Hello and welcome to Wasted Plotential, where we discuss the wasted potential of our favourite
plotlines.
There is a serious disconnect with the way the heroes in MK have been acting in the last
couple of games. It was there in MKX, but it became far more of an issue in MK11 - namely,
that the heroes seem to almost entirely lack compassion for those twisted and transformed
into villainous undead. After all, they don't really talk about wanting to free them, or
how they don't deserve this tragic fate. It's fine for Cassie Cage to write Liu Kang off
as a lost cause since she never met the man before his transformation; but the older heroes
that fought alongside them are just as quick to give up on them. And nowhere is this more
egregious than with Sub-Zero.
Originally, this was going to be a Smoke-focused episode, but I realised that Smoke's handling
is actually part of a much larger issue with how Kuai Liang is written by Netherrealm.
Where there is smoke, there is ire.
Cetrion: "Forgive Bi Han."
Sub-Zero: "My brother deserves no such thing."
Cetrion: "All beings deserve compassion."
You may recall that I already discussed Kuai Liang's baffling lack of empathy towards Frost
and Bi-Han in previous episodes. Oh, he'll forgive the man who murdered his brother on
the grounds of being manipulated by Quan Chi; but not the same brother he travelled to a
foreign realm to avenge, who was twisted to a far more extreme degree by Quan Chi, to
the point of losing his old powers and being made to think he's Dr. Fucking Claw. He also
won't try to reform his impetuous former student, whose failings are, in large part, his fault
for not adequately recognising and working to mitigate her inherent character flaws.
I know some of you may point to Kuai Liang restoring his brother in his MK11 ending,
but the pair have around eight intros together and not one suggests that Kuai Liang has any
love left for Bi-Han, because MK11 can't even be consistent with itself, right, Jerrod?
And then, we come to his best friend, Smoke. Think back to MK2011, where Smoke, despite
not having much screentime to showcase it, very clearly cared deeply about the fate that
befell his friend - a fate that was originally supposed to befall him. Both are killed by
Sindel and become revenants together. Flash forward to MKX, where, in the intro, both
are working for Shinnok and Quan Chi, but Sub-Zero is working with Scorpion and Smoke
is working with Jax. Then flash forward even further and Sub-Zero has been freed from Quan
Chi's power, but Smoke has not. How many times in MKX does Sub-Zero even think about his
corrupted friend?
Sub-Zero: "Zero."
Not once does he mention his best friend, who remains trapped in the web of corruption
he was fortunate enough to escape. One would think, given that he himself has experienced
mental enslavement and physical corruption in many different forms, that he would feel
at least a little empathetic and want to join the fight against the Netherrealm or travel
to the Sky Temple with the kids to engage Smoke. But no, he completely forgets Smoke
even fucking exists!
And yes, I know that this is not an issue exclusive to the Netherrealm Era, but it's
much more prominent there, thanks to the cutscenes depicting the two together as friends and
being more blatant with Sub-Zero's lack of interest. Back in Armageddon, when Noob and
Smoke attacked the Lin Kuei, Sub-Zero only seemed concerned with saving his brother,
not Smoke. But one could argue that it only seems that way because Sub-Zero cared more
about his brother than anything else; or that he just didn't know Smoke was there, since
he was elsewhere in the temple. We don't know for sure how much he knew about Smoke's fate,
but it is quite telling that in the decade between MK3 and Armageddon, Sub-Zero never
tried to find him. Then again, one could argue that he didn't even know where to start, since
he last saw him in the invasion a decade earlier. In the new timeline, however, he knows he's
with Quan Chi in the Netherrealm, and Sub-Zero would know where at least some of Quan Chi's
hideouts are, giving him a good starting point he never bothers to utilise.
Kuai Liang barely qualifies as human anymore. There are so many people connected to him
that are corrupted in various ways, and he only gives a shit about them if they happen
to prefer the colour yellow, the emotionless cock-end. So, let's try to imagine a world
where Sub-Zero was written like a real person; or at least, a close enough approximation
to not be hair-pullingly frustrating.
Sub-Zero's seemingly frozen heart can be justified, up to a point. Way back in MKII, Kuai Liang
was not out to avenge his brother's death, as he is in the Shaolin Monks and 2011 versions
of the events. Instead, he was heading to Outworld to finish his brother's mission of
assassinating Shang Tsung. This suggests that loyalty to the clan comes before familial
bonds for the two. The game's prequel comic even has Kuai Liang speak quite coldly (ha-ha)
of his brother, who's body isn't even... you know.
This idea was strangely strengthened by one of 2011's additions, even though that game's
actual events fly in the face of it. See, 2011 was the first time the two brothers were
given real names. Before then, they were just the older and younger Sub-Zero, or Sub-Zero
and Classic Sub-Zero. But now, they were Bi-Han and Kuai Liang. They don't seem to fit any
specific Chinese naming schemes I could find in my research, nor are they ever given any
family name in addition to these, suggesting that their names have no familial connection.
The idea of the two having very distinct names from one another suggests that these names
were given to them by the Lin Kuei to emphasise clan over family.
Building on this, Sub-Zero and his fellow Lin Kuei could be emotionally stunted, with
only a handful of people being considered their friends. For Kuai Liang, these are his
brother, Smoke and possibly Cyrax. In time, all of these people are taken away from him
in both timelines: killed and/or transformed into deadly enemies. His distance from his
Earthrealm comrades in MKX could be a result of this as he is still, twenty-odd years removed
from his departure from the old clan, not able to easily open up to others.
Even Smoke is not exempt from this distance. Smoke would have travelled with Sub-Zero during
his second chapter in 2011, and opened up about his concern that Sub-Zero's cyberisation
is his fault, as it was originally his fate, but Raiden made it Sub-Zero's. Sub-Zero even
holds some resentment towards both Smoke and Raiden for him becoming a cyborg in the first
place. Smoke holds resentment towards Raiden for this too, saying as much during the Thunder
God's MKX chapter, rather than saying nothing and having no personality of his own.
As for Sub-Zero, once he's freed from Quan Chi's corruption, he goes into isolation from
his fellow heroes. He despises Raiden, doesn't care about Smoke anymore, and bitterly keeps
to himself. He only gets involved with the conflicts of the SF when Johnny asks him to
help train the Kombat Kids, and even then, he only agrees to the exercise as a way to
train his own followers.
But, as he surrounds himself with new allies - followers that look up to him, a protégé
to pass on his skills to, a woman with whom he shares a mutual debt, a former comrade
brought back to his side, and even the man responsible for his brother's death reaching
out to him in pursuit of peace and redemption - his heart slowly begins to thaw and open
itself up to the Special Forces. This makes his appearance in MKX's climax more significant:
it's no longer just him showing up because there was no other believable way to deal
with the Outworlders; it is now the resolution of Sub-Zero's character arc. After so many
years of helping out only when asked to and when he sees the opportunity to advance his
own goals, he now makes the choice to rejoin the defenders of the realm and fight back
against those that threaten their home.
Joined by Cyrax, Sareena and Frost, Sub-Zero leads his clan against the Outworlders, and
sends the kids along with some assistance from their fellow successor, a cyborg concerned
for his corrupted comrade, or the Grandmaster himself, seeking to atone for abandoning his
closest friend. Maybe he succeeds, maybe he doesn't. Either way, he speaks with Raiden
inside the Jinsei Chamber and is able to forgive him for what happened to him.
If Smoke isn't saved, though, his absence from MK11 should be acknowledged by someone
Sub-Zero fights, and explained. Maybe Kronika has taken his soul for the hourglass. Maybe
he has been converted into a cyborg, or is once again Noob's partner, which the latter
taunts his brother about. Just something to show that Sub-Zero once again cares for his
friend, even with his heart so cold.
As for Bi-Han, I fear some people may have misunderstood me when I discussed the idea
of his restoration and redemption. I'm not saying he absolutely has to be redeemed at
the end. While I think that's the best direction to go with him, I'm fine with him being a
lost cause and being put down by his brother or Hanzo. The issue is that Kuai Liang is
far too quick to write him off. He should be constantly trying to save him, only accepting
he can't be right at the end, when he puts him down. You can't have Travis give up on
Old Yeller as soon as he starts acting aggressively. The bond isn't believable if he gives up hope
the second things get difficult. Kuai Liang loves his brother, so she should do everything
in his power to save him and only accept reality once he's exhausted every other option.
Sub-Zero: "The Netherrealm can have you."
Noob Saibot: "It also has your friend, Smoke."
Sub-Zero: "Do not speak of my friends."
Why not? You fucking don't!
I think giving Sub-Zero an arc to go through would be nice, given that he didn't manage
to achieve anything of note in the last two games. While Scorpion gets his revenge on
Quan Chi, with ramifications that last into the next game, and then gets two chapters
and a significant death; Sub-Zero has an offscreen fight with Kotal's forces, a rehash of a scene
from the comics, and makes no progress with any of his three broken relationships in a
chapter he has to share with Scorpion. You could remove Sub-Zero, one of the franchise's
most iconic and popular characters, from MKX and 11 entirely and barely anything would
change. The man deserves better, Ed.
Clearly, one of the reasons for this lack of impact on the story is that his chapters
come early. His MKX chapter is a training exercise designed to showcase the weaknesses
of the four Kombat Kids so they can improve on those things over the course of the story.
And then, he's just gone for most of the story after that. And since MK11's Chapter 4 is
where Noob, Sektor and Frost first appear in the game, their stories with Kuai Liang
can't get any resolution, because they need to show up in later chapters to get more use
out of them, so he can't restore or put down his brother, redeem or put down his failed
protege, or finally put and end to Sektor's twisted vision for the Lin Kuei. Only Cyrax
gets any resolution with Sub-Zero and that's because he doesn't need to show up in later
chapters to get an extra fight in. And people still defend this indefensible story structure
that has done nothing but hamper the storytelling of Netherrealm's games.
And let's take a moment to observe that Kuai Liang claims that the Sub-Zero mantle originated
with his grandfather.
Sub-Zero: "It was Grandfather's first."
Obviously, having cryomancer blood means this is his biological grandfather. Sub-Zero's
2011 story vignette claims he and his brother were taken from their real parents at a young
age to join the Lin Kuei. Was Sub-Zero a name used by a man outside the Lin Kuei and then
allowed to be adopted by Lin Kuei members who were very intentionally taken away from
their biological heritage? You can defend the the lack of consistency between timelines
all you want, but Netherrealm should at least have their new writers study the lore from
two fucking games ago.
But, with that, the Lin Kuei Saga comes to a close. I think I've covered everything and
have nothing else to really add.
What?
Milhouse: "Say the line, [SNAKE]."
Bart: "Such wasted potential."
Class: "YAAAAAAAY!"
If you liked this video, why not subscribe and support me on Patreon like these fine
people here? If not, then make sure to share it with your enemies so they can suffer along
with you.
Today's recommended video is, of course, the latest ABItorial from ABI of SugarPunch. He
finally got around to talking about MK11 and... well, let's say I wasn't disappointed. Fuck
MK11 and fuck Netherrealm too.