life is too short and love is too long

Mel finds out she’s pregnant, maybe before the trip to Jackson or maybe during, but she tells Owen. We don’t know exactly how he responds, but it’s a really rough time to find out you’re pregnant, regardless.

When they all head home, things are weird. Killing Joel didn’t fix things like they thought it would. Abby is still struggling, and the manner of Joel’s death has rattled a lot of them—Owen and Mel especially. Once again, we don’t know how Owen feels about the baby, but we do know that he hasn’t been home a whole lot. He hasn’t even seen the new apartment that he and Mel have been moved into. No matter how he feels about the baby, he’s been absent, and Mel is feeling it.

Mel’s also noticed how Abby is gone a lot too. She’s also picked up extra shifts, around the same time that Owen has.

It’s enough that Mel comments on it, but it doesn’t necessarily sour anything just yet. Mel and Abby talk and banter. They talk about Owen and the baby. They’re friendly, because they’re still friends. Strained and distant, but still friends.

Then everything happens. Owen is MIA, leaving Mel behind at base. She finds out about it after being interrogated roughly by Isaac about Abby’s location. She then leaves, pregnant and alone (not really since Alice is with her) to go find him at the aquarium.

She gets there the day after Owen physically cheated on her.

Abby shows up for the second time soon after Mel arrives, two Seraphite kids in tow, yelling for Owen to help because of course she knew he was there. Obviously, we as the player know that Lev and Yara are kind, that they’re kids and that Lev wouldn’t actually do anything to hurt Mel-- but she is pregnant, and Lev is an armed stranger. He’s aiming his bow at Alice when Mel rocks up.

Mel helps them because she wasn’t not going to, and when Abby leaves to go find the medical supplies Owen chases after her. The entire time that Abby is in the aquarium, Owen is always nearby.

So, Mel comes to conclusions. Why wouldn’t she?

When Abby talks to her, she confronts her and lets it all out. She tells Abby she is a piece of shit and that she’s a screw up because to Mel, she is. Abby (and Owen) haven’t done anything to prove to her otherwise.

Because Abby and Owen do toe the line a lot when it comes to their relationship. They overstepped tremendously on the boat. Is this all Abby’s fault? No. Owen is obviously just as complicit, and a lot of the evidence that Mel has used to come to her conclusion isn’t even real—but once again, these two haven’t done much to convince Mel otherwise.

Of course Mel would think that Abby bringing the kids to the aquarium was some plan of hers to get to Owen. It’s such convenient timing. She also has a point when she says, “Isaac’s top Scar killer suddenly had a change of heart?”, because it’s hard for her to believe. She knows Abby’s reputation. She saw what Abby became over the years and what she did to Joel when they were in Jackson. I too would have a hard time believing it if I didn’t actually see it happen right in front of me.

Mel’s relationship with Owen is rocky and weird. She is pregnant. They are leaving Seattle. For the sake of her family? For her unborn child and their future, it’s not insane of her to not want someone who has only made her life more difficult and dangerous to come with her-- regardless of the fact that she still is by going with Owen.

I do honestly think that if Mel and Abby had more time together, if things weren’t as scary and unpredictable that they could be close again. If Owen and Abby actually talked things out, if their relationship wasn’t as tense and confusing as it was, that everything might have been a bit easier. But they weren’t given any of that.

Like I said, a lot of this anger is misplaced, and we don’t know how much of what she’s dishing out on Abby she has also given to Owen, if at all-- but I don’t think she’s crazy or unjust in feeling the way that she does. A lot is happening, and she has to think of her and her family first. She’s trying to salvage what she has left, desperate to not be left alone and pregnant in a war-torn city.

And lets not pretend like Mel telling Abby to stay behind was an easy decision for her, either. At the end of the day, this was her friend. This is someone who she loved and supported. I don't think that Mel would make this decision lightly, or if she didn't think that Abby couldn't deal woth the consequences of it.

Mel’s a tragic character. Her life ends on an argument. An argument where Owen finally chooses Abby and says out loud everything that Mel probably already knew.

I think a lot of people get so focused on how Abby feels in these moments that they struggle to take Mel’s POV into consideration, which is kind of funny considering the format of the game. And obviously no one has to like her or agree with her actions. She’s no saint, and nuanced and morally grey. But she’s not the villain that everyone makes her out to be.

I don’t even think that her dating Owen is that bad.

I get that dating a friend’s ex is not ideal, and for some it’s a friendship ender. But I don’t think that Mel was biting at the bit to get to Owen. I don’t think that they started dating the minute that Owen and Abby broke up. I don’t even think that Mel and Abby were particularly close when they did start dating.

And for the most part, Abby is kind of okay about it. She’s not jumping for joy, but she’s adult enough to talk to Mel about Owen, to ask about the baby and be friendly. I don’t think she’s even jealous of Mel specifically, but of the life Mel is living, if that makes sense.

Mel gets to love and be loved by Owen in a way that Abby never could. Mel goes on romantic excursions to the aquarium and has intimate Christmases. Mel makes time to spend with him, something that Abby just couldn’t do because of how focused she was on Joel.

It’s almost a bitterness at what she couldn’t let herself have, rather than a personal grudge against Mel for ‘taking it’ from her. I think Abby's comment to Owen about Mel being sweet compared to her helps show this.

I love Mel. I think she’s a really interesting character that adds a lot to Abby’s side of the story in the little that we see of her. She has a really big heart and obviously cares about her loved ones, including Abby. She's keeping an eye on their health, offering to get Abby sleep meds from the pharmacy when she talks about how she's struggling to sleep and letting Manny know that she can help cover his father's medication if he needs it.

She's strong willed and stubborn, almost to a fault. She'll tell you if she thinks you're wrong or she doesn't agree with your actions.

She feels remorse over the circumstances of Joel's death. She wanted it just as much as anyone else, but when faced with the gravity of it, she couldn't deal with it.

There's so many sides to her that I wish we got to see more of.