looper - How did the timeline work? - Movies & TV

I'm not sure I quite understand how the timelines of Looper work.

You have the initial timeline (A), where Joe shoots himself, goes on to party, and then meets the Asian woman. The Rain Maker starts closing all of the loops. Joe (A) ends up killing the people that have him, and sends himself back in time and prevents his younger self killing him.

We find out that whatever happens to the young Joe (B) happens to older Joe (A). However, this doesn't quite make sense since the timeline seems to have already been disturbed drastically by Joe (A) not being killed.

So, how is the timeline supposed to work in Looper?

Answer

Film.com has an infographic by Rick Slusher:

[click link for a larger image]

Timeline A:

• In Timeline A, the looper hitman Joe successfully “closes his loop” in 2044, executing his time-traveling older self at the prescribed moment, earning his golden payday and proceeding to live out the rest of his life.

Regarding the other key characters in Timeline A, the infographic illustrates a problematic time paradox in the film:

• Despite Old Joe’s execution in this initial timeline, young Cid must still somehow come to lose his mother Sara and, devoid of her positive influence, develop into the angry, telekinetic, all-powerful gangster kingpin known as the Rainmaker in order to send Old Joe back in time to close his loop in the first place.

Timeline B:

The moment of Joe’s successful loop-closing in Timeline A instantly launches Timeline B:

• Joe’s 30-year post-looper retirement inevitably leads to his eventual wife’s tragic murder in 2074. The trauma inspires Joe’s older self to change his life’s trajectory by escaping his own self-execution in the past to hunt down the child who will become the Rainmaker, whom he holds responsible for his wife’s murder.

Timeline C:

Therefore, Joe’s altered moment of execution in 2044 – this time a narrow escape rather than a successful kill – instantly launches Timeline C:

• Old Joe seeks to save his wife by murdering the Rainmaker as a child, whereas Young Joe understands this attempted murder will paradoxically bring about the very outcome Old Joe is striving to avoid.

  Young Joe’s final decision to commit suicide alters everyone’s destiny: As both he and his older self cease to be, Cid is allowed to grow up under his mother Sara’s positive influence and never develop into the monster he might have been.