Originally Posted by Virgil Tracy:
“she did :
Renee: I hope...that one day...someone teaches him a very good lesson.
Ricky: They, they, of course, it's coming. Do you know what I mean? You can't, you can't live life like that without it coming.
Renee: No, I mean...
Ricky: I know.
Renee: A kinda lesson that somebody that I would know would teach him.
Ricky: I know.
Renee: I hope.
who is she referring to there ^ , who are these people she knows ?
.”
A threat is saying you will do something.
She's wishing here, not threatening. She's not saying 'I will do this' she's saying I wish, I hope that some day something bad happens to him. That's not a threat, it's a wish, a desire, a hope that some day he gets his comeuppance in the manner she suggests.
People often say threat when there's no actual threat. She used to say things like 'if you were in America' this that and the other would happen - that's not a threat either, it's an 'if'.
As to Ricky's constant 'I know' - I see that as him half listening to her, like a parent to a babbling child whilst doing something else, and appeasing her by saying 'I know' once in a while so that she thinks he's listening.