Can Dr Shaw trust David?

In this interview, [url=http://www.aceshowbiz.com/news/view/00054577.html]Ridley Scott Hints at 'Prometheus' Sequel Plot[/url] Ridley says Shaw will be in danger once she gets David's head re-attached. Quote-[i]"You've got a person [Noomi's Elizabeth] with a head in a bag [Michael's David] that functions and has an IQ of 350," he elaborated further. "It can explain to her how to put the head back on the body and she's gonna think about that long and hard because, once the head is back on his body, he's dangerous." [/i]-Ridley Scott.

David's Prime Directive is over, with Weyland out of the picture. He's now in a free-running mode, I guess. There's probably nothing much for him to gain by harming Shaw. Of course, Shaw will trust him about as far as she can throw him. If I were her, I'd give him a Special Order 938, and put a psychological interlock into his robot brain to keep him on the straight and narrow.

only the programmers can rectify his directives so i'd imagine he'd still be a threat but i think even prior to weylands extremo face spanking david had developed a level of autonomy so who knows what he wants i imagine its a toss up between stick with shaw and satisfy curiosity or trick her and get the ship to the nearest weyland company owned colony so he can get fixed up.... he certainly hesitated when shaw asked if he could sort the guidance system to head for the engineer homeworld

i think David hesitated about going to the engineer's homeland because he knows they are dangerous. to me David didnt seem evil but was made to do evil by Weyland because he had to obey his programing but on the other hand he seems devious, when Shaw asks him what happens when Weyland isnt around to progmam him any more he replies i supose i'd be free then he says doesnt every child want their parents dead. which i thought was random unless he set Weyland up after all he knew what the engineers were upto and didnt try to warn him of the dangers. Shaw isnt a target, he likes Shaw and probally singled her out because she's the only crew memeber with a strong survival instinct alot of the crew were like sheep and couldnt defend themselves unless told how to. David agreed to take Shaw to paradise by his own free will so he shares the same curiosity but doesnt understand why every question must have an answer hence why he questioned her about it. David doent seem as devious as towards the end of the film like hes learned his lesson but its going to take alot to trust him again.

Ridley Scott is the source and I agree with him that David will constitute a major danger the minute his head is reattached, and Shaw WILL have to reattach his head for reasons of survival I suspect.

From the way the original spaight's script ends it's fairly clear that there may also be a psychological game of chess going on between Shaw and David in the sequel. I really like how they almost preserved the chess game aspect just by keeping some mystery around their intentions at the end in the final version. It's like the game of chess is going on beneath the surface and we're not privy to exactly how much Shaw distrusts David, how much she suspects etc. I think it was set up this way and Shaw is a lot smarter than we give her credit for. Shaw could be a lot like David, in that, she understands a lot more than she's saying. She may choose not to let David know how much she distrusts him and for which reasons so she can try to keep a step ahead of him. They both need each other, and are using each other at the end. David has that huge secret he's keeping from her, and now he has to play nice about it whether or not it was Weyland's programming that did it, or almost a choice to infect Holloway. She knows the only way to beat an android is to keep her mouth shut and not let him know how much she's picked up from the "not in the air" comments and so forth. She allows David to think he completely has the upper hand, and that she doesn't suspect too much. She never calls him out on anything else she may suspect, but she indicates that she can't trust him because of all the things she personally witnesses like his vague statements and his actions around the trilobite. David does need Shaw at that point so he'll say and do whatever he can to get off that rock. That might even mean that he warned her about the Engineer just to keep her alive so that she could rebuild him. Shaw agrees to trust David but she knows that she can't trust him and is using him too. Even though he's using her to further whatever agenda he has now. What I like is that there could be a lot more going on.. Is David thinking two moves ahead? Does he suspect that she may know that he infected Charlie? Does she even know/suspect that, or does she distrust him because of all the other stuff? David knows he screwed over Shaw and now that he needs her he probably can't admit that it was him who infected charlie in a roundabout way like he did with the "not in the air" stuff.

@katiel238; Yes but keep in mind David needed Shaw's help to get off the planet too, so he's acting nice. Once his head is back on all bets are off.

Despite what Scott said I don't think he was thinking about what zzplural said which I agree with. Why would David be dangerous? David is not necessarily programmed to harm humans. He was programmed by his "father" or prime programmer Peter Weyland to infect Holloway and impregnate Shaw as part of the mission. It seems that scene at the end of Prometheus where they're talking and Shaw lowers David's body from the Engineers' ship they're patching up their differences and David has a newfound respect for Shaw. Fortunately, she's not an arrogant, sexist jerk insensitive to robots either like Holloway was. I think Shaw also has the opportunity to re-program David so his new programming would be not to harm anyone or anything. Who knows whether Scott will continue this uncertain relationship but it really wouldn't make sense for David to cause further harm to Shaw. I think their chess match is over and they decide to work together for mutual gain.

I think that we need to ask whyDavid and Shaw are even at the end of this prequel jouney. Some other reading have mentioned taht David is protecting Shaw throughout our movie. Not just protecting her so to speak but trying to win her friendship. The scenes that drive this point home is just after she is rescued from the storm. While Holloway is berating Shaw for going into the storm to recover the head David is asking her iis she was OK? She responds with a Yes. and Thank You. When Sha first enters the Weyland suite after the birth scene falls to her knees. David looks surprised. But what he does next surprised even me: He quickly went to her side gave her his coat and found a seat for her. In other words he attended to her human needs. Looked out for her. He also warns Shaw of the Lasst Engineer coming to the shuttle. HIs reasons may be purely survivial instincts but his actions are alwasys suspect. THese were some examples where david went out of his way to gain a connection/advantage over Shaw. This leads me to believe that the next installment of our story will include David continu to protect her til he has a big reason to use her again in another dramatic fashion. Shaw will need all the strength, courage and belief she can muster to survive P2.

It occurs to me that there may be other exaples of David looking out for Shaw's human needs. His actions might give Shaw an amout of trust she might need. and david can use in the future. Robots using Humans. When will it end?

Shaw has no choice other than to trust David. He is her navigator and translater of the engineer language. He is dangerous because of his IQ and his ability to bend the rules of his programming to suit his objectives. Aside from the potential dangers to Shaw personally if she reattaches his body could there not also be dangers to the engineers. Perhaps David took offense to having his head torn off and would like a little revenge. Yes I'm suggesting he has emotions and an ego like us and a large one at that (consider who his "father" was)

yes malex but would he not be too pragmatic it would be crazy to aim for vengeance on the engineers consideringthe ease with which one popped his head off like a badly made kewpie doll how would you attempt to take on a whole bunch of them

@caenorhabhditis. I agree a direct physical confrontation would be suicide. I was thinking he would be much more subtle. If what we think happened on lv223 2000 years ago is correct, then the engineers are not immune to their own bioweapons. I was thinking david might do unto the engineers what they apparently had in mind for earth.

can clarice trust hannibal?

good analogy!