Far Out!

Scarlet's Buckingham Palace Rampage

It occurred to me that quite a lot of time passes between Scarlet launching her jet to confront the Minions about usurping her place as the rightful conqueror of England and reaching the room where the confrontation occurred. Here's a list of the events that unfold after Scarlet witnesses Bob being crowned king:

* The Minions travel to Buckingham Palace

* The palace guards change their outfits per Bob's royal order

* The Minions engage in shenanigans while palace personnel chase them

* Bob teases the servant with the bell

* Stuart spends time in the royal bath

* Kevin organizes a game of cricket or whatever the heck he's doing with those other players and the dogs.

* The royal painter nearly finishes an oil painting of King Bob

In the film of course, the above events pass by quickly, but in real time at least an hour or two would have passed. Possibly more if we approach the events from an angle of basic plausibility. Hence, I started wondering why it took Scarlet so long to reach the room wherein she confronts the Minions. If it's canon that she can see Buckingham Palace from her fortress (per the bedtime story sequence), then she doesn't live that far away. And traveling by jet would be incredibly fast. She certainly flies from her fortress like a bat out of hell!

Naturally, the film didn't care about such continuity issues, so as a hopelessly devoted Scarlet Overkill fan I feel compelled to raise this point and speculate about what Scarlet and Herb were up to during that time. Because as we all know, Scarlet is a brilliant supervillain and she moves fast. So there has to be a reason(s) the confrontation didn't happen sooner.

Although it's not shown, Herb obviously had to have traveled with Scarlet on the jet. Since Scarlet is alone watching TV, she would have needed some time to rally Herb and update him on the news. Then I imagine she retrieved her Lava Lamp Rifle and boarded the jet. That would have taken, what, all of ten-fifteen minutes?

The reason we don't see Herb in the rocket is because he's sitting in one of the rear seats, keeping to the shadows. He's very upset. Arms crossed, eyes closed. During the flight, Scarlet is probably railing nonstop about those backstabbing traitors.

What happens after the Overkills arrive at the palace? What prevents Scarlet from immediately confronting the Minions?

The next question to ask: Where does Scarlet land the jet, outside the palace or on the grounds somewhere? If she had to land outside the palace, I imagine she had to first breach the gates. Maybe she torched them with the Lava Lamp Rifle, clearing a path for her and Herb.

One significant reason so much time could have passed was because Scarlet had to battle the palace guards. I have no idea how many were stationed at the palace in the 60s on any given day, but there were probably dozens at least.

I imagine Scarlet had to threaten the guards with the Lava Lamp Rifle. Or, if she landed inside the palace grounds, maybe the jet has weapons she used to mow the guards down and/or keep them at bay. (Guards that were dressed like Minions, too. Oy, that'd be double the heartbreak for her!)

After the Overkills arrive at Buckingham Palace, Scarlet storms ahead to confront the Minions. Herb follows, but walks at a slower pace because he's shocked the Minions would betray him and Scarlet. He's in a world of hurt.

Finding the Minions in the vast palace would have taken some time as well. I can imagine Scarlet going from room to room, kicking open doors, fending off yet more guards, and terrorizing staff. For all we know, she unleashed the Lava Lamp Rifle as needed, leaving a wake of destruction in her path. Difficult to say whether Scarlet would care about damaging the palace during her rage-filled hunt or not.

I also noticed that Herb's tie is disheveled during the scene when they confront the Minions. Might he have possibly channeled his anger into fighting a guard or two? Either that, or Scarlet yanked him along by the tie at some point (without hurting him, of course).

One other possibility is that Scarlet rounded up all the guards and trapped them before she went hunting for the Minions. This approach would have also accounted for why it took her so long to find the Minions. She wouldn't be worried about the staff since they probably weren't trained for combat. And I can see her thinking ahead and finding a way to ensure her confrontation wouldn't be interrupted by guards.

That's my two cents. If anyone has other ideas, I'd love to hear them!