Susan McCallister

Dr. Susan McCallister is the anti-heroic tritagonist of the 1999 science-fiction horror film, Deep Blue Sea. She serves as the head of a team of scientists working at an ocean facility called Aquatica in hopes of finding a cure for Alzheimer's with the usage of brain tissues from genetically engineered Mako sharks. Despite her good intentions, her infamous actions are what led to set off the plot in the film.
She was portrayed by actress Saffron Burrows.
==Biography==
Since her father is a Alzheimer's patient, Susan is frustrated by his constant attempts to know why her mother isn't home, only for her to remind him so many times (to no avail) that her mother died a long time ago. She became bent on putting an end to Alzheimer's. Being the head of Aquatica, Susan formulates a theory that enough protein complex residing from a Mako shark's brain tissue can produce enough neurons to increase membrane integrity and recuperate memory losses; to that end, she regularly collected and compiled data on her research, storing them in custom-made data-disks that she keeps in her private quarters at Aquatica. She has amassed quite a collection, ranging from meticulous study of shark behavior to the nature of the protein found in their brains, and even regularly practiced a delicate, minimally-invasive surgical technique wherein she can manually and safely extract a generous amount of said protein from a live specimen without killing the source organism. However, she is distraught to learn that a Mako shark's brain isn't big enough to produce sufficient amounts of protein for the test and that there is a code of ethics called the Harvard Genetics Compact which forbids anyone to use gene therapy to increase brain mass. Taking no regards in this, Susan secretly violated the code and used gene therapy to increase the brain masses of three Mako sharks 5 times the normal size, and had her best friend Dr. Jim Whitlock (who is one of the members of her team) to help her out. As a side effect, the three sharks became very intelligent and dangerous, and Susan kept this as a secret to herself, not wanting to lose her chance of finding a cure for Alzheimer's. To cover this up, Susan planted a ruse to the team that she used a hormonal enhancer to increase the sharks' brain 5 times the normal size as opposed to using gene therapy.
During the beginning of the film, one of the three sharks escaped captivity and attacked a boat full of teenagers, but expert shark wrangler Carter Blake (who is another member of Susan's team and the hero of the film) arrives to the rescue and takes the shark back to its pen. The incident struck the news, and Aquatica's finances are put at risk. Despite this setback, Susan convinces her company Chimera Pharmaceuticals (the facility's main sponsor) to give her a chance of putting the test in so that they can use her new-found research to sell the cure for profit. To ensure of this, the company sends in their board president, Russell Franklin, to personally investigate the facility and the experiment.
As Susan and her team start to enact their experiment, she had Carter to bring the largest shark into the lab by sedating it and putting it into sleep. As the shark is sleeping, Susan removes a certain amount of protein complex from the shark's brain. She then applied 2 CCs of the complex into a sample of inactive brain neurons of an Alzheimer's patient: the result was an increase of membrane integrity on the neurons by 6.5 seconds, much to the delight of Susan and the team. Though the test was a complete success, things get out of hand when Jim ends up being attacked by the shark, who manages to chop off his arm, much to the shock of the others. Carter attempts to shoot down the shark with a shotgun, but Susan instantly releases it back into its pen, much to the anger of Carter, who calls her insane for doing this.
The team then calls in a paramedics helicopter to evacuate Jim for medical attention, but a strong hurricane made it too difficult for the pilots to reel the stretcher in, causing it (with Jim on it) to fall into the pen waters. One of the test sharks grabbed the stretcher and instantly pulled the cable, causing the helicopter to crash into the facility tower, killing both the helicopter pilots and the facility's tower operator Brenda Kerns. This also causes a complete system shutdown in the entire facility. The shark then used the stretcher to ram against an underwater window while Jim dies succumbing to asphyxiation. As a result, the entire facility starts to sink slowly as the team tries to head up to the surface. During the journey, Susan is forced to confess her illegal experiments on the sharks that caused them to be smarter and deadlier in the first place, resulting her entire team to be extremely furious at her for using them for her own needs. Despite her condolences over what happened, Susan tries to justify her actions, believing that her research could wipe out brain losses to save future generations, but Carter retorts at this, asking her if the same would've been said for Jim, Brenda, the pilots, and the rest of the team.
As Aquatica slowly fills up, the three sharks start to target the team one by one. First, Franklin ends up being devoured by two remaining sharks at the submarine deck while he was giving a motivational speech to the team. Next was another researcher named Janice Higgins, who ends up being devoured by the second shark while attempting to catch up with the team on the flooding maintenance ladder. Another one was researcher Tom Scoggins, who ends up being devoured by the big shark while attempting to help Carter activating some controls to drain the water away from a stairwell heading up to the surface. The only survivors left are Susan, Carter, and the facility's chef Sherman "Preacher" Dudley.
Preacher manages to kill the first shark by throwing a lighter into the kitchen's heating oven to blow it up after it ate his pet parrot. Taking refuge in the floor 60 feet below the surface, Susan starts to feel extreme remorse over her actions after being traumatized by the deaths of Franklin, Janice, and Tom. She then tries to head over to her cubicle to retrieve some data regarding to her research, despite Preacher's warnings about the dangers they're facing. Unperturbed by this, Susan heads over to her flooding cubicle to retrieve her data, but ends up being attacked by the second shark. Susan manages to kill the second shark by electrocuting it with a power cable, but the reaction destroys her data in the process. Distressed by the loss of her research, Susan decides to accept that she blew her chance of finding a cure for Alzheimer's.
Left with no alternative, Susan, Carter, and Preacher head over to a decompression chamber and swim over to the surface. Preacher then gets attacked and dragged on the leg by the third and final shark (presumably the big one) but he manages to swim himself to safety by stabbing the shark's eye with his crucifix, forcing it to let him go. After tending to Preacher's injured leg, Susan and Carter soon learn of a horrible revelation: the sharks have been herding the team into flooding the facility so that they could escape through the plain steel fences at the surface into the open Deep Blue Sea. Realizing now that the big shark is too dangerous to be set free into the wild, Susan decides that she and Carter would have to kill it.
Carter devises a plan to kill the big shark: he would fire a harpoon filled with dynamite powder at the shark, and that Susan would have to connect the trailing wire to a car battery that will send in a electric current to blow it up. However, the big shark is too far away and too deep for Carter to make a clear shot. In a last-minute effort to get the shark's attention, Susan cuts her hand and dive into the water, causing the big shark to smell her blood. Having attracted the shark's attention, Susan then tries to climb out, but the ladder breaks, and despite Carter's attempt to save her, the giant shark devours Susan whole, much to Carter's distraught.
==Legacy==
Susan's death wasn't in vain as her effort was enough for Carter to get the shark at firing range, allowing Preacher to fire the harpoon at the shark's dorsal fin, though it pierced Carter's leg in the process.
As the giant shark finally attempts to swim out to the open sea, Carter frees himself from the harpoon and Preacher connects the trailing wire to the battery, blowing the giant shark to bits and avenging the deaths of Susan and the rest of the team, much to both Carter and Preacher's relief.
==Gallery==
ReactivationOfAHumanBrainCell.jpg|During a meeting with her superiors, Susan explains that she's getting close to finding a cure for Alzheimer's.
LossLikeACarWreck.jpg|Susan explains her tragic story about her father suffering from Alzheimer's.
EndingWithASinglePill.jpg|She begs her superiors to give 48 hours so that she may have results that'll help with their stock prices.
SusanMcCallister01.jpg|Susan enacts her experiment to retrieve the protein complex from the big shark's brain.
SusanMcCallister00.jpg|Susan and the team are delighted to see that the test is a complete success after introducing the protein complex into inactive brain neurons of an Alzheimer's patient.
SusanMcCallister02.jpg|Susan pleads for Carter not to shoot the shark after it bit off Jim's arm.
SusanMcCallister03.jpg|After her pleas fall deaf, she releases the giant shark back into its pen (much to the anger of Carter).
SusanMcCallister04.jpg|As the facility starts to flood, Susan is forced to confess her illegal experiments on the test sharks.
SusanMcCallister05.jpg|Facing the anger from the other members, she attempts to justify her actions (to no avail).
SusanMcCallister06.jpg|Susan expresses her regret following the deaths of Franklin and Janice.
SusanMcCallister07.jpg|In her flooding cubicle, Susan tries to retrieve her research data (to no avail).
SusanMcCallister08.jpg|Susan succeeding in killing the shark.
SusanMcCallister09.jpg|She is distressed to see that while killing the second shark, she has destroyed her research data, blowing her only chance of finding a cure to Alzhiemer's.
SusanMcCallister10.jpg|After reaching the surface, Susan is horrified to learn that the third (and final) shark is attempting to get out into the open sea.
SusanMcCallister11.jpg|In a last minute attempt to have Carter kill the big shark, she dives into the water after silting her hand to attract its attention.
SusanMcCallister12.jpg|Susan can only watch in horror as the big shark swims closer to her underwater.
SusanMcCallister13.jpg|Susan is about to accept her fate, seconds before the big shark finally prepares to grab her.
SusanMcCallister14.jpg|Susan meets her demise as the big shark devours her whole.
==Also See Her On==
*Villains Wiki
==See Also==
*Russell Franklin
*Janice Higgins
*Carter Blake
*Tom Scoggins
*Jim Whitlock
*Sherman "Preacher" Dudley
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