History Film / SawVI

* TheStarscream: A flashback in this movie reveals that Hoffman [[spoiler:blackmailed Amanda into failing her test in ''III'', setting off the chain of events that led to the deaths of both her and John in quick succession. Jill later caught onto this deception, and [[KickTheSonOfABitch angrily tries to sabotage Hoffman's test]]]].

** Downplayed William; John considers him one, for denying customers coverage when it could have saved their lives or eased their sickness, but it's clear that doesn't enjoy doing so, and his interest is more in protecting company profits rather than actually wanting to hurt anyone. That said, William did develop his so-called "formula" to determine who gets coverage and who doesn't (even having bragged to John about it once), and is fully onboard with his subordinates poking holes in insurance applications and effectively screwing his clients out of their coverage for even minor or unintentional oversights. Ultimately, while William isn't a corrupt man personally, he was happily perpetuating a corrupt health insurance system before being subjected to a game.
** It's entirely played straight with William's "Dog Pit" of insurance inspectors, as they looked for loopholes in William's policy to deny people insurance, and most (if not all) don't seem to feel any remorse over it.

* SpannerInTheWorks: Pamela's obsession with Jigsaw leads her to [[spoiler:find the letter Hoffman used to blackmail Amanda]]. While Jill denies knowledge of it when Pamela pesters her over it, she's actually furious enough over it to later [[spoiler:sabotage Hoffman's game]], making Hoffman go completely mad and have his identity ousted to the public when Jill seeks police protection in the next film.

* ShootTheShaggyDog: [[spoiler:William]] may well be the biggest example of this in the series. [[spoiler:In order, he had to hold his breath for a painful duration so that another guy will trigger a trap and get himself killed; choose whether to save an old, diabetic mother or a perfectly healthy loner; suffer severe steam burns while trying to help his company's lawyer escape a maze and then nearly get hacked open when she tries to find the key necessary to save her life; and then choose which two of his insurance analysts will live, condemning the other four to death. Eventually, it turns out that he was never ''really'' in control of his own fate, and he dies at the hands of an angry, vengeful teenager.]]

* DyingDeclarationOfHate: [[spoiler:Perez gets a subtle one as her last words; once Hoffman is ousted as being the wanted second Jigsaw apprentice and the one who tried to frame Strahm as being said apprentice before he died, he goes on an absolute rampage and kills the people with him in the FBI's technical lab, ending it with Perez. He stabs her constantly while asking her who else knows that it's been him all along, to which Perez simply replies, "Everyone." Hoffman tried to frame her partner of five years for heinous crimes, even using ''his severed hand'' to try and pull it off, and Perez's last act, now content in the knowledge that Strahm was innocent, is letting Hoffman know that every law enforcement agency in the city will be out for his head.]]

* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: [[spoiler:Brent knowingly sentences a man to die by being dissolved in acid. To be fair, he is horrified immediately after this.]]

* VengeanceFeelsEmpty: [[spoiler:Brent kills William. But instead of gaining any satisfaction from it, he and his mother are horrified at his death and likely got PTSD for life.]]

--->'''Hoffman:''' Right now you're feeling helpless.

* YouKilledMyFather: [[spoiler:Brent's inability to surmount his anger towards William for being responsible for his father's death is what enables him to flips the switch that activates William's death after his mother is unable to bring herself to do so.]] As quoted in PreMortemOneLiner above, he even says it as he does it.

* BaitAndSwitch: When Hoffman goes to meet with Simone in the hospital, she's very soft spoken when talking about her game, making it seem as though she's suffering from StockholmSyndrome like some of the other victims. Then Hoffman asks her if she learned anything, causes her to lash out and pretty much demand to know what exactly she was supposed to learn from cutting her arm off.

* StockholmSyndrome: Subverted. Hoffman meets with Simone to clear some internal doubts he has about John's philosophy. While she initially seems to be suffering from this, when Hoffman actually asks if she learned anything from her ordeal, she furiously lashes out at him and angrily demands to know what good could possibly come from John's logic. Even in [[Film/Saw3D the next movie]], an incredibly bitter Simone calls out other survivors at their meetups for claiming Jigsaw made them positively re-evaluate their lives in some way.

** It's entirely played straight with William's "Dog Pit" of insurance inspectors, as they looked for loopholes in William's policy to deny people insurance and most don't seem to feel any remorse over it.

* BadLiar: In the Shotgun Carousel, Gena makes a pathetic attempt at claiming she's pregnant to gain William's sympathy. The stilted acting and panic make it too obvious she's lying, and Josh and Shelby call her out for it.
-->'''Gena:''' Uhmm... [[BlatantLies I- I'm pregnant! I'm- I am pregnant!]]\\

** Jigsaw considers William to be one, for denying customers coverage when it could have saved their lives or eased their sickness. Subverted, since it's clear he doesn't enjoy doing so and tries vainly to save everyone he can over the course of Jigsaw's test.
** It's still played straight in the clinic party scene, though, where William was talking with John, bragging about his so-called "formula" that he created himself to determine who gets coverage or not.
** It's also played straight with the Shotgun Carousel victims, as they looked for loopholes in William's policies to deny people health insurance.