Why Beyond Two Souls's Ryan is Unsubtlely The Worst

Sony Computer Entertainment

Only you can prevent pathological emotional control from egotistical nutcases.

Recently, Plus Minus Infinity wrote a neat review of the cinematic gem Beyond: Two Souls. I took special steps to not spoil any major details of the since Beyond is completely unique compared to any game most people have ever played.

This time, I'm whipping out my Scales of Shit to reveal the truth about Beyond's potentially ridiculous ending. If you wish to continue living spoiler-free with this game, you can read about how cloning Mario Kart is a horrible video game idea instead.

For everyone else, I'll explain how Beyond's ending works. As the main protagonista, Jodie, you're presented with multiple choices after the final condenser machine goes haywire, its connection to the afterlife unleashing evil entities. Jodie is enveloped in the chaos, and if you can choose for her to survive you'll have more choices as seen below.

IZUNIY
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The names on the bottom of the pyramid are allies Jodie has met during her journey, and they are who you can choose for her to spend her life with.  For a loner with a hard knock life born of broken homes and powerlessness over her choices, this is a pivotal moment for her. A moment that some gamers are completely fucking up. Ultimately, it's up to you to decide, but some choices are better than others as described below as I tell you how to not muck this up. Be sure to only choose the top rated choices from this list or suffer the consequences of thinking for yourself which includes but is not limited to being wrong.


THE HOMELESS - ZOEY
The fairest choice of all would be for Jodie to live with the friendly neighborhood homeless group she's met in the middle of the game. These people never let her mystic juju power negatively affect their judgement of her, sharing their food and shelter without second thoughts. Never mind their own struggles with booze, drugs, and self-persecution, Jody's acceptance was nothing short of familial. That's a buttload of love coming from folks without actual homes.

We live in a world where avoiding eye contact with the Salvation Army donation Santa Clauses is common practice, so the impact of all of that selfless love for someone like Jodie would be incredible!

Plus, part of this group is the young Zoey recently out of an abusive relationship, a peer for Jodie to relate to. Zoey is pregnant when the two meet, birthing a child depending if you heartlessly let her writhe in agony in the snow during labor. I accidentally let her die wen I played, but I this group was still an option at the end regardless of her survival.

Now, if chosen, Jodie will be shown surrounded by the ex-homeless's surprisingly toothy, smiling faces in their new apartment. They've all gotten back on their feet, too, kicking drug abuse, babies, and alcoholism left and right all thanks to Jodie's help. It doesn't get much better than this!

CHOICE RATING: A+, the perfect choice even if you let a pregnant woman die.


FOREVER ALONE
This is the ending I chose for Jodie to have: living out the rest of her years alone for the simple reason that her ability to trust is damaged beyond all recognition after all she's endured. The game will show her living alone in an apartment followed by the foreshadowing future cut scene that accompanies each ending choice. But I'll explain further as to why this choice makes a lot of sense for Jodie for trivial reasons such as...

  • Her parents abandoning her as a child due to her connection with Aiden always fucking things up. I imagine potty training a toddler with an unpredictable ghost thrashing about was the last straw.
  • Jodie losing her father figure, Dawkins, due to his foolish, selfish desire to see his dead family again. He purposefully causes the giant condenser to go critical in the final moments of the game, almost killing Jodie, Ryan, and Cole (Cole is Jodie's other father figure, by the way). If you're wondering, Dawkins does see his family again after the awry condenser kills him. The jury is still out as to why he didn't wait to die naturally as opposed to threatening all of human life and being killed horrifically because of it. Not too bright, this one.

    Beyond Two Souls Wikia
    "Why? I'm a doctor, dammit."
  • Remember when Jodie killed presumably innocent people, including the father in front of his child in cold blood because of the manipulation of her love interest, Ryan? I feel this needs no further explanation as to how Jodie wouldn't be too privy to the whole "trust" thing after such an event. The survivor's guilt alone would probably plunge her into depression, urging her to seek solitude.
Man, all of this makes me glad that I have no supernatural powers that government agencies want to exploit. I don't even have regular powers that regular people want to exploit, and that's great (It's not great. I am very poor and alone).

Beyond all of this, you could still argue that Jodie's will is abnormally strong due to her abnormal upbringing forging a character of iron, resilient to life's tribulations. Buuut I've met people who have broken their iPhone's screen and turned out worse than Jodie.

CHOICE RATING: A, the thought of being seen shirtless is enough to make most Americans withdraw from life as they know it, so this one's more than a probable reaction for Jodie.



THE NAVAJOS - JAY
Remember the awesome scenes with the Navajo family? I think they were some of the most stunning, but other than that and the awesome sandstorm demon, I don't remember much else and neither would Jodie. She lived with that Navajo family for, what, a few days before moving on? It's just not fathomable that by the game's end she'd travel all the way back to Ticklebum, Nowhere to live with the family because she had a crush on the older boy, Jay. This premise makes sense only if the following is true:
  • You've killed all of the sweet homeless people like a sociopath.
  • Jodie, despite her life of abandonment, still has resolve to seek close relationships.
 But of course, you're good enough of a gamer to have made sure no one important died, right?

CHOICE RATING: C+, Jodie living with Jay and his family is a solid choice, but only if you've somehow killed everyone else important and if you believe she has the resolve to seek out Jay (after roughly only a week of knowing him) in the first place.


THE DOUCHE - RYAN
If the title is no hint, I believe choosing Ryan for Jodie to live with should be avoided at all costs. For starters, he's the first guy Jodie gets to know as he tears her from her father figures with the cold efficiency of a government agent, forcing her to begin CIA training as a teenager. Then, he uses her Stockholm syndrome to have her kill lots of presumably innocent people, including a father in front of his child. And finally, in the last condenser scene, this bastard suggests that she leave Cole behind to die during their escape attempt of the spooky ghosts from the self destructing condenser.
So, basically, he sucks and Jodie could do much, much better than someone as selfish as Ryan. After all, she is based on the American treasure, Ellen Page and she deserves the world dad gummit.

Ryan is so hate-worthy that I urge you to take care in letting his eyeball get torn out during the interrogation scene. That sounds mean, but maybe, just maybe from Jodie's perspective it's a small form of justice. Besides, he turns out fine.

PlayStation Magezine
Y'aaar! I suck.
I believe the inclusion of Ryan's ending exists to please those yearning for cliché Hollywood stories where the pretty white man gets the pretty white girl for the sake of appealing to the majority of gamers who, at least in America, are white dudes.

That fact alone isn't surprising to many of you, but the game takes it one step further by constantly pushing you towards making Jodie fall in love with Ryan despite how putrid of a sack of abusive shit he's been. It forces a romantic scenes with the subtlety of feral cats clawing for grip in the throes of screeching courtship.


Never mind Jodie is about to embark on a deadly, secretive mission that people with guns have tried to accomplish and ended up with their bodies in multiple places at once, her feeble woman brain makes the right choice to only focus on kissing Ryan. She realizes that they are simply too pretty and white to not be together! You know, romance.

Give me a break.

CHOICE RATING: F, if not for horrendous cliches, Beyond would be a stellar game for more than just the actors' performances and visual fidelity. We know drivel such as described is bad for consumption, but if most of us weren't secret vomit grovelling yokels proving that we enjoy seeing the pretty male lead "get" the girl (ex. Watch every top grossing action movie ever), this ending wouldn't be an option in the first place.

So, basically, bad writing in entertainment is all your fault. Happy gaming!

Comments

  1. Actually, Ellen Page is a Canadian treasure.

    Completely agree with your assessment of Ryan though.

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    1. That definitely explains her overall love-ability. Thanks for the info!

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  2. That's the spirit! Write your Congressmen, get fired up, take your phone outta its case and live like a rebel.

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  3. Although I do hate Ryan for what he did and that the game did push you to choose him for the ending, this is only your opinion. There is no need to be so rude. There are people who think he is actually a good choice for Jodie. Even I chose him mainly cause you see him more than any other ending choice for life. I was full on hating him till the end with the final Condenser. Still I stand by my decision with Ryan for the ending

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  4. Zoey's the baby actually. The mother's name is Tuesday ;)

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  5. I absolutely agree. I'd even rate the ryan option as a Z-. If the game had given me the option to shoot him and laugh, I would click it 200% lol

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    1. I appreciate that this poorly written article has moved you to share your thoughts, but the system is super buggy and removed your comments. Sorry.

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  9. I literally cried out of happiness when I saw Stan greeting Jodie by the door. They're all doing so good I'm so proud. Wish there were more chapters with them instead of Ryan though.. he's SUCH a waste of time.

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