A Rift In Time

One of the biggest improvements in the recent remake of Resident Evil 4 was undoubtedly the evolution of Ashley Graham and her impressive upgrade from an almost two-dimensional figure to a full-shaped character with realistic reactions and human emotions which she expressed in a most natural way. Her interactions with Leon mostly, but also with the other characters, gained now a lot more gravity and importance, as they helped form her personality even more, and establish her as a stand-alone unity who may still depend on Leon for her survival, but she can also have a mind of her own.

Even so, her role in the game remains the same as before: she is still the kidnapped daughter of the USA President, waiting for rescue, locked in the attic of a church somewhere in rural Spain, and then after Leon arrives and frees her, she follows him until they finally make their way back home. More or less, her part in the story unfolds in a similar way as in the original game, without affecting its progress in any different way; and her playable section, albeit a lot more intriguing and challenging than in its past version, still leads to the same end. There is one special part, however, a very brief but extremely significant segment in Separate Ways, where a most interesting transition takes place and it happens with the aid, so to speak, of the most unsuspecting character, which is the leading lady Ada herself.

 

Ashley's appearances in Separate Ways are extremely limited, as we only see her a few times through Ada's eyes, and there is no interaction with her at all during the full course of the story. Almost no interaction at all, in fact. In the original main game as well as in the remake, Ashley only finds out about Ada being around and helping her and Leon close to the end of the game: as Saddler is about to sacrifice her, and an infected Leon has just reached the altar to save her, Ada makes her dramatic appearance, successfully distracting Saddler for a few minutes, so that Leon can have enough time to take Ashley and leave. Then, after they have both gotten rid of their infection, upon arriving at the docks, Ashley sees Ada hanging from the rafter where Saddler has tied her up to lure Leon closer to him. Leon then frees Ada by cutting the rope that was holding her, and goes on to finish Saddler off. Up to this point, the sequence unfolds the same way in Separate Ways as it does in the main game, in both the original and the remake, albeit in Separate Ways we see everything from Ada's perspective. 

There is this instance however, very close to the end, where the transition happens. In the original Separate Ways, as Ada makes her way towards the higher dock where the Special Rocket Launcher is held, just before she reaches that part, she exits out to the place where Ashley has been all this while, waiting on her own in full agony as she watches Leon fighting Saddler. In the original game, the place where Ashley is standing is on lower ground, and as soon as Ada exits out close to that spot, Ashley turns around and looks up, catching a glimpse of her.

We cannot be sure if Ada even notices Ashley, though, as her eyes seem to be fixed on the moving bridges where Leon's fight with Saddler is in its full swing. The distance between Ashley and Ada does not leave room for any interaction, and this is the closest that they can get to each other throughout the adventure.

In the remade Separate Ways, however, the scene unfolds in a different way. As Ada gets closer to the platform with the Special Launcher, she exits out on a rocky area, where Ashley is standing just a few steps away from her, again watching Leon battling Saddler.

She pauses for a few seconds, giving Ashley time to realize that she is not alone and turn towards her.

 And then it happens. Ashley talks to Ada.

And not only that, but they stand still for a moment looking at each other, or rather it is actually Ada who steals a few seconds so as to observe Ashley. 

This is the moment which, I think, marks more than anything else in both the main game and Ada's campaign the transition between the Ashley of the original and the one of the remake, establishing her new version more than anything else in the revamped Resident Evil 4. Although all the characters have evolved more or less, one way or the other, Ashley's upgrade has been so impressive, that it is as if we have a different character in front of us. It is somehow as if the new Ada has been carrying the memories of the original Ada, keeping record of an Ashley that was marginally paper-cut, who only said a few scripted lines and could do almost nothing on her own. In this unexpected tête-à-tête now in the remake, she sees the new Ashley in the flesh just a breath away from her, and as her eyes follow the girl in the next frame, it is as if she is wondering "So you can really talk like a real person, and you do not just scream 'Help me, Leon' all the time anymore." 

We could say that, in this scene, Ada steps out of her set role for a few seconds and becomes an observer, watching how the new Ashley took over the old one in full dynamic. Considering also that Ada is the character who had the least evolution and even saw her role getting a downgrade in the remake, it is as if in this scene she realizes that the story in which she was acting all the while is not the original game anymore, but a new, completely revamped version; a version where the once wooden and even annoying Ashley emerged as a character with actual human traits. Although not exactly an instance of breaking the 4th wall, it still is a brief moment of metagaming, probably unique to the Resident Evil universe. Ada does not address the "audience" - in this context: the players; but she takes on the part of a watcher analyzing the facts from the outside - in this context: the broader environment outside the more precise environment set around Ashley's character in those specific frames.

Seen with the perspective of time, this scene may have not worked in the original; Ashley's character there, albeit important for the plot, was at times invisible: in the sections where she was not around or where she was but not in danger, it felt like she was not existing in the story at all and you could easily forget about her. In the remake, you have to keep an eye on her always when she is with you (a good example is the revamped maze in the castle which now you must navigate with her, unlike the original where Leon was on his own) and have a part of your mind constantly on her when she is elsewhere. In the original game, Ashley was just a bit more substantial than her wooden cutouts in the shooting range games; and playing with her in that brief section in the castle's basement felt more like a chore and less like an adventure, because she lacked those features that would make her stand on her own without Leon around. Except for Leon, she only had a brief interaction with Luis during the Cabin Fight intro, and even her scenes with Salazar or the one where Saddler hypnotizes her were somehow utilitarian. Any further interaction with anyone would have been too much for her scripted persona, and would even not make much sense. Ada realizing in the remake that she has to do with a realistic character now, pretty much sums up Ashley's welcome evolution and her upgraded role in the game's new era.