Episode 4 "Escape Plan Bravo" Discussion Thread
So, what are you thoughts about this episode? Good, bad? Which moments will you remember?
Personally I think it was AMAZING, very good, even possibly the best episode so far. It really hooked me in. I don't know had I laughed that much in any other episode. My Rhys shared the power with Jack, he has been a Handsome Jack fan for who knows how long and couldn't resist the power. He obviously wants to change Hyperion, but rarely do things go like they're supposed to. Can't wait to see how it all will end, it has been quite a ride, wow!
Also thank you Telltale Games for one of the most epic moments ever in your games, the opening song part (which wasn't an opening song but anyway). I knew the song "To The Top" from the movie called Paper Towns and I must say that I love it, after hearing the first few seconds I was immediately convinced. And laughed various times! That part will be something I will carry with me from Tales from the Borderlands for sure. During that moment I was so happy with every character and so glad I had shared the whole journey with them. And it ain't over yet. Thanks, love you guys.
Here's the song:
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Comments
I thought it was a pretty awesome episode, but a bit weaker than the previous ones.. there was one line of dialogue that was just.. cringe-worthy
otherwise, great action and story development : > i'm goin with the whole jack trusting thing too - i mean its kinda obvious that that's going to backfire, but it's really fun.
fake gunfight was one of the funniest things in the whole episode imo
i'm also glad we got to talk to janey springs again, i like her a lot.
i noticed quite a few typos, but i guess that just happens when you immediately download the episode as soon as its out without waiting for the first patch..
still a pretty amazing episode : D i will probably replay it tomorrow, when i'm not super tired, so i can pay more attention to all the little details
Rhysquez was AMAZING. Oh that shootout...
And that, ladies and gentleman is Telltale's magnum opus...
Now I understand why Mikey was gushing about it so much, it really is standing ovation worthy. I have actual goosebumps.
And considering how phenomenal the emotional moments were (I got choked up talking to Janey and actually cried for Scooter), this episode had me laughing out loud more than any of the others. It's amazing how well they were able to capture and effortlessly shift between each end of the emotional spectrum.
Random thoughts:
Goddamit, with Janey's introduction/relocation/TAKING OVER THE BUSINESS I should have seen the Scooter stuff coming but I didn't and it totally broke my heart. What a way to go out, though... (also, I do not want to be the person having to tell Moxxi and Ellie)!
Hyperion's are officially my favourite people in the galaxy - that shoot out was honestly the funniest thing in the world, and such a great throwback to a tiny little gag in Rhys' opening (when it got to the 'badass' I had to pause my computer because I was cry-laughing and could not longer see the screen). I also love that these people with their perfect cozy lives clearly all dream of being Pandorans. It's also a good reversal on Pandorans like Sasha looking up and wishing they were anywhere but there.
Speaking of Sasha, she's waaay too comfortable on Helios - is the public radio anarchist going to give it all up for a nice view and a cushy signing bonus?
JACK DOESN'T KNOW ANGEL IS DEAD AND I AM SO FREAKIN' TERRIFIED/HEARTBROKEN
Rhysquez is everything, except I found myself only being able to play him as a douchebag - my Rhys is really nice, but daaamn, Rhysquez is a prick - he did some stuff I'm not entirely proud of.
Goddammit, Yvette!
JACK HAS THE STRANGER'S CONFERENCE CALL IN HIS FREAKIN' OFFICE - WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN?!
Rhys zigzagging had me absolutely howling with laughter
Gortys continues to be the most adorable thing in the galaxy
I couldn't bring myself to destroy Butt Stallion - if you do does it confirm that it's actually her and she's dead?
Can you get to Helios without using the quick change on Sasha? I changed her, but kept Fiona's regular outfit and nobody made any mention of it.
That face peeling scene managed to top the eyeball gouging in terms of grossness. And I'm not sure if I'll ever look at pepperoni pizza the same way again! >_<
What it lacked in Loader Bot-ness, it made up for in Dumpy-ness
JACK'S BACK, BABY - HAIL TO THE KING, INDEED!
I actually think I'm going to do a second playthrough today because I really want to see what it's like when you haven't trusted Jack. I imagine it's just infinitely more terrifying? Because for me everything was fairly consensual and cool up until the last couple of seconds, and then stuff got scary. The second he asked me to sit in that chair though I knew shit was about to go down. Also, I really want to see his new body - did Nakayama finally make a non-lethal immortality exoskeleton? Just please don't let it be Timothy (who currently remains unsaved)...
Also, just, thanks, Telltale. You continue to go above and beyond and it's just such a delight to be able to spend time in your wonderful worlds. I can't believe there's only one episode left - I don't want it to end!
EDIT:
Oh my God, I am such a freakin' idiot. I accidentally missed the very last arrow command to put the 'jack' in my head and apparently that was enough to eradicate four episodes worth of Handsome Jack bootlicking and ass-kissing!
He took over and so I got the un-loyal ending!
I thought it was so freakin' dark - I couldn't even begin to fathom how bad it must have been for those who betrayed him...
Just goes to show, even the slightest bit of hesitation and BAM Jack's on you straight away.
Oh wow, I like the ending even more now (it's so much less terrifying), and my Rhys got everything he ever dreamed about!
That opening was INCREDIBLE! I laughed a lot throughout the episode, and it had superb pacing. Somehow the devs managed to step-up in the action sequences, even from the previous episodes. Amazing. It was such a joy to get to see Helios bustling with people after it being understandably empty in the Pre-Sequel. The fight scene was incredible.
Jack even exceeded his previous funny-quota, especially with his commentary as you are exploring his office. (Oh-no-no at him not knowing about Angel, this is going badly for the VHers and all of Pandora. Loved that he kept Nisha's original hat.)
Curse you, Yvette! Holy shit, Sasha?! Also, er, was there a way not to let Scooter die? He's not dead, right, he can magically come back? Please? Please? (If he's dead, Moxxi is going to go to town on Fiona and Rhys. Moxxi for the Stranger!) Also, arrrgh, who has the Conference Call now, what does it meaaaaaan. Does the Stranger have the same Conference Call from Jack's office? Or is it another one of the original guns? Or one of the newer dumbed-down versions?
Despite supporting Jack through the previous episodes, I rejected Jack at first (nothing suss, Jack), but then I did over the last chapter out of curiosity to see the difference. I might stick with the latter, as far as I can see, Jack seems fairly genuine in working with Rhys - as long as you're sticking with him and part of his team! Jack still doesn't handle betrayal well. Save us all, Jack is now Helios. Poor, poor Pandora. Moonshots for everyone.
• God dammit Yvette I trusted you!
• RIP Scooter
• Vaughns alive!
• Gunshoot-out was hilarious
• Face peeling -_- yuk
• Wheres episode 5?
Glad to year y'all are enjoying the latest episode! It sure was a heart rending one, and has some of my favorite gags of the whole series!
I think the end segment was the first time I thought Jack was truly scary (in the entire franchise). He's always shown moments of being unhinged, but the way he reacts to you (especially if you reject him) is terrifying.
After just replaying TPS it was so weird to walk around the Hub of Heroism and not get shot at (well, not shot at with real bullets). And all the workers just casually sipping their whiskey/coffee concoctions and talking on their phones while I'm like, "Do you have any idea what happened here? The amount of blood shed, the people slaughtered? Corpse after corpse piled up right where you're standing!"
That was a really good episode, it had some really funny moments like the imaginary shoot out but also ram sad moments (RIP Scooter
), i chose [Step Three].
In the end i decided to rule Hyperion but Jack does seem a bit crazy when he gets into the system so it might not go so well, it's going to be hard to wait for the next episode :P
The Intro was also really awesome, i uploaded it to youtube if anyone wants to watch it again.
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Aw, it's somehow even more bittersweet with the Scooter Special.
I do have his hat to remember him by, though:
It was so bizarre, I couldn't get over it! (Especially remembering all the time we spent trying to get into Jack's office with a Claptrap.) I have to say, Hyperion janitors do good clean-up!
This episode was amazing.. telltale you can have my first born child.
Blue peen you throwing shade?
If you are keep it cute, before I check you.
More thoughts after food-break and ruminating - I didn't need to spoiler tag the above post, woops! Thank you so much for an incredible episode, Telltale! Tales from the Borderlands is one of those few extremely well-paced and exciting experiences where it is nothing but a constant joy to play. It's my absolute GOTY, even over Bloodborne and the Witcher 3. Thank you for such a great series.
Plot revelations:
Finch wanting Kroger to hold his hand at take-off! D'aww.
Scooter is still totally fine and alive and catching a ride. Totally fine. TOTALLY. I totally didn't tear up, either. Totally. Totally. Everything is fine.
Sasha potentially selling out Fiona for Yvette genuinely shocked me. (I pointed and the screen and yelled, 'WOAH!' It was very mature.) Props to Telltale, it was set-up well - Sasha would do anything for Fiona, but she also desperately wants to leave Pandora more than anything else. Time will tell if she's playing a long con against Yvette, but after Fiona's 'I have to hand it to Sasha' comment in the present day, she may have legitimately sold Fiona out, and their relationship has soured. I adore Sasha, but I would absolutely love it if Sasha has indeed sold out the gang, because a lot of people were fixated on Vaughn being the betrayer (myself included) that I never thought Sasha would! (Also Rhys can potentially be running Hyperion now, he doesn't get to judge.) It adds interesting depth to her character, too - that's how badly she wants to never return to Pandora. If you have Rhys work with Jack, she murmurs 'oh, no' when Jack is running his mouth over the intercom. I wonder if she's worried about Rhys, scared of Jack being back in power, or if she's concerned her plan was for nothing? (Maybe it's all three.) I can't wait to see where it goes!
I do have to laugh that I was worried about Handsome Rhys being a thing (poor Rhys), and I wasn't thinking big enough for Jack's grand-theft-me takeover. Handsome Helios! No worries about losing Dameon Clarke from the series, as he is now a talking space station. Talk about an upgrade. Seeing the Eye of Helios change to yellow, yikes. It does create an extra twist on all the times we as players spent in BL2/TPS looking up at Helios - now it's Handsome Jack, literally looking back at you. Incredibly intimidating. I'm looking forward to seeing how it'll play out next episode if you reject him, as Rhys still has to get some spiffy clothes for the present day scenes. Considering how angry Jack was, I imagine it won't be too nice for Rhys. I also like the Jack/Angel parallels - he ultimately ended up with a similar fate. Instead of her pretending to be his technology controlling AI in space, now he actually is the technology controlling AI in space. Unless he's a copy, not an AI. Headache.
The Stranger's line about also understanding what it's like to lose someone makes me add Lilith and now Moxxi back on to the identity pile, even though their heights don't fit. Vallory and August would be in the correct height-range - maybe August dies up on Helios, and Vallory is getting pay back? Maybe Vallory over Lilith/Moxxi. I loved all the August scenes in Ep.4, bless his grumpy face. Timothy still could work well in a lot of other aspects (plus easy access to a Conference Call), but I don't know who he would have lost in particular - I'm assuming Nisha and Wilhelm wouldn't count. (Unless there was a Timothy/Wilhelm affair I didn't know about.) Er, maybe he lost his mother?
The cyclops motif that repeats itself across Hyperion is interesting, too - the guards, the engineers, the loaderbots, the constructors, Helios itself. I'm curious to see if the Stranger's suit comes from Hyperion, or is worn by someone who was Hyperion.
I just had to share my favourite Jackapedia entry, because once again they were phenomenal, but this one in particular had me in a fit of giggles:
I won't post the rest because all you Fiona-trusters should have a Jack save purely for the lols!
You're so right about the Vaughn/Sasha switcheroo - I was completely fixated on the Hyperions' capacity for betrayal (i.e. Vaughn and Yvette), I didn't even consider Sasha screwing over Fiona. It totally got me (and is somehow a million times worse than if it were Vaughn or Yvette) - looks like Sasha's more like Felix than she thought. Still holding out hope for a long con, though.
I also just belatedly realised Jack's current status echoes Angel in BL1/BL2 in some respects. Technically they're both trapped and dependent (Angel/Eridium, Jack/Helios), but with a world of technology and power at their fingertips. (Well, digital finger-tips.) Awesome.
Ladies and Gentlemen, our new Face McShooty has arrived.
CORPORAL BOB DIED HERE!
I laughed out loud at that one. Bless you and your gloriously twisted sense of humour, Anthony Burch.
Fingers-crossed for a long con for Fiona's sake! To be betrayed by both Felix and Sasha, oh-man. Poor Fiona.
A floating enormous Jack head with eye-beam moonshots would be insanely disturbing - and therefore I can totally see it happening!
August is definitely at the top of my Stranger list. He also has the added benefit of actually being on Helios alongside the Conference Call. (I'm not sure how he'll get a hold of it, but stranger things have happened in TftB. Er, literally.)
A lot of people speculated that Jack could potentially take on Angel's role in BL3 - and this makes it even more plausible.
Can you rally get his hat?
Yup, your Fiona has to be in her normal outfit and still have her hat, though. You trade hats before... well, just, before.
My favorite episode is still the second one, but the picture is starting to add up to the present which is GREAT. I was expecting Sasha to betray Fi, but always hoped for that to not happen, because I love her character and I would've hated her for pulling shaeit on her blood, but what can I do? I knew Jack would eventually take over Rhys' body, but I was hoping my choices would've made a difference since I didn't trust him in the first place. The intro was ridiculously awesome! And even if I am a Rhyiona shipper, I don't care anymore, I fell out of my bed (since I played the game on PS4) from laughing of that one moment the intro had. I cried when Scooter sacrificed himself, altough they might bring him back in the original Borderlands. I didn't think Yvette would sell us out and that hit me hard, but I still tried to be nice and honest to her. AND Rhys-quez was the best, whenever I played with model swapping, I changed Rhys' model to Vasquez's, because he looks similiar to me (but it's a shame that you can't switch voices XD).
And poor Butt Stallion, I shot her and she... Well... Showed signs of it?
Oh damn that's sad.... Is there a walkthrough that has that?
That would be intimidating as hell - I think I'd have a coronary every time Jack popped up screen to interact with the player like Angel and Lilith did. (Live-action Jack would be terrifying.)
...I kinda want it now, though!
Definitely. However, Jack would be horribly bored as a space station...until he discovers the wonderful upside of being able to look down ladies' tops without getting murdered.
The gang finds a share of really rad loot and August gets the Conference Call as part of his share. Or he had it in his storage deck all along, but he likes using his Jakobs better.
I DIDN'T WANT TO SLEEP ANYWAY.
She looks nicer in his cap.
Can't wait to experience the other way (where Rhys definitely wasn't a pal of Jack), but I'll have to wait until all episodes are out.
Not that I've seen so far.
I'm pretty confused of what Jack knows and what he doesn't though. He talks about Nisha in a past tense (WAS my girlfriend, if he doesn't mean it like well obviously she couldn't really be anymore his girlfriend). I mean in Borderlands 2 you pretty much get the Lynchwood missions just before going for Angel, so I would assumed that Nisha dies before Angel does. When I first scanned the picture of her I was quite he sure he knew she's dead, but after talking about it I'm not really. Well Jack did say that maybe we could visit her or whatever after the whole mess is over, maybe he meant like a grave or some place they put her body? I'm really intrigued...
And Rhys trying to retrieve Vasquez's face was truly hilarious, how many times he almost threw up? (And he finally did during the intro lol).
I was slightly disappointed we couldn't wear it all episode (she leaves it on the dash of the caravan), but I suppose it's a bit out of place in Helios.
I also feel bad that I didn't hug or kiss him - I just wanted his hat for some reason? I'm pretty sure I was still in denial at that point and thought it might be another fake out like Sasha.
Stick a mask on Dameon Clarke and he could finally embody Jack to the fullest degree!
Hugging him would be nice. Kissing him would make his day.
That's a really good point, I didn't notice about the Nisha continuity. Maybe it is just to visit wherever he laid Angel's body to rest.
Jack's is also not JUST the most dangerous villain in the franchise so far, but the closest thing Pandora has to:
...this dickweed who may or may not exist.
Yeah, the Nisha thing completely confused me as well - it really made it seem like he was aware she was dead, and as you say time-line-wise the Lynchwood missions become available not long before Where Angels Fear to Tread. I guess it could technically be a grave/memorial but the "checking up on her" really makes it seem like she's alive (and also is kind of a knife in the heart, because even in AI form his daughter's just a second thought unless he actually needs her for something).
I also wondered if it was an out and out lie? Getting Rhys in that chair was completely premeditated, he's obviously been planning it from the second he re-awoke inside Rhys' brain (things start getting real messy and conspiracy-theory inducing when you start to think about the fact that the chair had a device specifically for someone with an ECHOport like Rhys). What if he does know and was just playing us? "Oh wow, he opened up to me about something so private/personal - he really trusts me - maybe I should trust him?"
But still, that face in the second screen shot totally gets me - damn manipulative bastard!
Can someone clear something up for me, towards the ending with Fiona, did Sasha betray us or just got caught by Yvette? The whole little mystery buildup to who was telling Gortys to be quiet made it seem like she ratted us out.