Kingpin: Comfortable? I see you have a fondness for the trappings of power.
Hobgoblin: Oh not just the trappings. I like the prestige and influence too.
Kingpin: It seems you want what I have.
Hobgoblin: You read me like a book.
The problem with getting all you want is that it’s never enough. Once you ascended the highest mountaintop you start to wonder how you can reach the stars. In the case of Hobgoblin, he’s seen the Kingpin’s empire and now he wants to own Osbourn’s corporation. He even claims that he could stay there forever. Somehow I get the sense that he’d go weary of sitting behind a desk and making deals. The reason Kingpin prospers is a frightening lack of insanity and a large helping of calculation.
This comes to bear when, in the final act of the episode,Kingpin chooses to blow up a valuable tunnel to his lair rather than allow it to be used against him. For Osbourn, it means sacrificing a relationship with his son. His work is “all consuming” and it was “just a matter of making choices.” For those two men, remaining upon the Throne comes at a high, one in which Wilson Fisk and Osbourn are glad to pay. According to Smythe though, this price may be too high.
A Pyrrhic victory is a victory that inflicts such a devastating toll on the victor that it is tantamount to defeat. Someone who wins a Pyrrhic victory has been victorious in some way; however, the heavy toll negates any sense of achievement or profit (another term for this would be “hollow victory“).
The question throughout all of this comes back to Hobgoblin. Even with all of the power in the world at his disposal, Hobgoblin still chooses to seek revenge on Osbourn. What else to do with power but wield it against your enemies? Once must wonder if even a man like the Hobgoblin craves the legitimacy of having his own company. Sure, he has the respect of the criminal underworld. Why not have the respect of the corporate one as well?
tvbuddies 