Reservoir Dogs reveals who the undercover cop in the group is before the characters discover it themselves, but before that big reveal, there are a couple of clues to who it really was. Quentin Tarantino is one of the most respected filmmakers in the industry thanks to his peculiar narrative style and unique way of building dialogues, and his career began in 1992 with the crime movie Reservoir Dogs. Tarantino’s big break came two years later with Pulp Fiction and has since made eight more movies exploring different genres – from martial arts with Kill Bill to comedy-drama with Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. Still, Reservoir Dogs continues to be a cult classic and a favorite among Tarantino fans.

Reservoir Dogs follows a group of thieves whose planned heist of a jewelry store goes terribly wrong – and to make it even worse, there’s an undercover cop among them. The group is led by crime boss Joe Cabot (Lawrence Tierney) and his son Eddie “Nice Guy” Cabot (Chris Penn), and was formed by Mr. White (Harvey Keitel), Mr. Orange (Tim Roth), Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen), Mr. Pink (Steve Buscemi), Mr. Blue (Edward Bunker), and Mr. Brown (Tarantino). Most of the movie takes place at the warehouse used as a meeting point, with a couple of flashbacks set in other places, and it’s at the warehouse where viewers learn that Mr. Orange was the cop, but the clues to that twist are scattered through the whole movie.

Related: Reservoir Dogs: Why The Robbery Is Never Shown On Screen

The very first clue to the identity of the undercover cop in Reservoir Dogs is in the famous opening scene at a Los Angeles diner, where the group, along with Joe and Eddie, are having breakfast and discussing various topics, including the real meaning of Madonna’s “Like a Virgin”. When it’s time to tip the waitress, Mr. Pink reveals that he doesn’t believe in tipping, and no one can change his mind. Joe then returns to the table after paying the bill and asks who didn’t tip, with Mr. Orange immediately saying it was Mr. Pink because “he don’t tip” – if he “ratted” Mr. Pink so quickly and over something simple (in comparison to the robbery and everything else, that is), he definitely could do so for bigger things, thus hinting at him being the cop.

Reservoir Dogs White Pink Orange foreshadow

The next clue can be found at the warehouse. The first ones to get there are Mr. White, Mr. Pink, and a severely injured Mr. Orange, who was shot by an armed woman while they were hijacking her car. Mr. White and Mr. Pink go to a separate room in the warehouse where they begin to review what happened during the robbery and consider the possibility that it was a setup. In one of the shots, a table with pink, white, and orange bottles can be seen in the background, with the pink and white ones together and the orange ones on the other side of the table, representing how Mr. Orange is different from the rest.

Last but not least, though this one is a special case, there’s another clue in the scene where Eddie is talking on the phone while driving. Eddie’s conversation is about the failed robbery and all the chaos it created, and right at the beginning of the scene, an orange balloon can be seen being pulled along into the air current behind his car. However, this has been revealed by Tarantino to be an accident, though many viewers chose to also take it as a clue of Mr. Orange’s true identity even if it was an unintentional one. These clues in Reservoir Dogs were a small taste of Quentin Tarantino’s clever ways to add foreshadowing to his movies, and all of them have had their moments and hidden clues to their biggest reveals.

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