Posted July 20, 2018
So, the first time I played through the game I got seriously pissed at the ending of episode 3 (which, in case you've forgotten, has Erica experience the situation she's been having visions of, except instead of the killer killing her, she ends up shooting and killing John). I just viewed it as a cheap emotional sucker punch, a 'lol, whoopsie!' moment that made Erica come off as an idiot.
However, after playing through it again, I've gained another perspective.
First off: It's been established that Erica cannot see the future. Yet, in this one situation she does have a recurring vision of the future. Why is that?
Well, jumping back to Cordelia for a moment, we learned earlier in Episode 3 that not only can Cordelia see the future but she can change it (as Rose points out to her, some visions are 'malleable').
Thirdly, it was likewise established in Episode 3 that Cordelia and Erica can sense each other through time. Their powers are seemingly intertwined - Cordelia (in the past) knows that Erica will be watching her, and Erica (in the now) experiences the past almost 1:1 along with her.
Now, what I realized is that the vision of Erica dying wasn't Erica's vision - it was Cordelias!
This is even further proved at one point in Episode 3 where, if Erica tries to use her cognition power while inside Cornelia's past, it triggers the vision of Erica dying.
In the past, Cordelia had the vision of Erica being killed. When you combine that with the fact that her power seemingly drove Cordelia mad - she knew Max's death would come true but nobody was willing to believe her - and that she at several points in the visions of the past expresses that "knowing that Erica is watching" calms her, it is highly plausible that Cordelia has been spending the last couple of years after Max's death trying to prevent the vision from coming true. That may even have been why she started killing - she needed to force Erica to fully embrace her powers.
In the end Erica, having just been told by John how he could've saved Scott, but didn't because he didn't believe enough in the 'mumbo-jumbo', in turn becomes so convinced that 'her' vision is real that she blindly shoots without hesitating - and kills John.
It is almost symbolic that that Cordelia, the Oracle, who spent years honing her power while meticulously setting Erica up to fully embrace hers, is in a way ultimately responsible for making Erica kill the skeptic, who spent the last few episodes trying to get her to stop relying on her powers. At the same time, it is a twist of irony that the one murder Cordelia was able to stop led to Erica killing her own partner - although I doubt Cordelia would care much, as to her, John just stood by and let Max be murdered.
It is a shame that the last episode struggled to wrap things up in a satisfactory was, as this was really a case of a dumb plot twist actually becoming brilliant once you dig down into it.
But hey, that's just a theory. A GAME THEORY. Thanks for reading.
However, after playing through it again, I've gained another perspective.
First off: It's been established that Erica cannot see the future. Yet, in this one situation she does have a recurring vision of the future. Why is that?
Well, jumping back to Cordelia for a moment, we learned earlier in Episode 3 that not only can Cordelia see the future but she can change it (as Rose points out to her, some visions are 'malleable').
Thirdly, it was likewise established in Episode 3 that Cordelia and Erica can sense each other through time. Their powers are seemingly intertwined - Cordelia (in the past) knows that Erica will be watching her, and Erica (in the now) experiences the past almost 1:1 along with her.
Now, what I realized is that the vision of Erica dying wasn't Erica's vision - it was Cordelias!
This is even further proved at one point in Episode 3 where, if Erica tries to use her cognition power while inside Cornelia's past, it triggers the vision of Erica dying.
In the past, Cordelia had the vision of Erica being killed. When you combine that with the fact that her power seemingly drove Cordelia mad - she knew Max's death would come true but nobody was willing to believe her - and that she at several points in the visions of the past expresses that "knowing that Erica is watching" calms her, it is highly plausible that Cordelia has been spending the last couple of years after Max's death trying to prevent the vision from coming true. That may even have been why she started killing - she needed to force Erica to fully embrace her powers.
In the end Erica, having just been told by John how he could've saved Scott, but didn't because he didn't believe enough in the 'mumbo-jumbo', in turn becomes so convinced that 'her' vision is real that she blindly shoots without hesitating - and kills John.
It is almost symbolic that that Cordelia, the Oracle, who spent years honing her power while meticulously setting Erica up to fully embrace hers, is in a way ultimately responsible for making Erica kill the skeptic, who spent the last few episodes trying to get her to stop relying on her powers. At the same time, it is a twist of irony that the one murder Cordelia was able to stop led to Erica killing her own partner - although I doubt Cordelia would care much, as to her, John just stood by and let Max be murdered.
It is a shame that the last episode struggled to wrap things up in a satisfactory was, as this was really a case of a dumb plot twist actually becoming brilliant once you dig down into it.
But hey, that's just a theory. A GAME THEORY. Thanks for reading.
Post edited July 20, 2018 by Lhademmor