#fever thoughts

First, the very thought upsets me. I've loved that man for twenty years. I know, sometimes heroes need to die. But I don't think line-of-duty death suits Leon.

So obviously, I'm on team "Leon survives." Based on my observation (however limited it may be), the people who are on team "Leon must die" fall under one of these categories:

People who legitimately are sick and tired of seeing Leon's face and not wanting to see him in future games. Basically bona fide Leon haters. - Ok I can't even argue with this, if you hate him, I guess it makes sense that you want him to die. Although idk how one could get sick and tired of Leon Scott Kennedy. I would never.

People who take pleasure in seeing Leon fans upset - Ok, I guess people gotta have hobbies.

People who *love* Leon so much, they'd rather see him die while he is on his prime, than see him get old, decrepit, and "useless". Retirement = boring. - So? Give the man peace. Let him fucking retire in a nice beach facing property with all the money in the world. What the fuck's so wrong about that?

People who believe that a major character dying is SO EPIC and dying is the best thing that can happen to them because it elevates them in a "legendary" status, almost like "deified", if that makes sense. Much angst = good storytelling. "Happy endings are for children!" they say.

Um, Leon doesn't need to die to be legendary. He already is. MISS ME with that.

I don't have a very complicated reasoning to this. Besides the fact that I typically don't like characters I love to die, I also feel like Leon dying sends the message of, "life sucks and then you die." Who wants to see that?

I recognize that some people enjoy that tragic, depressing type of stories. Maybe a main character who suffers til the end is satisfying. But is that a good way to end his story?

Leon's been suffering since RE2. The man survived almost 30 years of bio-terror. Killing him off feels like a slap in the face. It's so bleak, I can't even imagine how Capcom would recover from the backlash.

UNLESS, it's what he wants, like he is legitimately at peace with it. Or if it's done extremely well (which I do not trust Capcom to do).

So if he DOES die (which I believe is still possible), I don't know, I think I'd hike the deepest trail for six hours straight. Hey, at least I'll look hot.

Personally, I don't think Leon's story is about sacrifice or martyrdom. I think he is a symbol of surviving odds. Endurance. Hope. Pushing through even with impossible odds. He can still be the legendary Leon Kennedy and be a professor of bio-terror at Harvard or something. Dude doesn't need to backflip til he's 70.

Also, if this game is about passing the baton, the message is basically, "we kill Leon, but you get Grace." That's... a lot of faith to put in a new character. How do you know I'll like her? I might hate her if she's the reason why Leon dies tbh lol

Okay, so to sum it up, I'm 50-50 on Leon kicking the bucket.

-He's gonna survive because it's narratively consistent. Also, he's such a beloved character universally. The Japanese love him. Girls and boys love him. Would Capcom risk upsetting/alienating the fans?

-On the other hand, the reason why I think he might die is because someone from Capcom, the director or the producer, said something about Leon's headspace, about how he keeps fighting but nothing ever changes, the world hasn't improved. So... maybe he's like, fuck it, if killing me saves the world, I'll do it. - NOOOO. Leon. I'll fucking cry.

Bonus: If Ashley is the headset woman? And she witnesses Leon dying? I can't even imagine the grief. A piece of her heart will die with him, I'm sure of it. So now, you not only ruined my day, but you also ruined Ashley's day. How could you live with yourselves?

Anyway. Yeah. That's how I feel about it. Give me the disney fucking ending anyday.

Well, I’m sick at home, so I might as well do something in my feverish haze, so why not talk about my current obsession?

There’s one thing I wanted to bring up in the episode that both made me cringe, I really liked, thought it was an improvement over, and that the rest of the fandom seems to be hating on:

Charlie’s mistakes, particularly with Angel.

Now, let me be in the minority when I say this:

I like that she messed up pretty big in this episode, because they called her out on something that’s bothered me since season one.

Angel told her here that “not everything can be forgiven with just an apology” (or something to that effect), which was a big complaint I had in season one episode 4 when she got Angel in that horrible situation with Val, and all she did was say sorry while crying.

Sometimes acknowledging you’ve done wrong and promising you won’t repeat the same mistake is good, but you need actually accountability and action in order to grow and properly apologize, which is something that I don’t think she did in season one.

So I’m glad she messed up here. It provides a great opportunity for her to grow as a character, and actually learn as a person and overcome her naive nature.

TLDR: I like that Charlie messed up and that Angel didn’t immediately forgive her. Because this can lead to some much needed character development on her behalf by actually putting in the work and improving herself as well along with the hotel and the other guests.

And a side note: I do like what she said to Vox: “I believe anyone can be redeemed”.

I feel like that is honestly where her naivety really does shine, is in that hope for humanity. I find it very endearing overall, but I hope she does get smarter about who deserves it.