Obsessed with Harleen Quinzel ❤🖤

Suicide squad (2016) dir. David Ayer // Birds of prey (2020) dir. Cathy Yan

I can’t be the first person to notice this, but uh… They remind me of Max and Victoria from Life is Strange.

Like this even seems pretty in-character, too.

(insp) 

You may remember me as that asshole who tore into Chloe. I got a few anons telling me that I can’t like Victoria and point out Chloe’s problematic behaviour. Another anon asked to hear my thoughts on her. So, this is for you lot. Why I like her and my thoughts on her character. Most of this is just speculation, of course. And no, I’m not denying she’s a pile of garbage who needs a slap. What I like is her character and how complex she is, not what she does. This is the potential reasoning behind her actions and a few other things about her character that stuck me as odd, and no, not a justification. It’s just a way to gain a better understanding.

From episode 1, we get a lot of character development. And not just from Victoria directly. Hayden comments on how she’s actually pretty cool, but respected Rachel. Which is weird, because we see her ripping away a poster of Rachel and the poster of her room that’s graffitied. At first, I couldn’t figure out why he’d say that, but then it hit me. Victoria is insecure. All of her self worth is based on who sees her. Either negatively or not. To quote Panic!, a way to describe it could be ‘give me envy, give me malice, give me your attention.’

So, Rachel came in and practically stripped away all of that hard work from her. Victoria presumably had to work to get the Vortex Club, had to work to get friends. That came naturally to Rachel, as no one but Victoria has a bad word to say about her. Which shows you how insecure Victoria is, judging how she can only lash out after Rachel is gone. It adds a layer of complexity to the ‘lol she’s just a bully’ baseline they gave us, y'know? Of course, we can’t ignore that baseline either. She’s a bully, no hiding from that. But the complexity makes her interesting.

Victoria’s interactions with Max are also interesting. She’s obviously jealous of Max and views her as competition. Her idol (Jefferson), favours Max and why Victoria would attack her is understandable. Stupid, disgusting, but understandable. It’s just more insecurity. She’s also looking at Max after she first comes out of her first vision. Is that concern or something else? I’m going with concern. There’s no reason for her to be looking at Max like that otherwise. If she wanted, she could’ve made an insulting comment, but she didn’t. Which strays from how she is originally portrayed.

Then, there’s the paint incident. The first time we see Victoria look vulnerable, evidently upset over her ruined appearance. If you make fun of her, she lashes out. Looks hurt as fuck before that though. If you comfort her, she’s genuine. Max points out an idol of hers, Richard Avedon, and you can see her face change. It’s as if no one has really bothered paying attention before, and this girl who she’s victimised, understands her to an extent. So, she brushes Max off straight after that. She doesn’t want people to get into her walls, as seen by how she treats Taylor and Courtney. She brushes them off when they try to comfort her, slapping away Courtney’s hand and dismissing them. It’s a sign that she doesn’t want anyone to see her vulnerable. Why is she so defensive, is a good question to ask here. It’s also worthy to mention that she makes peace with Max away from others. She’s withholding her image yet again.

She also sexts Juliet’s boyfriend, which is mentioned later by Zachary. Juliet shitted on the Vortex Club, so I see that as defending her territory. She’s obviously deeply involved with the VC, this could be a sense of family, as seen by the pictures taken in EP3 (which will be discussed later).

Then, there’s bonus stuff, like the rejection letter in her room, which could add to the sense of insecurity and why she tears into Max, a talented photographer. Max also remarks on how 'cold and aloof’ her pictures are. Victoria is obviously detached from something. Judging how her pictures are predominantly of herself, it’s possible that the thing she’s cold with, is in fact, herself.

Episode two comes along. Victoria is a bitch to Kate, and it was horrible and needless. Then someone pointed out a screenshot that I can’t put in this because I’m on mobile (I’ll make a photo post straight after this so you all know I’m not full of shit), but she looks really fucking guilty in that one cap. Her back is also turned to Taylor, suggesting that what she does is in fact, a front. This doesn’t excuse anything, but it furthers the point that she’s not this heartless monster that people make her out to be. She’s awful, yes. Emotionless and totally self centred, no.

When it comes to your choices, whether or not she messes up Max’s room is a pointer to her character. If you make fun of Victoria, she fucks up Max’s room and makes Max memes whether you reported Nathan or not. This is obviously to get back at Max, but it’s also a clear indication of how vulnerable she is. It’s only a picture, but her reaction feels over the top. It’s a cover-up. Max saw her vulnerable and she took advantage of it by taking a picture. Therefore, Victoria bit back as viciously as she could to regain some face. Which could’ve been totally avoided if she wasn’t being a huge bitch, but I find it interesting.

Taylor also defends her, telling Max that she 'doesn’t know Victoria.’ This is a pointer that she isn’t a huge bitch all the time. It could also point at the fact that there’s something going on in Victoria’s life that we, the players, aren’t certain of yet. That’s just speculation though. Zachary also mentions Victoria and the sext. He says that she has everything, so he doesn’t understand why she’s got to be a bitch, even though it fucks her over too. She simply needs attention.

You see her video Kate on the roof, which is inexcusable, but I think it adds to this front she has. She’s surrounded by people, she can’t straight up show any of the remorse we see later on. Of course, you see her crying in her room after that shit goes down. Obviously feeling guilty. Then Nathan comes in, which is suspicious. Kinda concerning. Is Victoria involved in this twisted plot that involves the Dark Room or is she under Nathan’s thumb? Either way, this adds more depth to her, despite the fact she’s done an awful, terrible thing.

Then comes episode three. She breaks curfew to manipulate Jefferson into choosing her for the contest by sleeping with him. (Which is fucking disgusting, I was speechless). But I personally think that while the whole Jefferson thing is to further her career, it is also because she idolises him. Which is seen by the leaflets she has in her room. Victoria looks like the type who confuses love as sex, therefore part of the reason why she did it. It also underlines how fucking ambitious she is.

I think that ambition is also down to her parents. She needs to do better, needs to get somewhere. We don’t see any pictures of her parents in her room. Which is weird, judging how she’s a photographer. They’re just photos of her partying, which goes back to the sense of family she has with the Vortex Club. The paradox of the isolated Queen Bee seems to be a thing the game wants to portray with this. She lashes out against anyone who sees her as vulnerable, friend or foe, but seems to crave a sense of family judging by the pictures.

She also expresses guilt in an email to Taylor about Kate trying to commit suicide. It’s obviously hitting her hard, but the way she talks about it is surprise. I don’t think she meant her words mattered. Which doesn’t excuse any of it, but to me, it shows how little she understands people and her own actions. She does really needs to grow up and take responsibility for her actions, gain a sense of awareness to what she damage she can create, but I doubt that’d change in the space of two days.

Also, depending on what you do, she steals Max’s cookies. She could’ve been totally and utterly malicious and stole something important, but she didn’t. That is again, a sign of her character. She’s like a small child seeking attention in any way she can.

The ending of episode 3 is a total 180 to the Victoria that we know. She seems softer, kinder. Perhaps this is a 'what could have been.’ If she befriended Max, perhaps she wouldn’t be lashing out in the way she does. Max could’ve stabilised her by being a good friend and pointing out how shitty she is, therefore allowing her to develop and grow. Or maybe that’s just how she treats people she’s close to without a mask. Either way, she defiantly showed concern with Max spacing out and getting defensive over 'Maxine,’ which is an indicator of her character.

Another thing that me and a few others have noticed is that she displays classic signs as a victim of sexual abuse. Obviously, this isn’t to be taken as gospel, and we could be reaching/looking into it too much, but it feels appropriate to add into this. From the pride in her appearance, lashing out, hitting on/attempting to sleep with older men in order to gain something (as if that’s the only thing she has to get something), a preoccupation with sex, how separate she seems to be (struggling with empathy, expressing shock at Kate’s actions which seems obvious tbh, Max’s comments about how aloof she is) and brushing off Courtney’s touches, it all seems to add up. Obviously this is pure speculation and I do hope I’ve approached this topic with respect, as it is very sensitive.

Beth: Oh my god. Look at that ass…

Sam: Hm? You say something?