Throughout the movie, the audience sits in a cloud of confusion nearly as thick as Lennard. However, while Lennard can never remember Teddy, the audience develops a suspicion towards him. We do not know Teddy’s history with Lennard, just that Teddy claims to be a “friend.” However, there is little evidence to support this statement, therefore making Teddy’s motives dubious.
The first striking contradiction to Teddy’s claim of friendship is his treatment of Lennard. In nearly every scene, Teddy cusses at or flicks Lennard the finger. Friends do not curse each other out, except during playful moments. Additionally, Teddy’s tone of voice is usually short-tempered and hostile, except when he initially sees Lennard. At these times, his voice is exceptionally cheerful, suggesting that he wants something from Lennard. Such communication cannot be ascribed to friendship. Teddy warns Lennard not to trust Natalie because she will use him for her own gain. But this statement only sheds doubt on Teddy, for it raises the question of why he is helping Lennard. Most people, even Lennard’s wife, would not bother with a person like him. Therefore, Teddy’s motives must be for personal gain.
We learn at the end that Teddy is a cop, and that the person Lennard kills is a drug dealer that Teddy is investigating. This juncture doubles the suspicion towards Teddy. He says he simply wants to see Lennard smile as the “first” time he avenged his wife’s alleged death, which seems like a friendly gesture, though he cannot be trusted as Lennard’s friend. Thus, it can be assumed that Teddy is using Lennard to remove common criminals from the street.
Teddy’s vile ambitions become clear at the end of the movie. In his own mind, perhaps he thinks his treatment of Lennard is friendly, but helping someone to kill, even for revenge, causes severe damage. Lennard becomes further depressed after killing the drug dealer, and his vengeance lust grows stronger. As punishment for his corrupt ways, Teddy meets a just end: death by his own puppet.
Teddy was an interesting character. The whole time I was very confused as to whether he wanted to actually help Leonard or he was full of lies as Leonard warned himself against on the Poloroid. I think he found Leonard useful to his own corrupt purposes initially, but after the murder of Jimmy, something switched. Why would he keep hanging around Leonard if he did not want to assist him? He could have easily just arrested him and shipped him off to jail. Leonard wouldn't remember a thing. He also would not have warned Leonard about Natalie's deceit, unless he was fearful Natalie would figure him out. You made excellent points, and I'm still very confused on where I stand with Teddy!
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