Diksha Sundriyal
Netflix’s ‘Obliterated’ takes the audience on a drug-fuelled adventure, where the team tasked to save the day drowns itself in alcohol and other recreational drugs before discovering that their job is not done yet. All of them are intoxicated on different levels. While some had a few drinks that allowed them to keep their composure without compromising their ability to carry out the job, there are others who are left incapacitated by the amount of drugs in their system.
Still, most of them are able to perform their duties, even if not at full capacity. The same, however, cannot be said about Haggerty. One of his distinctive features is a scarred hand missing a thumb. What’s the story behind that? SPOILERS AHEAD
The Scar on Haggerty’s Hand is an Occupational Hazard
In the elite team in ‘Obliterated,’ every member serves a unique purpose. All of them have been chosen for the things that they bring to the table, complementing and completing the team. Haggerty’s job is to diffuse bombs. He is exceptional at his job, but he does tend to keep the audience on edge about whether or not he will succeed. The first time Ava Winters witnesses him diffusing a nuclear bomb, she almost loses her mind because she cannot make sense of his process. With barely two minutes left in the clock, Haggerty seems more concerned with choosing the right song rather than focusing on the bomb. Still, he manages to come through, even if it’s cutting a bit too close.
One of the reasons that Haggerty is so confident that he appears reckless is because of his experience. He has been through some very difficult situations and made it out, no matter how impossible it seemed at the time. A reminder of those things is his hand, which was badly hurt during one mission. He talks about it to Yani, a woman he meets on a boat when he wakes up from his coma-inducing drug ride.
Haggerty had been on a mission in Tel Aviv, where he was called to disarm a car bomb. Presumably, this was the time when bombs, according to Haggerty, were much simpler. They used to be about the wires, which one should be cut and which shouldn’t be touched. Now, he complains that things have become too robotic, with the technology taking most of the baggage, leaving him with barely any excitement about the job. This is why perhaps, he seeks the thrill by letting the clock tick by as he looks for the right song and putting a time constraint on himself.
The car bomb that Haggerty was supposed to diffuse in Tel Aviv exploded while he was still trying to figure his way out of it. Calling it an “ultimate rush” to be “in the middle of an explosion,” this was when Haggerty came so close to death that he never felt anything like that again. This experience claimed his thumb, leaving his hand with the scar of the explosion.
The story about the hand and the missing thumb is quite straightforward, but it answers one important question about him. Haggerty has been looking for that “ultimate rush” ever since Tel Aviv, and this is why he drowns himself in drugs, trying all sorts of assortments and combinations. He is trying to catch that feeling again, which he knows he’ll probably never get again because his job has been made much easier by technology. He also knows that in seeking that thrill, he might end up dead someday, which is what perhaps pushes him more towards drugs, alcohol, and partying so much that he doesn’t stay sober during most of his waking hours.
Read More: Where is Netflix’s Obliterated Filmed?
