I think there’s an interesting parallel to be drawn between Chase saving both Eli and Visi from their deaths at the hands of Robbie/Shroud, especially as it relates to the question of, "Is heroism an innate quality some people have and others just don't?"
in The Death of Mecha Man, Robbie beats the shit out of Eli and Chase intervenes. In the next scene we learn that Chase thought Robbie was going to kill Eli. Robbie then goes on to say:
Chase, I always knew you had it from the first day we met. With Eli, I've never been convinced. But if he comes back tomorrow after [the beating], I'll know for sure I've got a real hero on my hands.
According to Robbie, Chase has "it"—an inherent quality that makes him predisposed to heroism—and Eli doesn’t. The only way Eli can prove Robbie wrong is to swallow his pride after nearly being beaten to death and come crawling back to Robbie—but would that actually change Robbie's mind? Or would it just give him the confidence that Eli can be controlled through violence?
(Which is almost exactly Shroud's motive: "[...] you think you can beat the bad by being good, but there’s no solving human nature. You can’t stop evil. All you can do is control it." People can act good, but they can't "solve" the problem of their TRUE nature. The only real solution is control.)
And while Chase seems unconvinced, Eli then goes on to kill Robbie, lending credence to Robbie's assessment of his character.
Fast forward fifteen years and Chase and Robert have a similar conversation on the balcony of Robert’s apartment in episode 6, but this time Chase is in Robbie’s position. When Robert sympathetically describes Visi’s fear of being born to be a villain and speculates about how he might have ended up if didn’t have his dad and Chase in his life, Chase says:
You were always good. That was always in you. It’s what makes us different from a thief like her.
Chase dismisses Robert's empathy for Visi by saying there is something good in Robert (and himself) that makes them different from her. This is the same rigid perspective Robbie demonstrates—as if both Elliot and Chase internalized Robbie's rhetoric around what makes someone a hero and are just repeating variations of that point of view informed by their different places on the Robbie-designated hero/villain scale. It's also Visi’s exact fear. Her true concern isn’t about her powers themselves, it’s about the innate goodness she fears she was born without, which makes her doomed to a life where she can't be anything but bad.
But, Robert offers an alternate point of view to Chase's: Visi isn't lacking some vague heroic quality, but rather the social support necessary to make heroic choices.
Shortly after this exchange, when Visi is in imminent danger of dying to Shroud’s smoke bomb, Chase chooses to risk his own life to save her. It's an important moment for Chase's character, where he listens to Robert and chooses to believe that with help, a villain like Visi can become a hero. He makes a conscious decision to give Visi this chance as a direct result of Robert's assessment of her, and despite his prior experience with Shroud and Robbie.
But, just like saving Eli didn't turn him away from villainy, Chase rescuing Visi alone isn't enough to fully convince her she can be good. The difference between Eli and Visi's fates is in the ways the player chooses to have Robert show up for her (or not) throughout the game.
Ultimately, the player gets to decide if Robert falls back on the same talking points as his dad and leaves Visi to the fate she is so afraid of... Or they can choose to have him to affirm that goodness (and recovery) take practice and offer her the support she needs to succeed in making better choices. Which is, of course, one of the central themes of the entire game 😌✨
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