A Failed Failed Mission

[JP]

So Katniss and her team went to kill Snow. A fake mission that she set up for her own agenda. However, rebels were already making progress in overtaking the capitol. If the team had only waited, the failed mission would not have cost them the lives of her team. Anyone bothered by this?

[Shay]

I think it was also kind of a trap. Peeta was also initially sent into battle to kill Katniss. Coin thought Katniss was dead after something went wrong with that device there were using and stepped in the pods, or whatever they were called.

However, since Finnick could have survived, now that you brought it up, I'm mad. lol

[[Coco]]

Collins probably thought her book would be more interesting and cause more talk about it if Finnick died. And Prim. And this discussion proves it :) The whole mission part of the book was weird, though. They made almost no progress.

[Citra]

I was kind of disturbed with that too.

Too many characters died for no reason.

[Grobanite]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who saw that as a fail. Really, SC, really? They go to kill Snow, several of them die in the attempt (Finnick D=), but as soon as they get to the mansion, the rebels are already there taking control and then Katniss gets knocked unconscious so she's involved even less. Pointless!

[Kristen]

I get that, but they didn't know, when they set out to go on the mission, that the rebels would be so close behind them. Katniss never intended for the others to follow her. They knew it was a fake mission, but they supported it and were willing to die for it.
Coin had decided that Katniss was more valuable dead, so what would her motivation be for going back? She wanted to be the one to kill Snow.
But yeah, looking back, it was pretty pointless for them all to die, but they didn't exactly realize it would work out that way.
And Prim probably would have died either way, I think.

[[Coco]]

And Finnick too, I think.^

[Nya Tomlinson-Horan-Malik-Payne-Styles]

the mission could have went better. it could have not happened at all. all it did was create pointless deaths to characters that we loved.

[Susan]

Citra wrote: "I was kind of disturbed with that too.

Too many characters died for no reason."

I think that's what sucks about war. That's what I took as the message.

[Greg]

I keep seeing the term pointless death. That's the WHOLE POINT. Senseless is probably a more appropriate term. Wars end in what in retrospect seem like pointless deaths.

That's the whole point of them being in the story.

Just because you didn't like that someone didn't make it to the end, doesn't make their death pointless to the messages the story is conveying. In this case, I believe that these messages carry far more value than pandering to the audience to give them the warm fuzzies.

This story was supposed to make you feel the loss that warmongering brings.

[Susan]

Greg wrote: "I keep seeing the term pointless death. That's the WHOLE POINT. Senseless is probably a more appropriate term. Wars end in what in retrospect seem like pointless deaths.

That's the whole point ..."
Finnick was one of my favorite characters, and the fact that he died without fanfare made a huge impact for me. Somebody so important died just like that? Yep. That's how it happens.

[Lea (Peeta's #1 Fangirl!)]

Greg wrote: "I keep seeing the term pointless death. That's the WHOLE POINT. Senseless is probably a more appropriate term. Wars end in what in retrospect seem like pointless deaths.

That's the whole point ..."
Agreed..unfortunately.

[Tim]

I took the pointless mission with senseless deaths as just part of what life is like in a dystopia. I still didn't like it though. I can't decide how to rate Mockingjay because of that mission.

[Becky]

She did it to simulate real life! In war there are unnecessary deaths, even fictional ones and people make bad decisions or flawed decisions. I like that bit of the book because it was very realistic and it was a breath of fresh air to have a fictional world where things happened that would actually happen in real life.

[Donna]

Kristen wrote: "I get that, but they didn't know, when they set out to go on the mission, that the rebels would be so close behind them. Katniss never intended for the others to follow her. They knew it was a fake..."

I agree Primrose just seemed set up to die

[Nicole]

Sara :) wrote: "the mission was pointless because all it did was result in many deaths that were unnecessary like Finnick! boo:("

True, their deaths perhaps very well could have been avoided. But when it comes down to it, this is a broken down society. War isn't fair. There really are no rules and, as unfortunate as it is, people are going to die... regardless of how unnecessary it may have been or that it could have possibly been avoided somehow. I agree with what Greg said above 100%.... I would consider their deaths senseless rather than pointless and I'm glad that the author kept that aspect in this series.

[Matilda]

I felt that those scenes were kind of rushed. But to me, the entire last half of the book was rushed, particularly the ending, and a rushed book is harder to understand. But no, I didn't really think her mission was pointless. She did try to find and kill Snow, or at least it seemed like she was. The others had figured out that she was lying. Boggs did tell her not to trust Coin, and if she'd gone back Coin probably would have had an 'accident' arranged for her, which she already tried to do by sending a mad Peeta with them. So really, did she have another option?

Buuuttt, I was so sad when Finnick died. You can't just explain to us all the horrors he went through, show him in a process of mental breakdown after mental breakdown, then let him finally be happy and get back to himself and have him married with a pregnant wife and then just... kill him. With nothing else said, in the space of a few lines. Katniss didn't really seem to care that much. Same with the others. What bugged me with their pointless deaths was that it wasn't dwelled on like the tragedy they were, it was they're dead, moving on.

[Emma]

Matilda wrote: "I felt that those scenes were kind of rushed. But to me, the entire last half of the book was rushed, particularly the ending, and a rushed book is harder to understand. But no, I didn't really thi..."

Totally agree with you, I don't think it was pointless... Thou I must admit that it annoyed me the: go through pods, mutts, all this action, we're about to get to Snow, then Katniss' blackout and... taraa! we got snow and everything is over! yea!. I mean if you put her through all that I was truly hoping for some ultimate get-into-the-mansion-and-battle-Snow then maybe they see through the window the parachutes, then Prim's death, everything get fuzzy, then 13's army appears and take Snow Katniss' blackout and all the following. In some blog I've read that it was as if in HP, after gathering all the Horcruxes and heading to battle Voldemort, Harry faints, later he wakes up to find out he is at the infirmary at Hogwarts and that Voldemort has been defeated.
I don't find the mission pointless but in the end it was such an anticlimax. But I'm not the author and we must respect SC decisions and hope they were for the better.

As for the deaths, as you have said, there was some lack of mourning. I think the fans wouldn't be that mad because Finnick death (maybe we would but this things happens and we have to live with it) if we had some kind of closure. Also I was really preoccupied for Annie, I mean she was already a mess and then you take Finnick away from her, AND THEN SC GIVES HER A CHILD! I mean maybe it's a symbol of a new beginning and for her not to be alone, bla, bla, bla, but the poor girl barely could take care of herself and you give her a little kid. I really wanted to know what happened to her but well, that happens when the story is told through the POV of one of the characters, we'll never know a lot of things since she doesn't knows or simply doesn't care.