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"Mature Content Warning!" |
| â | Ariel: No, please, don't. Cuchillo: Shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh. It's just you and me, baby girl. We're gonna see some stars before we die. |
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| ~ Words can not describe how disgusting this guy is. |
Following the success of my last S.W.A.T. proposal, I return with another S.W.A.T. candidate for NPE. Last time, I proposed a character from the last two episodes of Season 7, but now we're moving back in time all the way to the second episode Season 1. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Cuchillo.
What is the Work?
S.W.A.T. is a crime action drama series that follows Sergeant Daniel "Hondo" Harrelson and his team of S.W.A.T. officers as the take down several criminals.
Who is Cuchillo? What has He Done?
Jesse Ramirez, better known as Cuchillo (which is Spanish for "The Knife") is the main antagonist of the second episode of Season 1 of S.W.A.T..
Formerly a gang leader, Cuchillo was arrested for a number of charges, including sexual harassment against underage girls, murder, and extortion. While in court to be sentenced to life in prison, his cousin disguises himself as a deputy and helps Cuchillo break out. During this prison break, Cuchillo kills several guards and an innocent civilian, and helps the other criminals standing trial that day escape as well, although this is only because they are all chained together, and there isn't enough time to cut Cuchillo free. He even threatens to kill any of the other criminals who slow him down and drag their bodies out if necessary, so clearly he's not helping the others out of kindness.
Later in the episode, more is revealed about how horrible Cuchillo is, such as how he carved the word "rata" (which is Spanish for "rat"), into a child's back, the mother of whom being the woman who testified against Cuchillo in court to put him away. He also mutilated several other people, as seen by how a boy tries to avenge his father, who was cut by Cuchillo in the past. However, the true depravity of Cuchillo's soul is witnessed later on, after he sends his cousin to kill the mother who testified against him, while he goes to kidnap Ariel, a sixteen year old girl who he is obsessed with. After torturing the girl's father, who attempted to protect the girl from Cuchillo, he kidnaps Ariel and drags her to his cabin, where he attempts to rape her, wanting to "be her first". After S.W.A.T. arrives, Cuchillo opens fire on them, but still plans to rape Ariel, only this time, he plans to kill both himself and her afterwards. Luckily, he is stopped by Hondo, who shoots him in the head and saves Ariel's life.
Heinous Standard
Whether or not Cuchillo passes the HS is debatable, but I think he does. While there is no shortage of gangsters in the S.W.A.T. series, there are only a few pedophiles, and none of them go to such lengths as Cuchillo does to get what he wants. Another thing to point out is that Cuchillo has a very low number of resources at his disposal since he has just broken out of prison. In the brief time period after escaping prison, he killed a handful of guards and an innocent civilian, allowed three other criminals to escape custody (even if only two of them were dangerous), tortured a man, kidnapped a minor, attempted to sexually assault her in some perverted fantasy to be the one to take her virginity, and planned to kill both himself and the girl after he raped her. Due to his extremely low resources, and the extreme nature of his crimes, I think he passes the HS.
What Prevents Him From Being Pure Evil?
Cuchilloâs mitigating factor is small, but very perceptible; he cares about his cousin, Ramon Reyes. After managing to escape to their cabin, they exchange a brief yet genuine hug, which proves that Cuchillo does care about his family. This is his only mitigating factor, however, as his "love" for Ariel is not at all a mitigating factor, because it's not love, it's obsession. She is crying, terrified of Cuchillo and what he wants to do to her, and he ignores her cries and only talks about wanting to be her first. Also, since he planned to kill her after raping her, it's obvious that he doesn't actually love her.
Final Verdict
Weak yes to Cuchillo, as he just barely passes the Heinous Standard, but can't be Pure Evil due to how he cares about his cousin.