"It's All Downhill From Here"

Mystic River follows the complicated stages of grief and the climatic downfall of all those involved. Dave was no different than any other child growing up in Boston. He would have matured and eventually become an arguably sane adult, just as Sean and Jimmy did. The successive deterioration of Dave's life can all be traced back to the fateful day he was seized by "cops." Since that day Dave never recovered or coped with the pain and fear he had hoped to repress permanently. It was Jimmy who had said there were threads in life, once pulled everything else gets affected. Dave's traumatic experience left him to be but a shadow of his former self. He was left a socially awkward man with poor communication skills and a sense of dread deeply instilled within. It was this occurrence that would subsequently lead him to displacing his anger on a child molester he saw on the same night of Katie's murder. His thirst for vengeance was fueled by the untapped desire for justice. Dave never escaped from the clutches of his captors, his mental state would remain locked in that very cellar. Dave was never able to fully trust anyone after, not even his wife Celeste. After killing the child molester Dave returned in a state of apprehension and chose to conceal the true story, which would later lead Celeste to drawing false judgements upon her own husband. Dave's downfall was out of his control. His innocence was stripped away at a delicate age, and he was forever damaged. His childhood and eventually life would ultimately remain interrupted.

Family has always drove Jimmy's intentions, but he cannot claim innocence in the way Dave can. His days of misconduct with "Just Ray" Harris would open the door for higher scale crime. Incarceration would separate Jimmy from his wife during her final hours. Killing Ray would haunt Jimmy with guilt only a piteous donation of $500 a month could solve. Sins of the past always prove to resurface as Jimmy proved he could mercilessly kill those who had wronged him. Katie was the last "thread" to link Jimmy to his dark past. Her death left Jimmy alone with his newly acclaimed life- wife and all. Jimmy's title of murderer would follow him since his very first robbery. Such a downfall can be linked to mistakes made with a fully clear conscience and mind.