Question: Was Garvin the actual mastermind behind the plan to blame Tom for the CD-ROM problems from the very beginning or was that Meredith's idea? It would be unwise for Garvin to have set up Tom from the beginning since he appeared to have confidence in the merger going through prior to the sexual harassment case. And if Meredith was going to make changes to cut costs, why would she not learn about how the drives work and any potential problems that she may cause?
Question: What was the underlying reason for Sutherland for wanting to dump Michael Douglas? Was he aware that Demi Moore had fouled up the production line in Malaysia? If so, why was he backing her? The buyout/merger would be tainted with the bad CD/ROM drives so was he hoping to merge before the bad units came to light? He wanted Douglas to stay on until the merger at least. Why make bad drives to start with if he truly hoped to spin off the CD/ROM production. Was Demi acting on her own when she attempted to frame Douglas for sexual assault? What would have been the outcome if Douglas had gone all the way with her? Was she hoping to pin a rape charge on him but since that didn't work opted for the assault? Was she just hoping to dominate/humiliate him and when that didn't work opted for the assault charge? Douglas was the driving force behind development of the CD/ROM drives so why attempt to get rid of him in the first place? There are so many unanswered questions.
Question: The book explains Meredith changed Tom's specifications on the production line to try and impress CEO Ed Nichols by cutting costs. But why did she choose to do it on Tom's responsibility in the first place? Why not just change someone else's specifications? Did she despise Tom in some way or did she choose to change Tom's specifications because she knew she was incompetent, and thus chose him to blame in case she messed up?
Answer: Tom was the head of the project. Even with someone else's specifications, it all comes down to him.
Question: Why was Meredith so enthusiastic to make Tom "lose everything"? All she wanted was for him to be transferred or quit so he didn't find out about the changes on the production line, but she is asking him to see pictures of his family and trying to send him to Austin which would be sold, instead of another place. The book even mentions that Meredith was the one who was aiming to sell Austin. Why not just transfer Tom to another place and job in Digicom?
Answer: She needs to heavily discredit him in order to cover up her own mistakes. She wants to transfer him to Austin and then sell it so she can do it quietly and without ado.
Question: Why did Meredith change Tom's specifications on the production line? Was it merely to impress Conley-White? If she was incompetent, then wouldn't she knew she would screw up the production line? Was it unlawful as well? I know she was using the sexual lawsuit claim as a reason to kick him out of the company before he could trace the problems. But if that's so, I don't really understand her making Tom's life hell.
Question: So who turned out to be A. Friend? I just got lost on that issue. (04:53:00)
Answer: It's a little confusing. Stephanie Kaplan, who was promoted to replace Meredith at the end of the film, had a son named Spencer. Spencer worked as a research assistant to a Professor Arthur Friend (A. Friend) at the University of Washington. Stephanie was feeding clues to Tom via her son, who had access to Prof. Friend's computer and email account. Prof. Friend was supposedly on a leave of absence and unaware his email was being used.
Question: I know that Garvin wanted Sanders fired for incompetence to keep Meredith at Seattle, but did he even know about the changes she made to the production line in the first place before Tom exposed Meredith at the Friday presentation?
Answer: Yes.
Answer: Sutherland was aware there were problems with the production line, but he did not know it was Moore's doing. He had perfect reason to put the blame on Douglas as he was responsible for the production line, and Douglas had almost taken $100 million from him and Meredith, who he believed to be the key to the merger and deeply cared about, unaware of how much he was of her manipulation of him. Moore impulsively changed Douglas' specifications on the production line as it was his responsibility and to attempt to improve costs, but her incompetence led to the problems. She did not frame Douglas because she was spurned, but premeditated to do so after discovering the problems to try to get him fired before he discovered the problems with the line. She also blackmailed Arthur Khan into lying to Douglas and send the drives late (in the novel she was having an affair with Conley-White CEO Ed Nichols). On the other hand, Moore does appear to have an ulterior motive as she appears jealous that Douglas has a family and typically demonstrates herself throughout the novel and film as a woman scorned and has a manipulative personality.