Dr. Updale quotes from The First Purge (2018)

Dr. Updale

Please don't tell me you're sending mercenaries into the island disguised as purgers?

So, we are here with Arlo Sabian. He is the chief of staff for the NFFA. He got this whole thing pushed through Congress. Well, you got protests all over the place now.

Please. The idea of the Purge was analyzed for years. We allowed Island citizens to vote on participation. They voted yes.

Yeah, and you know why? Because a lot of those people felt coerced by the fact they don't have money, and you're offering money. So what do you say to the lower-income people who are out here risking their lives tonight?

Well, Van, as with any scientific trial, those who participate receive payment.

Yeah. I'm gonna turn to you, Dr. Updale. You are the behavioral scientist who actually came up with this whole experiment. A lot of people have a lot of concerns about this, and one concern comes up over and over again. I want the truth from you. Is the Purge a political device?

Dr. Updale

I do not work for the NFFA. I did not conceive of the experiment for them. The NFFA had the courage to test it, but the conceit is not a political one. It is a psychological one. The benefit of acting violently without worry of consequence, that's a freeing violence.

"A freeing violence." Okay, that's a... that's a new one on me. I have a question for you. What is your definition of success?

Well, the level of participation in certain areas is key. Uh, the Park Hill Towers, for example, are the center of this community. If there's considerable participation there, I think that'll be a strong indication that this night is a great success.

Well, we'll see.

I tracked those trucks all the way across the island to here. A remote area of abandoned factories. Watch this now. At around midnight, something strange happens.

I did a vehicle search on all systems, and every one of these vehicles ended up in Park Hill, Mariners Harbor, and Stapleton.

Dr. Updale

The low-income areas of the island.

And they're attacking crowded places, churches, apartment buildings, Purge parties.

Dr. Updale

The gangs know where people are gathering because of the tracking implants.

How would gangs know how to monitor the tracking implants?

Dr. Updale

They're not gangs.

Did you really think you could just snoop around an NFFA building?

Dr. Updale

I know what you're doing. You're sending soldiers into the island disguised as gangs, as citizens, hunting people down using the tracking implants. You're making it look like people are participating because there wasn't enough purging.

But they're not soldiers. They're mercenaries from all over. This country is overpopulated, Doctor. There's too much crime. Too much unemployment...

Dr. Updale

Is that even true? Or did you falsify those numbers, too?

...bankrupt governments that can't afford to take care of its own citizenry. People don't want us to raise taxes, our debt has tripled. We can't pay for anything. We, the NFFA, we inherited all this mess. All right? Something needed to be done.

Dr. Updale

Not like this.

Well, what, then? You tell me. Because we exhausted every possibility. I need for this to work. I need to sell this on a country-wide scale because this is our last hope.

Dr. Updale

You're trying to depopulate the lower classes just so the NFFA doesn't have to support them.

Come on. We both know there's... there's no easy answer where somebody, some group doesn't suffer.

Dr. Updale

What have I done?

You saved us. I thank you for it.

Dr. Updale

No! No! Don't... don't do this. The American people don't need this.

I'm terribly sorry.

Dr. Updale

Do not build this on a lie! I was wrong!

The NFFA and America will remember you fondly. As a hero to your nation.