IVIV (13) scene one question

[David Morris]

I'd not call Doc's killing of Puck murder.  When one is trying to
escape from someone who's about to kill you and from the person who
ordered your killing, just about anything is fair.

> one thing that really differentiates Doc from Zoyd is that Doc killed
> somebody--Puck is murdered by Doc; at least w/ Adrian one could point
> to self-defense but thinking legally here it does beg the question
> about Doc's past--we're given the goofy, at times genial, laid back
> hipster but there's the skip tracer past, the aforementioned run ins
> w/ Puck and Adrian, etc.
> I'm not sure there are answers to these questions.
> In noir, you know the PI's are badasses, who've done some shitty
> things but their behavior doesn't come across as jarring as it does
> with Doc--guess we are programmed not to think of Pynchon's
> protagonists this way--if not total good guys, at least folks you can
> root for in some way--Slothrop, DL, Dixon, Lew, etc.