Originally Posted by Chula Vista

That's all to drive home just how twisted and demented (and brilliant) John Doe is. Imagine you're a detective working in a big city and you're completely hardened and mostly desensitized to all of the crime and violence you have to deal with on a daily basis, to the point it's pretty much become your norm.

And then Doe comes along and turns everything you thought you knew about crime, motives, violence, pre-meditation, and depravity, and turns everything inside out and upside down.

Se7en is equal parts about Doe and his master plan and Mills and Somerset slowly coming to terms with an evil that is almost beyond comprehension.