“ | Go on, kill me. The lake goes on for miles. You and your children and your childrens' children can dig for the next one hundred years, and you will never find it. | „ |
~ Kissin' Kate Barlow to Trout Walker. |
Kissin' Kate Barlow is a major character in Holes.
What Makes Her Magnificent?[]
- While she's easily heinous enough by the In-Story Standard, her tragic backstory, love for Sam, her "Evil is Cool" vibe, and her dying with so much dignity keep her from being too vile. Her fantastic means of dying also prevent her from being perceived as a "woobie" by too many people out-of-universe.
- She is extremely sympathetic. She was a wonderful girl who was driven to the dark side because Trout Walker destroyed her career and her love life in the same night. To make matters even worse, the Sheriff refused to punish Trout and confirmed he would have done the same, meaning Sam was dead either way (which is why she killed him instead of pursuing Trout). Her death is played massively for sympathy too.
- She is an extremely charming and competent criminal who leads a lynch mob to pillage and plunder, and she makes herself extremely iconic by kissing people that she kills. It is how she earned her epithet in the first place. She has presumably kept these men under her thumb for several years.
- She keeps up a bold front with confidence and charisma as she carries out her epic reign of terror, even if she is privately not as sadistic as she tries to come across as.
- She buries Stanley Yelnats' treasure and tells Trout he and his descendants can dig for the next hundred years and they will never find it, and as the film progresses it becomes increasingly obvious that this is wholly the truth.
- When Trout Walker arrives, she cocks a gun at him preparing to duel to the death, then changes her mind, deciding she has a golden opportunity to make him understand her suffering. Just as she dies knowing she can never have Sam's love in this life again, she knows he'll die knowing he can never enjoy any form of wealth again, correctly deducing money is the only thing he knows how to love in the first place.
- Knowing Trout Walker cannot take anything more from her, she lets a yellow-spotted lizard bite her so Trout can't live up to his threats of "making her wish she was dead" and as life is fading from her, she absolutely has the last laugh.
- She calls out Linda Walker for only marrying Trout for his money whilst silently reflecting on Trout's inability to sincerely love anyone and how no one should know better than Kate herself, something she bitterly chuckles about.
- She also retains enough humanity to openly express disappointment in a promising student for making bad choices in life.
- She is also a hand at the culinary arts, making fantastic canned peaches (described as an angel's work) and even lending some to Sam for fixing her property.
- She is excellent in her position as a schoolteacher. She is shown teaching unadulterated children by day and then teaching undereducated adults with the moon in the sky, which speaks numbers to her dedication, compassion, and fortitude. If her schoolhouse had never been destroyed, she would be very happy to continue doing this.
- She loves Sam and when he offers to fix her leaky roof, they end up spending more and more time together. She even cries tenderly when they are reading a novel together.
- Patricia Arquette did a phenomenal job with Kate and stole every single scene she was in.
What Makes Her a Baddie?[]
- She is one of the most prolific outlaws of her time by far.
- She kills many people; Kate shoots the Sheriff (although he deserved it) and goes on to massacres several men who she deems as responsible for Sam’s murder, and lines their corpses in coffins against a wall.
- She robs many people; she pillages and plunders most, if not all major banks, including the Chicago Pacific, and she makes headlines in practically every newspaper for it.
- She's also the direct reason Stanley Yelnats IV and his kin are so poor, since she robbed one of their forefathers of an entire fortune before leaving him alone with a broken stagecoach.
External Links[]
- Kissin' Kate Barlow at the Villains wiki.
- Kissin' Kate Barlow at the Inconsistently Heinous wiki.
- Kissin' Kate Barlow at the Holes wiki
- Kissin' Kate Barlow at the Disney wiki.
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