I went to see Catching Fire last night with Captain Jelly Belly. He was the youngest in the theatre and possibly the only male member of the species, but I still think he had a pretty good time. He thought the movie was okay, but a little too heavy on the kissing.

(I, on the other hand, could have done with a little MORE kissing.)

The only really traumatic part for him was this trailer that played before the movie for the new Endless Love remake:

That’s probably one shared experience we did not need to have as mother and son.

Anyway, watching the movie reminded me that the ending of Catching Fire, the book, was very confusing to me and left me with many questions, all of which I assumed would be answered in Mockingjay but if they were, then I missed them.

So I’d like to have a very open discussion of the ending of Catching Fire, but if you have not read the book or seen the movie, and think you might one day, WARNING, there are TOTALLY MAJOR COMPLETE SPOILERS BELOW.

Still with me?

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Sure sure?

Okay.

So I get the fact that there was a secret plan to protect and save Katniss at all costs, and by extension, Peeta. But what I do not understand is:

1. Why did Joanna bop Katniss in the head as the plan came to its peak? How could it have been sensible in any way to have the very person you are trying to protect lying defenseless on the ground while the Careers are attacking? The only thing I can think of here is that she had to get the tracker out fast, and needed Katniss not to struggle? Or possibly she thought it would be an easier rescue if Katniss was confined to one place? But then shouldn’t Joanna have stayed to protect her?
2. Who cut the wire? The movie and book strongly imply it was the Careers, but it is my understanding that the wire the girls were unspooling was a red herring for the cameras, anyway. So did Beetee cut the wire, as some sort of signal to Joanna that Things Were Happening? Why would Joanna see the cut wire as her signal to hit Katniss in the head?
3. Given that everyone was trying to save Katniss and Peeta, and the others knew that rescue would be happening at any moment, why did they split up Peeta and Katniss? Wouldn’t rescue of both be easier if they were together? And at the least, why wasn’t Peeta with Beetee still? Where was he, what was he doing, and was that part of the plan?
4. Why was Beetee knocked out? Did Finnick do it, as Joanna did to Katniss, and maybe that’s why Peeta ran? But I thought Beetee was in on everything? And if it was a Career attack, and that’s why Peeta ran, then who/why did they cut out Beetee’s tracker? Or was he taken out by a bad run-in with the force field, in which case, again, why wasn’t Peeta still there, and who cut out his tracker?
5. Why did Joanna tell Katniss that she’d saved and protected Beetee and Wiress “for you,” meaning specifically because Katniss herself wanted them in her alliance, when it seems clear that Beetee’s job with the wire was absolutely critical to the secret plan to blow open the dome? Wouldn’t Joanna have saved and protected them anyway? Or was this thing with the wire not part of the original plan? And if not, how exactly did they plan to have her rescued – or, is what they were actually planning was to have her be the overall winner, and all others (including Peeta) dead? Perhaps this is why they split Peeta and Katniss up?

So I guess what I really want to know is, what WAS the actual plan that Finnick and Joanna were going to implement that night, and what ACTUALLY happened?

Any and all explanations welcome!