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In Batman Forever, a newly minted Riddler seeks out Two-Face to recruit him to his sinister plan. You can see the full scene here:

Something is not explained though:

At 3:45, the Riddler clearly says "This is how I found you," and shows how his box can read minds, implying he used it to siphon the information from the brains of Sugar and Spice. But at 2:50, earlier, we see the box isn't even attached to the TVs in the first place.

More than that, how would Nygma have even GOTTEN the box to the gun Molls for them to use the device and take the data from their brains without knowing WHERE they were in the first place?

This was never explained in the film, so I'm curious if any explanation was given.

2 Answers 2

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There appears to be a slight disconnect between the original screenplay (on which the official novelisation was based) and the final film edit. In the book we learn that he didn't suck the information from the two Molls, he used simple deduction based on his knowledge of Two-Face's obsession, enhanced by the receiver's mental-acuity-enhancing powers.

The Riddler reached for his jacket and removed a receiver from it. He held it out invitingly. “This is how I found you. Take a hit and see. It makes you smarter.”

He considered it a moment, still wary of a trap. But the temptation was too great. He brought the receiver up to his head experimentally . . .

. . . and the world was suddenly open to him.

As if it were an utterly trivial string of deductions, Two-Face said, “You correlated all dualities in the city, orders of half-and-half pizzas, wine splits, two-toned clothing, cross-referenced all addresses with multiples of two, crunched the probabilities by bicoastal, bizonal location leading you . . . here . . . holy shit!”

Batman Forever: Official Novelisation

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    The primary text (the movie) didn't say anything about getting it from the moll's brains; just that it made him smarter.
    – Yakk
    Dec 2, 2019 at 18:32
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    @Yakk - Indeed, and hence why OP is confused about the sequence of events. Often when there's a cut it leaves a movie with a plothole because the writers didn't know/notice/care about the dependencies left behind.
    – Valorum
    Dec 2, 2019 at 18:38
  • This explains it. Thank you, man!
    – Russhiro
    Dec 2, 2019 at 19:17
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I've always interpreted the scene as showing the Riddler used the device to probe various peoples' minds, systematically following a trail of thoughts, looking for one of Two-Face's henchmen who would know where he was based. The bit with the molls was just a demonstration of how it worked.

Just a thought.

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    What made you interpret it this was? Could you edit this to expand a bit more on why you think this is the case.
    – TheLethalCarrot
    Dec 2, 2019 at 14:51

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