KR thoughts in the early morning
While I was pondering where I want to *start* the next story this morning, I had a thought, potentially even a disturbing one, about Wilton Knight choosing Michael Long to be his, erm, Knight In Shining Automobile.
Part of Wilton's dream was to have one man, with the car, taking direct action against criminals who cannot be stopped through legal or judicial means. And it's pretty clear that Michael Long was chosen for this task specifically because Wilton thought he was "admirably suited to go it alone." Chosen before that night in the Nevada desert when Tanya shot him in the face and he became much better looking Michael Knight.
So what made Michael a good choice? Well, he was Army Special forces in Vietnam (hinted at in pilot and elsewhere, explicit in writer's bible) and, after his separation from the army (for non-specified reasons but oh how I would love to speculate, yes yes), he became a police officer.
Special Forces training evaluates candidates for twelve elements of what they call the "whole man" (and yes, exclusively men, even now it's not open to women) "These attributes include intelligence, physical fitness, motivation, trustworthiness, accountability, maturity, stability, judgment, decisiveness, teamwork, influence, and communications." (Wikipedia on US Army Special Forces, which is pretty good, so if you want to know more about the training and kinds of missions he would have had click.) The primary functions of Special Forces are: unconventional warfare, foreign internal defense (infiltrating hostile countries and organizing and training local militias), special reconnaissance, direct action, and counter-terrorism. "Other duties include combat search and rescue (CSAR), security assistance, peacekeeping, humanitarian assistance, humanitarian demining, counter-proliferation, psychological operations, and counter-drug operations..." (Wikipedia again)
I don't think Michael's law enforcement training added much to this skill set, frankly, but it does indicate a personality trait of wanting to bring evildoers to justice through the rule of law. Wilton wanted someone to take direct action, but he didn't want an assassin or a thug.
Green Beret/Cop. Michael really was admirably suited to operate alone to achieve the ends that the Knight Foundation (later the Foundation for Law And Government) were working toward. While I doubt Michael was *unique*, I don't expect there were that many people who would have been as well suited in training, innate abilities, and demonstrated personality.
The disturbing thought from this morning was to wonder to what extent Wilton, with his vast financial resources and genius-level intellect (according to Devon) manipulated Michael Long's life (and potentially Tanya's) to get this admirably well-suited man in a position to want to work for the Foundation. He clearly expected Tanya to betray Michael in the desert (why else would he be flying out there at just the right moment), but did he set Michael up to get *shot*? (When he sees Michael's body he says "We're too late", not anything like "OMG he's been shot", so he's apparently not surprised about it. After all, he *needed* Michael Long to "die", needed a man with no past and no identity.) Did he pull strings to get Michael assigned to the industrial espionage case so he'd be in a position for Tanya to betray him? Did he somehow make that sap Tanya was suckering at the beginning of the pilot more of a temptation for her so she'd go into Michael's jurisdiction? How long was he planning this? (Probably a while, KITT wasn't invented, designed, programmed, or built in a day.) And how much did Devon know about these machinations (if there were any)?
Part of Wilton's dream was to have one man, with the car, taking direct action against criminals who cannot be stopped through legal or judicial means. And it's pretty clear that Michael Long was chosen for this task specifically because Wilton thought he was "admirably suited to go it alone." Chosen before that night in the Nevada desert when Tanya shot him in the face and he became much better looking Michael Knight.
So what made Michael a good choice? Well, he was Army Special forces in Vietnam (hinted at in pilot and elsewhere, explicit in writer's bible) and, after his separation from the army (for non-specified reasons but oh how I would love to speculate, yes yes), he became a police officer.
Special Forces training evaluates candidates for twelve elements of what they call the "whole man" (and yes, exclusively men, even now it's not open to women) "These attributes include intelligence, physical fitness, motivation, trustworthiness, accountability, maturity, stability, judgment, decisiveness, teamwork, influence, and communications." (Wikipedia on US Army Special Forces, which is pretty good, so if you want to know more about the training and kinds of missions he would have had click.) The primary functions of Special Forces are: unconventional warfare, foreign internal defense (infiltrating hostile countries and organizing and training local militias), special reconnaissance, direct action, and counter-terrorism. "Other duties include combat search and rescue (CSAR), security assistance, peacekeeping, humanitarian assistance, humanitarian demining, counter-proliferation, psychological operations, and counter-drug operations..." (Wikipedia again)
I don't think Michael's law enforcement training added much to this skill set, frankly, but it does indicate a personality trait of wanting to bring evildoers to justice through the rule of law. Wilton wanted someone to take direct action, but he didn't want an assassin or a thug.
Green Beret/Cop. Michael really was admirably suited to operate alone to achieve the ends that the Knight Foundation (later the Foundation for Law And Government) were working toward. While I doubt Michael was *unique*, I don't expect there were that many people who would have been as well suited in training, innate abilities, and demonstrated personality.
The disturbing thought from this morning was to wonder to what extent Wilton, with his vast financial resources and genius-level intellect (according to Devon) manipulated Michael Long's life (and potentially Tanya's) to get this admirably well-suited man in a position to want to work for the Foundation. He clearly expected Tanya to betray Michael in the desert (why else would he be flying out there at just the right moment), but did he set Michael up to get *shot*? (When he sees Michael's body he says "We're too late", not anything like "OMG he's been shot", so he's apparently not surprised about it. After all, he *needed* Michael Long to "die", needed a man with no past and no identity.) Did he pull strings to get Michael assigned to the industrial espionage case so he'd be in a position for Tanya to betray him? Did he somehow make that sap Tanya was suckering at the beginning of the pilot more of a temptation for her so she'd go into Michael's jurisdiction? How long was he planning this? (Probably a while, KITT wasn't invented, designed, programmed, or built in a day.) And how much did Devon know about these machinations (if there were any)?