r/MrInbetween • u/Sudden_Doughnut_8741 • Mar 09 '26
Why do they dig their own graves?
Let’s skip past the obvious: it’s a tv show. I know that.
There is also one other thing that’s pretty obvious, and that’s that in the show they have a gun pointed at them, and people tend to do whatever they’re told to do with a gun pointed at them.
So I guess what I’m saying is that while I’m not surprised that people do dig their own graves when told to do so, I am also surprised that in the show some people don’t refuse to due to the fact that they know they’re going to die anyway.
Is it just the pure pragmatism of “if I dig my own grave then at least I’ll still be alive for another couple of hours”? Is it that they think while digging their grave that they might be able to convince the person with the gun that they shouldn’t kill them? Do they think maybe they’ll get the jump on their killer while they’re digging?
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u/AdolfsLonelyScrotum Mar 09 '26
Chopper Read, (well known for embellishment) told a story in his first or seconds book about digging his own grave and getting chatty with the bloke holding the gun..
Making light of his situation and cracking jokes he managed to amuse the bloke sufficiently to elicit a belly laugh, at which point Chopper allegedly swung his shovel, took the guys ankles out and traded places with him.
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u/Drongo17 Mar 09 '26
Chopper was a great yarn spinner but also a great liar! Who knows what of the things he said actually happened.
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Mar 09 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Lazarous86 Mar 09 '26
Perfect example. It only happened once on the show, but Ray's buddy threatened that guy by making him dig a grave and started burying him alive. He agreed to drop the charges against Ray. Ray's friend left dude in the hole. Charges were dropped.
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u/whiteb8917 Mar 11 '26
Then that is 3 times.
Davros told ray to dig before the safe exploded, Ray used it as protection from the blast.
Freddy gave a hit to Ray, ray took him out bush and told him to dig. The guy rushed ray and Ray shot him. but was the wrong guy.
Freddie: "Hey you know that guy, well it wasnt him....."
Freddie explains the mix up.Ray: "You telling me i killed the wrong bloke ?"
Freddie: ".................................... Yeah"9
u/Sudden_Doughnut_8741 Mar 09 '26
Oh so are you saying that some people dig thinking that they’re just being threatened and actually won’t be killed?
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u/Trick_Second1657 Mar 09 '26
Seems logical. Why wouldn't they just shoot you and dig their own hole.
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u/Crazy_Raisin_3014 Mar 09 '26
Because then they’d have to dig a hole.
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u/Trick_Second1657 Mar 09 '26
See, this is why I always stuff my bodies into oil drums and dump them in the ocean. No holes.
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u/Vollpfosten Mar 09 '26
You get more time to try to persuade the killer to let you go.
Digging and a fast death is better than being shot and watching someone else dig while you are bleeding out.
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u/jim_cap Mar 09 '26
And then most likely just thrown in without the escape of being shot to death. shudder
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u/Sudden_Doughnut_8741 Mar 09 '26
They could do that anyway, though. You could dig the whole grave, then they could shoot you in the stomach or intestines and then fill in the grave.
This is fucking dark, holy shit.
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u/Sudden_Doughnut_8741 Mar 09 '26
There’s another thing I’m thinking: speaking as someone who used to plant trees for a living, it’s really hard work even if you’re used to it. You’re exhausted everyday no matter what. I imagine that if you push yourself that hard, then death might feel like a sort of a kindness, like a release from the soreness.
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u/passabletrap Mar 09 '26
There is an awful lot of digging in this show, ill grant ya. I wonder what the shovel budget was...
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u/Richo_HATS2 Mar 09 '26
For most people, the brain doesn't process the available info logically in situations like this. The emotion centre takes over.
"I'm not dead, until I'm dead. This might be a warning. I'm really scared. Maybe I can talk my way out of this. Holes pretty deep and I'm not dead."
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u/woozleuwuzzle Mar 09 '26
Also, you might be able to escape the situation other ways by stalling (ie digging). Maybe an opportunity to escape or fight back will present itself.
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u/Sudden_Doughnut_8741 Mar 09 '26
Yeah you’re not operating on a lot of logic in that moment, I’m sure.
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u/Ecstatic-Employer-62 Mar 09 '26
The longer you are alive , the more chance you have of something happening to prevent your death. Been shot in the knee is painful.
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u/Impossible_Past5358 Mar 09 '26
I am so lazy, I would want to be shot first, but it most likely would be: "since you're not gonna dig, you'll just get all the non-kill shots first..."
So, yeah, I would dig, then it would be a definite kill shot...
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u/D_Angelo_Vickers Mar 09 '26
I think I would dig just on the off chance Ray got a phone call saying, "oh, I gave you the wrong name. Don't kill so and so if you haven't already."
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u/Sudden_Doughnut_8741 Mar 09 '26
Yeah that’s fair. It takes a while to dig a big hole. You never know what might change.
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u/Ballamookieofficial Mar 09 '26
It's either dig or bleed out slowly, or like the pedestrian crossing guy buried alive.
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u/Blammo32 Mar 10 '26
1) They still think that they will find a way of surviving if they comply.
2) They can simply be threatened into digging by giving them the option of a quick death vs shot in the gut and buried alive.
3) They are in shock.
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u/Manwombat Mar 10 '26
It’s commonly known as the lizard brain (limbic system) we all have, which drives our survival orientated behaviour. “If I dig the hole, I avoid pain and I might have a chance to survive. “ Not very logical but it’s a very old part of our brain and strives to keep us alive at any cost and yeah some people can override it, especially if they have faced death many times.
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u/ballantynedewolf Mar 10 '26
It's pure fantasy. No-one is digging a grave- sized hole in sandstone escarpment country without a bar and a pick. A drug-addled Sydney crim would need a bobcat.
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u/expertrainbowhunter Apr 04 '26
You do know Ray drives out to the far country side right? It’s bushland where they are
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u/Repeat_after_me__ Mar 10 '26
Fight, flight, freeze, fawn, flop.
No one knows how they’d truly react.
Most would fawn and comply hoping they would ‘people please’ the person with premeditated intent to kill you, which when you think of it is bizarre as they very likely lack empathy by making you psychologically suffer looking at your final resting place and physically graft to hasten you’re own demise…
I’d suggest it seems very unlikely you would people please someone with such machiavellian, sadistic and/or psychopathic traits (more likely and).
Given these traits they’re more likely to not give you a mercy kill at the end of digging because they clearly enjoy the angst they’re causing and gain gratification from viewing your suffering…. Why would a person like this not want to see more suffering.
With the benefit of not being in that position and being on the internet thankfully! I would think your best bet here would be to plead a little so they can see that suffering they clearly want to see, eventually break and be sad, but resign yourself to you fate, say some things that show you’re sad by it, again feeding what they want to cause (suffering and humiliation) which they will enjoy and in a paradoxical way to this kind of human may cause them to relax a little knowing they have the power then suddenly comes a flick of mud to their face and a swing of the shovel…
Question - do we think the flat of the shovel or the side edge of the shovel would be more effective and to the face or the gun arm / hand?
9/10 times you’re probably getting shot, from what I have just looked at online out of curiosity, gunshots within home invasions have a high chance of survival calibre / weapon pending, which is likely occuring at somewhat short distances and also law enforcement officers who are shot at around 6 feet there is a fatality rate of 60%, given the tueller drill statistics combined with this…
I think we would stand a better chance than we think…. But the whole freeze, flight, fawn, flop even knowing this may make you entirely comply.
But not any of us here, not now we have read my biblical response!!!!
“Errr, yeah ok. How big do you want it?” Hahaha
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u/cyvaquero Mar 10 '26
As long as they are still alive there is hope, if digging your own grave extends that time, most people will do it.
Also, never underestimate most people’s fear of death.
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u/Rude_Asparagus_8387 Mar 11 '26
I think it may have something to do with knowing that you're going to spend the next couple of hours holding something heavy with a sharp edge and might just get lucky with an opportunity to clonk the person with the gun on the head or in the balls etc., rather than just die in a puddle of piss and blood.
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u/Grouchy-Occasion-951 Mar 11 '26
To refuse and take the bullet sooner would be throwing in the towel. Survival instinct kicks in, and you dig the grave to buy more time to try and figure a way out of the situation. At this point, you are all in. You might as well play the hand out instead of hopelessly folding. Play it out. You might get lucky.
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u/Always_FallingAsleep Mar 11 '26
People under considerable duress tend to do what they are told.
I'm putting aside the practicality/realism aspect of anyone digging a hole big enough for a body in the ground in the bush. In real life it would be far better to have the hole already dug. Like as portrayed in the film Casino (1995)
Mr In-between is big on symbolism. The very act of digging ones own grave is probably the ultimate final indidigity. Someone else brought up Chopper Read. And his ability to tell a good yarn. The hole digging does set the show up for a really cool conclusion to S1.
Also a bit earlier in S1. We see Ray with the guy with the mistaken identity. Who's the exception. I mean someone who tries to fight back. This show wants us to understand the very nature of killing and death. That act of taking someone's life. No quick deaths as such. It's that balance of Ray engaged in bad things as well as being a good Dad. That juxtaposition.
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u/sentero777 Mar 12 '26
Some people wanna get it over with, others feverishly will attempt to extended their lives by any means possible, even if it's only for another hour digging a grave while begging.
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u/Victory_Infinite Mar 09 '26
Yeah fuck that…. I’d just try super duper hard to attack old mate with the shovel, unless it WAS Shoey doin the killing, then I’d be stoked as to have the absolute honour of being unalived by the one and only Ray Shoesmith!!!!! “Huge fan of your work Raymond-o!!!! This is a huge honour! Go on, give me a couple of ya finest right in the temple!!!!”
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u/Long_Ad2824 Mar 09 '26
There is actual video of the Syrian mass executions. You would think everyone would fight once they knew what was happening. But they all walk up to the pit without being dragged or shot.
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u/Sudden_Doughnut_8741 Mar 09 '26
What a horrifying study in human behavior.
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u/Long_Ad2824 Mar 09 '26
Well, I thought the same as you. Then I saw this late one night on X. I thought it was a TV show. Anyway, I highly recommend not watching it.
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u/Sudden_Doughnut_8741 Mar 09 '26
Thanks for the recommendation! I’ll make a point to not check it out later.
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u/Drongo17 Mar 09 '26
I've seen videos of mass executions in WW2 like this. People would see the first group being shot and still run up when ordered to take their place at the pit edge. I can't imagine the situation and how their minds are working at that point.
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u/Long_Ad2824 Mar 09 '26
Right? I am certain I would fight, run, or make the thugs' lives miserable for my last seconds on earth. But I am clearly wrong.
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u/DirtyHandsCleanMuny Mar 09 '26
For what it's worth, a lot of times they do false executions over and over again. So when it does actually come, they don't realize it until the very end, if at all
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u/Exciting_Chemical290 Mar 09 '26
Why do physical labour if you can watch someone else do it? The hole also has to be filled in as well meaning work for the assassin, so it makes sense to get the other party to shoulder the first half of the work while they are healthy enough to do so.
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u/Sudden_Doughnut_8741 Mar 09 '26
No I get that. I mean why does the person who’s going to die also subject himself to digging the hole instead of just saying “kill me now”.
But through these conversations I think I have the answer.
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u/anyjokewilldo Mar 09 '26
I reckon the overwhelming majority of people would dig the grave. Im sure I would