Attack #11: Mitch gets pecked getting the car at the movie's end.
In view of Melanie's condition, Mitch decides she needs hospitalization. Lydia disagreed and - again - Mitch chides her into his way.
Though not all these attack have the same severity, they all serve the same purpose: that of revealing Lydia's will on an issue.
Considering Melanie's even laid out arms crossed like a corpse...
why would Lydia object to hospital care? We've already seen Lydia doesn't care to understand others. She told Melanie as much to her face:
I don't understand you at all,
But care is not on Lydia's mind. From here it seems Lydia, having administered her "bad cop" side to Melanie is now going to seal the master-slave deal with Melanie by bringing out the "good cop."
Lydia herself would care for Melanie and provide the "mother's care" Mitch told Melanie she was in need of at Cathy's party. Melanie, now broken, would fall in line.
Mitch's plans are a nuisance to Lydia, but nothing that can't be accommodated. Still, Mitch also under Lydia's thumb, needs some small reminders of his place. And so, going to get the car...
Mitch gets a nip on his hand...
...and one on his ankle.
Nothing major, but impressively timed. Lydia, though initially resisting Mitch's idea, reconsiders something and then consents.
What was Lydia thinking?
The closest hospital was mentioned earlier in the restaurant after the school attack:
One little girl was seriously injured and taken to the hospital in Santa Rosa.
Lydia has this covered though as Mitch hears on the radio:
there are reports... of minor attacks on Sebastopol and a few on Santa Rosa.
So, resources seem available there. Lydia's might even count on a delay to Mitch's hospital plan as Mitch also hears reported:
Bodega Bay has been cordoned off by roadblocks.
There might yet be a chance for Lydia to be hero. But Mitch is not interested in Sebastopol or Santa Rosa. Mitch wants San Francisco. Is that a place too far away for the reach of Lydia Brenner?
One need only go to the very opening of the film...
...to see the foreboding answer. Even Melanie can recognize it and mentions it to Mrs MacGruder, the petshop owner, right before Melanie meets Mitch Brenner:
Melanie: Have you ever seen so many gulls? What do you suppose it is?
Mrs MacGruder: There must be a storm at sea. That can drive them inland
One need only ask Annie Hayworth or Mitch himself if Lydia's reach can hold influence over someone in San Francisco.
But Lydia gets a break. Though she doesn't see it yet, Mitch's idea will accelerate Lydia's wishes.
Melanie is terrified of facing the birds as they escort her to the car. It is here that Melanie snaps and in the car, she gives up.
This is not the expression of Melanie saying "I need you." Rather, as she grasps Lydia's arm, it is an overwhelmed & hopeless girl in resignation saying: "Mercy, please. I surrender."
And Lydia's reaction?
"Score!"
"Of course, I will relent. I approve of you now. The Bodega Bay school will be needing a new teacher. Perhaps you can move into Annie's house and take care of Cathy for me while I sponge off Mitch in search of my next Dan Fawcett."
Lydia's smile is not a joyous redemptive glow of motherly compassion. That it could be maternal instinct is highly questionable. Consider what Annie said of Lydia & daughters:
Melanie: Someone ought to tell her [Lydia] she'd be gaining a daughter.
Annie: [Chuckles] No. She already has a daughter.
A daughter has no value to Lydia. Just consider how she's treated Cathy; a child Lydia has stated outright she neither understands nor has attempted to enter her would.
Besides, as Annie already pointed out, why would Lydia need a thing she already has? Were a daughter so precious a thing to Lydia, why does Lydia leave her actual daughter alone in the front seat with no comfort but a bird cage?
Wouldn't an eleven year old girl would need even more support than a grown woman?
Lydia has not once been portrayed as a selfless giver. If she's never bothered to enter the world of her own children or try to understand them, why then would she exert herself on behalf of a rich, spoiled girl she appraises thus:
Yes, I know, dear... but when you bring a girl like that...
That’s an excerpt of a longer discussion in which Lydia quite politely, repeated & surreptitiously engages in character assassination of Melanie.
Benign though it may appear, this is a distasteful revealing of the Lydia Brenner character. Given her trend, the above image would seem to be showing the euphoria of a junkie getting their fix.
Now that all's well with Lydia: Mitch is still hers, Annie's been paid back for her betrayal & Cathy has a new friend & babysitter in Melanie...
...it's off into the sunset but, make no mistake, the birds remain. If Lydia had some unmet need met, the birds would leave. The birds are the proof that all has returned to the way Lydia wants it and to ensure it remains this way, she has The Birds.
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