A Beautiful Mind Scenes 11-15 Summary

Scene 11

  • The students are back at the bar, and the boys are bugging John while he's trying to work. Some girls come in and start giving the mathematicians the eye.
  • One girl in particular is checking out John.
  • John discusses strategy for how to "win" with the girls (charming, eh?).
  • Winning, apparently, means everyone gets laid.
  • To that end: instead of going for the single blonde that has caught everyone's eye, John suggests they should all go for different girls in the group—not the blonde.
  • Suddenly, John seems to realize something and rushes out, thanking the blonde on the way.
  • He seems to have made some breakthrough on the whole "governing dynamics" theory he's been working on.

Scene 12

  • John is busily working at his new desk as the seasons change.

Scene 13

  • Professor Helinger appears to be reading the product of John's flurry of work.
  • Helinger tells John that his work flies in the face of a hundred and fifty years of economic theory.
  • Apparently, it's a huge achievement, and now John can get any placement he likes.
  • He's going to the Wheeler lab, and he's taking Sol and Bender with him—and not Hansen, his archrival in the program.

Scene 14

  • John and his new lab buddies are celebrating and Hansen—the jilted one—walks in. Awkward.
  • Phew, it's okay—John hands Hansen a drink, and Hansen accepts with a little toast-let to "governing dynamics."
  • It looks like they are frenemies now, instead of just straight-up enemies.

Scene 15

  • It's five years later, and John is at the Pentagon representing Wheeler labs.
  • They apparently have some code they want him to look at—and it seems to be Russian.
  • John stares and stares and stares at it while the other Pentagon types wait around.
  • Finally, he says he needs a map. He's figured out the code: they're routing orders into the U.S.
  • There's some guy watching them. John asks who "Big Brother" is, but he gets no response.
  • Hmm, what's with that?