Bond’s smart-mouthed jab at a bald Blofeld in the pre-title sequence of For Your Eyes Only is undeniably funny, as 007 pats his captive’s head and leaves him dangling helplessly from a helicopter.  Yet humor aside, this is not how I’d expect the architect of the sprawling SPECTRE criminal organization to meet his end.  As Blofeld’s remote-controlled helicopter betrays him and Bond takes over, his desperation is laid bare and he’s reduced to shrill panic and the absurd offer of a “delicatessen in stainless steel” in exchange for his life.

Bond’s quip lands precisely as he settles on Blofeld’s fate, unceremoniously dropping him into an industrial chimney stack that results in what can only be seen as a strikingly unusual and even jarring villain death, given Blofeld’s long-standing stature as Bond’s ultimate nemesis.  Rather than a grand, operatic showdown, his demise is abrupt and almost flippant.

One could argue that a villain of Blofeld’s significance deserved a more dramatic and climactic exit.  But instead, the sequence feels deliberately dismissive as though the filmmakers were intent on severing ties with the SPECTRE/Blofeld mythology as quickly as possible at the start of the latest movie.