What's "a coming"?
In ep.4 Nerissa went after us desperate to find a way to point us in the right direction. She said that she didn't wanted to waste his time, but she also didn't wanted him to waste his time (like Bigby did in ep.3 going after Crane). She gets relieved when she overhears Snow telling Bigby that Beauty and Beast called asking for him to come over, and Nerissa leaves in a hurry insisting that he "should go on to his next business".
We know from ep.3 when Nerissa asks Bigby what he found what the motel that answering "Lily was killed there" or "It was Crane's room" doesn't surprise her, as she already knew that. Instead she looks disappointed, as if when she sent him there in ep2, hoping he would "find what (he) was looking for", she expected him to have found something else that could help. And the other thing we found out there was that Beauty is working to pay out debt she owed the Crooked Man.
We learned from the Tweedle's file on Beauty that "Georgies has an interest" in her and that they are "wait(ing) for the Crooked Man to give the ok". All indicates that she's the next in line to become another of Georgie's girls, working more than just the lobby and, I bet, ribbon holding her head together.
(My guess is that Nerissa expects Beauty to know a good enough deal to point us out in the right direction to get to the Crooked Man, without the lips spell to stop her, that's why Nerissa wanted Bigby to meet her from the beginning. She knew Beauty would get in the way of Bigby going up to room 207, and hopefully she would fill him in or if she resisted cooperating Bigby would extract the information from her).
Continuing, after Bigby sees Beauty and she points him in the direction of the Lucky Pawn (wherever you chose to go first) when he gets there, during upon meeting Jersey, the devil ridicules Bigby for going on a wild chase after Crane. Plus, when things get rough, if you chose to restrain Jersey instead of Woddy, he keeps ridiculing Bigby. "Are you still looking for whoever killed that hookers or are you done chasing your tail"? He makes it seem like going after a killer (Crane or any other suspect) is a fool's errand.
After beating Jersey, and having him give away all the information we need to proceed (pointing the Mirror as the way to find the Crooked Man, and where to find the missing shard), if you have Bigby question why he is being so helpful, Jersey just laughs and says that it doesn't matter, that "it's not gonna help when the time comes, and that time... it's a coming".
Then as Bigby is leaving, Jersey calls him and starts a villainous monologue that was by far the creepiest moment in the episode. (It started playing the same music as when we found Faith's severed head and investigated the surroundings, found the blood traces and ripped fabric. I still remember the first time I've played that scene... I couldn't believe the girl I just met could have died like this). Jersey rubbed in Bigby's face that there was nothing he could do about the dead girls, that nothing would bring them back, etc. (I thank Telltale for giving us an option to stomp his face, even though I didn't pick it. Bigby has to be better than this).
...
Anyway, Nerissa's hurry in getting us back on track and Jersey's comment about there being nothing Bigby could do when the time comes are an indication that something big may be about to happen. From the beginning, I didn't think that the game would conclude with Bigby finding the people responsible for the murders and turning them over, now I'm sure that some major shit is coming in ep5... but what? All the mystery surrounding black market magic and the abuse against fables to get it done may turn out to be a greater threat than the broken system Snow is so worried about fixing.
So, any thoughts? Theories? Hints on what may be coming?
(Replaying the episode really worked for me, going to the Lucky Pawn first made the episode feel much richer and longer than the first time when I chose the Cut Above. Toad, Jack and exploring the store were way more rewarding than the "math" erased from the board in the meatlocker. My first impression of ep.4 would have been way better if I had picked the Lucky Pawn first in my first playthrough. That's how much replay value Telltale game's have).
Comments
I found our scene in episode 4 with Nerissa reminiscent with our final scene with Faith in the episode 1. The lighting of her cigarette, how both Faith and Nerissa draw attention to their ribbon by repeating a similar phrase "You like my ribbon?" to "Do you like it", and how Faith and Nerissa rest their hand upon Bigby's arm and then awkwardly pull away.
I've noticed that too, plus Faith wanted to see the Sheriff in his office as well. But I'm hoping things won't turn out to be anything like Faith faked her death using Lily's head/body glamoured as herself (then her or someone else glamoured Lily as Snow to frame her death on Crane, staging the scene at 207) and ever since Faith has been disguised as Nerissa. I mean, after all both girls have been working in the P&P for some time. If Nerissa was someone who "coincidentally" just came into town, that could be the case, but Georgie only hires girls in debt, so Nerissa had to have a long history with the Crooked Man and him. Nerissa being Faith can't be the case unless she killed Lily, kidnapped/killed the real Nerissa, etc. But, hell, that's stretching it, lol!
I agree, going to the Lucky Pawn first makes the story flow better, and you don't really miss out on much at the Butcher by doing so.
I hope Nerissa survives all this. She doesn't deserve to die.
A few things I'm thinking about:
1) Someone has been stealing artifacts from Fables' homes and pawning them (likely Jack).
2) The Pudding 'n Pie girls are the only ones with ribbons, which would seem to imply that they're an important part of the organisation. That magic can't come cheap. Maybe they were functioning as the Crooked Man's eyes and ears throughout Fabletown's disenfranchised?
3) The Crooked Man has access to illegal magic, and from the looks of it has been supplying a large number of Fables from all tiers of society. Who knows what he could have done to the products he was peddling? They could all have a secret control spell weaved in, or something.
4) Bloody Mary is still a complete mystery. The fact we know practically nothing about her, this late in the proceedings, makes me think it even more likely that she is Aunty Greenleaf's lost daughter.
Faith wasn't murdered, Nerissa tried to help her get the ribbon off and it killed her. She left the head on the doorsteps to get Bigby to investigate the whole ribbon mess.
Holly killed Lilly. She heard about Faith and hired someone to kill Snow and make it look like a serial killer to draw suspicion away from her and Gren.
Ehm, I don't think I'll put any money on my "theory" though. Maybe if I find some change in my couch, maybe.
for 4. her book of fables entry disproves that
There's just no way that Nerissa and Faith wouldn't know that removing the ribbon would result in their deaths. Why wouldn't they've tried to remove it before then?
And do you really think that Holly wanted to kill Snow after she heard about Faith's death (why the fuck?) but ended up killing her hooking sister who was coincidentally glamoured as Snow? Seriously???
I appreciate the response.
I don’t think it would necessarily need to be as convoluted as you indicated. "Donkey Girl" has an established past were she assumes an alternate identity when she feels threatened.
Faith would have had the means to make this transformation. We have encountered numerous glamours these past two episodes and we have seen that the ladies of the Pudding & Pie had access to them. In fact there is a photo of the trio (Faith, Lily, and Nerissa) that each of the girls may have possessed that could have been used as a component for the glamour.
This still requires something happening to Nerrisa (probably death) to allow Faith to effectively take her place.
I must admit this is remains highly speculative.
Still to me the similarities between the aforementioned scenes in episodes 1 & 4 between Faith & Nerissa appear intentional (by the games designer) and not some quirk.
Either way it will be interesting to see why Nerrisa has been so invested in helping Bigby throughout these episodes.
That Math Board as described had some interesting tidbits:
Faith – J / DD
Lily – DD / J / Z
Vivian – Z / DD / F / V
Nerissa – H / J / DD
F – Clear Eye
H – Dew of the Sea
J – Dragon Wart
V – Innocence of Erin
Z – Nose Bleed
DD – Star of the North
It is interesting to note that each of the girls from the Pudding & Pie typically use both J and DD except Vivian who only uses DD; It maybe because she isn’t involved in the seedier part of the operation.
Not sure it is anything valuable, but I found it interesting looking for patterns.
Star of the North may be used in the ribbons. Vivian is in his circle but she still wears a ribbon.
Someone really needs to open a discussion with all the "math" and the potions/ingredients linked to the codes... Someone did open math table discussion but it was missing the potions... and I can't seem to find it anymore... :-(
I expect gren to beat the shit out of jersey after what he apparently did