The autopsy scene at the beginning of the movie being revealed that it took place after the rest of the movie, which gives Hoffman's message on the tape a whole new meaning.
The series' "Hello Zepp" Leitmotif can be heard pretty clearly when Hoffman listens to the tape. It would be odd for the movie to pull out the "climax" music so early — chronologically, this scene is the last, hence the "Hello Zepp" music.
The Mausoleum Trap: Art’s mouth is sewn shut, rendering him mute, Trevor’s eyes are sewn shut, blinding him, and a tape recording, or at least a video with Billy, isn’t played until the *end* of the trap. It’s a Whole-Plot Reference to the proverb “see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil”; that phrase has been associated (at least in Western cultures) with turning a blind eye on wrongdoing. Art is a corrupt lawyer who speaks to get his dirty clients out of jail time, Trevor must’ve turned a blind eye towards something serious, and nobody hears the tape from the madman who forced the two guys into this trap, at least until the end.
The film, while being a clusterfuck example of fragmented narrative, to say the least - had one part that seemed illogical at first, but made sense later (like a year later). When Rigg freed Brenda from that hair pulling contraption, and then she later pulled out a knife stored in a cabinet, it brings out a curious question. How come she didn't tell him it was there, so he could free her from the device by cutting her hair instead of a slow reveal of the combination? It certainly would've eliminated any risk and/or extreme pain? Later, it became apparent that the test was a double entendre, based off Jigsaw's lesson in Saw IV: the only way people can be saved is to save themselves. If Brenda really valued her life, she would've told Rigg about the knife, but her selfishness became her undoing - t3hdow
Actually, the reason she doesn't tell Rigg about it is that she doesn't know it's a knife. The tape tells her there is something in the cabinet to help her deal with her Rigg problem, but the tape doesn't say what it is.
Huh. I must've misremembered that part. But if that's true, Jigsaw's intentions make even less sense. Even though Jigsaw knew Rigg wouldn't let her die, he wanted Rigg to know that saving everyone is a toxic idea. If Rigg followed that philosophy from the beginning, there's no way the blonde would've had any chance of saving herself besides telling Rigg about the hidden weapon (which could've been anything) and hope it'll help remove her from the device besides the official, painful way. Compared to the other victims, her's isn't as clear cut, and does nothing to help save the blonde either way. Then again, considering how hypocritical Jigsaw is...
Actually, if Rigg had followed the philosophy behind his game from the beginning, her trap might not have even activated to begin with, it's only when he rips one of the covers off that the trap activates, if he'd left her alone, one of two things would have happened; 1) The police would have found her (either because the neighbors would hear her screaming, or because the police eventually start looking for Rigg anyway), or 2) Her trap would have activated by itself, but it's one of the only non-fatal traps in the series (or at least, not immediately fatal), so there's a good chance she'll either be found in time, or it'll release her anyway and she'll get help in time.
Ivan's pleading and sobbing ("Please, don't make me do this", "Why?", etc) when Rigg forces him into the Bedroom Trap. It's all too easy to imagine that Ivan's victims said the exact same things to him when he raped them, and which makes his punishment, in a brutal way, all the more fitting.
For that matter, the trap Ivan is forced into. Either he removes his eyes with which he enjoyed the "fruits" of his rapes, or his limbs he used to tear apart women's lives will be torn from him in turn. Or, as John puts it, "[his] eyes which have led [him] blindly astray, or [his] body, which has caused those around [him] endless suffering".
Doubling as Fridge Horror, it's made clear midway through the film that the purpose of Rigg's trial is for him to NOT help the victims, but rather witness said victims "save themselves". In other words, Jigsaw wants to see whether or not Rigg can be brainwashed into believeing his idea of "rehabilitating people with traps", and possibly become Hoffman's partner-in-crime (as Word of God explains on how it was set up).
Hoffman's trap. Electrocuting an ungrounded person's feet is a truly terrible way to kill them, since the electricity won't go anywhere near the heart... but, since the goal wasn't really to kill Hoffman, it hardly matters.
Often as a point of criticism, the trap plots of this movie and the previous one are parallels to each other. In this movie, the protagonist, Rigg, is tested by Jigsaw to show him that he shouldn’t everyone, while the protagonist in the previous movie, Jeff, he was tested for not getting over the grief over his son’s death and letting it harm his relationships with his family and the victims he hesitated to save until it was too late.
While Bobby the Doll is much cuter than its successor, Billy the Puppet, most people would probably think that John had already started acting crazy for thinking that a child would like this creepy-looking toy. However, the doll’s design is just an example of John’s intellectual nature; research has shown that the colors red, black, and white help to develop a baby’s optic nerves, so John was just trying to make a toy that would help his child to see colors. One could also see his creepy, gothic doll as a foreshadowing to his traps: something evil-looking that’s actually meant to help people, except Bobby would’ve never killed anyone like how most of John’s traps do.
Ivan, as much as he may have "deserved" his death, he was laying on the bed when his arms and legs were torn off, but sitting next to the bed when his body was found. This means he was alive (albeit with fewer attached limbs) and managed to crawl off the bed. Ouch.
Actually, if you look closely, after three of his limbs are pulled off, the last chain attached to his leg ends up pulling him off of the bed, since no other chain is holding him enough to rip the limb off. What's worse is that the spike in Ivan's eye stays in there when he's found, meaning that he was pulled from the bed with such force, that it ripped the spike from the trap itself. Yikes!
The last thing Daniel has of his father are Eric's voicemails apologizing and asking Daniel to call him back after their argument on the boardwalk.
The Fridge Sadness for the Matthews worsens when you account for a cut line, where Rigg tells Hoffman that he promised Daniel he'll find his father. He ultimately found him, but that was just a second too early.
