Baker Hall/Jimmy Gators arc sort of pointless?

He has as much screentime,if not more then many of the more prominent characters. Unfortunately,80% of it is just him being the host of What do kids know? Yes,he is part of those who represent the films theme or one of the bigger ones,Sins of the father but I really feel more should´ve been done with Gator. He drinks alot,talks about having cancer,collapses,then have that last scene which does him no favors...depending on how you look at it.


Everyone else is so fleshed out,so alive,while he has neither redeeming qualities or for a long period of the film despicable qualities....he´s just there. And this is not the actors fault in any way,he is actually good,it´s like Anderson was in a rush to wrap up the script,had finished 8 characters and thought...what the hell,I´ll give him a few lines. Gator binds several different stories together just by being the host,I get that. What he does beyond that is....not much.

When his wife asks him why Claudia doesn´t talk to him,I NOW after a 5th viewing don´t believe he would confess to her having accused her of molesting her if he KNEW he actually had done it. Hence the look of deep shame in his face,it is something you should know,to say the least. But the man was an aggressive,extreme alcoholic and I am very certain that he did something sexual to her,I just believe that the tragedy is that he can´t even regret it since he doesn´t remember,having done it drunk beyond comprehension. What do you think?

And yes,God punished him by not even allowing him to take his own life but letting a frog pull the trigger. I liked that"The flood will wash out the wicked" part. Or"the frograin will punish the sinners",whatever.