12 Monkeys (2015): James Cole (ISTP)

Ti:

“She looked up at me, and she smiled like she forgave me. And I never knew it before that moment, that was what I wanted. …I don’t deserve it. I know that. But still, ever since that’s what I’ve been rushing towards you know, just trying to make everything make sense.”

“Let’s get something straight. You do not give me orders.”

“No one’s making you do anything. You have a choice.”

Cole appears to be a Ti dominant. He does whatever her thinks makes the most sense, regardless of those around him, making him prone to ignoring authority and crossing moral boundaries. It isn’t until later when his inferior Fe develops better that some of this changes. He doesn’t struggle to link up with people he doesn’t completely agree with, if it appears to be the most logical move. He just does whatever he needs to to survive. For instance, he’s willing to listen to Deacon and then join up with the West 7, even though Ramse initially refuses to even hear Deacon out. Similarly, he joins forces with Katarina Jones, but he makes sure to assert that he isn’t her soldier when he feels overly controlled. He sees everything as a choice, rather than something that absolutely must be done.

Cole wants things to make sense, which is phrase he’s prone to using. That’s how he views the mission with Katarina Jones, trying to fix everything that happened so it makes sense again. During the repeat day that him and Cassie live, he’s quick to try to convince her to stop doing the same thing over and over again, and actually figure out what’s going on. His Ti stands out more on this mission, as Jennifer is telling him over and over again to put the pieces together and figure out what needs to happen to break them free of the loop.

Cole tends to keep a lot of what he’s thinking to himself, and is not big on sharing what’s going on in his head. However, he does tend to be straightforward and pointed with his speech, tending toward cutting straight to the heart of the matter. When Deacon pulls him aside and starts off by asking if Cole likes it in the West 7, Cole just skips over the whole charade and asks what Deacon wants him to do. Deacon responds by saying that that’s what he likes about Cole; he doesn’t sugarcoat things. This is a common for ISTPs, due to the Ti-Se-Ni combination.

Se:

“Everybody wants a plan. There’s no time.”

“We’re here. Let’s be here.”

“You can’t touch the art. Just look.” -Cassie to Cole

Cole’s Se is not hard to spot. He’s prone to leaping before looking, and people constantly berate him for that. People ask for a plan, and he often just says that there’s no time and rushes forward. We see this constantly in his interactions with Ramse, from the very first time Ramse comes on scene. Of course, Ramse knows him well enough to not be surprised when it happens. Ramse is even shown telling him not to do something before he moves to do it, but to no avail. Much to everyone’s frustration, Cole is prone to making plans on the go no matter who he’s working with or what the situation is. Although there are countless examples, to give a couple, there’s the first time he combines forces with Aaron Marker to save Cassie. Aaron asks what the plan is, and he quickly responds by essentially saying that the plan is to save her and get out of there. Aaron quickly replies by saying that’s not a plan. A second example can be seen when he’s with Cassie and the others in the future discussing the imminent trip to 1944. In that situation, he just wants to do the splinter and a make a plan on the ground, and Cassie responds by saying, “No, not on the ground, Johnny Night Room. We need a plan.”

Some other examples of his Se can be seen in his tendency to indulge in the varying things when he goes back into the past. Although, it’s worth noting that he doesn’t do this initially, which supports auxiliary Se rather than dominant Se. After he gets more adjusted to traveling into the past, he starts to make comments about being present and finds enjoyment in trying out various things like different whiskies.

Ni:

“Well, what’s your gut tell you?”

“You never listen! You’re all leap, no look!” – Ramse

Cole’s low Ni shows up in how he initially fails to consider the implications of his actions. This is where Ramse tends to get frustrated with him. Cole follows his instincts straight into danger, and then deals with the consequences as they happen. He occasionally tells others to follow their gut as well. As the show progresses, while he does maintain his general tendency toward impulsive behavior, we do see him start to learn that his actions do have consequences, especially as his attempts to alter the future fail time and time again.

For instance, he’s over eager to kill at the beginning, due to the logic (primarily impressed upon him by Katarina) that everyone from the past is already dead anyway. This eventually changes, and at a certain point, he tells Cassie that the only time he changed anything for the better was when he saved a life rather than took it. He takes this lesson forward and is much more hesitant to kill.

Fe:

“Your loyalty is distracting you from the truth.” – Katarina

“We’re part of a tribe now…Best we ever had it.”

Cole shows multiple signs of inferior Fe. He displays embarrassment over minor personal tastes, like when he initially can’t tell Cassandra that his place of choice was the Florida Keys. He generally tends to avoid stating anything personal, and it takes him a while to reveal anything about himself. Eventually, however, he describes a memory of killing an old woman. He specifically mentions her expression and her smile, believing that he saw forgiveness in it, which was some he hadn’t realized that he’d always wanted. Both the lack of awareness, the focus on her reaction, and the desire for validation from someone else suggests inferior Fe.

Cole doesn’t demonstrate a lot of his own personal values initially, but instead tends to adopt the values of those he’s with, specifically Ramse but also Katarina to some extent. As the shows progresses, we see his inferior Fe develop, and with it, his own personal values and morals form, many of which he learns from Cassandra. However, one value he always possessed is loyalty. Ramse refers to him as “loyal to a fault.” While Cole sees value in being part of a tribe as a means to survive, he willingly risks breaking from the tribe due to his loyalty for Ramse. His loyalty towards Ramse in addition to his developing sense of morality makes him unable to kill Ramse at one point. He also tirelessly searches for Cassandra after she’s kidnapped, which prompts Katarina to berate him for allowing loyalty to distract him from the truth.