A game like Life Is Strange 2, that is based on choices and consequences, is expected to play with this motif even in ways that are not that obvious, predicting both minor and major events. There are several instances, right from the start, where the characters, main or secondary, say things that sooner or later become realized, either as straight reality or as tragic irony. In this article, I will refer to a few memorable ones. Due to the nature of this analysis, many spoilers follow, so be warned.

Foreshadowing #1: In Episode 1, during Sean's dialogue with Lyla on the porch, Lyla spots a passing plane and all of a sudden her mood changes from her regular loud and jolly one to that of an unexplained melancholy. She confesses that she gets "so emo sometimes" and wonders whether Sean will be her best friend forever, even after they finish school.

Outcome: If Sean calls Lyla back from his grandparents' house, he will learn from either her or her mother (depending on whether you have already communicated with her once at the end of Episode 1 or not), that she is in a mental clinic, suffering from severe depression after Sean and Daniel left.

Foreshadowing #2: During the dialogue with Lyla in Episode 1, if Sean choses the grim answer to her question about them possibly holding onto their friendship, he replies that there is no way they can remain friends, as they are both considered outcasts because they are not "clean" white Americans. Which, by the way, is a blatant irony in Sean's case, since he is the only one who can proudly claim he is a native American, given his Mexican heritage. He says that if they keep on hanging out together, it could be a one way ticket to jail.

Outcome #1: In Episode 5, Sean gets briefly in jail after he and Daniel get arrested while trying to pass through the blown-up frontier wall.

Outcome #2: Later in Episode 5 he indeed ends up in jail if he had educated Daniel well and they both surrender, and is condemned to pass fifteen years of his life behind bars (Redemption ending).

Foreshadowing #3: In the dialogue with Lyla in Episode 1, Lyla mentions that Sean will probably pass the wall (aka, leave the country) way before she able to do the same.

Outcome: This carries a double foreshadowing - a prediction and a tragic irony. It is a prediction in the case that Sean, either with Daniel or alone, manages to escape to Mexico in Episode 5 (Blood Brothers & Parting Ways endings).

And it is a tragic irony in the case that Daniel denies Sean's will to surrender and leads their car beyond the frontier (and, therefore, the wall) only to see minutes later that his brother had been shot dead during the escape (Lone Wolf ending).

Foreshadowing #4: In Episode 1, Sean goes down to his father's garage to ask for money for the Halloween party he was going to attend. After Esteban stops working, he asks Sean if he finally decided to join him under the hood, referring to his job as a mechanic.

Outcome: In Episode 3, the sub-chapter where Sean, either with Finn and Daniel or with Cassidy, sneaks in Big Joe's yard and tampers with his vehicles is titled Under the Hood, which is an expression referring to the car's engine that is under the hatch and also implies illegal activity.

Foreshadowing #5: During dialogue with Esteban at the garage in Episode 1, when Esteban mentions a friend of his with a health issue, Sean comments that he'd better never get old.

Outcome: This becomes a tragic reality in Episode 5, in the Lone Wolf finale where Sean is killed while Daniel leads the car through the Mexican border amidst flying bullets.

Foreshadowing #6: While in the garage in Episode 1, there are several things to see and comment on; one of them is a huge poster of a movie with the title Chupacabras from Outer Space.

Outcome: At the start of Episode 5, when Sean and Daniel are sitting at the edge of the canyon and Sean goes on with the story of the wolf brothers, Daniel interrupts him to provide his version of the story and, depending on their dialogue minutes before, his take will feature "the evil Chupacabra". Moreover, when Sean can draw the landscape in his sketchbook, he has the option to draw Daniel fighting the Chupacabra over the canyon.

Foreshadowing #7: In Esteban's garage in Episode 1, there is a religious icon. When Sean sees it he comments that he's happy Esteban doesn't make him and Daniel go to church.

Outcome: You can choose to stay faithful (oh the irony!) to this statement, so when Claire asks the boys to pray in Episode 2, Sean has the option to say that their father never made them pray or go to church, which, depending on how Daniel will react, will infuriate their grandmother or slightly disappoint her.

Foreshadowing #8: While still in the garage in Episode 1, Sean can examine the car's engine, at which point he says that he'd be fucked if he had to help Esteban with his work.

Outcome: This finds an ironic conclusion in Episode 5, in the Blood Brothers ending where Sean and Daniel manage to successfully escape to Mexico together, and we see them six years later in Puerto Lobos, where Sean is working in his own garage as a car mechanic.

Foreshadowing #9: In Episode 1, in Sean's room, there is a magazine titled Tattoo5, and when Sean sees it, he comments that his father would cut his arm off he ever got a tattoo.

Outcome #1: In Episode 3, he has the chance to get rather artless tattoo from Cassidy's hand, depicting either three weed plants or a scrawny wolf.

Outcome #2 (unofficial): In the game's files, there is a version of Sean's character model from the Blood Brothers finale in which he has two tattoos: one on his left forearm depicting a human heart being covered with bugs and a second one on his right arm picturing a headless serpent. For whatever reason, these tattoos are not featured in the game, but still they are a cool addition.

Foreshadowing #10: In Episode 1, after Sean and Daniel escape from their home, at some point they arrive at a solitary river bank where they decide to camp for the night. Before darkness falls, they can carry out several activities at the shore, and one of them involves fighting together against an enemy tree à la Lord of the Rings. During the "fight", Sean says that no one can beat their fellowship.

Outcome: This statement is reminded several times throughout the story with either Sean or Daniel saying that no one and nothing will separated, but finds its ultimate and conclusive proof at the end, if in Episode 5 they escape to Mexico together and stay forever united (Blood Brothers ending).

Foreshadowing #11: In Episode 1, at the gas station where Sean and Daniel stop to rest for a while, there is a poster advertising a local church. When Sean sees it, he'd rather pass.

Outcome: In Episode 4, he is forced to infiltrate the community of a religious cult while looking for Daniel who had been captured and brainwashed by their leader.

Foreshadowing #12: In Episode 2, when Sean and Daniel are in the cabin in the forest, you can see several things of interest in the rooms. In the bedroom, there is a letter on the table signed by a certain Dr Fischer, who informs their patient (probably the previous resident of the cabin) about his chemotherapy process.

Outcome: In Episode 4, Sean finds Daniel in the community of the religious cult, under the surveillance of their evil female reverent whose name is Lisbeth Fischer. Whether it is the same person as the doctor, a relative of them or it is simply a case of co-incidence, it is still one more foreshadowing.

Foreshadowing #13: In the abandoned cabin in Episode 2, when Sean and Daniel examine the board where Sean keeps track of Daniel's impressive progress concerning his super power, he mentions that Daniel will be moving cars around in no time.

Outcome #1: A bit later in the same episode, Daniel has the chance to save his buddy Chris by shoving a police car out of the way.

Outcome #2: Also at the end of the game, in case Sean and Daniel agree to escape, Daniel uses his power to move  police cars and cops out of their escape route (Blood Brothers). He does it again if Sean wants to escape but he disagrees, in which case he only pushes the cars out of the way, making sure no human being is hurt (Parting Ways), and also if Sean wants to surrender but Daniel refuses, shoving everything and everyone out of the way but also causing Sean's tragic end (Lone Wolf).

Foreshadowing #14: Just before leaving the forest to go to their grandparents' house in Episode 2, Sean and Daniel encounter a hostile cougar which kills their little dog and threatens to attack them both. Depending on your choice at that point, Daniel may kill the cougar by levitating it and breaking its neck (the other option is to have Sean simply drive it away with a stick).

Outcome: At the end of Episode 3, if Sean does not agree to do the heist with Finn, Daniel will go with their friend instead. When Sean finds about it, he runs to Merrill's house with Cassidy. Depending on how high or low Daniel's sense of brotherhood has been up to then, and on how much he trusts Sean or not, he may violently attack Cassidy by levitating her, just the way he did with the cougar. Although Daniel may do the same to other people later on, independently of gender, in this case it is some kind of inside joke, as Cassidy is obviously a bit older than Sean and, therefore, in Daniel's eyes, a cougar woman wanting to steal his brother from him. Regardless Daniel can levitate Cassidy even in the case that Sean does not get romantically involved with her.

Foreshadowing #15: While at the grandparents' house in Episode 2, Sean has one last chance to call Lyla. If he hasn't called her before, her mother answers if he does so now, and if Sean discloses his identity, she tells him that she advised her daughter to let the Diaz boys go because they are never coming back and they shouldn't.

Outcome: This last statement proves to be true in turn, in the case that either Sean or Daniel or both make it to Mexico at the end of Episode 5 (Blood Brothers, Parting Ways & Lone Wolf endings).

Foreshadowing #16: While going to get Daniel from Chris's house in Episode 2, Sean can pass from the back yard of the Eriksens, where he sees the snowman that Chris had built missing his left eye.

Outcome: Due to Daniel lashing out at the end of Episode 3 and destroying Merrill's place, Sean ends up with losing his left eye.

Foreshadowing #17: While exploring their grandparents' house in Episode 2, Sean spots an aquarium, but he can see no fish in it. He asks Daniel to move a log and reveal the fish, and when Daniel does so, a red and blue tropical goldfish appears. When Sean sees it, he exclaims "Wow, he is beautiful", while staring at the sparkling creature. While still exploring the house after seeing the fish, as Sean passes by the aquarium, the fish hides again behind the log, at which point Daniel tells him that "you scared him back into his cave". Then Sean replies that "[he] will see it one day or another".

Outcome #1: Towards the end of the same episode, Sean and Daniel are at the Christmas market, where they meet Cassidy and Finn, Sean's two potential romance options for the following episode. The incident with the goldfish sort of foreshadows Sean's choice of Finn, who is a beautiful young man with red hair and blue eyes, sharing those attributes of the fish. And Sean is indeed destined to see him "one day or another".

Outcome #2: Then in Episode 3, when Sean and Daniel meet by the lake to do some training, Daniel mentions a secret cave that Finn wants to show them at the other side, nodding to the cave of the beautiful goldfish in the aquarium. If you decide to match Sean with Finn, all these incidents and statements get a rather interesting hue. (For more exploration into this specific theme, you can read my related article "Brotherhood and Romantic Love In Life Is Strange 2")

Foreshadowing #18: In Episode 2, after Sean and Daniel open Karen's bedroom, they can explore the place for a while. There is a storage box with several things that Karen used to own, and one of them is a pair of hiking boots. When Sean sees them, he says that he was never a fan of hiking.

Outcome: In the first parts of Episode 5, we see him doing just that more than once: he goes hiking with Daniel at the start, and later on with both his brother and Karen.

Foreshadowing #19: At the start of Episode 3, we get a flashback, three months before the Seattle incident, when Sean, Daniel and their father still lived peacefully at their home. You have a brief chance to explore a limited amount of items in the house, and one of them is Sean's "squad" sweater that is lying on the floor of the bathroom. When Sean sees it, he says that "they're probably gonna bury me in this thing."

Outcome: It is yet one more foreshadowing that becomes a tragic reality in Episode 5, in the Lone Wolf ending if Daniel has low morality and Sean decides to surrender. Daniel disobeys him, he locks the car's doors so that Sean cannot get out and he leads the car through the frontier gate, killing everyone in his way, but as soon as the car enters the Mexican territory, Daniel realizes that Sean has been killed by a bullet during the escape. Sean is wearing his "squad" sweater when he dies.

Foreshadowing #20: In Episode 3, while Sean and Daniel are at the lake, Daniel randomly asks Sean about Arizona. When Sean wants to know why he is asking, Daniel replies "for no reason".

Outcome: Much later in Episode 5, they find themselves in Arizona, living with their mother and her friends in the desert for a brief period of time.

Foreshadowing #21: In Episode 3, when Sean and Daniel are sitting with their friends around the camp fire sharing their worst memories, Sean has the option to tell them about how Hank Stamper back at the gas station locked him up and wanted to have the brothers arrested. When Hannah hears the story, she makes a comment about vigilantes like Stamper.

Outcome: Then in Episode 5, after Sean and Daniel arrive at the wall and Daniel uses his power to break it open, they get attacked by two such vigilantes, a man with his daughter, who are illegally keeping watch at the border to make sure no one gets in.

Foreshadowing #22: In Episode 3 and the camp fire scene, when it is Finn's turn to recall his worst memory, he refuses to do so, claiming that he is only looking to the future, hoping to realize his dream of living at a beach house in Costa Rica, overlooking the ocean.

Outcome: In Episode 5, if Sean has romanced Finn and forgave him about the heist, and at the end decides to cross the border while Daniel has high morality, Daniel will help him escape but he himself will stay behind. Sean will go to Mexico as he wanted, and six years later he will send Daniel a postcard showing him with Finn, posing together at the ocean beach. Which means that Finn's dream came true thanks to Sean (Parting Ways ending).

Foreshadowing #23: In Episode 3, Sean has the option to stay behind at the camp fire when Daniel goes to sleep. If he does so, Finn will give him a fancy haircut. This may be an optional decision, but at this specific point agreeing to do it equals some kind of ritual to freedom, and becomes a rather strong element that foreshadows a couple of canon developments that will follow in the next chapter.

Outcome #1: In Episode 4, Sean appears with his head almost completely shaved, since he got that bad eye injury after the incident at Merrill's place, and obviously had to undergo some surgery at the hospital. This, in connection also to his subsequent quest through the Nevada desert and the trials that he has to go through until he finally gets reunited with Daniel is like one more rite of passage and a literal and metaphorical change of skin.

Outcome #2: In Episode 4, when Sean finds Daniel he is under the surveillance of Lisbeth Fischer, who wants to take advantage of the boy's power in order to present him to her flock as some kind of prophet. For this purpose, she cut his hair to match the image of several saints and prophets, but she did so in a really tasteless way (don't leave your day job, Lisbeth). If Sean's initial haircut was a ritual to freedom, Daniel's haircut is a ritual to imprisonment, since he has been brainwashed by Lisbeth so as to serve her plans. 

Foreshadowing #24: In Episode 5, while Sean and Daniel are in Karen's car, heading to the Mexican border, Sean takes his hands off the steering wheel and has Daniel drive the car using his power.

Outcome: A bit later, in the Lone Wolf ending, Daniel refuses to surrender and he uses telekinesis to drive the car through the frontier, resulting in tragedy.

Foreshadowing #25: The last one is not so much a prediction as it is a confirmation, since it happens in reverse; but it may become one if specific decisions are made. If you check Sean's sketchbook in Episode 3, there are two pages dedicated to Finn, and in the second Sean has drawn a sketch depicting the two of them sitting together at the shore of the lake. Sean's note about this sketch says that they watched an amazing sunset in silence while sharing a joint.

Outcome: In Episode 5, after Sean meets his mother, they go to a motel to rest for a while before going back to Lisbeth's church to get Daniel. There, Sean has the chance to speak with Karen and allow her to open up to him. If all goes well, their discussion continues on the porch outside where they may smoke a cigarette. When this happens, Karen tells Sean that this is what she used to do with his father and assures him that "that's when you know someone is good to you, when you can just sit together, shut the hell up and watch the universe do its own thing", literally describing the scene with Finn that Sean had drawn in his sketchbook. No doubt that clever fox Karen took a peek in there while Sean wasn't looking.

A Love Undercover

Contrary to popular Resident Evil fandom, according to which Leon Kennedy has an incurable crush on Ada Wong since the beginning of time (or rather, since the original Resident Evil 2 when he first met her), I always had the impression that things were never that simple for our fearless hero, as far as love matters were concerned. If you ask me, Leon probably swings both ways, tasting the best of both worlds when it comes to it, but always being selective; and since he is such a smart and good-hearted guy, he likes people and is liked in return thanks to his great looks and big heart, never feeling jealous or competitive, which is why he has made good friends throughout his adventurous life.

I have to make it clear first that I am not part of the fandom, although I like (most) Resident Evil games very much and I enjoy playing them again and again. But the term "fandom" implies a rather hardcore obsession that I don't have, so I prefer to say, when speaking for myself, that I simply love the series and I find several of its characters quite interesting, fascinating even. As I have mentioned a few times in this blog, the video games of our times are like interactive movies; therefore their characters are like heroes from a film or a book. They have depth, background, and are as "real" in their imaginary world as their counterparts from cinema or literature. So character analysis is not only legit in the gaming universe, but also a must, if we want to dig a bit deeper and understand motives, actions or decisions that our digital heroes are called to do or make in the course of their quests.

That said, although I plead guilty of having my own "ships" in several games (I think it's inevitable nowadays that video games have evolved so much and their heroes are so powerful character-wise), I do not blindly stick to them, as I want to be able to fully explore a character's potential. In other words, I do not mind if two characters that I like seeing together as lovers, for example, are simply friends in someone else's shipping realm, or vice versa. I once had a rather entertaining (well, at least for me it was) discussion with another person, who was so fanatic about a certain ship, that they could not bear even hearing a different view. That person obviously was missing the very important point that we were talking about fictional characters, therefore anything could be considered canon in their world. It was impossible to make that person understand that it is not an insult to "pair" video game characters in the combinations that you want, since there are basically no limits to imagination. I would strongly advise people with such stiff brains to read some classic literature or watch good movies to maybe widen their perspective a bit.

So according to fandom, Leon is in love with Ada, or at least is infatuated with her; something that, however, never prevented him from setting his eyes on other girls - and boys, for that matter. He has so far flirted with Angela Miller, his co-protagonist in the movie Degeneration, a little bit with Helena Harper, his partner in Resident Evil 6, even with Ingrid Hunnigan, his overseas guide in Resident Evil 4 - to name a few. Regardless, it is not hard to get those strong metaltango vibes in his scenes with Jack Krauser in both Resident Evil 4 and The Darkside Chronicles (especially in the former, both their fights should be X-rated); not to mention that, so many years later in Resident Evil 6, Leon obviously hadn't undergone any corrective surgery to remove the pretty much visible and very deep scar that Krauser's knife left on his cheek during their duel in Resident Evil 4. There is clearly a rather strong connection between him and Alexander Kozachenko in the movie Damnation, and he has the time to form a suspiciously close bond with Luis Sera in Resident Evil 4, despite their very brief and violently cut acquaintance.

But when it comes to girls, there is a part in Leon's life (and heart, in my humble opinion) that belongs to a very special lady, who is no other than our lovely Claire Redfield. This has nothing to do with shipping Leon and Claire as lovers (I will always ship Leon and Krauser above all other ships), but it is a conclusion based on specific facts. Leon's unrequited crush may have actually been Claire all this time - and vice versa, as Claire seems to be rather smitten as well. It was not that obvious (if at all) in the original Resident Evil 2, because the character design was very simple and the cutscenes focused more on the action and less on the heroes themselves. Moreover, in the original Leon was supposed to have broken up with his girlfriend the night before he arrived at Raccoon City, therefore his character was more or less outlined in a very specific way. His meeting with Claire was very brief and rather typical, cleverly giving room to the possibility of a romance between him and Ada.

In the remake, however, things are quite different. To begin with, we have a jaw-droppingly attractive Leon and a very pretty Claire. When they share the screen for the first time at the gas station, they look like a match made in Heaven (see what I did there?). They are almost the same age (Claire is 19 and Leon is 21), and they are both as sweet as cupcakes. In the brief scenes that follow before they split up, they have an interesting dialogue where, after the necessary introductions, Leon attempts to comfort Claire, seeing how she is worried about the fate of her brother. One could say that this is something anyone would do - show humanity towards a fellow survivor in such a wild situation; but honestly I don't think so; most people tend to save themselves and they do not give a penny for other souls, let alone strangers. But just consider Leon's situation: he finds himself stranded in a store overrun by zombies, and suddenly he stumbles upon another living person who also happens to be a pretty girl. And now consider it from the other point of view: Claire finds herself in the exterior of a gas station, chased by zombies, when she unexpectedly bumps onto another living person who happens to be a handsome boy. You only need a simple knowledge of mathematics to put facts together and reach a conclusion that makes so much sense.

In the fascinating universe of fiction, all fields included, there have been great stories about people who met under extreme circumstances and subsequently formed a close bond because of this. Robinson Crusoe from the eponymous novel is a classic archetype, with how he bonded with the native Friday on the island where he found himself alone; and the Atlanta survivors from The Walking Dead series are another good example as well, from contemporary fiction. Leon and Claire both found themselves in a hostile city, where they were initially the only living souls. It is quite clear that neither of them could have survived those first terrifying moments if they hadn't met each other; let alone be able to safely escape from that living Hell. Leon and Claire's chemistry is so evident and strong in the remake, that it almost eliminates Ada's dynamic as a love interest for Leon. Although Ada appears as a very charming woman, bathed in mystery, she looks way too distant compared to the earthly, hot-blooded Claire. Through the progression of the story, we can see Leon growing an interest towards Ada while being separated from Claire whom he will eventually meet again only at the very end. But just like he bonded with Claire at the beginning because the two of them clung on each other in order to survive, in a similar way coming across a woman like Ada wandering alone in the spooky, zombie-infested town, intrigued Leon because on the one hand it was a rather unexpected encounter, and on the other, Ada came from a world that was obviously unknown to Leon - simply put, he had never seen someone like Ada before. But Leon generally has a tendency to get impressed by people that stand out from the crowd and carry an aura of mystery and danger about them, independently of their gender. Ada may be one such case, but something similar happened also when he met Krauser, Luis and Alexander.

In the remake, there is no ex-girlfriend for Leon; and as far as Ada is concerned, she seems rather wooed with him right from the start and does not manage to hide it very well. In the scene where Leon is about to leave her wounded in the cable car outside the Nest and she kisses him just before he enters the lab, he doesn't look particularly thrilled; it is more like he was taken by surprise, as he obviously wasn't expecting something like that to happen. For what it's worth, he never loses his focus or his morality, and he proves to be much smarter than Ada in the end, as it is revealed during their last scene together that he had sensed she was attracted to him to such a degree as to lose her self-control and risk to mess up her dangerous mission. 

 

Unlike Claire, who is always crystal-clear and honest towards Leon, Ada is constantly lying, hiding things, bluffing and coming up with tricks in order to gain his trust and make him help her. But her tricks and her ways in general are rather old-fashioned; just like her appearance, they seem to come out of an old spy movie. She walks around on her high heels, sporting those huge Jackie O sunglasses in the middle of the night, lurking in the shadows while waiting for Leon to do all the hard work and face all those monsters by himself so as to clear the path for her, showing off her bravery only by threatening to kill Kendo's little daughter in front of her father's eyes. In the meantime Claire fights all sorts of monsters on her own, saves Sherry, manages to fix the broken relationship between her and Annette even if this happens minutes before Annette dies, and cares about Leon in a genuine, unconditional way. Leon is too smart to just ignore all this, since a comparison between the two girls is unavoidable to happen.

 

There is a scene a bit after the beginning, when Leon and Claire meet again at the back of the police station, separated by a wired fence. Their dialogue at that point is very brief but quite warm and touching, while the smiles that light up their faces while looking at each other say a lot more than words. As far as I am concerned, hadn't Leon crossed paths with Ada and hadn't Claire gotten involved in helping and saving little Sherry, things would have evolved a whole lot differently for the two of them.

The most interesting part is that Leon never flirts with Claire - at least not in the way he does with other girls - and in fact Claire is the only female character (except Ashley, who was his responsibility and he saw her strictly as a person he had to protect, and Sherry, whom he knew since she was little and always considered a kind of little sister) that Leon meets that does not get involved in a courtship with him at any point. It may be considered canon that he has a crush on Ada, but if you think about it, the way he flirts with her is the same way he flirts with every other girl. The reason their courtship went a bit further was only practical: Ada had the chance to bump onto Leon way more times than his other partners or companions. Their relationship never got more intimate (at least there is no mention of anything of this kind in the Resident Evil universe), and in the long run their stagnant love game became rather quaint. So Leon doesn't flirt with Claire because, in his eyes, she is different; she doesn't belong to the crowd of pretty girls that he would easily court. It is not a matter of just liking a girl in this case, but one of a budding feeling of real love. Of course life (aka the Capcom guys) had other plans for them, so sadly those sparkles never had the chance to flare up.

According to a saying, children and fools tell the truth; and little Sherry in the end, when the three of them finally escape from the Raccoon City hell, asks Leon and Claire if they are boyfriend and girlfriend. Sherry is a wise girl; both her parents were highly intelligent, therefore she carries their genes of brilliance. She certainly felt the love vibes in the air, although she was too young to understand that such issues are far more complicated in the adult world. Regardless, more interesting evidence that Leon had feelings for Claire can be found back in his epilogue card from the original Resident Evil 3 (Nemesis). In the brief passage that is featured on that card, we get an idea about how he and Sherry parted ways with Claire right after they escaped from Umbrella's secret lab: he must have been rather upset and marginally disappointed while urging her to leave and go find her brother.

You don't have to read between the lines to realize that Leon sounds like a spiteful man in love here. I wouldn't go as far as considering Claire the love of his life (that title will always belong to Jack), but facts show she clearly came very close to becoming one.

Brotherhood and Romantic Love in Life Is Strange 2

Life Is Strange 2 is not an easy game. It is not just a game, to begin with. It is an immersive, life-changing tale, guaranteed to leave you with a broken heart. It tells the powerful, emotional story of two brothers, Sean and Daniel Diaz, 16 and 9 years old respectively, who are forced to leave their home in Seattle after a tragic incident and begin a journey to reach the homeland of their father in Mexico while being chased by the police. In their journey, they will meet dangerous people but they will also make great friends; they will get separated, then be reunited again, until they finally reach the Mexican border where, depending on your choices throughout the whole game, the ending will be different. Just like in the first Life Is Strange game, here too it is the player's choices that matter, but this system is far more elaborate and complex in Life Is Strange 2. The supernatural element, ever present in the Life Is Strange games, is in this case Daniel's telekinesis, a secret weapon that, depending on its use, can prove to be a blessing or a curse.

The game is split in five chapters (Roads, Rules, Wastelands, Faith, Wolves), with each one focusing on a specific aspect of the main story, and we play as Sean, the older brother. Roads introduces the two brothers who live a happy life with Esteban, their Mexican father, in Seattle until the latter is accidentally shot dead by a rookie officer during a scuffle. Daniel's telekinesis is triggered due to the shock that he suffered seeing his father killed in front of his eyes and he unintentionally causes a havoc, killing the officer. Fearing that the two of them will be considered suspects and that they will get separated, Sean takes his little brother and they leave in a haste. Having nowhere else to go, they agree to escape to Mexico and get to Puerto Lobos, their father's homeland.

In Rules, the two brothers have found refuge in a cabin in the woods of Oregon where Sean trains Daniel to use his power properly, get better with it and not waste it. But it is winter already; Daniel is sick and they are still chased by the police, so they hit the road again and find shelter in the home of their mother's parents. It is there that we learn a bit more about their mother and how she abandoned her family when Sean was 8 years old and Daniel just a new-born baby. Daniel becomes good friends with Chris, a boy who lives next door with his father, with whom he seems to have a lot in common. Soon though the police manages to track the brothers down, so they leave that place too and hop on a train heading to California.

In Wastelands, Sean and Daniel are in California already, with a group of young drifters who work at a pot farm. Despite the rather unusual circumstances, the two brothers have a good time there, although Daniel starts becoming arrogant with his power which never stops getting more impressive each day that passes. A dramatic incident at the end of the episode results in Sean getting severely hit and Daniel being rescued by Jacob, one of the drifters, who takes him to the cult where he once belonged.

In Faith, Sean is in hospital after the incident of the previous chapter, having lost his right eye, bound to be taken to Juvenile Court and having no idea where his brother is. However, he finds a note from Jacob, informing him of Daniel's whereabouts. Sean escapes from the hospital and after a painful journey he reaches Haven Point in Nevada, the place where Daniel is, living with Lisbeth Fischer, a power-obsessed reverend who uses religion for personal gain and has brainwashed Daniel into believing that his power is a gift from God, resulting in him denying to follow his brother. Just then, Sean's estranged mother, Karen, arrives, offering Sean the moral support that he needs in order to make Daniel see clearly, and the two brothers are finally reunited.

In Wolves, Sean and Daniel are happy together in Arizona, in a place lost in the desert where their mother, along with several other people, has chosen to live an independent and free life, away from the world. Soon though the time comes for the brothers to leave, as the police is breathing down their neck, and they drive through the desert until they reach the Mexican border. Due to an unexpected sequence of events, they end up in jail but Daniel uses his power to free himself and his brother and they reach the exit to Mexico, only to be stopped by the police. This is where you see your choices throughout all episodes paying off or not, as the game offers four different endings (with a few more variations), depending on the sum of your decisions and on how Sean's attitude affected Daniel's social education and morality.

In this article, I will focus on Wastelands, the third chapter of the game, which is impeccable in its development and the most pivotal one. In this episode, the relationship between the two brothers becomes more defined while Sean, being the older one, has the chance to find love, choosing between two potential lovers - a girl and a boy. Both brotherly love and romantic love are thoroughly explored in this episode, and it is interesting to see how, when it comes to romantic love, one choice of partner may be way more canon than the other, affecting the main story and its outcome in direct connection to brotherly love. Remember how in the first Life Is Strange Max has the chance to kiss Chloe or Warren - or both? Still, near the end of the game, it is always her and Chloe at the top of the hill, which means that Chloe is Max's canon choice no matter what. Something similar happens in Life Is Strange 2, although it is not as clear or direct, because the game itself is far more complex.

In Wastelands, the two brothers are in California, members of a company of young drifters who move from place to place living on the road and occasionally taking on temporary - and often illegal - jobs that offer them just enough money to keep going. The main core of the group consists of four people: Finn, a charming young man, Cassidy, an errant singer, Hannah, a tormented soul who seems rather hard, and Penny, a weird guy who believes in conspiracy theories and is desperately looking for Jinx, his friend and, possibly, lover. Sean and Daniel have already met Finn and Cassidy near the end of Rules, and when Wastelands begins we find the two brothers in a beautiful forest, having their own tent in a makeshift campsite along with the four aforementioned friends and a few other companions: Jacob, a lonely young man who has escaped from a cult, and a Swedish couple, Ingrid and Anders, who are obviously on an organized road trip around the globe. All of them are working at an illegal pot farm that belongs to Jonathan Merrill, a seemingly decent boss but in fact a ruthless man who runs the place with the help of his creepy goon, Big Joe.

The whole third episode focuses on how the relationship between Sean and Daniel changes due to them now living together with other people. The fact that most of those people are around Sean's age doesn't help keep the little one at ease, as he feels that his brother spends more time with his new friends than with him. The episode reaches its climax when something goes wrong because of Daniel, resulting in Merrill firing the two brothers. Subsequently, Finn, Cassidy and Jacob become witnesses of Daniel's power and Finn conceives a plan to break into Merrill's house, use Daniel's power to smash open his safe, grab all his money and go. At this point, you have the chance to decide whether you will follow Finn and be in for the heist, or refuse, in which case Daniel will be the one to ask Finn to go for it with him. In this episode, you also have the chance to decide between two love interests for Sean - Cassidy and Finn; a side-plot which, depending on your choice, may get tightly connected to the core story of the heist in Merrill's place and have long-term consequences on the development of the plot.

Finn and Cassidy look like twin siblings, with their crazy decorated dreadlocks, their ear tunnels and their hippie appearance, but in fact they are not related. They have been on the road for quite some time, and have become good friends. The game makes it clear that there is nothing romantic involved between them, obviously never was; they are like brother and sister, sharing a similar style. As it turns out later, however, this semblance is limited to looks only. After we get to know them better in Wastelands, we come to realize that they have almost nothing in common. Their way of thinking is different, their character is different, their dreams and ambitions are like night and day. But when Sean first crosses paths with them in Rules, he practically sees two sides of the same coin before him. He is not able to tell much about their character, and his first impression is based on what he sees. He essentially has a first contact with a world that had been unknown to him up to then. He is obviously attracted to that world as an idea, and this is something that the game smartly brings to the foreground by having him meeting simultaneously a girl and a boy that could be manifestations of the same person.

As the game proceeds in Wastelands, we find out that Cassidy, despite her wild looks, is a very mainstream and low-profile character, with a rather strict morality concerning social behavior. This comes to contrast with her overall style which she might have adopted in her early years of wandering with Finn, in an attempt to imitate his laid-back, hippie look and try to be more like him. She avoids getting into trouble, maybe tries a bit too hard to look cool. As outrageous as she may seem on first look, she is rather predictable and toned down as a character; somehow not strong enough to dramatically affect the plot. Finn is the exact opposite; he is multi-dimensional, a charismatic person with a captivating aura, and his character is so powerful and imposing that his obvious connection and strong chemistry with Sean is extremely complex and intriguing as far as the development of the plot is concerned. Besides, it is his plan that pushes the story forward, offering the necessary dramatic turn that it needs so as to move to a new level.

Cassidy seems rather rough when it comes to sexual attraction and what comes after, which stresses the fact that she tries a bit too much to show she is a rebel. She is quite raw compared to Finn and marginally predatory - surely with no bad intent, but it is as if she somehow cannot see very clearly what kind of person she is dealing with. If you take the time to talk to her before the heist, and pick certain choices of words, you may notice that she tends to label people, albeit subconsciously to a degree, and seeing how she likes to keep things as simple as possible, people around her are either "friends" or "lovers". She clearly sees Finn exclusively as a friend, for instance, and she would never cross the line with him, as this would make things way too complicated in her mindset. It is equally clear that she sees Sean as a possible lover from the start, something that is hinted to several times throughout Wastelands, but is miraculously completely eliminated if Sean confesses to her that he likes Finn and that they kissed. Immediately then Sean moves to her friend zone once and for all, and she is neither heartbroken nor sad, exactly because she wants to keep things clear and straight; and as soon as she makes sure that she has absolutely no chance with Sean, she "stores" him as a friend and everything becomes simple again.

Cassidy is an earthly person, and as such, she tends to keep everything clear-cut and within her control. This becomes even more stressed if we consider her overall attitude: she is obviously a talented singer, but prefers to play in secluded suburban markets and work in pot farms than possibly chase a career in music or whatever would be that could make her life better. This of course would require lots of personal effort that she does not seem disposed to make.

Finn, on the other hand, is very careful with words, subtly giving Sean hints that he loves him more than just a friend. It helps a lot that Sean obviously likes him and enjoys his company, feels happy and relaxed when they are together and he may even go as far as show him absolute trust. Finn comes from a dysfunctional family and has grown up in an environment where theft and deceit were on the everyday menu. It is not weird nor random that he is the one who conceives the heist plan, because he was "educated" that way, thanks to his criminal father. So, taking into consideration the story's facts, he is not to blame for his idea, because this is exactly where we all (we, the players, but also most importantly Sean and Daniel), see in practice how a bad education can influence a young person. Daniel's morality will not be affected if Sean agrees to do the heist; in fact, the outcome of the plan is a painful but valuable life lesson for both Sean and Finn and, on a different and deeper level, for Daniel as well.

Finn is a socially gifted young man despite his hardships and misfortunes, able to charm people around him. He can read people and understand them, even play them if he has to. From the moment when he first sees Sean in Rules, he knows how to treat him; which is why, by the start of Wastelands, we can see that the two of them have grown quite close, and that they feel genuine love and respect for each other. Unlike Cassidy, Finn does not rush things; he gradually enchants Sean but leaves him room to breathe and is patient and gentle in his approach. If Sean agrees to go for the heist, Finn will take it as an unofficial oath of trust and confess to Sean that he is attracted to him. At this point, you are given a unique chance to chose Finn as Sean's love interest. Doing so may seem random, but in fact it can potentially play a major role in the subsequent course of events. Whereas if you choose Cassidy as Sean's love interest, this will not only keep him away from the main action, but it will also put his fragile relationship with Daniel at great risk. Not to mention that Finn, unlike Cassidy, will get heartbroken if his love is rejected.

If Sean refuses to take part in the heist, this decision will somehow shift his character to a different path which comes to contrast with his choices so far. His initial decision to take Daniel and hit the road was what made him and his brother illegal outcasts. The way that the game is planned out constantly brings this forward, and it is not random because what Sean did at the beginning was to take complete control over Daniel's life without his little brother's consent. There are plenty of situations throughout the story when we see Sean trying to make up for this; sometimes he succeeds, sometimes he fails. As Daniel grows up - and much faster than normal under such extreme circumstances - he starts having a voice of his own and from a point and on it is his turn to make crucial decisions. Those may be wrong, but Sean also made a decision for both of them at the beginning which might have been wrong as well. The fact that Daniel is in for the heist no matter what Sean wants marks the critical point when Daniel takes a decision for both of them without his brother's consent. Which somehow brings us back to the start, only now the roles are reversed: now it is Daniel who takes control over his brother's life. But since Sean is in position to make conscious decisions right from the start, it is only natural for him to take one more risk at this point, so deciding to be in for the heist should only be on him.

There is one detail which may seem trivial, but in the Life Is Strange games, nothing can be considered as such. As I mentioned earlier, Cassidy is a deeply moral character when it comes to social behavior. When Finn first talks about the heist, her reaction towards him is violent and intimidating; it is like that of a mother giving her children an angry lecture about good and evil. If  later Sean accepts to do the heist and she learns about it, she gets infuriated and may go as far as to forbid Sean to contact her ever again. On the contrary, when Finn tries to persuade Sean to follow his plan after they are left alone together, his manner is soft and sweet; he does not have to resort to yelling to make his point clear. So it is Cassidy's attitude versus Finn's attitude in this case, and although Cassidy represents the good and moral path, her reaction is more likely to act like a scare-gun, succeeding in terrorizing Sean who then decides to refuse to do the heist, directly affected by Cassidy's outburst and very much less because he himself thinks it is a bad thing to do. Whereas Finn gives him time and space, treating him like an equal, like his trusted friend, offering him the chance to make the decision on his own, unaffected of exterior factors. This means that if Sean accepts to take part in the heist, it is a decision based solely on his own considerations; a decision where he puts the well-being of his little brother first, and this is something that will also keep him in good terms with Daniel which is majorly important at this point. Whether this is a good or bad decision, does not really matter now; keeping brotherhood on a high level is what counts in the story, and sometimes you have to pay a high cost for it.

So the game practically tricks you into choosing to not go for the heist believing that it is the best decision, but this will deal a severe blow to Sean's relationship with Daniel. It is worth mentioning that, in Daniel's eyes, Cassidy is an enemy; someone who will take his brother away from him. It is also notable that Daniel will always have this impression of Cassidy in the case that his brother refuses to do the heist, even if Sean remains just friends with her and does not romance her. Daniel sees Finn as a friend, an ally, one more older brother. But he views Cassidy as an intruder, someone who will influence Sean against him. This may sound strange, but in fact it is not: Daniel is very young, still in the process of shaping his personality and mindset. He adores his brother, he trusts him and feels strongly connected to him. At the beginning of the story, he is unaware of what is going on; he is gullible and naive. As soon as he realizes what happened, that it was his power that killed the officer and that Sean took the brave decision to escape with him in order to keep him safe, his world turns upside down. From that moment and on, Sean becomes a rebel and a hero in his eyes.

Daniel can relate to Finn, but he cannot feel the same for Cassidy. And it is not because she is a girl, because he does like Hannah, for instance. A child's instinct, maybe? It is obvious that Cassidy is a goodhearted person, loved by her friends, so what is it that Daniel sees that the others don't? It is not mere jealousy, because he doesn't he feel the same about Finn, with whom Sean spends a lot of time as well - apparently much more than with Cassidy, according to the doodles in his sketchbook. Daniel may be spoiled and mischievous, but he is not ungrateful. He always keeps in his mind that his brother did everything he could and more in order to protect him. Even if he picks on Sean, he loves his brother unconditionally, thinks highly of him and would do anything for his sake. Living on the margins of society together, fastened their brotherly bond even more, in a way that their normal family life back in Seattle could never achieve. So at this specific point, in Daniel's eyes, if Sean somehow manages to go back to normal life, he will lose him. It is a perception that is progressively reinforced in his mind, as he feels that his power is getting stronger, which gives him a sense of superiority, but at the same time he gets more and more dependent on Sean, both practically and emotionally, because the conditions around them become gradually more wild. It is interesting that what Daniel fears is indeed what happens in two of the possible endings of the game where both the brothers or one of them go back to normal life, as well as in the one ending where Sean decides to surrender but Daniel denies: they get separated, and in ways that vary from soothing to heart-breaking to downright tragic. Whereas if they stay on the margins, they remain united forever. The cost they pay for this is high: they have to live as criminals; but they do not care as long as they are together.

As contradictory as it may seem due to her appearance, Cassidy represents that normal life that Daniel fears. Given the circumstances, she is the most mainstream of their immediate group of friends. She is even more mainstream that Anders and Ingrid, who seem ordinary but in fact are rather unconventional, since they are a casual, everyday couple leading a way of life that comes to contrast with their looks and attitude. Cassidy is mild, cautious and law-abiding (at least, as law-abiding as her way of life permits) and - contrary to most of her companions - she moved to the margins of society out of her own free will. Hannah implies at some point while talking to her that Cassidy comes from a wealthy family to which she can probably return if things get too bad for her. Another important detail is that "Cassidy" is not even her real name (we learn in Faith that she is called Lucy Rose). It is as if her whole appearance - outfit and name included - is a persona that she chose to use to separate herself from her past and get connected to her current life. Unlike Penny, who also has a nickname but gladly shares the story behind it, Cassidy avoids to talk about her own memories. There is an interesting backstory involving her father and her brother, who reacted violently when they found out that her boyfriend was not white; she presumably left her home because of this, but obviously not intending to support her boyfriend, as she was always single for as long as Hannah or Finn knew her. Maybe this incident was just the excuse that she needed in order to get away. What if most of her other memories are just too mundane to narrate? Maybe it was all about a bored girl with artistic skills who simply wanted to live a simple life, away from her traditional bourgeois home. Does this ring any bells? Karen, Sean and Daniel's mother, was a pretty similar case - although Karen was driven more by her own inner tendency to live like a lone wolf and much less by her disdain for social dictations.

So Cassidy is not a regular outcast; she consciously chose that kind of life, unlike Finn who was rejected by society - just like Sean and Daniel were. Maybe Daniel senses this difference in ways that the others are not able to perceive. Let's not forget that Daniel has an unusual, special power; this means that all of his senses are on a higher level than those of normal people, almost always heightened. Maybe he can see things that others cannot. As he gains more control over his power, his instinct and intuition become stronger. And remember - Daniel was there when Cassidy yelled at Finn for his idea about the heist. This was definitely something that got recorded in his mind, so if Sean decides against the heist, Daniel automatically thinks that he did so because of Cassidy. If this happens, Daniel goes to Merrill's alone with Finn, and Sean arrives there soon after with Cassidy to stop them. Daniel loses it completely when he sees her, and depending on the player's choices, he may even go as far as use his power intending to murder her, and he only stops because Sean begs him to.

The first ally that Sean and Daniel meet during their journey, very early in Roads, is Brody, a journalist and urban nomad. He is not exactly an outcast, given that he has a job, enough money to keep himself going, plus a family base where he can always turn to if things get too hard for him. Still, he is a free spirit and he lives independently of the world around him, having reached a magic balance between freedom and social acceptance. There is an escalation of this pattern as Sean and Daniel proceed further from their base and closer to their goal. Finn's group in California consists of people that are a far hippier version of Brody: they not only live as outcasts, but also are outcasts.  Karen's desert community is a more elaborate variation: her group consists of people that are older, definitely conscious of their decision to live away from civilization, and far more organized. They are not drifters, but they live in the isolated desert of Arizona, being their own boss. Could Finn's group evolve into a community similar to Karen's in an ideal future? It is not so hard to tell; given the developments that followed the heist, it is more likely that they would move on their separate ways later anyway.

Most of the members in Finn's group have probably committed minor crimes during their wanderings (trivial thefts, for that matter), but the one with the most impressive CV is Finn himself: he was part of his father's gang that stole, stripped and sold cars, an illegal activity that eventually cost him and his brothers their freedom. It is worth noting, however, that while Finn is obviously the most blatant outlaw of his Californian group, he also is the most complex character, the one with intellectual interests (a copy of Lord of the Flies can be seen in his tent, and there is a graffiti, obviously made by him, judging from the style, that reads Bonjour Tristess (sic) on a tree trunk, just beside Sean and Daniel's tent) and personal ambitions that go beyond life on the road. Cassidy likes that kind of living and does not seek anything else; Hannah and Penny carry along their dismay and pessimism, Jacob is too confused to think about possible future plans, Ingrid and Anders on the other hand simply see the job at the pot farm as something temporary, something that will pass so that they can eventually continue their organized journey.

Finn is not afraid to take risks, no matter how daring they may be, and this is exactly why, emotionally and spiritually, he connects to the Diaz brothers, and foremost to Sean. For what it's worth, Sean and Daniel's journey began when Sean himself took a great risk. It was a painful coming-of-age journey that pushed them headlong into the wild ride of life together. Finn is of that same kind. This is how Daniel sees it, and this is how his bond with Sean is guaranteed to remain strong. Finn's presence remains in the game in various forms after Wastelands - a photo, a sketch, a note, a letter, a mention in a dream, a token, a bracelet, a spoken word, appear as reminders of the major role that he played in Sean's life. He is even there at the hospital in Faith where, depending on your choice of words, he and Sean can have a heartfelt and strongly emotional conversation. Arthur and Stanley, the middle-aged couple from Karen's desert camp, are a confirmation, in Sean's eyes, that love knows no rules and no limits. In Wolves, we can also see a huge drawing made by Daniel, which depicts Chris, his friend from Oregon. Daniel subconsciously sees Finn as an older version of Chris. In his mindset, Chris is his own Finn, and Finn is Sean's Chris. There is an analogy that is not at all random at this point.

Daniel values brotherhood very much - not only in the literal sense of his bond with his brother, but also in the wider sense of connections between friends. Notably the most crucial instances where he uses his power to affect the course of events are related to this kind of bonds: the first time, it is after he sees his father getting killed; at that point, he is not yet conscious of his power and he is not able to prevent the upcoming tragedy but his reaction is to kill the rookie officer who caused it, albeit without controlling it. Daniel felt his father as his best friend, as he confesses at some point in Wastelands, therefore sentimentally he was connected to him with bonds of brotherhood as well, besides their father-son relationship. The second time is when he stops a police car from hitting Chris. The third is when he violently attacks Merrill to stop him from killing Finn. The fourth time is when he does the same to Nicholas, Lisbeth's thug, in order to save Sean from getting shot. In the most compelling finale, he uses his power to eliminate everything and everyone in his way, while forming a protective shield around Sean so that they can both safely cross the border as swarms of bullets fly around them. For Daniel, his blood link with his Sean is sacred, and equally sacred is his bond with Chris and Finn, whom he values as brothers of his heart. So if he senses that Sean values Finn the same way, his own perception of brotherhood is reinforced, and subsequently his bond with Sean becomes unbreakable. This is intensified even more if Sean urges him to use his power to stop Merrill from shooting Finn; Daniel will immediately do so even if Sean had prevented him from resorting to his power at any cost in the past.

Finn seems to be the canon match for Sean because he is able to connect with him on all levels, help strengthen his bond with Daniel, and be not only his lover and friend, but also his soul mate. There is subtle evidence for this in Rules, if you want to trace the game's semiological map - which, by the way, is extremely rich. Early on when Sean and Daniel are still hiding in their grandparents' home, there are several interesting things to see and comment on, among which an aquarium with a tropical fish in it. The fish is trapped behind a log, so Sean can ask Daniel to lift the obstacle with his power. As soon as Daniel does so, the fish swims freely in the water. When Sean sees it, he comments that "he is beautiful". The fish has a deep blue body and orange fins. Minutes later, Daniel looks at the aquarium and says that Sean scared the fish back into its cave, and Sean replies that he will see it one day or another. The following day, Sean meets Finn for the first time in the market. Finn is a redhead with blue eyes, sharing the same colors with the goldfish - and in this allegorical context, the Finn / fin pun could not only be considered intentional, but also pretty much canon. Subsequently in Wastelands, there is an instance when Daniel tells Sean that Finn wants to show him a secret cave on the other side of the lake where they are camping, and Sean replies to count him in as well (click here to watch the respective scenes). On a metaphorical level, Finn's "secret cave" may stand for his secret feelings for Sean that he is hesitant to show directly because he is not sure how Sean will react. He throws hints every now and then, calling Sean "honey", "sweetheart", "sweetie", "my little Sean", along with showing signs of affection, like offering a hug or a tender touch, but without crossing any boundaries, until he is assured that he can make the next step. All these facts, in connection with Sean's cryptic answer when his grandmother asks him about his love life in Rules, are progressively foreshadowing his canon romantic choice in Wastelands.

Sean and Finn lived different kinds of lives, but when they crossed paths, their destinies intertwined. They both reached a point of no return when they took a big risk: Sean when he escaped with Daniel after their father was killed, and Finn when he conceived the heist plan after Merrill fired the brothers. As I mentioned earlier, Finn is a complex character. He may have gotten greedy thinking how he could get hold of all that cash from Merrill's safe - which is only natural, given the circumstances and his past - but his motive for the heist had always been to help Sean and Daniel. Even before he confesses to Sean how he feels about him, he tells him that he wants the brothers to stay with the group, in a genuinely caring and protective manner. How Finn sees it, is that stealing the money may make everyone's life's easier and take a much desired revenge on Merrill, but mainly it will guarantee that Sean and Daniel will not leave. Simply put, doing the heist is a desperate last-minute plan to keep Sean and Daniel there with him; because the brothers were about to hit the road first thing the following morning.

Finn is the only one whose mind leaps further, therefore the only one who can actually help Sean and Daniel make their own (literal and metaphorical) leap of faith. There is also one very important element that Sean and Finn have in common, regarding their family background - their connection with cars. Sean's father was a mechanic and he repaired cars. Finn's father would steal cars, rip them apart and sell their parts. On a symbolic level, this may stand for how Sean's father managed to keep his family together despite the absence of the mother, and how Finn's father literally destroyed his family by sending his sons to jail. But on a metaphysical level, it could mean that Sean's meeting with Finn was karmic; it was written in the stars to happen, one way or the other.