#joyce madsen

[chloepleasestopdying]

Like I understand that most people don’t want to get into how bad Joyce is in fic ( most fics are ship based just to start) and the game is clear on it’s stance on the matter ( Which is that Joyce is mother of the year and tried her very hardest but Chloe is stuck in her grief and if she just gave David a real chance everything would be sunshine and rainbows) but ugh.

No doubt there’s like a dozen posts on this blog about how annoyed I am about it but honestly it really does annoy the hell out of me. I mean come on guys! Putting aside that Chloe lost her father and was undoubtedly a hard teenager to raise: Joyce started dating a man within a couple months of William’s death ( I believe we dated it at like 5 or 6 months) and continued despite seeing how Chloe felt about it. Yes- she can date who she wanted too but she had to have seen how much it hurt Chloe.

David clearly pushed Chloe into being more aggressive and angry. She was a young teenager who lost her father and instead of getting a hint of compassion from her mother or new shiny step father her needs were completely ignored. And Joyce just sat there and went ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with that girl I did all I could 😔’ while David’s over there poking her with a stick.

It just really gets me that Joyce only kicked David out when she learned about the cameras and not if Max tells her that he hit Chloe. She can excuse her husband hitting her daughter but not an invasion of her own privacy. 

[polorizetheory]

Like Mother Like Daughter

I never noticed this before, but it's interesting how in a way, Joyce and Chloe both found different people who helped them move on from the people they loved and lost. Joyce lost William, and Chloe in turn lost both William and Max. William and Max were part of a happy life, an era where while things were not exactly perfect, they were still memorable and good. So good in fact, when William died and Max had to leave for Seattle, Joyce almost immediately began dating another man while Chloe was spiraling into self destruction. Going into dangerous places and associating herself or getting into trouble with dangerous people.

Chloe, for the life of her, could not understand how or why Joyce would practically run into the arms of another man when her own father's funeral wasn't that long ago. How she could betray William, a good man, like that over David who is a total stranger.

Which makes so much sense as to why Chloe never made that comparison with Rachel, a total stranger at the time became who Chloe fell head over heels for. To Chloe, at least she had reasons. Max abandoned her (granted Max was 13 and had no control over the situation and in theory was afraid Chloe was the one moving on without her.), and in addition was not even feeling comfortable in her own household. Rachel gave Chloe reasons to keep going forward in life, she came to her like an angel ascending in to the darkest period in her teenhood.

Chloe never once thought that was probably why Joyce did what she did. For Joyce, it felt like what Chloe felt about William all this time.

"HE CHOOSE TO LEAVE ME!"

Joyce might have been angry at William for dying, as irrational as that sounds. "Why didn't he just took the bus to pick me up? Why couldn't he leave home earlier? How could he do this to me?" This of course does not excuse Joyce for choosing a man over her own child and make excuses for his actions instead of being understanding of what her daughter was going through. But it does show that in some ways, Chloe did get her irrationality and a desperate need to move forward as a coping mechanism from her. With David, he gave Joyce a reason to be happy, and like Rachel to Chloe, he showed her that she could find love in her life again. Unlike Chloe, maybe Joyce saw that comparison too, and was at least grateful that while Chloe was still a delinquent, Rachel was there for at least a distraction.

And it couldn't be just a coincidence that after the anniversary of William's death, that's when Max popped in to Chloe's life and saved her.

[worseforwarren]

after playing the last episode, i can’t stop thinking about how misunderstood david was as a person. sure, some of the things he did were way out of line but from his perspective, he was just trying to protect everyone, especially his family. i don’t completely get his actions, but i can see why he did everything he did.

for example, the cameras around the house, he was just trying to keep his family safe. not only was he a soldier, (which would make him extremely paranoid) he also knew how dangerous arcadia bay was becoming, from rachel’s disappearance to the rumours about nathan possessing a gun and maybe even frank’s drug business (he knew chloe was smoking weed and he most likely knew frank was her dealer considering he knew basically everything going on in arcadia bay)

when david ended up saving max from the dark room, she tells him about jefferson killing chloe, resulting in him practically having a meltdown in front of her, leading up to him shooting jefferson in the head

you can see how distraught he is when he hears the news of chloe’s death. regretting his time with her, wishing that it could’ve been different, that he had told her, i’m guessing, that he loved her.

the only thing he can think about is the fact that he ‘failed’ joyce in keeping her daughter safe. you can tell he blames himself when he says ‘right under my nose’ since he crossed paths with jefferson multiple times

as he sits down on the ground with his head in his hands, if you stay long enough, you can hear him say ‘what do i tell joyce?’, most likely fearing the breakdown that will come when she hears the news that the only other family she had, is now dead. he was probably thinking about william in this scene, knowing that, as strong as she seems to be, she most likely couldn’t handle another loved one dying

again, if you stick around, you can hear him mumble to himself ‘why can’t i just wake up? let this be a nightmare’ showing how much he cared for chloe, although he might not have shown it

ultimately, i believe that david truly loved his family and just wished he could’ve spent his time differently with them, regretting his choice of mainly focusing on keeping them safe instead of spending quality time together

[tangent101]

How to "justify" Sacrifice Chloe

The biggest problem with Sacrifice Chloe is the fact that we don't know that letting Chloe die will in fact do anything to save the town. It is entirely possible without knowledge of the game ending that Sacrifice Chloe would be the Bad End with Max crushed by the lighthouse falling on her in the Storm as seen at the prologue of the game. So then... without allowing Spoilers to influence the player, what would be an effective method of showing Chloe's death would save the town?

It requires rewriting a good portion of Chapter 5 of the game.

Max is no longer trying to get to Two Whales. Instead, she is trying to reach a small medical center where Chloe was taken after being shot. This is not a proper hospital. Chloe was found hours after she was shot, she is obviously dying, and the Storm is preventing traffic from leaving Arcadia Bay.

The benefit of a small medical center is we could also have Kate taken there after her... incident on top of the dorms, assuming she didn't jump. Kate would be there under supervision but was going to be released to her family's custody when the Storm hits. Meanwhile, Warren drove Joyce to the medical center when Joyce learns that Chloe is dying.

Shortly before Max arrives at the medical center, Joyce chooses to discontinue life support. Chloe is not going to recover, the Storm is probably going to knock out even the emergency generator, better to just let her die naturally. Max gets there moments before Chloe dies, gets to be all teary-eyed and upset that Joyce pulled the plug... and the moment Chloe flatlines? The Storm just ends.

Kate would be all "it's a miracle!" while Warren is naturally saying things like "there are no miracles, the tornado just ran out of steam? They do that!" and Joyce is crying… and saying "Chloe stopped the Storm. She died to save us all!"

Max is insisting on having the photograph Warren took of her and him, and he demands to know why and finally she drags him to the hall and admits about the time travel. At that point Warren insists that the Storm was caused by saving Chloe and that she caused everything and Max grabs the photo and jumps out.

You thus have proof that Chloe's death stops the Storm. You have more Kate (and Kate is just a sweet girl who doesn't insist on anything) and Joyce claiming that Chloe's death stops the Storm and that puts the seeds into Max's head. And more, that is why Chloe is insisting on Max "saving" Joyce and crew. Because Joyce wanted her dead to save everyone (or that's how Chloe will interpret it).

I might even have Kate (if she's alive) with Max and Chloe during the Storm at the end - Autopilot-Max and Chloe snag Kate to keep her safe. During the Final Choice, Kate will be the voice of "you can't sacrifice her… that's wrong! God didn't want Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, He wouldn't want you to sacrifice Chloe!" while Chloe is all "but it will save everyone!" The Final Choice remains Max's. (And in the end, Max, Chloe, and Kate go off together... or Max chooses to sacrifice her best friend believing Warren to be right.)

Of course I'm also a proponent of the Third Option: Sacrifice Max. Max chooses to openly intervene and gets shot by Nathan by accusing him of killing Rachel. The shooting of a quiet girl too small to be a threat to Nathan ensures he goes to jail (no escaping with an appeal this time you rich fuck) and at the end Chloe leaves with Max's parents, wanting nothing to do with this dead end town that devoured the lives of her two best friends.

[rainboq]

It bugs me how the devs tried to make the Chloe vs David & Joyce conflict a case of both sides being in the wrong, when David's the headcase who refuses to get his free(!) therapy, Joyce is the clownboat who makes excuses for her man hitting a minor, and Chloe's a teenager who's lost both her best friend and beloved father, and had her mom replace said father with the aforementioned headcase after only a few months (prior to the BtS retcon anyway, lest Chloe actually look reasonable there).

Preach it, Anon!

People love to point out that Chloe acts out, disrespects him, etc, as if her just meekly complying would end whatever problems. Those people give me the heebie jeebies, because they think the correct thing to do with an out of control authority figure is to just comply. Big 'if they hadn't done anything wrong, why did they run/resist/not comply' energy. They conveniently seem to forget that David was also terrorizing Kate; the exact kind of meek, complaint, and passive girl they want Chloe to be.

The truth is, it doesn't matter how Chloe acted. She could have been meek and passive, and he still would have abused her, because abuse isn't about the victim's behaviour, it's about the abuser's need for control. Chloe isn't being an asshole teenager, she's standing up for herself like William taught her too. She wasn't raised to turn the other cheek and accept abuse, but to stand up for herself and those around her. David cannot accept any perceived challenges to his authority. Even if Chloe had done everything he'd asked for, he would have invented reasons to attack her because he feels the need to enforce his control and feed his ego.

Also, BtS David isn't better. He still tramples every single boundary Chloe puts up, tells her that she's been 'enjoying her vacation from a father figure', and constantly violates her privacy by asking her to turn out her pockets or trashing her room. The only reason he seems better is because he's busy love bombing Joyce, who is all too happy to enable his abuse of Chloe because she needs them to "be a family" without putting in any of the work needed to actually build one. Anyone who's familiar with love bombing and the early warning signs of domestic abuse is going to take one look at BtS David and start screaming.

The problem was always David, and if he'd been someone Chloe could trust in the slightest, she never would have ended up in that bathroom. Think about the kind of home life Chloe lives where her drink gets spiked, and she doesn't feel safe telling her mom about it.

[tangent101]

Honestly? I think Joyce lied here. Deliberately.

Why?

Because Joyce wants Max to be around Chloe because she remembers how Max would help calm Chloe down. She's hoping that with Max here, Chloe will "become a good girl" and settle down and stop being in David's face or the like. After all, Max is the type who'd take a slap to the face and just never tell anyone, right? (No. She wouldn't. She'd report David for hitting her. But Joyce is looking at Max and seeing the 13-year-old girl who was shy and polite, not the girl who spent five years being bullied and living in the city. We're talking the girl who took a gun and pointed it at Frank and contemplates shooting Frank and may even have tried to. Max is not the "good little girl" she was at 13. She's matured a lot.)

Five years ago feels like a thousand now…

[lifeisstrangearchive]

In-universe pictures of Chloe

[dalekofchaos]

Choices I would've added to Life Is Strange

I posted this on the LIS subreddit and thought I'd post it on here.

I wanted to keep to the same story without altering anything major, otherwise I would've stuck to the original plotline with Sean as the big bad, Nathan knowing about the storm, have Max, Chloe, Warren and Victoria team up to give Warren, Kate and Victoria more screen time and give them romance paths and add a ending where Max goes back to save Rachel, Chloe and the Bay.

I might be breaking a rule by adding more Warren, but cut content suggests we were meant to see Max, Chloe and Warren together as a team. Concept art sketch for a cut scene by Edouard Caplain, depicting Max Caulfield, Chloe Price and Warren Graham

Episode 1

Take photo of David harassing Kate. Rewind. Comfort Kate. Keep photo. To this day it baffles me that this is the only time - the only time - where the game breaks its own rules of "Max keeps things on her when she rewinds." Even small things like helping Joyce make breakfast respects this rule. If you tell Joyce you want one thing, grab all the ingredients, and then rewind to tell her you want the other thing, all the ingredients you grabbed are still in your inventory! You can have the items for both breakfasts in your inventory. Though the game does remove them all once you talk to Joyce and commit to making breakfast. You could make an argument that the photo didn't exist to the point she rewinds to, which breaks the semantics of how the time-rewind works (notably how if you pick up an object off say a table, then rewind to before you picked it up, it's still no longer on the table), but it still annoys me endlessly. Because that was my natural thought on that sequence, and the game just slaps your wrist and says "No. In this game all about rewinding and undoing your decisions and not having to commit to them, you have to commit to one." It becomes more relevant and thematic in later chapters, but it just felt oddly out of place so early in Chapter 2.

The choice between Help Warren before jumping into Chloe's truck or not. If you help Warren, Max kicks Nathan in the balls and Warren doesn't get a black eye. If you don't help, Warren gets a black eye as was in canon

Warren romance playthrough. A series of choices to help flesh out Warren as a character and a potential partner for Max. Continuing on the Help Warren choice. Helping Warren also leads to Warren hopping in the truck with Max and Chloe. Warren has a black eye from the headbutt and Chloe offers to use the first aid kit in the bathroom. Cute scene where Max helps Warren reduces the swelling of his black eye and you have the option to hold Warren’s hand or not. Warren takes off when his eye is healed up enough and wishes Max well in reconnecting with Chloe

If you choose to comfort Victoria, this leads to an actual friendship with Victoria. When she sends the thnx but we're not friends" text, you can reply insisting on it. This will prompt you to go back to the dormitories and when you go back to Vic’s dorm, Max and Victoria get to talk, become close, show Victoria the pictures Max has taken, have a laugh over the email situation and get Victoria to see the way she was treating Kate was wrong. Victoria will tell Max that she was jealous over her not caring what anyone thinks of her and thanks Max for coming and invites her to join the Vortex Club as it needs real cool people like her and not snobs and suck ups. Max asks advice on what to do with Chloe and tells her how guilty she feels for not keeping in touch and asks what she should do. Victoria tells Max to suck it up and get back in touch and make it up to Chloe and Max thanks Victoria for the advice and they leave as friends.

If you took Victoria's photo after Chloe proclaims "booyah skank, karma's a bitch" Chloe will ask to keep it because it gives her joy to seeing Victoria brought down to a peg and that Rachel would've loved it.(will add onto this for the other episodes)

Episode 1 ends with Max, Chloe and Warren together as the snow falls(evidenced by the concept art)

Episode 2

Romance Warren path. After Warren's offer to Go Ape, Max gets to explain her powers and the situation with Kate and Nathan. We get to prove it to Warren, we also get to learn more about Warren as a character. We find out Warren is basically the boy version of Matilda. Was neglected as a child, so he chose books and science as his passion and sci-fi and it made him feel whole.(idk this was the best I could come up with, but it’s more than what DONTNOD has given us) then Warren will promise that he will look around and help out with Kate.

Max will take photographic evidence of Nathan vandalizing Max's room and leaving the threatening messages. When Max accuses Nathan at the end of the episode, she presents it to Wells, Wells recognizes the message as Nathan's handwriting and Jefferson recognizes the photo as Nathan's style and this leads to Nathan spending the night in jail as well as being suspended.

Continuing on from Chloe and Victoria's paint photo. We are given the chance to tell Chloe about Kate's situation and let’s say in addition to showing off our powers to Chloe, Max tells Chloe about Kate’s ordeal and Chloe’s just as pissed as Max. Maybe in the Junkyard or on the way back to Blackwell, Chloe will offer Max to mass produce the pictures, post them everywhere at Blackwell and email the picture so she can post it online. She says “let’s call this Kate’s revenge” if you accept this will happen throughout episodes 3-4. -Victoria feels what it’s like to be humiliated and bullied and feels some humility -Everyone in the Vortex Club except Nathan turns on Victoria -Everyone in Blackwell calls her “paintgirl” and some things worse. -Victoria absolutely hates us and when she sends her texts, Max can either apologize or stand her ground and call her out like the bitch she is “karma’s a bitch ain’t it? this is what you made Kate feel. You deserved every bit of it.” -At the party, you can try to make nice and Victoria will learn a lesson that there are consequences for her actions. You can either forgive or condemn Victoria. Whichever you choose, you then choose to warn her or not about Nathan.

Continuing on the Victoria friendship. Victoria is genuinely nice to Kate and apologizes and says she deleted the video. This will prompt a hopeful Kate and a Taylor asking “wtf was that and Victoria laying down the law yelling “be nice to Kate and Caulfield, that’s an order” Continuing on after Max convinces Courtney to let her in the guest list and into Jefferson’s room, Nathan will be his mean self but Victoria will say “be nice to Max, she’s my best friend” Victoria will start calling Max Maxine, while Max doesn’t like it, Max will allow her to call her that if she gets to call Victoria “Tori” Victoria and Max will have a moment to talk before class starts. Catches up, Max shows the photos she’s taken in episode 2, asks how Kate’s doing and finally Victoria personally invites Max to the End Of The World Party and you are given the choice yes or no, obviously you choose yes. Which prompts Victoria to say “congratulations Max Caulfield, you’re officially a VIP member of the Vortex Club”

Episode 3

Warren romance path. Max, Chloe and Warren will be investigating Blackwell together. Warren will use his hacking skills to help them break into school. They each search for clues. In the Principals office of course, but also searching where the last Vortex Club was in search of anything that might help. Warren keeps a lookout while Max and Chloe skinny dips in the pool and Warren is the one to warn them to hide. You get the choice of choosing between going to Chloe’s place or going to Warren’s dorm. In Warren’s dorm, it will open with Max and Warren holding each other, Max at first blushes, but embraces the moment and the two taking a selfie together. We see Warren's dorm looking like this. Max talks to Warren, about how much she appreciates Warren for always being by her side, and Kate's. Warren tells Max that he loves her And a choice prompts to Kiss Warren or Hug. In place of Max wearing Rachel's clothes, Max wears one of Warren's nerdy shirts. They will talk and say they should go on a date to the End Of The World Party as a date and a means to spy on Nathan and make sure he doesn’t hurt anyone again. Chloe texts Max to come over and Max kisses Warren goodbye and says “see you later my white knight.”

Victoria friendship path. In the beginning of episode 3, Victoria sends a text congratulating Max and saying she’s proud she did something, while Max says she did more by the end and saying she’s proud of Tori

When we kiss Chloe, Chloe doesn’t push back, she embraces Max in a kiss

When we choose the “Side with Chloe” option in episode 3, we print out David’s evidence and take pictures of the surveillance footage as proof for Joyce. We talk about it but we don’t show it to Joyce and Joyce automatically sides with Max. I’d also have David snap and attempt to hit Chloe and Joyce stops him and finally puts her foot down with David and shows him the door. Always bothered me that Joyce only begins to side against David by Max's word. She might as well have screamed that Max was the golden child. Joyce spent literal years watching David treating Chloe like crap right in front of her, and even now that he’s raising his hand at her she’s not reacting, but the second he talks a little too harshly to Max, she jumps to take her side and honestly. Chloe cannot not have noticed that. Obviously she wasn’t going to start a scene about this since they were already all fighting with David, but I’m pretty sure she would’ve under different circumstances because. The audacity. I would’ve gone mad.

Max will get to stand up to Chloe. Basically she puts her foot down on Chloe. After Chloe snaps after finding out about Rachel and mocking Kate's suicide attempt/suicide, Max can then lose her shit and stand up to Chloe. Basically says the way she treats her is not okay and if she wants to help her find Rachel and seek justice for Kate, then things are gonna have to change or they are finished. Then Max leaves Chloe behind with Chloe realizing that she needs to change. I just REALLY wanted Max to stand up to Chloe at the end of this episode instead of just letting Max act like a doormat and take her shit.

Not really a choice. But I'd alter one thing about Alternate's Max's look. Give her long hair, and tied up in a ponytail like she was a kid.

Episode 4

Not really a choice, but after the returning from her time jump, Max returns to her dorm and goes to Chloe. Chloe properly apologizes for how she’s been acting since they got back together and agree to put everything in the past so they can work together to find Rachel and give Kate justice. Would've been better than just seeing the apology over text.

Before we begin our investigation in episode 4. Max calls Joyce and David so everyone could let it all out. It’s basically the therapy that Joyce wanted David and Chloe to go to but didn’t. Chloe calls out David for his abuse for the last 3 years of her life and the fact that he made her feel like a prisoner in her own home and how much the cameras made it worse. Then Chloe calls him out on Rachel. “Rachel was my angel. She was the only good thing that ever happened to me since my dad died and you and the spoiled rich kid took her away from me. Worse. You stalked her like you stalked Kate. And now Rachel is missing. Congrats, David I hope it was fucking worth it.” Then Chloe unloads on Joyce. For all the times she covered for David’s abuse, choosing to either ignore or condone the abuse and for the fact that she’d rather pretend everything was fine. Maybe end it with “I didn’t need a fucking step-father, I needed my mother when I needed her most and your first instinct was to chose the worst fucking man to bring into my life. Fuck both of you.” Maybe after David and Joyce say their piece.(hopefully both of them being remorseful) Max can either choose to tell Chloe to forgive them or “fuck them” basically Max calls out David for his bullying and abusive behavior, Max can call out David. “You saw Frank, who was an adult, perving on Rachel, a high school student, you even had the evidence and you did nothing? Kate needed help and instead of being that help, you treated her like shit” David admits he fucked up with Rachel and wishes he could’ve sent his evidence to the police. then Max calls out Joyce for being a shitty mother. “I used to think you ruled Joyce, but you are a terrible mother. Chloe needed a mother and you failed her. She needed you, she didn't need you to bring some man she's never met before, she needed her mother who was traumatized and hurt by her father's death. And you let David hit your daughter and don't even see anything wrong with it? You talk about Chloe like she's a problem, like a burden. She's your daughter Joyce and she deserved better. ” David and Joyce would apologize to Chloe for the past three years and do better for Chloe. I don’t know how forgiving them would play out, maybe it would be therapeutic and would result in closure for the Price-Madsen family and they have a chance to start over after Max helps them in that direction. After choosing condemn them. I think Chloe would tell Max. “Max, thank you. I needed to finally let all that shit out.” “You deserved so much better Chloe.” “I got better Max, I got you.” And if you chose forgiveness. “I will still hate them both for how life went for the last 3 years, but I think we can start fresh. Thank you Max.”

Chloe would enter Kate’s hospital room with Max. We’d see Kate talking with Chloe and we find out that Kate was there for Chloe when Rachel went missing and made Chloe feel a little better, that’s why Chloe said “she’s cool”

Max can warn Kate about the storm and tell her to leave Arcadia Bay immediately.

Reject Warren path. After the Warren/Nathan situation. If you're pursuing Chloe and only choose platonic actions with Warren. Max gets the opportunity to turn Warren down. Max will tell him she's sorry, she just doesn't feel that way about Warren and just sees him as a cool geeky older brother and points out to Warren that Brooke likes him and that he should totally hook up with her, Warren appreciates for gently letting him down and is glad they can still be friends and says that he's glad Max has Chloe. You will see Warren and Brooke together at the party.

Max calls out Frank on his bullshit. Instead of choosing to befriend Frank, Max gets to call him out. Calls him out for turning Pompidou into a violent attack dog, the fact he sells drugs to kids and his predatory obsession with Rachel. “You didn’t love Rachel, you were obsessed with her and whatever you did drove her away and honestly? You’re not just a creepy drug dealer, you’re a pedophile, Frank.” Frank of course would get violent and you have two choices. Rewind and call the police or let Chloe shoot Frank and afterwords Max calls to animal services to protect Pompidou and give him a new home. Either you get the client book off of Frank’s dead body or you get it after the cops arrest Frank. Either way you get rid of a predator. Sorry, not sorry. I have no sympathy for people who prey on children.

Warren romance path. Instead of Warren appearing drunk, Warren waits for Max and awaits her on the dance floor. Max takes Warren to dance with and it's like a moment of peace or like the scene of Alex dancing with Duckie. It ends with Max and Warren kissing and Max taking a picture to capture the moment forever.

Continuing the Victoria friendship path. At the party, Victoria says, she's late, but she's happy Max is there. Max fills her in on what her day was like. Victoria is proud she and Chloe stood up to David and Joyce and that Kate is doing well. Max warns Victoria about Nathan. and as they part ways, Victoria hugs Max and tells her to be safe and call her if she or Chloe needs anything. But instead of going to Jefferson, Victoria goes to the hospital to visit Kate. As part of a culmination of your choices in the relationship with Victoria, you can encourage her to go and visit Kate to apologize in person. It wouldn't even have to be an extra scene, just part of the ending montage to an episode showing Victoria knocking on Kate's door and Kate opening it and inviting her inside. Maybe this could have been what happens to Victoria instead of ending up in the Dark Room. So if you do well enough to befriend her and she accepts your warning, she goes to see Kate and is spared being kidnapped by Jeffershit. if she doesn't accept your warning, she ends up in the DR. Would have been nice and felt more rewarding than what we got! Also? Kate would tell Victoria about Max's warning, meaning both Kate and Victoria would survive the storm!

We are given the opportunity to enter a photo for the Everyday Hero Contest. We enter at the last minute as Jefferson would give Max the opportunity. So Max with Kate’s permission, Kate would let Max take a photo of her in the hospital. Which wins the Everyday Hero Contest. Max gives an inspiring speech about how everyone can be a hero and that Kate has always inspired her, how much she loves Kate and that she hopes that Kate knows that she is loved by everyone in Blackwell and everyone would cheer Max on. This would also give Jefferson the means and opportunity to drug Max. It honestly works better than Jefferson magically appearing at the Junkyard with no explanation(and it never being brought up).

Episode 5

We are given the choice to save Nathan or let Jefferson kill him. Cut dialogue indicates there was something more meant for Nathan in the final episode. Jefferson says this to Max “Like you Max, I… am a camera. And like some cultures believe I’m going to use my camera. To capture… your… soul. Now take a break. I need to deal with Nathan first. Don’t worry, our session is just… getting started." I think Max could’ve helped Nathan in the dark room, to owe her the favor, Nathan would help Max.

Since I didn't have Chloe killed in Episode 4, Chloe and David would've worked together to save Max. Max and Chloe rush to diner to save Joyce, while also to use Warren's picture to go back in time. While at the diner we get a chance for Max to confess her feelings for Chloe and to tell Joyce while she approves.

While on the journey to the Lighthouse before the Nightmare world kicks in, we are given the choice to save everyone in the diner or leave everyone behind. After you save everyone at the diner, Chloe asks if they should double back to the hospital to save Kate and Victoria, but Max insists the hospital is so far from the storm and they'd be safer there anyway

Third ending. Sacrifice Max. Max screams no, Nathan freaks out and shoots Max. David subdues Nathan and Max is rushed to the hospital. Inspired by this comic and video

An addition to the endings. I wish we could have seen the last entry in Max's journal after she saved Chloe or Arcadia Bay. It would give one last glimpse into her thoughts, as well as clarify the endings a bit more. Also not really a choice, but an addition to the Bae ending. I'd make this ending twice as long, and the extra 5 minutes would be scenes following each other over the next few years. Show how Max and Chloe head to Seattle to visit Max's parents. Show how they help each other cope with trauma (like Chloe comforting Max when she wakes up from nightmares, or Max supporting Chloe at Joyce's funeral, or how they grieve every October 11). Show how Max doesn't give up on becoming a photographer, and Chloe is there to encourage her to follow her dreams. Show how they begin a romantic relationship (including the kiss this ending deserves) if you romanced Chloe. End it on a positive note as Max and Chloe buy the RV and go traveling like they always wanted to, and the last shot is Max and Chloe smiling at each other before hitting the road (as in the original Bae ending). Also among a few shots we might see Max and Chloe hanging out with Kate and Victoria - the former would be if you saved Kate, and the latter would be if you were nice to Victoria. and Nathan appearing if you saved him. What we'd see with Nathan is Nathan in a blue jacket like he has in the alternate timeline to reflect his new change in behavior and redemption. Hugging Victoria, apologizing to Kate, Max and Chloe. Hugging Victoria, Max and Kate and shaking Chloe's hand. I'm tempted to say he could've been in the Brody role in LIS 2, since he kind of fits Brody, cause Brody's line about his family having money but no soul would fit a Nathan after surviving the storm. It would have made this ending more complete, it wouldn't have required their cameos in the sequel, and already in 2015 it would have disproved the theories that death would continue to haunt Chloe/another storm would happen. Addition to the Bay Ending. I like to think it would be a collection of the montages we already got and Chloe’s funeral. But more. We’d see Max dealing with Chloe’s loss, her grief, but ultimately showing Max living her life and moving on. Show that Max still misses Chloe, but show her living her life. And just show Max living her best life with Warren, Kate, Brooke, Dana, Daniel, Stella and Alyssa. Even show montage of a friendship with Victoria. Show Max having a tea date with Kate. Show Max Goin Ape with Warren. Max doing photoshoots with Victoria and shopping dates with Victoria, Courtney and Taylor. Max doing group projects and games with Warren, Kate, Brooke, Stella, Alyssa, and Daniel. Max being Dana’s official photographer. And show Max and her friends graduating Blackwell and living their lives in Arcadia Bay. We just needed to see that despite losing Chloe, Max is okay and that while she will hold onto the memories of Chloe, she can live. The final scene is Max and Warren visiting the Lighthouse. The Blue Butterfly appears and it touches Max and as the Butterfly flies away, Max says "Goodbye Chloe as Warren holds onto Max and shares a kiss at the Lighthouse."

[tangent101]

...and I look at this differently. Naturally. ^^;;

Because I remember Joyce in the William Lives timeline. We initially see Max see a living William... and then alt-Chloe in her wheelchair. We never see Joyce in that scene. It's just William and Chloe. It is only in the next day that we come across Joyce upstairs, smoking in the bedroom, smoking in the very house where her daughter, a daughter who requires oxygen to survive, is effectively trapped.

Within two months of the death of William, Joyce was flirting heavily with David when they met. It was so memorable that David kept that receipt handy and uses the date of their meeting (November 27) for his passwords. And it was most likely closer to one month. Because Max's birthday is September 21st. She does not mention anything about William's death in her journal, which strongly suggests that William's death happens in October.

I've done the research. On Saturday, October 11, 2008, the morning temperature was in the mid-30s. It was cold enough to encourage someone to light a fire in the fireplace, a fire that was used to burn the Polaroid... and while it was slightly warmer, it was still in the mid 30s on October 18, 2008 and on October 25, 2008. So one of those three days was the day that William Price died.

So yes. Between a month and a half to a month after her husband died, Joyce was flirting with David. Before Chloe's 16th birthday and most likely within a year of meeting, Joyce married David, a man who would go on the abuse her daughter with Joyce making explanation after explanation, blaming Chloe for David's actions.

Did Joyce love Chloe? I'm going to say no. I'm going to say she felt obligated to care for Chloe... and she kind of hated her daughter for that. Look at LiS2 and how Joyce just dropped David like a hot rock in the Post-Bay timeline. He was torn up over Chloe's death... and she just wanted to move on, like she did with William. Body's in the ground, time to have the life Chloe denied her. David is being upset over her getting over Chloe? Drop him. Divorce him, move on.

I think Joyce only married William because she was pregnant. I think she "loved" Chloe, but it was a sense of obligation. She had a good life with William, she was cared for, she had a family, she was doing everything right. And if William had never died, she probably would have eventually have had an affair and then divorced him and Chloe would have been devastated and hated her mom because how could she do that? Without realizing that the only reason Joyce married William was because she got pregnant.

(As a side note, there is a second Joyce-like character in LiS2 - Sean and Daniel's mother, Karen. She married their dad, had the two kids, realized she was lesbian, and divorced their dad and left. And much like Joyce, this mother cared... but she wasn't going to upend her entire life and flee to Mexico to care for her two boys. She had her own life. Hell, in the ending where Daniel stays in the U.S., his grandparents end up caring for him instead of his mother, Karen. And sure, Karen will be there for Sean when he gets out of prison but... she didn't raise her other son. No. She left that to her folks. Now, honestly, I respect Karen for that. She realized she would not be a good mother for Daniel... or for Sean. But while I might respect her for making a choice that she felt was better for her children, I still call it out as not being a particularly loving choice.)

So... no. Joyce doesn't love Chloe. Or at least her love is... milquetoast levels of love. She abused her daughter through neglect. She allowed an abuser to turn her house into an unsafe household for over four years, and I honestly believe that Chloe flunked out of school because David turned both her home life and her school life into one of pure hell where she had no privacy, no respect, and was constantly isolated from people because David would target anyone near Chloe. And given how fast Joyce rolls out the excuses for David you just know that David had hit Chloe before and on multiple occasions. Chloe's instinctual flinch at a suddenly-raised hand and the fact that Joyce looked not at all shocked at hearing about David hitting Chloe is proof positive that she knew about this and protected David by convincing the police not to intervene.

Hell. You want to have a reason for Chloe breaking up with Max for Double Exposure? Have Max having yelled at Chloe saying that Joyce was a shitty mom and point out all these facts and have Chloe just refuse to accept it and walk out in denial because she couldn't accept the fact that her mom hated the fact Chloe "stole" her life from her. Let's ignore this fucking "free spirit" bullshit. No, it was a fight over the fact Joyce was horrible and Chloe not wanting to disrespect the dead and not wanting to hear just how bad Joyce was. But that's a different story to get into.

Omg okay so i js saw a tiktok asking for crazy LiS opinions and literally all the comments were SO LAME and repetitive so now i gotta dig for some real drama:

What's your wildest Life is Strange opinion? (nothing boring like "DE wasn't that bad!!" or "LiS2 is the best game😊😊", REAL interesting stuff)

I don't feel like an opinion juicy enough to cause mass drama?

Probably my overall controversial opinion is that Joyce wasn't a very good Mother to Chloe, and was prioritizing her own need for stability over Chloe's well-being.

I don't think she's an awful person who didn't love her daughter or anything like that, but I do think she failed as a parent on several levels.

I think her worst mistake was the fact that she brought David into their lives and then actively ALLOWED him to overstep Chloe's boundaries. Mostly because that was a bad choice, but also because she's a huge hypocrite who will kick David out if Max tells her that he overstepped HER boundaries. I also think she really failed when she tried to force Chloe's grief to work on a palatable time table.

I understand that it's been five years since William died in the first LIS, and most people think that, by that time, everyone should be moved on from the dead. But there's a quote that says " “How do you process grief?” “By running from it until it finds me in the middle of a sunny street on a beautiful day.” that sticks out to me every time someone tries to suggest that grief should be on a time table that makes the living comfortable.

Grief will always catch up to you eventually, and trying to run from it will only stop you from processing it. I really think Joyce trying to force Chloe to move on so fast trapped her in a cycle of unprocessed grief that could have been avoided if Joyce just gave her time to feel all the rage and sadness she needed to feel in order to move on.

That's probably my most controversial take because it seems like a lot of people see Joyce as this tragic figure who's trying her best and it's like...I don't think she is doing her best. I think she THINKS she's doing her best, but I don't think she's actually doing her best in practice.

Because like...she could married David and still put in boundaries with him. She could have married David and accepted that he was her husband but not Chloe's Father. She could have married David and still allowed Chloe time to grieve. But she didn't. Because at the end of the day, she prioritized her grief and her need for stability over her daughter's grief and need for stability. All for a guy that she ends up leaving in multiple realities.

[tangent101]

Nice Excuse, Still Murder

So. Recently I came across a David Apologist post and while I was tempted to post on there... honestly? I didn't feel like the argument. However, I still felt the need to comment and... well, honestly, for all that David is less disliked these days due to his presence in LiS2, he is still a horrible character and a wretched stepfather.

The general gist of the post in question was that it's clear that David loves Chloe because he is in tears after murdering Mark Jefferson (while Jefferson was bound and unconscious). However, like a number of elements in LiS, this does not negate the horrible things that David did during the game.

Essentially, David Madsen was as much of a control freak as Mark Jefferson and he used his own power over the student body of Blackwell Academy to terrorize students. For instance, he harasses Max Caulfield for being tardy in leaving the girls' bathroom. Now let's assume for a moment that there was a legitimate fire alarm - a test or a fire or something. And Max Caulfield was on the toilet mid-usage. Now, guys at a urinal might be able to whip it back in their pants without much issue, but girls have a few more steps involved. If any student had been, for instance, taking a dump? Then you still try to wipe clean quickly. That can take a minute.

Max was out of the bathroom likely within a minute of the alarm going off. I mean, let's look at the literal script of the scene:

David: Hey, do you hear that fire alarm? That means you should be outside. Max: I had to use the bathroom... David: Girls always use that excuse. Max: Excuse for what? David: For whatever you're up to. Your face is covered in guilt.

You have a student saying "I had to use the bathroom" who had just left said bathroom within a minute of the alarm going off. It is logical that she was doing just as she said: using the bathroom. Why does he go off on her? Because he is bullying her. And yes, he was bullying her as we see in the next scene with David:

David: ...so don't think I'm blind! I see everything here at Blackwell! Do you understand what I'm saying? Kate: No, and leave me alone! (and if Max doesn't intervene) David: ...you can't fool me. I know everything about this school. I cover the waterfront. So you better figure out what side you're on... Kate: Please, leave me alone!

With intervention you get this:

Max: Hey, why don't you leave her alone? David: Excuse us, this is official campus business— Max: Excuse me, you shouldn't be yelling at students. Or bullying them. David: Hey, hey, nobody is bullying anybody. I'm doing my job. Max: No, you're not. David: You're part of the problem, missy. I will remember this conversation.

Max out-and-out states he's bullying Kate and she would know. She was being bullied by him just a little bit earlier.

This is how he acts within the first two instances of his being in the game. Our third encounter, if you manage to get Max to hide in the closet then we get to see him out-and-out smack Chloe for the crime of instigating him. And what does he say when he hits her?

David: Chloe, I'm sorry. I care about your mother and… You just keep pushing me

And if Max was not hiding in the closet and refused to take the blame for Chloe's pot?

Max: No way. It's not mine. David: Of course not. I'm sure Chloe gets all the best shit, right? I bet she gave you "good friend" rates... Chloe: Why don't you get off my crack? Stop taking your war rage out on high school girls. David: You haven't seen rage, you little— Chloe: Fuck you, pig. David slaps Chloe. David: I... Listen, you asked for that. You know exactly what you're doing.

Not only does he refuse to believe Max that she's not selling pot to Chloe, he says she asked for it. She said "fuck you, pig" and was smacked. Oh, this girl shorter than him and who, if wearing a soaking wet winter coat would still be fifty pounds lighter than him, was scary and threatening him by calling him out for "taking your war rage out on high school girls."

What's more, Joyce is more than ready to trot out little lines to make it seem like Chloe's to blame, whether or not Max lets David smack Chloe around:

Joyce: But Chloe does push David and it's not fair. He paid his dues in a war. He does care about her, along with all the students at Blackwell.

Nathan cried on the phone calling Max and begging for forgiveness (rather than, oh, I don't know, calling the cops and saying "Mark Jefferson is trying to murder me"?) and guys gush about this poor baby who should be forgiven for all his crimes because he's ill. David smacks Chloe and it's Chloe's fault... and David cries when he learns the girl he was abusing is beyond his control. So all is forgiven.

(Honestly, and I've said this more than once, I cannot see Chloe forgiving David after three years. I'm not sure if she'd forgive him after six years, and may very well want to piss on his grave if he died thirty years after the Storm. The man made her life a living hell for nearly five years after William's death (and don't forget, he started flirting with Joyce (to the point he kept the receipt from his first meal at Two Whales Diner when he was waited on by Joyce and used that date for a password combination) within two months of William's death - and sure, that's on Joyce more than David but he still rushed into a marriage with her before Chloe turned 16 and that is on him). He was abusive and horrible and I'm fairly certain that Chloe went on a downward spiral in school and in life partly because he was harassing her and she had no safe place to stay away from him.)

So... no. He's no hero. The only reason the girls turn to him for help is because Max didn't know who else she could trust - because David might have been an abusive asshole, but he was not in the Prescott pocket and he was trying to figure out what Jefferson and Nathan were up to. Better the enemy you know than the enemies you don't know.

The irony is that there are people who continue to hate on Chloe Price and consider her irredeemable because "she's a bitch" and "she's manipulative." The girl who the day after Kate Marsh was drugged was also drugged and came to in Nathan's dorm room, an incident by which Max finds photographic evidence collaborating, the girl who was dosed by a date-rape drug and has no knowledge if she was raped or not, but was fucked up by that drug, is an irredeemable monster, but the man we can witness abusing her is innocent of malice because Chloe was mean to him.

Nice excuse. Still abuse. Hell it was assault and battery against an adult. Max was a witness, if she didn't Rewind, they could have gotten David thrown in jail. And given that Joyce is quick to toss out defenses to David's actions, it's most likely not the first time even if the cops ignored priors due to Joyce's being their favorite waitress.

[lifeisstrange-incorrectquotes]

Joyce, to David: For sure when Chloe finds a partner, she'll start acting more mature.

Chloe, Rachel, and Max: *walk down the street dressed in full dinosaur costumes*

[everythingcalypso]

I’m back in my Life is Strange arc ❤️

[yraelviii]

It's one of my main annoyances with the game, that Max doesn't ever call out Joyce's toxic attitude towards her daughter.

the only bad thing about LIS is that max didnt get to call the shit out of joyce and david in it

[theblue-hairedarcadian]

everyone who calls themselves a fan and still paints chloe price as an ‘ungrateful friend’ or ‘full of herself’ has watched this conversation with their eyes closed completely.

even in before the storm, chloe made sure rachel would be able to play in the tempest even if it meant losing her place in blackwell academy. chloe spent the rest of her night staying at rachel’s house comforting her after they found out that sera was rachel’s biological mother, she got kicked in the stomach and was almost killed by a drug dealer for trying to use her illegal connections to meet the latter; to make rachel happy.

when rachel was nowhere to be found, chloe put up posters and never gave up on looking for her. when max finally came back after five years, chloe didn’t hesitate to welcome her back despite being upset about the fact that she never heard from her again ever since she moved to seattle.

and here, in this conversation, chloe gave max the idea of sacrificing her to save the town from the storm no matter how scared she was. chloe has the right to be selfish for once—she always put rachel first, she never stopped thinking and writing about max in her diary, she was basically homeless in the prequel because she believes it would make david happy and not stress joyce further—but she acknowledged it, and what breaks my heart the most was the fact that she feels sorry for even thinking that way.

chloe price, you are so loved by me and everyone else who understands your character to a deeper level. 💙

happy october 11th! today’s your chance to think again whether you should sacrifice arcadia bay, or sacrifice your blue haired bae. 🦋 i always love hearing about which ending the players pick!

[longmaxsilvarg]

the topic of chloe and joyce and the way they went about living life after william died is such a tough one for my brain to wrap around cause a lot of the things that joyce did to support her and chloe were unfair to chloe so in that regard it's easy to side with chloe n be like "yeah her own mother should've been there for her and not continued on with a relationship that clearly was nothing but bad for chloe and should've just looked for support in other ways" BUT it's also like joyce also lost someone and all of a sudden became a single mom so in her mind what she was doing was best for both her and chloe and chloe (in some areas) could've been a little more cooperative (im not talking about getting her ROOM searched and pockets emptied) to make things easier on her mom BUT