No Country for Old Men Scene 42 Summary

  • Carla Jean Moss is standing over a grave where her mother's casket is being lowered. It looks like the woman succumbed to her cancer. This girl just can't catch a break.
  • She then returns alone to her mother's little house and sits with a cup of tea. She notices from the flapping drapes that one of the house's windows is open.
  • When she searches the house, she finds Anton Chigurh sitting in a bedroom. She says, "I knew this wasn't done with," but tells Chigurh she doesn't have the drug money. She says she has bills to pay for her mother's funeral, but Chigurh tells her she doesn't need to worry about it.
  • Carla Jean sits down and stares at Chigurh. She tells him he has no reason to hurt her. Chigurh agrees that he doesn't, and we fill in the blanks: that's never stopped him before.
  • Well, he does have a reason—he gave his word to Llewellyn that he'd kill her. In other words, he's determined to follow through on his threat to Llewellyn even after Llewellyn is dead. He's just that kind of guy.
  • Chigurh says that Moss had the opportunity to save her but instead he tried to save himself.
  • Carla Jean tells Chigurh, "You don't have to do this." People always say that when he's about to kill them.
  • Chigurh finally makes a concession and flips a coin. He tells Carla Jean to call it, implying that he'll kill her if she gets it wrong.
  • Carla Jean refuses to call the coin, saying that the coin has no say one way or the other. The choice is Chigurh's whether he takes responsibility or not. Chigurh rolls his eyes and says, "I got here the same way the coin did."