#I guess it could be argued Playa runs for it because this is probably the closest he has to an actual ''canon'' death at this point

[highlifeboat]

FINALLY SOMEBODY ELSE TO MOURN LIN WITH! They did her so wrong man ;_; We *had time to save her* man!!

I SWEEEAAAR

I'VE NEVER SEEN HER DEATH SCENE BEFORE AND I AM JUST--SO UPSET??? Like I'm not someone who gets overly emotional with video games usually, but that shit HURTS? SO MUCH??

I wanna know how we got out of the trunk but then just left her ass. Like even if she was dead by that point why did we not at least get her body? (Maybe to maintain cover but if they already know Lin is a Saint who cares). Left my girl FLOATING IN THE RIVER.

ALSO FUUUCK the dude who kidnaps/kills her because he was WAY too creepy towards her. Like the way he talks to her makes me feel so eugh.

Just everything about her death is WILD and for WHAT? Just to kill the best female character in the game? WACK DECISIONS.

[saints-row-2]

Do you have any thoughts about Troy and Chief Monroe, and what must've been going on in Troy's head when the Saints decide to murder Monroe? How conflicted would he have been as an undercover cop, even knowing that Monroe was corrupt?

ok so i thought about this and spent a while looking at the timeline of events and i dont think Troy knew that the Saints decided to kill Monroe. he definitely was in on the Monroe and Hughes plot and he definitely knew that Winslow was going to be killed by the Saints, but i dont think he knew about Monroe. 

right so: the second to last time we see Troy in Saints Row is the Battlefield Promotion cutscene, where we see him getting drunk right before Julius gets arrested. we dont see him again until the Salting the Earth cutscene at the end of the game. during the Hail to the Chief mission, he’s not even mentioned.

this is to say; Troy is gone by the time Julius gets arrested. i think its a safe bet he knew they were taking Julius in, and that more or less put an end to his role as an undercover cop. they didnt need him after that, really, not when Hughes and Monroe thought that the Saints were going to be in their direct control for the foreseeable future, and they had Julius in lockup. 

i also think theres a fair chance the phone conversation with Dex (in which Dex says he knows Troy is a cop) might have already happened by Hail to the Chief. 

the second wiretap conversation is the one with Troy and Julius, and either takes place between Stuffing the Ballot and Hail to the Chief (because Troy refers to Hughes as being the mayor, but Julius hasnt been freed after the events of Hail to the Chief) or it takes place before Stuffing the Ballot and Troy already knew about Hughes plans to have Winslow killed and become mayor. and in that conversation with Julius, Troy says “Dex is out”, which strongly implies the first wiretap conversation does chronologically come first, which means Dex knows Troy is a cop.

Dex obviously didnt tell the others that Troy was a cop, but he knew. and while he’d assured Troy he wasnt going to do anything about it, Troy’s cover was still blown, and returning to the Saints would have been… fucking stupid, frankly.

all of this is a really long winded way of saying that Troy wasnt a part of the decision to kill Monroe, and didnt have any control over what the gang did. he probably didnt know about it until after it happened. 

we dont really know anything about Troy’s relationship with Monroe. we know Troy does attempt to prevent cops from getting killed when he can, which would suggest some level of attachment or sense of responsibility towards them. i have no idea if he liked Monroe or not. tbh Monroe did seem like kind of an asshole, so maybe not. but who knows, really. i would be inclined say they werent very close.

like, Troy was in the gang for years. he knew that the others hated and regularly killed cops regardless of his intervention – and it was impossible for him to intervene every time – but he liked the other Saints anyway, they were his friends. so in some way he must have been able to compartmentalise this. like he wouldnt have been able to function as an undercover cop if he blamed himself for every crime the gang committed while he was with them. 

so i think Troy likely didnt blame himself. considering how well he knew the Saints, id argue he probably thought it was Monroe’s fault. like Monroe’s fatal flaw was definitely underestimating what the Saints were capable of (and so is Hughes’, later on). but i think Troy knew the Saints well enough where this kind of revenge, coming from Playa and Johnny especially (and Dex, considering Dex was going to leave and probably no longer had a lot of reason to care about the consequences of his actions), probably wasnt much of a fucking surprise. 

like… a lot of what Troy did later on was him trying to essentially game the system so he could keep the Saints safe. Monroe dying put him in the running for chief of the police, which put him in a good position to help the Saints out even more. like after Monroe dies, all of his actions are concerned with saving the Saints, which strongly suggests to me he doesnt hold any kind of grudge. 

so i guess my argument overall is; Troy probably saw this coming better than Monroe or Hughes did, and while he probably didnt actively want Monroe to die, it really played into Troy’s favour. and with his ability to compartmentalise the actions of the Saints and his own responsibility – especially considering at this point he had cut ties with the gang – he didnt blame himself. so i think… he just dealt with it. shit happens ! official troy bradshaw quote. 

[greygamer]

Brain Dump: Riverdale “The Sweet Hereafter”

1. Ah, Archibald Archikins and friends, I have to admit, this has been a weird and wonderful ride through this season of Riverdale. I didn't know what to make of it at first, and honestly, I'm still not entirely sure I do. But it's been fun!

2. Nice "pesky kids" reference, Juggie!

3. The mayor wants the corruption squashed? Didn't she take bribes in something to do with the drive-in? Damn these two-faced politician.

4. "We're all still in it." But are we really, Fred?

5. What is Smithers' job exactly? Can someone explain that?

6. Oh look, Betty's having a nervous breakdown.

7. I agree with Betty here though -- her family went through some shit, they can't just sweep it under the table.

8. Oh, now Archie and Veronica are semi-dating? I thought she was blowing him off last episode.

9. It seems weird to celebrate these "pesky kids" wh oprobably shouldn't have been meddling in these criminal affairs in the first place.

10. Betty, why would you write for the register? I thought the school newspaper had replaced that as the primary source of journalism in Riverdale.

11. "We've kissed a couple times." WHAT A CRAZY CONFESSION! MIND IS BLOWN!

12. Well, it's good to see the Blossom family is still fucked up even after Daddy's death.

13. Alice Cooper is running this paper with some pretty intense double standards.

14. CHERYL IS NOT FINE.

15. Haha, for a second it looked like Veronica was sewing Betty's foot back on to her leg.

16. So Betty just published her article on her own? Jesus, welcome to the town where libel was never invented!

17. Oh great, Jughead is getting ousted to the south side, and will have to transfer to a new school. NOOOO! Give the kid a break, goddammit.

18. FP isn't wrong here. I mean, you can argue for or against snitching, but it's never okay when the snitchee is innocent.

19. Haha, Cheryl made a joke about Jughead eating burgers even though he's literally never eaten burgers until just now.

20. This is what happens when you don't have libel laws.

21. Pig's blood!? Carrie is calling! It wants its IP back!

22. The fact that Fred and Hiram won't get along seems like a shitty reason to kick Fred out of the business deal. He actually was the only person who was decent to you, Hermione.

23. SO MANY SECRETS IN THE COOPER FAMILY.

24. But I still think the story Alice doesn't want getting out is about a maybe abortion.

25. Oh, here comes the truth?

26. So there was no abortion, but Betty has a brother out there somewhere! COULD IT BE JUGHEAD? Haha, probably not.

27. "Hey Betty, I'm at the stabby murder school with the metal detecters, but please don't worry about me."

28. Yeah, kidnap him from school, I guess?

29. Uh oh, what's Cheryl doing? Oh shit, she's planning a suicide isn't she. That's why she was making peace with people.

30. Hahaha, Jughead is already making friends.

31. Well, Betty and Jughead are way more Romeo and Juliet now that Jughead's on the south side.

32. CALLED IT. CHERYL IS SUICIDING!

33. Well holy shit.

34. It's nice that now that they're all panicked that the ice isn't cracking any more.

35. Holy shit, Archie's gonna fuck up his guitar hand trying to save Cheryl.

36. WHAT. THE. FUCK. Jason just moved!?

37. Was that for real?

38. Yay! They saved Cheryl!

39. Archie won't be able to play at the whatever thing he's supposed to be playing at, but yay!

40. Hey everyone, stop hating on Cheryl, please.

41. Jamboree? Jubilee? They literally just said the word and I've already forgotten what it was.

42. Yes, Veronica, Archie was looking at Betty because, as we've learned from this season, Archie will never settle down and be satisfied with a single woman. HE'S A PLAYA.

43. Oh, of course they're going to play Archie's song.

44. Is this the first time we've seen the Josie and the Pussycats logo on the drum? It's the classic logo! So great!

45. Surprisingly touching scene between Juggie and his dad. I wouldn't have predicted that ultimately this show would end up being about Jughead, but it definitely has.

46. Uh oh, Betty just went off script.

47. Jughead should have slow-clapped that.

48. AND THEN A SNIPER SHOT!

49. Oh great, now Hermione is going to end up in the middle of a love triangle.

50. When your suicide goes wrong, might as well try burning your whole house down.

51. I'm not sure Cheryl's plan there is for the two of them to go up in the flames or not.

52. Everyone's gonna be knockin' boots!

53. Knock and knock and knock and knock.

54. Coitus interuptus!

55. Ah, the serpents showed up and gave Juggie a biker jacket!

56. And Hot Dog the dog was there!

57. BUT BETTY DOESN'T APPROVE!

58. Come on, Mrs. Blossom, it's just a house. I'm sure you've got some liquid assets somewhere.

59. WHAT THE FUCK!?

60. Fucking cliffhangers, man.

61. Oh, I guess it's no cliffhanger. Fred got murdered. But maybe he's not dead! He's just bleeding out!

62. Well, that was certainly a season of TV. I don't see Fred dying in Season Two, but what do I know.