Has Paloma Really Just Had 3 Weeks Training Before No Time To Die?
Has Paloma (Ana de Armas) really had just three weeks of training before No Time To Die? The new character is a CIA contact who meets James Bond (Daniel Craig) in Cuba to help recover a dangerous bioweapon and its creator from a party. When the Spectre plot to kill Bond backfires and chaos ensues, Paloma is instrumental in capturing the escaping scientist, but before the audience can learn any more about her, the mysterious operative disappears.
When she first encounters Bond, de Armas' No Time To Die character acts innocent and inexperienced, naively confusing him by starting to remove his shirt, but only to help him change into a tuxedo. She also mentions that she's only had three weeks of training, to Bond's great dismay. When the bullets start flying, however, Paloma shows that she's just as lethal with her hands as she is with a gun, as she helps Bond fend off hordes of Spectre agents and even apprehends the target herself.
Given her confident proficiency at combat and spy craft, it's highly unlikely that Paloma has really only had three weeks of training. It's far more probable that the character prefers to keep her cards close to her chest, and so, she misleads Bond on purpose. That being said, No Time To Die's Paloma also shows a level of instinct that goes beyond training, so perhaps it's possible that she is simply a natural at the spy trade to rival Bond himself, or that she's received training in other fields - military, perhaps - and has only received three weeks of training for this particular job.
The audience doesn't get the chance to know her very well, but it's hard to imagine that No Time To Die's Paloma developed her adept skills in merely three weeks of training. But then why would she lie to Bond? As a spy, Paloma would be accustomed to lies and secrets, and would probably have developed a pattern of playing the innocent, mild-mannered woman so that friend and foe alike would initially underestimate her. Especially meeting an ex-MI6 agent whose reputation in the spy community no doubt precedes him, she would've played it cautiously, perhaps even testing him with her feigned flirtatious naivety. Interestingly, Paloma role breaks the Bond girl tradition by outdoing the old 007 at his own game, a feat which would almost certainly require an experienced spy.
With that in mind, it's not impossible that de Armas' Paloma has only had three weeks training despite her obvious talent, and it might not even be a simple movie gag. To be a good spy requires training, but to become a truly great, James Bond-caliber agent also necessitates a certain intuition. It's this type of intuition that leads Bond to jump a motorbike onto a moving train and dive multiple stories into water of uncertain depth in previous films, and Paloma demonstrates just such instinct in her No Time To Die scene. As the scientist flees across the rooftops, Paloma crashes her car into some scaffolding, bringing it and the scientist crashing down to be apprehended. It's an instinctual move reminiscent of Bond himself, and it certainly wouldn't have been taught in training. Perhaps Paloma, despite her three weeks of training, is simply a natural talent at spy craft to rival even Bond.
While it's still more likely that she was simply lying about her training, the mystery surrounding Paloma makes it impossible for the audience to know for sure. Despite only having about ten minutes of screen time, Ana de Armas' No Time To Die character thoroughly captures viewers' attention and interest, and many fans are hopeful that she will return in Bond 26. With such a high-profile actor and an incomplete character, it's possible that the franchise will see the enigmatic Paloma again and hopefully answer some of the questions posed by No Time To Die.