Would You Kindly

“Would you kindly'… Powerful phrase. Familiar phrase?”

― Andrew Ryan

"Would You Kindly" is a programmed trigger or post-hypnotic activation phrase created by Dr. Yi Suchong used by Frank Fontaine, posing as Atlas, to control Jack's actions while guiding him through Rapture to achieve his plans for killing Andrew Ryan.

BioShock

Main article: BioShock

The phrase is first seen on the "gift from home" Jack was holding during the flight at the beginning of the game. The message is only fully seen later through a flashback which reveals the content of the package, and the instructions to bring down the plane near the Lighthouse, the surface entrance to Rapture.

Acting as Atlas, Fontaine contacted and guided Jack as soon as he reached the city. Fontaine used the control phrase sparingly; for instance, he never commanded Jack to harvest Little Sisters, allowing him free will to choose, probably so Jack would not suspect his manipulations. Using too much of this specific phrase might tip his hand and reveal their true identity to Ryan and Brigid Tenenbaum (who worked in collaboration with Suchong on Jack's body), among others.

Sometime after Jack's arrival in Rapture, Ryan pieced together the plot against him and the mind control phrase's power over Jack. During their confrontation, Ryan demonstrated it to Jack and then chose to force Jack to kill him, illustrating the personal philosophy he maintained all his life: "A man chooses, a slave obeys."

Later, Fontaine tried to use the phrase to force Jack to commit suicide, but this last order failed because Tenenbaum had already removed the trigger and others from Jack's mind while he was unconscious in her sanctuary. At this point Fontaine attempts to use a separate conditioning, Code Yellow, to kill Jack.

Usage Throughout the Game

The "Would you kindly" board outside Ryan's office.

• At the beginning of the game, in Jack's letter. "To Jack, with love from Mom & Dad. Would you kindly not open until…" It is later revealed that the package contains a pistol, and the rest of the note has geographic coordinates on it; that is where Jack is to use the pistol to hijack the plane so that it comes down near the lighthouse.
• Before Jack picks up the radio, spoken by Atlas, "Would you kindly pick up that shortwave radio?"
• Before Jack picks up the Wrench, spoken by Atlas, "Now, would you kindly find a crowbar or something?"
• When Jack first encounters a Little Sister, spoken by Atlas, "Careful now…would you kindly lower that weapon for a moment?"
• After Jack finishes photographing the Spider Splicers in Neptune's Bounty, spoken by Atlas, "Head over to Fontaine Fisheries when you're ready, would you kindly?"
• If Jack takes too long before making the Lazarus Vector, spoken by Atlas, "Would you kindly get this thing crafted already. Air's only getting thinner down here."
• After Jack confronts Sander Cohen, spoken by Atlas, "Would you kindly leg on over to the 'sphere and get on down to Hephaestus?"
• After Jack enters Hephaestus, spoken by Atlas, "Now, would you kindly head to Ryan's office and kill the son of a bitch?"
• Scrawled in red spray paint (or blood) on the wall with the photos just outside Ryan's office, where the audio diary "Mind Control Test" is located. On the audio diary itself, "Break that puppy's neck, would you kindly?"
• When Andrew Ryan controls him like a pet dog, with commands like "Sit, would you kindly…", ultimately leading to "Kill!", causing Jack to obediently murder Ryan.
• After Jack kills Andrew Ryan and retrieves his genetic key to the city's master controls, spoken by Atlas, "Now would you kindly put it in the goddamn machine?!"
• At the beginning of the Olympus Heights level, twice, spoken by Fontaine. "Go get stepped on by a Big Daddy, would you kindly? Huh? I says, would you kindly go get stepped on by a Big Daddy?" (By this point, Brigid Tenenbaum had cured Jack of the phrase's hypnotic suggestion, so it had no effect on him).

BioShock 2

Main article: BioShock 2

Although the phrase is never explicitly mentioned during the game, two audio diaries by Sofia Lamb, both of which are found in Fontaine Futuristics, reference it as "W-Y-K".

In "Means of Control", Lamb reflects over the news of Ryan's death at the hands of Jack. She is also somehow aware of Jack's mental conditioning and ponders the idea of taking advantage of it for her own agenda. In "Gil's Place in the Plan", it is revealed that Sofia had implemented behavioral constraints inspired by "Project W-Y-K" on Gilbert Alexander that would make it his instinct to serve what she had defined as the "common good", and become the first "Utopian" she idealized.

It is likely that in spite of being strongly inspired by its achievement, Lamb had managed to dig up very little about the nature of the mind control used to manipulate Jack, including the exact words of the trigger phrase and the mechanism of the Mental Control conditioning itself. This can be inferred by the context in which "Project W-Y-K" was mentioned by Lamb; implying it to be behavioral conditioning via a gauntlet of various platforms in psychiatric treatment. It is evident that Lamb's project had some results, as she had managed to place Augustus Sinclair under her thrall when he was converted into an Alpha Series Big Daddy, and having him attack Subject Delta against his own will.

Burial at Sea - Episode 2

Elizabeth giving the Ace in the Hole to Atlas.

Main article: Burial at Sea - Episode 2

While trapped in Fontaine's, some of Atlas' men back up in the city attempted to track down something referred to as the "Ace in the Hole." They kept Atlas up to date on the search by sending him messages via morse code, but they were unsuccessful in finding the Ace; Tenenbaum was presumed either dead or in hiding, and Suchong was protected by Ryan.

When Elizabeth is forced by Atlas to retrieve the "Ace in the Hole" from Suchong's lab, she manages to locate it and decode it using the Vigenère cipher before giving the code to him. Through a series of visions, it is revealed to the player that the phrase was "Would You Kindly". Elizabeth sees through multiple visions the future of Atlas, seeing his downfall as Fontaine by Jack's hands, as well as Sally being among the Little Sisters rescued by Jack. Knowing this, she willingly gives it before Atlas kills her, with Sally remaining by her side.

Behind the Scenes

• Unused audio files reveal that "Would You Kindly" would have been said an additional time, in Apollo Air Flight DF-0301, by a plane hostess with a southern accent.