In the first episode of Life is Strange: Before the Storm we snuck out to a rock concert, got a black eye, met the renowned Rachel Amber, died a hero during a pick-up game of Dungeons and Dragons, played hooky, stole some wine, smashed some stuff, and played with a little fire.
All in about three hours. Whew. Maybe it’s just being 30 catching up to me, but thinking about all that makes me tired.
(Episode one review: HERE / Review Scale: HERE)
Episode two, titled “Brave New World” started off quite literally throwing Chloe into a new world. Her expulsion from Blackwell Academy was touched on in the first Life is Strange, but now, we all got to see the series of events that led up to it. Rachel was more than willing to fall on her perfect record to keep Chloe at Blackwell, but that would have meant losing the ability to perform in The Tempest that night.
Our future blue-haired protagonist couldn’t have that, however, as an entertaining Back Talk sequence had Principal Wells reinstating Rachel’s play privileges, but permanently kicking Chloe out of school. To make matters worse, in Chloe’s eyes, she knows her mother is disappointed in her, and David shows up to meet them. And to boot, he’s going to be Chloe’s sobriety coach, AND he’s moving in!
Once again, she’s not having any of that, so she takes off for American Rust to cool off and see if she can get an old, beat up truck she found in the junkyard to turn on. Fans of the series know the outcome of this too, but it’s still enjoyable to see its origins.
After falling asleep and another dream sequence, Rachel arrives at American Rust, bearing gifts. She’s excited about the fact they seemingly have a getaway-from-Arcadia Bay-car, but Chloe knowns it’s going to take quite a bit more cash to actually get it going.
In one of my favorite sequences in Before the Storm, the girls take turns playing therapist to each other, and it’s refreshing to see Chloe drop the rebel bravado in quiet moments like those. As someone who’s been there, been through so many life changes in such a short about of time, feeling like I had no control over anything happening was scary as hell. Life is Strange shines in instances like these, where it’s just two people being honest with each other on the screen.
Everyone’s favorite drug dealer comes calling for Chloe soon after Rachel leaves with a job. (More importantly, the mysterious cigarette smoking woman from the end of the last game is seen leaving his trailer, but more on that later.) That job? Collect on a debt from a student at Blackwell, and in return, wipe away her own debt and leave with some extra cash.
With a truck in need of repair and a want to leave Arcadia Bay, she’s thinking this sounds like an easy job, so she agrees. However, the last thing this job ends of being is easy, and it’ll be interesting to see the implications of this encounter in the final episode.
It’s opening night for The Tempest as well at Blackwell, backstage is a hub of activity. Chloe arrives in enough time to see Victoria dose some tea she plans on giving Rachel, and she jumps out to call Victoria out on it and either way you go, the outcome isn’t great for Blackwell’s resident snobby photographer.
The outcome isn’t great for Chloe, either. The fires have made Juliet late, and cancelling the play is brought up. No one wants to see the play cancelled, and Rachel works her powers of persuasion on drafting Chloe to join the play until Juliet gets there.
The ensuing scenes are my favorite in all of Life is Strange so far. No one is mad, no one is dying, there’s no one to save, and there’s no drastic life choices to be made. There’s just lights, the stage, some fun costumes, and plenty of moments that will make you smile. I found myself replaying it shortly after I finished the episode in the Collector Mode.
Dancing through the streets of Arcadia Bay after the play helped to give more insight into Rachel’s character, and she light on another fear of Chloe’s character. Rachel wants to get out of Arcadia Bay tonight, but Chloe still has fears about her changing her mind and the uncertainty of leaving. She doesn’t want to get her hopes up. Rachel has answers for both, and before long, they’re back at the Amber house to pack clothes and get out of Dodge.
Family dinner, however, stands in their way. Chloe, at Rachel’s behest, tries to play it cool at supper and for the most part, succeeded. Rachel, however, with the same look in her eyes she had in the forest, confronts her father about the mystery woman in the park.
His answer? Something I didn’t see coming. With only one episode left to Before the Storm, Deck Nine has many loose ends to tie up, that’s for sure.
