He was not in trouble, but a wave of panic showed up on the doorstep of his mind. There was no wiggle room here, no leeway, no margin for error. A slip, a weak section, a fright that knocked him off balance would leave him no options. He would drop and could only hope to land close enough to the middle of the patio to keep from flopping over the rail. If he hit the ground, he was dead. If he hit the patio, he was probably dead.
It is so weird that there wasn’t even a scene break between Raiders of the Lost Ark style guard incineration and Buck’s wacky climbing antics. The difference in stakes is so drastic, and any attempt to build tension here just falls flat. We just saw Buck get a message straight from God. Gee, I wonder if he’s going to fall to his death off a drain pipe five minutes later?
