Mad Dogs
Episode 3 of Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness starts with Claire investigating the remnants of the Mad Dogs squad. Finding an abandoned house, she discovers a survivor inside decapitated, with spatters of blood up the wall. We then skip across to an area 1 hour outside Shanghai. Shen May arrives to see Master Yu En who just so happens to be her grandfather. However, Leon soon shows up afterwards, holding a gun up to them all and demanding answers. The man on life support in the room is a guy called Jun See, Shen May’s little brother. The US government are responsible for what happened to him, as we see later on that he’s infected with the T-virus. Shen May’s motivation stems from revenge against Wilson. the government official behind what’s happened. In fact, he was using Panemstan as a testing site for his bioweapons before moving on to bigger things. Jun See was there at the time too, and he was actually the torn-up survivor who was injured in the crash we’ve been seeing random shots of. All the Mad Dog members who committed suicide were actually infected. Wilson used a T-Virus inhibitor, preventing the infection from spreading. He dangled this over them like a carrot on a stick. With this leverage, he used the Mad Dogs Unit as his own covert squad, which ultimately allowed him to progress up through the ranks in the government. All this time though, Wilson never stopped working on his bioweapons. All of this was a ploy to start a war between China and the US too. It’s not the biggest twist, given how painfully obvious Wilson’s maniacally evil streak was, but seeing all the pieces slot together is still a nice inclusion nonetheless. However, Shen May has a trump card. She managed to keep a chip holding details about Jun See and what happened to him secret. Unfortunately they’re interrupted by the house suddenly coming under attack. The roof caves in, leaving Yu En and Jun See trapped inside. Leon and Shen May manage to make it out to safety, although Claire is not so lucky. Having learnt the truth, she tries to confront Wilson and the President at the White House. Sadly, this falls on deaf eats. Even worse, she’s blindsided that evening and tasered, knocking her out and leaving many question marks over her wellbeing.
The Episode Review
This third chapter of Infinite Darkness is by far the best of the season, with secrets unveiled about the zombie outbreak and true character motivations unveiled. The repeated shots from Panemstan is a bit disappointing, given the short run-time of this series, while the characters rely on established relationships from the game to keep it running. Without this knowledge, you’d really be lost over exactly how Leon and Claire know each other and their connection. This is well and truly a story for fans of the game and if you’re coming in blind, the many references to Raccoon City and events from the past will leave you confused. This in itself is a double-edged sword given fans of the game will undoubtedly be itching for more. The story itself is quite interesting, although this has very much sacrificed action and horror in favour of more dialogue-driven and exposition heavy speeches. Still, all the pieces here lean into an exciting and (hopefully) action packed finale to come.
