XP: Life is Strange Episode 4

Onwards with the blogging! Busy weekend spending time with my family, so all is good. I was also working on a short story, so that dominated the time I would have spent writing the blog. I did manage to finish my second playthrough of the game, so I got to see how most of the choices played out. I might dabble a little bit into the developer’s commentary, but I probably won’t do a whole other playthrough. Now onwards with the blog post, and spoilers warning from here on out!

Here are the other episodes:
Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3

What I played:

Life is Strange Episode 4: Dark Room

Max learns that Chloe became handicapped because of a series of events that occurred when she saved Chloe’s dad, William. Max makes the difficult choice of allowing William to die in order to save Chloe’s life, yet again. The girls pay Frank a visit and get information to decrypt his accounting books, which allows them to put all their evidence together and retrace Nathan’s steps the night of Rachel Amber’s disappearance. The trail leads them to the “Dark Room,” an underground lair someone clearly used to take pictures of Kate, Rachel Amber, and many others while they were drugged. There they find out where Chloe’s best friend is. The duo crashes the Vortex Club party to look for Nathan. While there, it is announced Victoria was the winner of the Everyday Heroes contest, but there was no sign of Nathan. Chloe receives a text from Nathan that tells them where he is, and they go for one last showdown; however it is anything but.

What I experienced:

We as players are eager to come back from the cliffhanger ending of episode 3 in order to find out just what exactly happened to Chloe that led her to become a quadriplegic. The girls are (st)rolling along the beach alongside the dead whales, where Chloe reveals that her father gave her a car for her 16^th birthday and shortly after she was in an accident that lead to her becoming disabled. The dialogue choices in this sequence allowed the player to ask directly what happened or to tip-toe around the subject. You get the choice to just rip the band-aid off and learn what you did, or try and be respectful of Chloe maybe not wanting to talk about her accident. Either way Chloe shows how brave she is by answering the (unasked) questions freely.


I just want to add that I really liked how the voice actress was able to change the portrayal of Chloe’s character once again through simple tone and volume. In the previous episode the actress made Chloe sound younger and carefree since she had yet to bear the tragedy of her father’s death. In the original timeline Chloe has a harsh/angry tone since she is, well, angry at the world for taking her dad. Instead in this segment Chloe sounds older and tired, like just talking is in itself draining her energy. Which, given her physical state, could very well be the case. This goes a long way to determining what type of connection we as players develop with Chloe, and even re-think what lies underneath the tough facade of the original Chloe.


Max spends the rest of the night with Chloe just hanging out, quickly re-establishing a connection that only old friends can. The next day Max explores the house and talks with William and Joyce, who make it clear that despite the exorbitant medical bills, they are grateful to have Chloe in their lives as is. But of course, those exorbitant medical bills are leading the family into bankruptcy.

I don’t think it was really the developer’s intentions to call to attention the messed up health care system that exists in the UnitedStates. Instead, I really think they were only including it as a way to twist the knife into the feels of the player. The tones of William and Joyce have are the same tired one that Chloe has, only for them it is less physical and more emotional stress. This also does a good job of twisting the knife even more, as the noble parents suffer silently for the benefit of their child. Chloe herself admitted that she has caught on to them trying to hide their frustrations over her medical condition, and will act out to give them the opportunity to take some of the stress out on her. The lesson: the family that suffers together is, well, a family.


Not only is the family about to drown in debt, but Chloe’s lungs are slowly failing despite all the treatments, and it is only a matter of time before she dies from it. This is where Chloe asks Max to end her life, that way her family doesn’t waste any more money on her and she can go out with the good feeling of the time spent with her best friend.


You are actually given three options this time: accept, decline, or “I don’t know.” I was hoping in choosing “I don’t know” this might give you an opportunity to talk to William about the original timeline, albeit in a hypothetical “if you could give your life to save your daughter, would you?” I felt being able to talk to him about that sort of scenario would make it easier to make the choice on whether she should travel back in time again or not, since he seemed like the type of parent to gladly give his own life so long as it saved his child. But alas, we never get the chance to talk to William about it, and instead it only adds a few lines of hesitation from Max before you are once again forced to make a choice: accept or decline Chloe’s request for euthanasia.


The impact of that choice is dulled slightly in the obvious knowledge that Max will once again go back in time, only during this turn she will not interfere with William’s death. You stand justified with either decision regarding Chloe’s euthanasia. It’s okay to let Chloe slowly suffer and die because you will just undo her condition altogether. Same goes for euthanasia, because she will not remain dead, you’re going to undo it all and have Chloe back; albeit the angry Chloe. There is no suspense in whether you will find the photo again, or somehow not have her abilities in the alternate universe. However, despite the impact being dulled it was still an interesting segment to experience and raised some thoughts.


The morality surrounding euthanasia is ambiguous, much like morality in general. Those in favor and those opposed have their reasons, but none of those reasons are absolute. In this instance, I use the word absolute as in it covers any given scenario at any given time. In Life is Strange, Chloe’s situation does seem to warrant the need for euthanasia. She is slowly dying, and is aware of how little time she has left. However, she still has some time she could use to make more memories with her parents and Max, which might make it a premature decision. But then there are examples of when someone is diagnosed with a terminal illness, given months to live, and ends up living years beyond their allotted time; not only that but sometimes people are misdiagnosed completely. The biggest hurdle to overcome for a general acceptance or opposition of euthanasia is this: at what point can a person be 100% certain they will die, and what level of suffering is acceptable to where you decide to carry out the act of assisted suicide. The answer varies from person to person, and can only be determined by the people involved in the situation at that time. Thus, it it is difficult to say that euthanasia is absolutely right or wrong.


While in the alternate timeline we as players are also given the chance to explore the other differences through the journal and text messages menu, which I thought was a nice attention to detail. The journal entries changed from longer, near daily entries of a girl unsure of herself to very short entries spaced further apart in time where she talks about her hangovers from partying. The text messages show that in the alternate universe Max is a full fledged member of the Vortex Club, and an influential member at that, seeing as Victoria sends many messages seeking Max’s (or in this world she goes by “Maxine”) approval. It was very small detail, but reading through the messages shows just what kind of a world Max had stumbled into.


Once back in the original timeline, a very grateful Max hugs Chloe, and she decides to keep the experience of the other timeline to herself so as not to sadden her friend. Max is in Chloe’s room looking at a board with all the evidence of the case so far, but there are still some clues missing to be able to make any sense of it. Frank's accounting book has his customer's names written in code, there is no way to track where Nathan was the night of Rachel Amber's disappearance.


Max goes into David's garage and breaks into one of his filing cabinets where he has pages and pages of GPS coordinates of people he was following. While in there you find a letter and a few other things that show his human side instead of the military tough guy persona he has. This did a good job of rounding out the character, especially after the explosive argument he and Chloe had in the last episode.


Once Max absconded with the information, she does one of two things depending on what you did in episode 2. If you failed to save Kate, she and Chloe go break into Nathan's room. If you saved Kate, Max goes to visit her in the hospital. The hospital scene was a heartwarming type of scene. Kate thanks you for saving her life, and she even started to draw happy children's illustrations too. That scene showed how most people end up feeling after they were pulled back from the brink of suicide, or if they had survived an attempt. Now they may not be all as hopeful as Kate, but most recognize it is not the best solution to their problem, at least for the moment anyways. What most people may not know is that once someone has attempted suicide, the likelihood of that person attempting again is fairly high. This is true for any behavior a person does. The first time you try something new, it feels strange and, if it it's risky, somewhat scary. But once you have tried it out, it suddenly doesn't feel as scary and can even become familiar after so many times. The takeaway is that if you can remind someone that there are an infinite amount of solutions outside of suicide, they will eventually find some hope to live. But keep an eye on them the next time you notice them having some trouble, because they may be thinking about suicide again. Just FYI.

When Max breaks into Nathan's room you see all the twisted artwork he is into.

Max learns more about Nathan snooping around in his dorm room. The art that he is into definitely suggests that he is disturbed, and the emails from his dad show that it might be for good reason. Whether he has his reasons or not, the overwhelming evidence is that he is still an asshole. Especially when she and Chloe run into him and he goes after Max. Warren gives him a beat down for touching his woman, and you learn that he is not as tough as he tries to be. Just angry.


The girls go to Frank's RV on the beach to ask for his customer list, and this scene can go one of three ways: Chloe shoots Frank dead, Chloe shoots Frank in the leg and he gives up the list, or Frank becomes an ally and hands it over willingly. If you spared Frank's dog the fate of getting ran over, the dog attacks trying to protect Frank, and Chloe shoots it dead. This leads Frank to get mad and attack with his knife, and Chloe has to kill Frank. If the dog is already injured or you can rewind and have Frank secure the dog ahead of talking. He still attacks but Chloe only shoots him in the leg that time. Otherwise, you can talk to Frank like the human being that he is, be honest about why you were scared and did (not) pull the trigger, and be honest about wanting to find Rachel just as badly as he does. The lesson of the segment is that even "criminals" such as Frank are actually just people who do socially unacceptable things because that is all they know.

After all of that we as players get to piece together the information through a mini-game of sorts. It did not feel out of place since it used a lot of the same interactions with objects that we as players have already grown accustomed to. The only difference was the lack of need for rewinding time, except when it came to unlocking Nathan’s cell phone.


All evidence points to Nathan, and the girls track some coordinates to a barn his family owns. After a bit of lock & key puzzles, the girls enter the Dark Room. On a side note, one of the keys was a three digit code written on a paper the girls thought might contain the code to his phone, which was four digits. That was another small attention to detail that I thought was kind of cool, and I actually have no idea how the girls get in if the player fails to take notice of it.

The infamous Dark Room

The Dark Room is a bomb shelter remodeled into a photo studio, filled with state-of-the-art photography equipment. There is a backdrop, lights, computer, printer, even a stereo system. There the girls find binders labeled with victims names, notably Rachel, Kate, and even Victoria; though hers is empty...for now. Rachel’s photos show her being buried at the junkyard, and Chloe races back and uncovers her body. That moment was actually touching, with the right music, dialogue, and voice acting to pull it off.

I also liked as a storytelling element that they did not keep Rachel alive as a prisoner, because I felt it would have been too difficult to realistically explain why anyone would do so. Not only that, but this time they did not do something to dull the impact of an action. No rewind, no picture to leap back in time and save Rachel. The lesson is clear: sometimes the world just sucks, no matter how powerful you are.


The girls go to the aptly named “End of the World” party to look for Nathan and get revenge. The name of the party is fitting twofold: the world could literally be ending due to all the weird phenomena, and Chloe’s world ended metaphorically at discovering her best friend was dead. If you thought Chloe was an angry teenager before, that was nothing compared to how angry she got after finding Rachel Amber. She was so pissed that she even ignored the fact that there were two moons up in the sky. A drunk Warren sneaks a selfie with Max using her instant camera, just long enough to distract her and lose track of where Chloe went. You then spend the time interacting with everyone at the party looking for either Chloe or Nathan.


The interactions with all the characters at the party were kind of interesting in the fact that they highlighted the changes Max underwent as a character. In the first episode’s tutorial segment, Max talked with everyone but definitely had a self-deprecating tone anytime she said something about herself. That slowly changed through each interaction with the side-characters to where she started giving them advice on what to do and even calling some of them out on their shit. Everyone noted how much more confident Max has become, while Max has a little bit of a “good-bye forever” tone because she is not sure just what will happen once they find Nathan. If there’s one thing Life is Strange does well, it’s character development.


Speaking of which, there is another bit of character development when Max runs into Victoria at the VIP section of the party. Now, how this interaction goes is dependent on whether you were nice to Victoria or whether you embraced your mean girl persona. There was an option at one point to either warn her about Nathan or not. If you were mean to Victoria then even if you warn her she will just make a bitchy comment and ignore it. If you were nice to her, you end up sharing a really touching moment where you encourage her as an artist, let her know she has nothing to feel insecure about, and then she accepts the warning. Victoria also acknowledges just how bitchy she has been and also gives compliments to Max. While she was still a little bitchy before reaching that point of the conversation, it took significantly less time to break the facade, which was a welcome improvement! Victoria accepting the warning has a consequence in the next episode, which was a rather interesting one too, but I’ll talk about it whenever I post on episode 5.


Then comes the WTF ending. Reunited once again, Chloe receives a text message from Nathan that he is going to destroy the evidence they found. The girls foolishly declined to go to the police once they found the body, so Rachel’s body was left unguarded in the junkyard. The girls rush back, Chloe with her gun drawn, constantly talking and giving away their position. As a result, the killer gets the drop on Max by drugging her with a syringe, and then head shots Chloe as she turns around. Max, unable to move let alone rewind time, looks up at the killer, Mr. Jefferson, before she blacks out.

Now as far as twists go, this one was fairly decent. I was left stunned that it was Mr. Jefferson as the killer, and I managed to not be outraged once the initial shock wore off. The hardest thing about a twist on who really done it is whether it seems believable or not, and if there was enough of a hint to make it not feel like everything you experienced was for nothing.


An example of a horrible twist was this book I once read. The author described a kidnapper of teenage girls as a short-tempered guy on a motorcycle. Throughout the whole book there were scenes where the perpetrator was “shown” but never named. Since it is a book readers could not just see who it was, only read the actions being described. There was a known character who was quick tempered, rode a motorcycle, and seemed to like his girls young. It seemed so obvious that it was him that I knew right away it wasn’t. The plot, prose, and pacing of the book were horrible, and the only reason I kept reading was to see who the real perpetrator was and see if there were any clues that would make the whole terrible experience worth it. The twist was revealed, and there was NOTHING that pointed to the revealed character, and that led me to be the most upset I have ever been with a book (as you can tell by my bringing it up; I just can’t let it go!).

The point I am making is that while there was nothing really obvious pointing to Mr. Jefferson, there were a couple of moments that led to some kind of suspicion. At the end of the first episode there was a montage where it showed all the characters and their current standings. In that montage there was a moment where the principal and Mr. Jefferson were meeting in the middle of the woods, leaving you with a feeling of conspiracy. Then in episode 2 there was the conversation he had with Kate where she ran away crying. When Max talked to Jefferson about it he seemed to have an aggressive tone, like he had something to hide. There were other moments too, but those dots don’t really connect until you hear him talk in episode 5. It didn’t matter that even during a second playthrough with the gift of hindsight, there were no hints linking him to the crime. But, those little moments I mentioned before kept me from going insane like the book had, because they were just enough to make me believe that it could have been him.


In conclusion, the episode was fairly solid in storytelling and had a few life lessons thrown in there, even if some of them were dulled down to keep it from getting too depressing. The overall theme was that sometimes the world just sucks, since William has to stay dead and there is no way to save Rachel Amber. While I wish for some elements to be elaborated, like talking to William about Chloe, or more evidence connecting Mr. Jefferson, the episode itself was good. Now I shall leave with you this question: what movie/book/game/whatever had the best twist ending you’ve experienced, and which one had the worst? Let me know in the comments!

XP: Life is Strange Episode 3

Back to it after a somewhat busy weekend with a roller coaster of mourning and celebration (for two separate occasions). Life is weird like that sometimes! Speaking of which, let’s take a look at just how weird this game gets. Spoilers abound throughout this post so, turn back now or forever hold your peace. To see my thoughts on the other episodes, check out the links below.



Episode 1
Episode 2

What I played:

Life is Strange Episode 3: Chaos Theory

Chloe and Max raid the principal’s office at Blackwell Academy to search for evidence on Nathan and his involvement in both Kate’s and Rachel Amber’s cases. Being teenagers, they also take the time to break into the school’s pool for a midnight dip and escape before David catches them. Max and Chloe search David’s personal files in the garage for any evidence he might have on Nathan. David and Chloe blow up on each other again, but this time it leads to a major change in the family. The duo break into Frank’s RV for more evidence, and discover he and Rachel were in a relationship. Chloe is hurt, and lays out all the pain she has felt ever since her dad died. Max then discovers a new aspect of her ability to control time, and uses a photo to travel back to the moment before Chloe’s dad, William, dies in the car accident. Max uses the opportunity to change the outcome, but she doesn’t find out just how much has changed until she returns to the present.

What I experienced:

The opening scene of this episode is Max alone in her room, either reeling from the rush of saving Kate’s life earlier that day, or reeling from the sadness of failing to save her close friend. The creators did a good job of making her reactions believable for either possibility, and they use the environment and some of Max’s inner dialogue to set the mood. An example would be when you look at Kate’s bunny that Max took in; the inner dialogue is either of hope that the bunny will be reunited with Kate after her hospital stay, or one of sadness that the bunny will never see her owner again. Also, the texts and social media posts are either praise for Max saving Kate, or condolences and reassurance that Max tried everything she could to save Kate. The tone for whichever outcome remains all throughout the rest of the game anytime Kate is mentioned, which I thought was a nice touch. It makes the experience consistent and changes the feel of the rest of the story in a meaningful way.

Max continues the investigation into Nathan’s involvement in the incidents, and breaks into Victoria’s room for any details she might have, but not much is revealed other than she knows of some of his family drama. Max and Chloe then overhear a conversation between Victoria and Mr. Jefferson where she makes a pass on him, and then threatens to blackmail him with a false accusation if he does not choose her for the winner of the contest. Mr. Jefferson brushes her off like a boss, and they continue on to break into the principal’s office with a little help from Warren via text instructions. Once inside they dig through some files on Nathan to find out he is having behavioral problems, and his wealthy father is threatening to withdraw donations from Blackwell Academy if they are not covered up. Money may be able to change what gets put down on paper, but it can never change the reality.

In Nathan’s file, they discover a really weird drawing with “Rachel in the Dark Room” scrawled all over it.

Seeing as how the next episode is titled “Dark Room,” you can guess that this piece of information will become very important to the story at a later time. I thought this was a nice piece of foreshadowing, as it reveals Nathan is definitely involved, but still not sure how or why.

While in the principal’s office you are given opportunities to snoop into other characters’ school records, which adds an extra layer of character development. You see Rachel Amber was on David’s radar for potential drug distribution (but then again with his paranoia who isn’t) and she was actually caught with some drugs on her. You learn about Chloe’s failing grades, Warren is good at science but not art, and Max is labeled as a loner with lots of artistic potential. It was interesting to see the “grown-up’s” perspective of all the characters.

Before leaving the office there is a choice to take an envelope of cash set aside for renovations for handicap accessibility, or leave it be. There isn’t really any major consequence tied to this, but I do like how in the next episode Max sort of flip-flops on her choice because of different information she gets regarding the fund.

Of course since two teenagers have the run of an empty school at night, they have to get into some kind of shenanigans. They break into the gym and Max gets an opportunity to be nosy and break into the side characters’ gym lockers. You get a few more character details like how Stella seems to have a crush on Warren, Hayden is a typical jock, Victoria is insecure, and a few other little things.

The moment of swimming with Chloe is more of a slice of life moment rather than contributing to the overall story. Slice of life is just that, a story that is meant to be a reflection of what happens in real life without having too much drama, action, or fantasy. It is all about portraying a moment that anyone can relate to. The scene in the pool is the two friends taking a moment to reflect on life; past, present, and future. Everyone has at least one moment during their adolescence where they thought about how much their life has changed since childhood, how their life is now, and what direction do they want to go in. The scene also gives a much needed break from some of the darker stuff that has passed and will soon come to pass for the characters.

David and another security guard break up the party and the duo barely manage to escape back to Chloe’s house. The next morning Chloe coaxes Max into being more confident in her abilities, not only with her time powers but also as an artist and as a person. Max’s experience with Kate, whether it was good or bad, has caused Max to view herself differently. She tries on some of Rachel Amber’s clothes she left behind at Chloe’s house, and has an attitude that she is willing to push herself into being more active in her own life and who she wants to be. Max is beginning her journey into adulthood, even if she herself has not realized it yet. Her conversation with Joyce also reinforces this idea, as she talks to Max about noticing a change and encouraging her to be more confident as well.

Chloe then enters the conversation and starts an argument with her mom as a distraction while Max digs into David’s files in the garage. His laptop is secured with a password, and Max digs through his personal belongings to try and figure it out. This segment reveals a lot about David’s character; what he has experienced and what he values. His service in the military shows he has a strong sense of duty, a thank you gift for saving someone’s life shows he experienced life threatening situations, and memorabilia of his first meeting with Joyce along with cards for Chloe show he really values his family.

Those revelations make, depending on the choice you make, the next scene kind of heart-wrenching. David returns grumpy from spending all night writing reports on the girls shenanigans, and Chloe decides it is the perfect time to reveal to Joyce about all the surveillance he has done on the students at Blackwell Academy, and in their own home. You are then given the choice to either side with Chloe or with David. All the character development you get about David right before is supposed to make you hesitate on putting David down; however for me since David wasn’t the one to reveal all those details to Max through his own words or actions, I felt it was not as impactful as it could have been. If you side with David, Joyce tells Chloe to take a step back as she talks with David about it. But if you side with Chloe Joyce asks David to move out of the house while she thinks about their relationship. I did not find it very realistic for Max to have so much influence over Joyce and I felt this was one of the more weaker storytelling moments of the game.

Regardless of what happens, the girls take their leave and set their sights on getting into Frank’s RV for more info. They track him down at the Two Whales diner, where he is throughly enjoying a plate of beans[link to clip if available] while his RV sits in the parking lot. Max is left with the task of obtaining the keys while Chloe finds a treat for his dog who was left inside the RV to guard it. Max takes the opportunity to exact revenge on Frank for threatening her and Chloe, such as spilling his plate of beans on the floor, spill water all over him, or just flat out insult him. She rewinds to take it all back, and has to get more information from either Nathan or a police officer to get Frank to at least converse long enough to take out his keys.

We get even more character development, this time on Frank and Nathan. Nathan lets loose that there is a lot of pressure from his family and he feels like he does not have the ability to make his own decisions; BUT he still manages to be a dick and insult Max at the end of every sentence. The police officer reveals Frank used to participate in dog fights, but then had a change of heart and freed all the dogs in whatever dog fight ring he was in. Frank’s current dog was actually one of the ones he rescued from that night. Max uses the information to ask about petting his dog, but Frank sees through it and tells her no, pulling his keys out to taunt her that she will not get what she wants; which of course she does once she snatches them and rewinds like it never happened.

The girls face the dog before going into the trailer, and there is a choice to either throw the treat into the parking lot or into the street. At the end of every episode it shows the statistics of what choices you make compared to everyone else, and 94% of people chose to keep the dog out of harms way by throwing it into the parking lot. Being a dog lover myself, that statistic gave me some hope for humanity. There’s a saying that a society can be judged on how it treats it’s prisoners, and it’s pets; thankfully Western society has respect for dogs. I know in some cultures it is normal for a dog to be considered food, but there are plenty of instances were people raise pigs or chickens as pets even though they are considered food in Western culture. However, on my second playthrough I (painfully) got the dog ran over to see if it had an impact on the story later on, and it actually does in the next episode.

Once inside the RV Max finds Frank’s accounting book, along with pictures and letters that show he and Rachel Amber were romantically involved, which is why he was wearing the bracelet the other day. Chloe feels betrayed that her new/old best friend would lie to her and feels betrayed by the only person she felt close to during those 5 years Max was gone. 

She rants about how everyone in her life has betrayed her: Max for being gone and not keeping in touch, Rachel Amber for lying about Frank, her mom for asking for a ride from her dad, and her dad for dying in a car accident on his way to pick her up. She then cried about how everything in her life went bad after her dad died, and if he had stayed alive everything would be so much better.

That scene was actually very emotionally charged, not only because her situation was sad but it was also frustrating making the dialogue choices and still getting the same response. As an adult (well, I should say as an emotionally healthy adult since I have seen plenty of adults in my line of work who feel the same as Chloe), you learn that sometimes life just hands you a really bad situation that is outside of your control. In Zen Buddhism there is the concept that there are no good or bad events in life, there is just life. Chloe has clearly not learned this lesson and her anger stems from her resistance in accepting that fact.

Chloe dumps Max back at Blackwell so she can be alone for awhile, and Max sulks in her room after the emotional dump Chloe put on her. Max stares at a photo of her and Chloe taken right before William was killed in the car accident, and after a little focus she time leaps into her 13 year old self at the very moment the picture was taken.

The first thing I noticed was how much different Chloe acted when she was younger. Her voice was not only lighter from being younger, but also without the depressed/angry tone she had as an adult. The voice actor for Chloe did a pretty good job making that distinction, and she does the same with present day Chloe in the next episode.

Max decides to make her best friend’s life better and hides the car keys from William, forcing him to take the bus instead of drive and then all is well. Max returns to the alternate-timeline present and discovers she is part of the Vortex club, and she rushes to Chloe’s house to see the results of her handiwork. William answers the door, alive and well, and calls Chloe to the door. There, Max discovers her best friend is a quadriplegic in a wheelchair, ending the episode on that cliffhanger.

Max’s actions obviously had some unforeseen consequences. We don’t learn of the chain of events which led to Chloe being in a wheelchair until the next episode, but suffice to say it was all connected to the change Max did. The title of this episode is in reference to the very concept which led to the unforeseen consequence. Edward Lorenz, one of the mathematicians to develop Chaos Theory and coin the term “butterfly effect,” had this explanation for what Chaos Theory is:

“Chaos: When the present determines the future, but the approximate present does not approximately determine the future.”

That’s basically a fancy way of saying everything in the present is the cause of what’s to come in the future, but there is no way to tell just exactly what that future will look like just by looking at the present. All of this assumes a complex system, much like the weather, or in Max’s case, time travel. For something simple, like say rolling a ball off a table, the future consequence is known: it will fall down. But in a complex situation, where there are a seemingly infinite amount of variables, there’s just no telling what will happen. For Max, she changed a huge variable by keeping William alive. There was one more person with free will running around and making whatever decisions they want, all of which effect other people and their own actions, so it all just spiraled out of control. The lesson is lfe is too complex a thing to control. Even with free will, humans are still at the mercy of the universe; the only thing free will can do in those situations is grant a person the ability to choose how to cope with it.

In conclusion, this episode had less life lessons and more storytelling elements. There was a lot of character development in this episode, not only for the “good” characters like Max and Chloe, but also for the “bad” characters like David, Frank and Nathan. This brought a pretty good balance to each of the characters, and you’re left with the impression that not everyone is as they seem to be. We are left with the thought that maybe, just maybe, good and evil are more subjective than people like to believe. I’ll leave you with this question for today: was there ever a time you tried to do something nice for someone and it completely backfired? I know for me that is a near daily occurrence. Let me know in the comments!

XP: Life is Strange Episode 2

[This post has been edited to include a link to the documentary trailer, and with the real statistic of the risk of sexual assault. The statistic I put earlier was a placeholder which I forgot to change.]

Carrying on with the next episode! I might throw in a random “What I Saw” TV show blog post in between these gaming XP posts, so if you’re dying to read my thoughts on all the twists and turns of this game you might end up having to wait even longer. Although given my track record for coming out with posts regularly, I may just be bullshitting. I keep forgetting to add spoilers warning, and the synopsis is largely spoiler free so that is your rubicon if you want to play the game first.


Episode 1

What I played:

Life is Strange Episode2: Out of Time
The school is buzzing with a viral video of Kate making out with a bunch of random guys in a “Vortex Club” party. Max proves to Chloe that her rewind power is real and Chloe insists they test out her powers and mess around with shooting a gun in the junkyard. Frank crashes their party and makes it clear he wants his money, and Chloe confronts him on where he got Rachel’s bracelet, which he is wearing. Chloe almost dies, again, by getting her foot caught in train tracks. Back at Blackwell Academy, Kate can no longer stand the shame of the viral video. An unscheduled eclipse occurs, giving a really dark omen about what impact Max’s meddling with time is really having.

What I experienced:

Now that all the characters and plot have been introduced, the story starts to take more shape. Bullying takes center stage as Max wakes up the next day and finds the entire school is talking about a viral video of Kate, the devout Christian, at a “Vortex Club” making out with several guys. Victoria seems like she is the mastermind behind the video, and she writes down the link to the video on the bathroom mirror to help make it even more viral. When Max talks to Kate she reveals that she doesn’t remember much from the party, and the last thing she remembered was having one sip of wine offered to her by Nathan. The only thing she remembers after that is Nathan taking her some place that was all white like a hospital, but it wasn’t one. Chloe had admitted at the very end of the first episode she had partied with Nathan and felt like she had been drugged but she got away before anything happened; whereas Kate was not so lucky.

The premise for the episode is very sensitive, where it is obvious that Kate was drugged and therefore easily influenced to do something she wouldn’t normally do: like allow herself to be kissed by other men. This episode raised awareness for an issue that may be well known to all but spoken about by only a few. Women face a very real threat for sexual assault in college campuses across the U.S. There is a documentary, The Hunting Grounds, which covers just how widespread the problem is. And the threat of sexual assault isn’t only on college campuses. Statistics show that 25% of women in college will experience some type of sexual assault in their lifetime. Bringing such a serious issue up in a videogame is a very brave thing to do, even if the creators did blunt the severity of assault by not having it be full on rape. Although just to be clear, ANY kind of physical contact when in a condition that leaves a person unable to give consent is wrong. It’s just I feel it is a rarity that it stops before it reaches rape unless the perpetrator is interrupted, and as depressing as it would have been I think it would give a really big acknowledgement of what really happens to women if they had a character experience that level of trauma. The lessons are: Ladies, don’t ever take a drink that you yourself did not prepare or see get prepared (if from a bartender). Men, don’t be fucking assholes and drug/assault women!

Moving on, you can choose to encourage Kate to report being drugged or discourage her, since by now Max has been informed by the principal her report of Nathan bringing a gun to school is being ignored due to his rich family’s connections. Justice is a hard thing to come by for sexual assault victims, and most never even get reported. Kate still feels a little down no matter what you choose to do, and while the episode climax is related to Kate, all roads leading out of the climax are not the same and have a really big impact on the tone of the story.

Max meets Chloe’s mom, Joyce, at the diner that she still works at and they have a nice little heart to heart about how much Chloe has changed over the 5 years. The death of Chloe’s father and Joyce remarrying a paranoid army veteran has caused Chloe to rebel on all fronts, even though the only enemy she is fighting is herself. Joyce represents every parent’s struggle to see their child grow into a happy and responsible adult. Joyce asks Max to be a more positive influence on her daughter, because the reality is teenagers respond more to their peers than to their parents.

While talking to Chloe after she arrives you are given a choice to answer Kate’s phone call or ignore it as they are about to leave the diner. Chloe gets mad if you answer the call, even though she has no idea what is going on with Kate at the moment. I think that moment highlighted the fact that people make assumptions on what they know, and its hard for people to imagine the world outside their own bubble. This is how people get classified as an “other” in our society, which I have mentioned quite a bit in my posts on The Walking Dead. Humans have a limited scope to care about others, and if someone is not within the clan they are not someone worth worrying about. Once we get to know the person, however, they no longer are an “other” and we realize we are more similar than not. But to Chloe, anyone outside of her definition of family (Joyce, her dad, Max, and Rachel Amber) are classified as other and not worth bothering about.

After Max proves to Chloe that her powers are real through some impossible predictions, she whisks Max away again to her and Rachel Amber’s hideout: the junkyard. There Chloe has Max tests her powers while messing around with a gun she stole from her step-dad, David. Max blacks out after rewinding so many times, and when she wakes up a drug dealer whom Chloe owes money crashes their shenanigans. Chloe notices the drug dealer, Frank, is wearing one of Rachel Amber’s bracelets and confronts him; however he pulls a knife out and Max, who is holding the gun at the time, has to choose between shooting or not. The gun doesn’t fire even if you choose to shoot, but the consequence is either keep the gun or have Frank take it when you fail to pull the trigger. There is another consequence, but it doesn’t occur until a later episode.

Max saves Chloe yet again after they mess around the train tracks and Chloe somehow gets caught on the track. You use her rewind to keep the oncoming train from pancaking her friend until you figure out a way to rescue her. This left me with a feeling like fate itself was trying to kill Chloe, and that thought is kind of a theme for the rest of the story. How much of what we do is fate, and how much is really up to us? Depending on your philosophy, either we have free-will but it doesn’t matter anyways because the world will keep doing it’s own thing (existentialism), how do you even define what choice really is (metaphysics), or we’re just the universe’s play thing (religion).

Upon returning to class Max interacts with her classmates more, and you can choose to keep up the mean girls war with the Vortex Club or befriend one of it’s members. The consequence of that action doesn’t become known until a later episode. Then there is Warren, where Max is given more opportunity to give mixed signals by thinking he is cute when helping him to complete his science lab, or just ignoring him and letting him fail. You also talk to the science teacher, who is heading a petition to block the installation of surveillance cameras around the campus because it would give the school a prison like feel. You can agree with or debate with the teacher on the pros and cons of surveillance, which I thought brought a nice change from the white hipster liberal vibe of the story overall.

Surveillance is usually framed as the state conducting surveillance on it’s citizens, and the citizens have to decide just how much privacy they are willing to give up for the sake of security. Post 9/11 the public was clamoring for more security no matter the cost. It has been more recent that the public has begun to question just how much access to information the government should really have on all of us. But now with smartphones, surveillance has been flipped around where the citizens can now monitor the state. The Black Lives Matter movement has resulted from the citizens casting surveillance on the police and their brutality against black citizens. Basically, the debate on surveillance can be left open ended because it really does depend on how it is being used.

Right before class begins Max witnesses Mr. Jefferson and Kate having a serious discussion and Kate walked away upset. Mr. Jefferson’s tone is somewhat accusatory and unlike his usual self. Victoria and Nathan both act like bitches and give Max a warning to not rock the status quo of the privileged. Like I said in the previous post, there is no escaping the bitchiness part of Victoria, even if she acts nicer after you give her a moment. But once Mr. Jefferson starts his lecture it gets interrupted with the announcement of Kate being on the dorm rooftop about to jump to her death.

GaLm experiencing the episode climax.

This climactic moment is one of the best that I have experienced in a game. Many action oriented games try to create the feeling of an epic moment through music, explosions, cheesy dialogue and constantly changing camera angles. This moment was climactic in the simple fact that Max has basically drained her rewind power, and whatever decisions you make cannot be taken back. A mechanic that is the core part of the game is removed from the player, and it is up to the player’s skill and memory to talk this young girl.

There are two outcomes: say all the right things and she comes down on her own, or say one wrong thing and she jumps to her death. In my first playthrough, I said all the right things except for one thing at the end because I couldn’t remember if she had all brothers or all sisters (it had been two weeks since I had played the first half of the episode so I drew a blank on that detail). I stuck with that mistake because I didn’t want to take away the impact of not being able to rewind in that moment. But, I will say that it was not a smooth experience because she was sounding so hopeful throughout the whole interaction but kept dramatically refusing to come down until the third or fourth dialogue choice. The second playthrough I remembered and talked her down, and got to see what changed in the story afterwards.

The funny thing is I failed to talk Kate down even though that is my current profession. I work at a crisis mental health center. It is literally my job to keep people from suicide (and I’m happy to say my track record is much better than with Kate). Since it is my profession, I can talk quite a bit on the matter but I will try to keep it short.

There’s a saying out there that is cliché but also very true; suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. What drives people to it is people feel that their raison d’etre, their ikigai, their reason for existing in this world, has been taken away from them. For Kate, her reason for being was living her life according to her morality of being a chaste girl and being able to represent her family honorably. The slutty act of making out with random guys and the shame of having it all on video meant she had no more reasons to live. When a person thinks they have lost their purpose their, loss becomes their reason to die; but on the flip side, if they were to somehow be able to gain it back it also becomes their reason to live. Usually it just takes time, some effort, and maybe a new perspective, but they can regain what it is they felt they have lost, even if it’s not exactly the same as it was before. Suicide is a difficult subject to broach with someone, so if you know of anyone who needs help you can call the National Suicide Prevention line at 1-800-273-8255.

Before the episode ends, you make one more decision when the principal drags everyone involved in the incident with Kate into his office. He is basically searching for someone to blame, and leaves it up to Max to decide between Mr. Jefferson, Nathan, and David who is head of security. Nathan is obviously an asshole, David is a paranoid and had confronted Kate about something in episode 1, and Mr. Jefferson had that shady moment right before she went to the roof. Nathan was the obvious choice I went for in round 1, but I chose Mr. Jefferson for round 2 for reasons you will learn by the end of episode 4. Basically whoever you chose is kicked out of Blackwell Academy, but you don’t really spend any time in class afterwards so it is not that impactful plot-wise.

The episode ends with Max and Warren witnessing an unscheduled solar eclipse. The eclipse is used to show that all of Max’s messing with time is having a cosmic impact on time itself, even if it isn’t all that clear how. The butterfly is flapping it’s wings and it’s tearing the whole world apart. I think at this point Max has also spotted dead birds all over Arcadia Bay, which is another sign the universe is getting really messed up. Those events segue into the next episode title of Chaos Theory, which basically is a mathematical interpretation of the butterfly effect.

In conclusion, the title of the episode fit really well, once again. Max runs out of time to rewind due to messing with her powers too much. Kate almost (or if you mess up) runs out of time in her own way. I really liked how the game took on these heavy issues that are sadly all too common in adolescent life. I also liked how they came up with a reason for not being able to rewind take back whatever outcome happens with Kate. It didn’t feel like it was a bullshit reason that Max’s powers stopped working and I was immersed in the experience. I probably really like this game because it gets darker and darker as it progresses, because usually it makes for a really interesting story. While there is a lot of heavy stuff in this post, I will ask you something lighter. What was the most epic moment you ever experienced in a videogame? Let me know in the comments!

XP: Life is Strange Episode 1

I am continuing on the path to search for story rich games to play that also meet the criteria of running on my older gaming PC. Since I haven’t done a whole lot of gaming these last few years, I seem to have plenty of catching up to do. I have done a little bit of browsing for any prospects on games to play in the future, but haven’t decided on anything yet. For the posts on Life is Strange, I decided to break it up and post on one episode at a time because it would be waaaaaay to long if I didn’t. I will link to the each episode in every post, that way it’s easy to find them.



Episode 2

What I played:

Life is Strange is a game with a similar structure to TellTale Games’ The Walking Dead, where you make decisions which effect the story, albeit in limited ways. The plot revolves around an 18 year old girl named Max who recently transferred back to her hometown, Arcadia Bay, OR, to attend Blackwell Academy, a school which focuses on nurturing young artists. Max’s artistic medium is photography through the use of a film instant camera, and is very shy and reluctant to submit a photo into an “Everyday Heroes” contest sponsored by her photography teacher Mr. Jefferson. She witnesses her best friend Chloe get shot, and suddenly is thrown back in time shortly before her friend is killed and manages to prevent Chloe’s death. After being saved, Chloe reveals she has also been searching for her friend Rachel Amber who has suddenly disappeared. She asks Max to use her newfound power to help her find her friend and escape from a debt she owes to a drug dealer, Frank. However, Max has a vision of the future where a tornado wipes out Arcadia Bay by the end of the week, and wonders just how is it all connected.

What I experienced:

One thing I noted about the characters and overall aesthetic of the game is how “white” the game is. By that I mean the the majority of characters, are white, with the exception of side characters. The production itself also has a very white hipster feel. The music, dialogue, character’s clothing, everything just left me with that impression that the creators were coming from that perspective.

Now don’t get me wrong, as a Latino I still very much enjoyed the game. Everything was well put together, including the music, the story, and the visuals. But that strong impression definitely was felt throughout my experience playing the game.

The layout of the game was really intuitive and concise. There is a journal that acts as a kind of in-game menu for any information you collect. I like how the journal entries are updated after each segment you play through, which gives more information on how Max as a character thinks about what has just happened and the choices you made as the player. The entries do change depending on your choices, which I thought was pretty cool. You also send and receive text messages from characters which add some extra dialogue that is interesting to read, but can also be skipped if you just want to stay in the game. You don’t choose what to send like you do in the visual novel Steins;Gate, but like I said it still brings in extra character insight which I found enjoyable.

The game does a good job of building up the story over time, with hints of what’s to come being sprinkled throughout your (nosy) explorations of the environment and dialogue choices. Certain actions in one episode won’t have an effect until the next episode, and certain actions will be referenced throughout the rest of the game which really does give you the feeling of having the decisions matter. The major plot points don’t change of course, but you do have a chance to learn more about the characters with each decision tree.

Episode 1: Chrysalis

The first episode focused more on building up the characters and setting of the game. The title fits the overall theme as all the characters are about to set off on the events which will change them for the rest of their lives. It also fits with the theme of being young adults about to learn more about the world and being shaped by their experiences. Blackwell Academy houses high school senior students on campus, which could be considered a chrysalis of sorts since they will have to navigate a lot of their social and independent living as they are separated from their parent’s for the first time.

The change that Max goes through is significantly more impactful as she discovers she is able to rewind time. After witnessing her friends murder Max rewinds back in the lecture Mr. Jefferson was giving about capturing a moment in photography. Max then intervenes by pulling the fire alarm to distract the student, Nathan, from killing Chloe, who was ranting and raving about not wanting to be controlled by anyone (both the lecture and the student’s rant have a huge payoff at the end of the episode 5, which I thought was pretty cool).

Max at this point lacks a lot of self confidence, and has a rival who is a rich girl named Victoria. The rival is a portrayal of trying to grow up too quickly, as she openly flirts with the photography teacher and smokes cigarettes to appear more adult-like. While you can choose to trade insults and play the “mean girls” card, you can also choose to show compassion and discover Victoria is not as bad as she acts. You then get the sense that she feels threatened by Max’s skills as a photographer, which could lead to her bitchy attitude. Depending on your choices, you can either see her bitchy side and then her soft side or only her bitchy side (sadly there is no real escape from the bitchiness). A lot of the conflict revolves around confidence, because both Max and Victoria need to become more confident in themselves, but that comes later.

Max’s other friends include a devout Christian girl named Kate and a potential love interest named Warren who strongly flirts with her. Kate looks depressed in the short interaction you have with her in episode 1, which becomes much more relevant in the 2^nd episode. Max asks for Warren to vent to him in this first interaction. The relationship with Warren in later episodes goes from slowly blooming romance to mixed signals, as some major plot points make it ambiguous about how she feels despite either making it clear she likes him or is rejecting him. I think the creators try to play it off as teenage impulsivity or her lack of confidence, but it just comes off as they needed him to drive the plot.

After first discovering the rewind ability you meet many of the students right outside the school steps, and the area is basically a tutorial on the game elements without being told it is a tutorial. It is very smooth experience, as you learn to talk to people, get some information before they shut the conversation down, and then rewind to use that bit of information to either build rapport or get answers before they shut down again. For instance, one of the characters doesn’t want to let anyone see his photo album unless they know some hardcore details of a certain photographer. You fail the first time you talk to him and he tells you what the answer should have been; you then rewind and give him the answer right off the bat and get to see the album. There is also lot of background information on the missing girl, Rachel Amber, and you get a sense of what her character is like. That area was a really good way to get you to care about each of the side characters as well as the missing girl.

The “reflective sitting” is also introduced in that area of the game. In addition to the journal entries, there are certain spots where Max will sit down and just reflect on the story so far. Since Max is pegged as an introvert (yet her innate ability to walk around and befriend everyone doesn’t quite match), she does a lot of introspection. Again, lots of character development over time as she weighs her previous actions.

The end of the episode is where most of the story elements start to build up. Right after saving Chloe you are given a choice to tell the principal about how a student, Nathan Prescott, pulled a gun on Chloe (and would have killed her without intervention) or keep it hidden for now due to the connections the wealthy Prescott family has not only with the Academy but also the entire town. The decision makes a small difference in the dialogue you get in the 2^nd episode, but for the first episode it kind of sits there.

In the dorms you interact with a girl, Alyssa, who is always being teased with something being thrown at her. Brooke definitely makes it known she is interested in Warren which can lead to future conflict with Max, depending on what you choose. Dana is fraught after having recently undergone an abortion, and her roommate has to deal with a cheating boyfriend. I think the game did good at portraying these common struggles without making it overly dramatic or take away from the main story. In the later episodes you learn how each character copes (or doesn’t) with the struggles that make up life.

The biggest moment comes when you officially reunite with Chloe after escaping a confrontation with Nathan. He figures out Max intervened because she threw away the (instant camera) selfie which she had planned on submitting to the “Everyday Heroes” at the scene of the pre-crime and is not happy with having his manslaughter interrupted. The butterfly effect is ever present throughout the storyline. If Max was more confident in her ability as a photographer, then she would have submitted the photo and her identity would have remained anonymous. But in later episodes, we learn that not all negative actions have negative consequences, and not all good intentions lead to the best outcome.

Warren comes in for the rescue, as he fought (and lost to) the bully as a distraction. Setting an example for others to follow, it isn’t whether you win or lose, what matters is that you stand up and do the right thing and protect the ones you care about. A movie that had a similar outcome and was really funny because it played on tropes was Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and it is soooo goood. If you enjoy movies ore than TV, that is definitely one that should be on your list of things to watch. Anyways…

After they escape, Chloe gives Max a little bit of shit for not keeping in touch in the 5 years she was gone, especially since she moved away right after her father had died in a car crash (that plays a bigger part of the plot in episode 3). Max is whisked away to Chloe’s home after the run-in with Nathan, leaving behind Warren to get his ass beat. At Chloe’s house you learn more about the relationship Max and Chloe used to have, and some of the awkwardness of Max having moved on but life has thrown them back together again. That part of their relationship did a good job of showing that nothing truly lasts forever, despite them being reunited.

Max had moved away, and then moved on, and that is something most kids/teenagers don’t really think about; the future. As adults we learn life is in flux, opportunities lead us in different directions and eventually you move on. For a teenager, there is only the now, and now is forever. Depending on your experience in the chrysalis that is adolescence, you will handle it in much different ways. Chloe is trying to return to a past that no longer exists, and she is angry for it. More on that later.

In conclusion, the episode was a really strong start to the story. Lots of characters to add their perspectives, and learn more about the world that is Blackwell Academy. The usual (and dare say cliché) teenage problems like pregnancy, bullying, relationships, are set up to draw you in for the next episodes to find the resolution; and it works! All those roller coaster of emotions that we adults are glad we left behind makes for good entertainment and storytelling. I will continue on with my thoughts for each episode in the next few posts. As for you readers, looking back at your own high school experience, what ind of teenage clique did you end up in? I ended up in the nerdy clique that looked down at all the party-people. Let me know yours in the comments!

What I Saw: The Get Down Part II

I’m alive! Been doing some TV watching, and actually been doing some YouTube shows rather than watching full on series. The “throwaway” show that I mentioned in passing a couple posts ago, RWBY, ended up going over some more serious themes so I watched it until I was all caught up. Now I am watching Red vs Blue, which is made by the same group who made RWBY, because my friend is excited for the new season and I need to catch up. I also (embarrassingly) started watching Emma Approved, which is a modern retelling of Jane Austen’s novel Emma, a very relationship and “chick flick” type of story. I do have to admit, the modern retelling seems to be done really well, and almost piques my interest to check out the source material. But as for full on series, I have made some progress which I will report on now!

What I watched:

The Get Down Part II

 
The story of the Bronx youth chasing after their dreams continues! Mylene has started her singing career, but it is in fits and starts as her father, Ramon, restricts her to religious songs and is using her to promote his church. Zeke, Shao, and the rest of the Get Down Brothers have built up their popularity and are getting opportunities to perform on the underground scene; however Zeke is also being given an opportunity for the Ivy Leagues through his internship. Papa Fuerte struggles with a smear campaign and doesn’t know who to trust, but he and Mylene’s mother draw closer together.

What I Saw:

I was excited for Part II and a lot of the same things carried over from Part I, which is to be expected since it picks up one year after Part I.

Race

Racial identity is a major theme of the story, but not the only theme. The show continues to do a good job of showing the complexity of racial identity and the role it plays in the lives of people of color, but does not make it a pity party for the ghetto Black/Hispanic community. This is shown through Zeke at his internship interactions with Mr. Gunns. Right from the beginning Mr. Gunns is promoting the “good ol’ boy” life that led him to be such a success and encourages Zeke to follow the same path so he will be set for life. But his daughter, a white girl, aptly points out that it worked out for Mr. Gunns because he is a white man.

While making the right connections and being a legacy may help white people get int Ivy League schools, for young black man to accomplish the same thing requires a certain level of acceptance within that Ivy League community, which is lacking. We see the homogenized (all white) group of students and alumni at the luncheon, and Zeke is “tested” by one of the students who just spouts racial epithets and challenges Zeke to drinking contest. As any person of color knows, it is all too frustrating to behave assertively but not aggressively in those situations, because if you start acting aggressively you only end up confirming the stereotypes of being “ghetto” or “uncivilized” when in fact it is the racist white person who is acting like that.

That’s why Zeke grew angry with Shao when he pulled a gun and used violence against another racist white boy. In Zeke’s mind, Shao was confirming the stereotype, and Zeke would be seen as not being Ivy League material through association. Shao naturally defends his position and rightly points out that Zeke shouldn’t have to take that kind of abuse from the white students, and he does not need to go to an Ivy League school to be assimilated into white culture. The truth is somewhere in the middle, where it should not be a person of color’s responsibility to prove anything when facing aggression; but until there is more diversity in all tiers of our society people of color will always feel the need to prove their worth.

Politics
In Part I it was Papa Fuerte, and towards the end Zeke, that really highlighted the political storyline. He had to make deals and compromises to get the attention of Ed Koch who was running for mayor. The newspapers are suddenly accusing Papa Fuerte of committing arson on his own buildings, which conveniently gives Mayor Koch a reason to not support his project of affordable housing for the Bronx. Now that Koch was elected mayor after Papa Fuerte rallied the votes in the Bronx, there is no more need to cater to the people of the Bronx. In real life people of color, and I think Latin American’s especially, are familiar with being dropped right after the vote. Anytime a politician arrives to speak to a majority Latin American community, there is talk of the need for immigration reform. But once the politician is voted into office, there are suddenly more pressing issues to deal with and the promises are broken.

Zeke spoke to Mr. Gunns about what it takes to be successful, and while they did not specifically say they were talking about politics it was definitely implied. Zeke pointed out that the level of success that Mr. Gunns and Koch keep talking about was filled with betrayal in order to be able to get ahead. This is different than the betrayal of the voting population at large. This type of a betrayal is on an individual level, and ends up destroying friendships or burning other bridges. Zeke chose not to betray Shao by giving his name to Mr. Gunns, and in staying loyal he lost the opportunity to get a second chance at the Ivy League recommendation.

Mylene even gets caught up in some of the politics of show business. Asheton threatens to drop Mylene because she limits herself on what she can sing and what kind of performance she is willing to give in order to please her father. The real reason is because Asheton was dating a start Misty Holloway and he wants to be able to knock her down a peg by introducing Mylene as a new sexy star. The politics of show business can either jump-start her career or tragically end it, depending on what is needed to make money for the company. That statement could be applied to all politics in general now that I think about it.

Ramon, Mylene’s father, more involved in the community politics now that Mylene has made a name for the church. Ramon selfishly puts his own aspirations of being a prominent leader in the community ahead of his daughter’s desire to further her own music career; and she is the one doing all the work. That eventually comes to a head, and he no longer bothers himself with being a community leader.

Sexuality Spectrum
Dizzy finally is able to admit the feelings he has for Thor, and is discovering where he fits on the sexuality spectrum. His journey has been rather slow, since Thor was in jail for the majority of the season. Dizzy’s interactions with Thor were mostly animated, as he drew a comic of all the adventures he and the Get Down Brothers were getting into and mailing them page by page. On an artistic note, in some of the animated scenes Dizzy is portrayed as an alien, and he refers to himself as much due to his sexuality. He feels out of place since he feels no one would understand his feelings for Thor. This alienation is confronted when Shao tracks down Dizzy at Thor’s loft and sees them asleep in the same bed. Shao shows understanding that there are certain things a person doesn’t feel comfortable sharing, and uses the example that he doesn’t like others to know his real name because he is trying to get away from his past.

The show also makes a shout-out to the LGBTQIA community in the Rubicon and Jackie’s party scenes. The Rubicon song was used to describe choices more than the sexuality spectrum. But the first line in the song “whether it’s boy with boy or girl with girl” and there are flashes of a scene with each pairing. And in Jackie’s scene it is filled with people from all over the spectrum, and apparently are a source if inspiration. The scene shows that yes, even in the 1970’s there actually were people in the LGBTQIA community, and it was more prominent than one might have thought. However, outside Dizzy’s storyline, there isn’t much mention of the community or their highly influential role in music or fashion (other than what was mentioned in Part I).

Social Movements

Despite the fact Part I seemed to take on social issues through both Papa Fuerte’s and Zeke’s storylines, a lot of that gets dropped much to my dismay. Papa Fuerte is sidelined through most of Part II both in his management of Mylene and as a rough but well meaning businessman who wants to help his people in the Bronx. When it is revealed to him that he is being framed for arson by Mayor Koch in order to get out of funding the housing project in the Bronx, Papa Fuerte (the nickname means Strong Father) is anything but and is simply arrested without any means of retaliation. Now I do like depressing endings, but with his character I expected some more resistance; at the very least the mentality of giving them a real reason to arrest him by raising hell against the Mayor.

Ra-Ra on the other hand stumbles into a social movement while trying to go out with a fellow MC of the Universal Zulu Nation. This organization promotes peace, unity, and a righteous way of life, and spreads it’s message through what is now known as hip-hop. Unfortunately the Zulu Nation is only briefly shown, and is used more of a plot device to help the Get Down Brothers escape their contract with Fat Annie. However, during it’s brief scenes they do make mention of some other movements such as the Black Panthers and the Latin American community’s Young Lords.

Existentialism/Choices

The biggest thematic element of the show (besides music) is existentialism. All throughout the characters are left to make decisions about whether to pursue their dream, and really try to figure out what their dream is. For Shao, Zeke, and Mylene, music is definitely what drives them; although it gets revealed that Shao is also driven by something else which I will mention again in a minute. For the others you definitely get the sense that they are tagging along because their friends and the fringe benefits of money, fame, girls, and boys. This is evident by Boo-Boo wanting to get in on the drug trafficking because he liked the money as opposed to the music, and Yolanda who was kind of having fun but did not want to compromise her morals by dancing risqué. I liked that there were different levels of commitment to the music, as it is not only realistic but adds conflict to the story.

The opening scene of the Rubicon club held true to the theme of what Shao, Zeke, and Mylene constantly face

The word rubicon is defined as the “point of no return,” which each person must cross at some point while in pursuit of their dreams. Zeke left his aunt’s house and dropped his pursuit of entering Yale to focus on music. Mylene had to let go of staying dedicated to her father’s sense of morality and break out to do a sexy song and dance number to further her career. Shao’s part-time music and part-time drug dealing were interfering with each other, and he had to pick one or the other.

Each of them had to make a choice, and accept whatever consequences came as a result, the famous “leap of faith” I always reference from Kierkegaard. Cadillac had a good scene where he explained the leap of faith. He mentions that while he hates hip-hop, Shao was willing to risk his life to break away from Fat Annie and pursue the music without the safety net of drug money. It inspires him to take the leap as well, and he tells his subordinates that he is out of the game to focus on his fledgling record label.

None of them really end up as winners by the end of Part II, because even if they were successful it did come at a price. Mylene’s father killed himself due to feeling abandoned and Mylene had to leave Zeke behind to pursue her career in Los Angeles. Zeke ended up betrayed by Shao when Boo-Boo gets arrested for drug dealing. And Shao ends up back with Fat Annie because Zeke, the only real family he has outside of Fat Annie’s gang, abandons him after the arrest. And family is the only other thing besides music that drives him. Without Zeke, who he is the only one he felt comfortable to tell his real name, he has no one, and so he returns to the only only family he knows which is Fat Annie.

In conclusion, the somewhat depressing ending of the show brings up the interesting part of life and storytelling in general. Many shows and movies try to end things with the “happily ever after” and feeling good that everything worked out for everyone. It’s sad to see Mylene and Zeke split because of her career, but maybe she falls in love with someone else and her career really launches; wouldn’t that be a happy ending? But continue the story and maybe the husband cheats, or she miscarries, then it’s sad ending, right? Then continue on and she finds meaning in adoption and her husband mends his ways and the relationship is stronger than ever, then it’s happy again right? A happy ending is not really the end, it is just the point where you happen to stop telling the story. Since we see adult Zeke performing to a large crowd obviously his career took off with something he really loves to do, so is that a happy ending? *shrugs*

Overall, I enjoyed Part I more than I did Part II. I’m okay with open endings, but everything got shut down quick and didn’t really resolve anything. No word on a Part III or anything, so if it does continue I’ll have to judge the ending then. What do you guys think, Part I is better or Part II? Let me know in the comments!