamental misreading of the film. Have you read this piece on Salon? The definitive “Memento” explainer: http://www.salon.com/2001/06/28/memento_analysis/