The Nuclear Sub
Episode 2 of Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness begins back on the nuclear submarine with Leon confronting Jason over his medication. As we soon find out, Jason was actually part of the Mad Dogs team that deployed back in 2000. Returning to the battleground, we see repeat shots of the first episode, this time with more context over who these soldiers actually are. Meanwhile, Claire delivers some exposition to explain what’s happened to Panemstan. The civil war reduced the country to a state of anarchy. Before the UN had a chance to pass a resolution, the US deployed troops to the country. The militia understandably fought back, leading to a “fight of futility”. Given the map of the world we see just before this, it’s safe to assume Panemstan is basically a hybrid of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Anyway, this “hero of Panemstan” is one of the few survivors to make it back from the Mad Dogs – Jason. All the others committed suicide, leading to Jason cursed with the same nightmare every night. Leon knows all about nightmares though, revealing the hell he went through back in Racoon City. The pair are interrupted by issues with the sub. The crew are mutilated, leading Jason to remind Leon they’re in a sub as he goes to whip out his gun. With the sub potentially infected, Jason and Shen May dismantle the crew with knives, leaving them for dead. Leon is unfortunate enough to come across the infected bioweapon, which happen to be rats smuggled inside Lots and lots of rats. Sirens suddenly wail overhead as the threat of the sub self destructing in less than 3 minutes rings through the tannoy. Leon does his best to fight back, electrocuting the rats and meeting back up with Jason and Shen. Although they hold a gun up to his head, the sub blows up. The next shot though we’re in Shanghai. Leon, Jason and Shen are all alive…somehow and make themselves at home in their new hideout. They made it to shore, as we learn through dialogue, as Leon asks what the pair are actually doing. It turns out they’re on a different mission. They’re looking for proof to expose a conspiracy concocted by the US government. After killing a sub full of people, Leon isn’t exactly in the forgiving mood – nor does he trust either of them. Leon shoots Jason dead, while Shen May manages to escape.
The Episode Review
So how did these three make it to shore? Unless I’m missing something of course but didn’t the sub just blow up? The scenes prior to that see the trio at a stand-off, then we cut to outside the sub and it blows. Did they make it on an escape pod? Swim to shore? How far away were they from China? To be fair, Shanghai is right on the coast but the contrived nature of this is a little jarring. It’s another example of the editing in this show not quite being up to scratch. This episode slows things down as we see more of what happened in Panemstan while understanding Jason and Shen’s motivations. It seems like someone inside the US is deliberately looking to start a war – which would ultimately look like someone within the White House we’ve already seen. Any clues yet? Either way, Claire takes a backseat in this episode in favour of Leon, who’s the focal point as the group make it to Shanghai. With the bioweapon facility looking like the next likely hotspot, everything is left wide open for where this one may go next.
