![]() ![]() In the back half of the game he does have an intense scene with Horton, which is probably the best scene he gets in the game this time around. But now that seems almost out of place considering that we see he was constantly abused, his mother was constantly abused in front of him, he experienced multiple highly traumatic events and he did directly experience the overt racism of America that he seemed somewhat ignorant of in the first game with his childhood crush. The new revelations about his past also completely and totally recontextualize his relationship with America and his childhood, which up until that point was depicted by his own inner thoughts as being something he looked back on fondly, as a cherished time that he could escape to. Not only does he feel psychologically exhausted (a deliberate character trait because of the injuries) but the character as written in the game seems to have dialed down his naive patriotism by an order of magnitude. In The New Colossus BJ feels extremely passive and that's doubly true in the first half prior to him getting the new body. The perfect Yin and Yang of these two characters allowed for that beautiful but brief moment, and the followup scene where J dies is made even more excellent because of it. That's the America that (as far as we knew in 2014) he experienced in his life. BJ believes 100% in the America that exists in his mind, an idealistic vision of freedom and liberty. He's seen a side of America that BJ was blind towards by virtue of the circumstances of his Birth. J is extremely cynical, but also defeatist. It was a powerful scene, and the characterization of J and BJ felt absolutely on-point. ![]() ![]() In The New Order one of the best moments in the game was an (easy to miss) sequence with J where J calls BJ a Nazi, and BJ reacts extremely violently to the suggestion. You will need to bare with me for a bit, but I'll try to explain what I mean. I didn't like her but the problem was less her personality / character and more that other people seemed to defer too readily and did not call her out or react in a manner that felt in keeping with preexisting characterizations. ![]()
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