10 Horror Movie Heroes Who Became Smarter In The Sequel
5. Agent Strahm - Saw V
FBI agent Peter Strahm (Scott Patterson) is introduced in Saw IV, and it doesn't take long to deduce that the guy is in way over his head.
Though he's the first to suggest the ultimately correct possibility of Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) having a secret apprentice, he plays directly into Jigsaw's hands at the end of the movie, accidentally killing Jeff Denlon (Angus Macfadyen) and getting sealed inside the warehouse by Jigsaw's apprentice, Detective Hoffman (Costas Mandylor).
Yet Saw V sees Strahm get a serious intelligence upgrade, as he devises probably the single ballsiest and most impressive escape plan from any trap in the entire Saw series.
At the start of the fifth movie, Strahm is attacked and wakes up with a glass box placed over his head which quickly fills up with water, primed to drown him unless he can figure out a way to breathe.
At that moment, Strahm goes full MacGyver, grabbing a pen from his pocket and stabbing himself in the throat, performing a makeshift tracheotomy which allows him to breathe despite the box filling up.
It's all the more impressive given that the trap was clearly designed to be "unwinnable," yet Strahm's quick thinking allowed him to survive.
It's just a shame that he didn't listen to Hoffman's advice at the end of the movie and got crushed to death in his final "test," though.