Hello and welcome to Wasted Plotential, the show where we discuss the wasted potential
of our favourite plotlines.
Amongst the numerous protagonists featured in the Resident Evil series over the years,
there are four that can be considered the main characters: Chris Redfield, Claire Redfield,
Leon S. Kennedy, and Jill Valentine. These are the ones who return regularly and most
evolve and change. But despite that fact, there's been far less of a focus on the progression
of the individual characters in recent years, particularly with today's subject.
Jill Valentine debuted in the original Resident Evil, set in mid-1998. She is part of Raccoon
City's STARS police unit, who are lured into the zombie-infested mansion of Oswell Spencer,
the head of the pharmaceutical giant, The Umbrella Corporation. Most of the STARS are
killed, and the survivors discover that their captain, Albert Wesker, is an Umbrella agent.
Wesker is killed and Jill and Chris escape, alongside long-time friend Barry Burton and
STARS rookie Rebecca Chambers. The four go underground to try to expose Umbrella's dark
secrets.
In Autumn of that year, the T-Virus spreads into the city, causing an outbreak. Jill gets
caught up in the outbreak in Resident Evil 3, becoming the first character to appear
twice, and the first to be the main protagonist of an RE game. Jill manages to escape the
city, shortly after Claire does with Leon and Sherry Brikin, just before the city is
destroyed to contain the virus.
In December, Claire is captured by Umbrella while searching for her brother. She is able
to get a message to Chris and he drops everything to go and save her. During this mission, Chris
learns that Wesker is now alive again, and has gained superhuman strength and agility
from an experimental virus.
The fight against Umbrella continues until 2003, when Chris and Jill lead a raid on Umbrella's
facility in Russia, finally obtaining the evidence they need to take them down. They
then help form the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance.
In 2005, Chris goes missing on a mission (apparently) so Jill immediately goes to save him, and
contact is lost with her. Chris learns about this and drops out of his own mission to travel
halfway around the world to save her.
In 2006, Chris and Jill finally learn Spencer's location and head to his castle, only to find
that Wesker has already killed him. In the ensuing fight, Chris is almost killed by Wesker,
but Jill tackles him out the window to their presumed deaths. The bodies are never found
so Chris never gives up hope that Jill is alive.
This leads to Resident Evil 5 in 2009. Chris is dispatched to Africa, where Wesker has
resurfaced and is planning a global biohazard. Upon finally catching up with him, Chris and
new partner Sheva discover that Jill is now working as Wesker's enforcer, under the influence
of a mind-controlling drug. Chris and Sheva are able to get the device off of Jill, and
take down Wesker for good.
This brings us to Resident Evil 6, set in December 2012 and July 2013. Chris' story
opens with his current partner, Piers Nivans, finding a drunken amnesiac Chris in a bar
in Eastern Europe. Piers' new squad takes Chris home, only to be immediately dispatched
to an incident in China, with Chris placed in command. He doesn't even undergo a psych
evaluation before they send the amnesiac who's been missing for six months back out there
with the lives of an entire squad in his hands. At the end of the first chapter, Chris recovers
his memory and we flash back six months to the Eastern European nation of Edonia, where
Chris' entire squad, bar Piers, ended up infected and turned into monsters by the fake Ada Wong,
Carla Radames. Chris took a harsh beating from his comrades which, coupled with the
emotional trauma, gave him amnesia. From here, we return to the present and Chris is on a
quest for revenge. Ada deals with Carla, and Chris and Piers fail to prevent a C-Virus
missile from detonating in the city. They then head to an off-shore facility to rescue
fellow protagonists, Jake and Sherry. Piers sacrifices himself to save Chris, renewing
Chris' desire to keep fighting for a brighter future in honour of his fallen comrades.
This whole setup raises far too many questions. It seems the the amnesia plotpoint only exists
to create some intrigue that lasts for all of two chapters, and to allow Chris to experience
the J'avo for the first time alongside the player. Really, it doesn't accomplish anything
in the grand scheme of things. You could rearrange Chapters 1 and 2 and remove the amnesia, and
the only thing that would change is Chris' demeanour at the start of the China mission.
But more importantly, the question is raised: where are Claire and Jill? It's already been
established and repeatedly reinforced that these two are willing to drop everything,
and even sacrifice themselves for Chris, and vice versa. So then why, in six months, did
neither of them get involved in the search for Chris, nor go and see him once he was
found with no memory? Were they just... not told about any of this? This seems highly
unlikely, given Jill was one of the founding members of the BSAA, and the fact that both
of them would surely question the complete lack of contact made in six months. In fact,
at the end of Revelations 2, Claire is on the phone, asking someone to ask Piers to
look after Chris while they're in China, and there's no indication that she knows her brother
has amnesia! Isn't it hugely immoral to keep such important things from Chris' loved ones?
Really, just for the sake of consistency, Chris' friends and sister should have played
some sort of role in the game, even if just to talk with him in the epilogue before he
heads out. Jill, especially, would have been a good fit for this, but she isn't even mentioned
in the game. So, what if she was?
My vision for RE6's Chris campaign doesn't actually star Chris. It's all about Chris,
yes, but he is the objective, instead of the star. You could say he is... not a hero here.
Kizuna Ai: "Fuck you!"
In this version, the Edonia mission takes place much closer to the rest of the game.
Piers gets in contact with HQ quickly to report Chris as MIA. A few weeks later, he's had
no luck with the search, so Jill decides she can't leave this in anyone else's hands; she
has to do it herself. Barry confronts her, saying that she's still recovering from the
PTSD she developed following the events of RE5.
Mind control is such a bizarrely overused plot device, yet one of the least thoroughly
explored. How often does a character get controlled into attacking their loved ones or attempting
to kill someone they never would normally, and then snap out of it with no negative repercussions
whatsoever? The idea of having one's free will completely subverterd is a horrifying
concept. And yet, the only times I can think of where the traumatic side is delved into
are with Jessica Jones and Carol Danvers, and that's mainly because of the additional
sexual aspects specific to those incidents. Jill even says, upon being freed from it:
Jill: "I couldn't control my actions. Oh, my god, I was still aware."
She was still aware of her actions - not a mindless puppet, not blank until she wakes
up and remembers everything - trapped inside her own body for up to three years as it was
used to infect innocent people, and try to kill her closest friend while she was powerless
to stop it. PTSD is the very least one could expect to take away after all that. Maybe
this would have been explored if Jill had actually appeared since 2009! Yeah, the series'
timeline has reached 2017 and she's not even been mentioned since. Her only appearances
since RE5, almost a decade ago, have been in prequels and crossovers. It's ridiculous.
Anyway, back to my version: Jill is adamant about going and Barry knows that he can't
stop her - this is Chris and Jill we're dealing with. Instead, he insists on accompanying
her. Jill knows Barry will be a big help, especially if she does have an episode while
she's in the field. The subject of Claire is also brought up, as both know she won't
be any less determined to go than Jill. In the end, all three head out to find Chris.
They are ambushed on the way to meet up with Piers and have to fight their way through
the streets. Upon meeting Piers, he explains what's happened so far, giving us a largely
unaltered Chapter 2, but with Chris' sudden disappearance actually being explained.
In the actual game, we last see Chris passing out from his injuries as Piers slowly drags
him away from the transformed squadmates bearing down on them. How did they get out of this
and where was Piers when Chris woke up with no memory and walked away? I'd explain that
Piers found a hole in a wall too small for the enemy to pursue through and escaped through
that, taking Chris to a nearby abandoned apartment. While waiting for backup, Piers left to get
some supplies, to fight off some nearby raiding J'avo, or to put his comrades out of their
misery. Chris presumably woke up during this time and, scared and alone, ran off.
Chapter 3 continues in Edonia. China's streets are used, perhaps, a bit too much in RE6 with
not far off half of the chapters taking place there, while Edonia, Tall Oaks and a few facilities
share the rest. So, having another Edonia chapter might help lessen this overexposure.
The four continue the search and eventually uncover some evidence to suggest that Chris
is now in China, so they head there. Chapter 4 has them getting caught up in an ongoing
BSAA mission to deal with the J'avo, maybe briefly meeting up with another notable BSAA
member along the way, like Quint, Sheva or even Rebecca. They eventually catch up with
Chris, who has amnesia and is being manipulated by... Alex Wesker.
RE5 introduced the idea of the Wesker Children, a group of children who had been experimented
on, with most prominent, of course, being Albert. The only other one confirmed at the
time to still be alive was Alex, who later appeared as the main antagonist of Revelations
2. So, let's imagine that, instead, she is part of this story, and has an interest in
her brother's son, Jake Muller, as well as the man who killed Albert, Chris Redfield.
During a standoff, Jill and Barry have to fight Chris and Alex. Jill, who has been having
the odd episode here and there, has a full-on PTSD flashback here, seeing Barry as Wesker,
Alex as Sheva, and herself and Chris in their Resi 5 forms. We either play that RE5 boss
fight from the other perspective, or it's just a cutscene, depending on how well a gunfight
can be worked out in gameplay. Jill ends up going too far, falling back into the state
of mind she was in back then, utterly compelled to kill Chris, until Barry holds her back,
allowing Alex and Chris to retreat. Piers and Claire are probably off in a jet, trying
to stop the C-Virus missile, as in the real game, ending with the same result.
In Chapter 5, the four pursue Chris and Carla to the off-shore facility. If Sherry and Jake
are here, Claire meets up with Sherry and is impressed by how much she's grown since
Raccoon City. Jill has to finally face up to her PTSD as she has one last battle with
Chris, borrowing the mechanic of calling out to our manipulated partner from RE5. Jill
is able to get through to Chris and his memory is restored, at least enough for him to remember
who these people are and what they mean to him. Now a team of five, the heroes take down
the mutated Alex, and escape. Maybe Piers meets the same fate as in the actual game,
but otherwise, it's a happy ending.
Having been manipulated by a Wesker, Chris is now better able to relate to what Jill
went through, and she is able to find closure on those events after repaying Chris for him
saving her back then. We end on a more positive note as Jill makes a joke about her chest
scars, saying that she can't wear tube tops anymore, and maybe they finally become a couple,
maybe not, but it's a happy ending for the storyline. But most importantly, we would
finally get to see Jill and Claire interact because we have never seen that before. Claire
and Barry happened before Claire and Jill, it's madness.
As I hope I've clearly illustrated here, Jill Valentine's story in Resident Evil 5 had a
ton of potential for follow-up, but they've done nothing with it in almost a decade. There's
still hope, admittedly, as spin-offs like the Revelations games don't move the story
forward like the numbered entries do. So maybe Jill's PTSD-fuelled psychological horror spin-off
will be released after Capcom finally finish RE2make. With a nice, big close-up of Jill's
eye for the cover.
But even if they do, Chris' story in Resi 6 is a bit lacking in its character development
and consistency with the rest of the series. While they can't fix this problem with Resi
6 outside of a remake, I do hope someone at Capcom will remember the relationship between
Chris and his loved ones, and bring it back going forward. RE7 is right when it says that
Chris is not a hero; but only because he isn't joined by those who make him one.
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controlled by Wesker.