Harvey Dent and his fate
Something clearly bugs me about Harvey Dent and his evolution from Episode 2 to Episode 3.
At the end of Episode 2, you have the choice to either save Harvey, or help Selina. If you choose to help her, apparently Harvey gets his head smashed by Cobblepot and looks really like Two Face. This is maybe the turning point for him becoming the villain we know.
But I chose to save him because I wanted to prevent that ! Plus I thought Selina could manage on her own ( which she did thankfully ) .. but I was in fact convinced by Harvey himself.
I was truly amazed by his performance at the debate : even under the influence of the poison, he struggled against his demons and said nothing but good things about Gotham, about its citizens. That's what convinced me that he really was a good person and had only Gotham's best interests at heart. That's what convinced me that Gotham needed him.
However, in Episode 3 we discover that he has a split personality disorder : it gets only worse, he seems to lose control and in Selina's apartment he truly has two faces like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I was crushed because I had the impression that saving him absolutely changed NOTHING.
But what I don't understand is this : how come we have a Harvey in Episode 3 who's completely unstable, losing control of his evil side who's clearly really violent and dangerous .. but we had a Harvey in Episode 2 who fought a poison and had nothing but good things to say ?
How come this poison didn't bring this evil side of him to the surface during the debate, and only appeared afterwards ? This doesn't seem to make any sense .. or is it only a vicious move from Telltale to make us save him only to assist his downfall afterwards ?
Comments
Maybe down the line the choice will affect which side of Two Face is more dominant.
Having watched the two versions back to back, I think it's safe to say that a burned Harvey is much further down the Two-Face path. I think if we get the choice to redeem him, it will be much easier if he isn't burned and possibly impossible if he is.
I actually think the change made sense. The poison alone in that moment wasn't enough to do it, but everything all together in the aftermath was a perfect recipe for his mental issues to come back out. The poison is suggested to have side effects (and I wonder if this won't be something that affects Montoya too), Harvey has a history of mental problems, and the trauma from the debate and the pressure of being mayor under these circumstances got to him. I think by the time Episode 3 came around, everything had had time to settle in to a dangerous level. Thus him watching the events of the debate over and over again and feeding into his own madness.
I really don't understand why I keep getting double posts. It's annoying. Ignore this one!
I'm getting more and more thankful that I saved Selina instead of Harvey. If he is going to be a villain anyway, it's better to have a compelling breaking point for him. Plus the burnt face looks terrifyingly awesome
I think he has a compelling break if you save him, too. I believe he'll still have to kill someone with his bare hands in self defense if you save Montoya after that but even if you don't the debate is a big turning point. He was drugged, two people were killed in front of him (including one guy he was trying to protect), and he's really internalized the idea that he was being a coward somehow (what is even with that? He was really heroic just not all that skilled) when Penguin tried to beat him to death with the light. And then he's attacked a second time the second he gets out of the hospital and finds out his movements are being watched? Combined with already having a history of psychosis or whatever and having that come out of control his break-down may be a bit slower, a bit different, a bit less comic book villain but it's still very compelling and believable.