Farewell, My Turnabout, Day Two Investigation

CONTENT WARNING

This article contains discussion of mental health, suicide, and suicidal ideation. If you'd like to avoid such topics, I'd recommend skipping this case both in playing the series and reading Wright Wednesday.

Hallo, alle miteinander, and welcome back to Wright Wednesday. This is the series where we recap, analyze, and review the cases of the Ace Attorney series. This week, we're covering the second day of investigation for the last case of the second game, Farewell, My Turnabout. I'm Roy, and I have cackled evilly before.

I'm Sam, and my evil cackle leaves something to be desired.

Last time, the day ended on a major cliffhanger. The person who had kidnapped Maya gave Phoenix only one day to get an acquittal for Matt Engarde, but even after a long day in court, Phoenix couldn't manage it, and they're forced to investigate in preparation for more court tomorrow, without knowing what will come next. Oh, and Edgeworth freaked out about a card Adrian Andrews had been playing with for a while.

I hadn't realized quite how many pieces had been put in place before this segment. It's honestly kind of impressive.

Now, that last trial did actually go pretty long. Trials all start at 10am, and usually go until 2 or 3pm. This time, Phoenix, Pearl, and Gumshoe don't reach the office until 5:24pm. Phoenix and Pearl are freaking out over the consequences of failing the condition of a one day acquittal, but know they'll need to wait until they hear from the kidnapper. Gumshoe is out of a job now, but offers to work for Phoenix. For now, that mostly means keeping his office clean, something he has a lot of experience doing for Edgeworth. Speaking of Edgeworth, even Gumshoe was surprised by how hard he went against Adrian on the stand. Phoenix also asks about how Franziska is doing, and learns she's recovering in the Hotti Clinic.

Which means everybody's favorite character is baaaaaack...

That's right! Heading over to the Hotti Clinic has Phoenix and Pearl run into "Director Hotti" once more. He is as gross and awful as before. But for some added humor, Edgeworth doesn't appear to realize he isn't a real doctor, and is treating him like he seriously is the director of the clinic. But as he arrives to ask after Franziska's health, the woman herself emerges, whipping the fake director and facing her brother and Phoenix, who brought her tulips, which gets a mocking smile from her.

There's fanfiction branching off of this moment, I just know it.

Talking to Franziska has her reveal she was shot just outside the courthouse, and was willing to go to trial anyway if Edgeworth hadn't dragged her to the clinic to be treated. Then, Phoenix asks about the deal she made with Adrian Andrews. Franziska tries to cover with an 'ends justify the means' argument, but runs away when it's clear she has weak footing on that particular talking point. With her gone, Phoenix is left with Edgeworth, and decides to talk to him. Edgeworth tries to cover for his actions in court by saying 'well, we all put our lives on the line in court, right?' which doesn't even begin to answer why he told someone with a history of suicidal ideation it was okay for her to kill herself.

I can see Edgeworth going too far in the moment there, but New Edgeworth seems more self-aware than that. Blech.

When Phoenix asks him about his over-the-top reaction to Adrian's card after the trial had ended, Edgeworth reveals it's the calling card to an assassin, one who goes by the name Shelly de Killer. He leaves a calling card next to the body of anyone he assassinates to make it clear he did the job, and to ensure his client doesn't get arrested for the murder. Adrian taking the card messed that up. This assassin actually deeply values the trust between himself and his client, and will do anything to make sure that his reputation is upheld. It's pretty clear now that Juan Corrida was actually killed by Shelly de Killer.

It's fascinating how obvious the basic shape of this mystery is from the very beginning, but how well a simple expectation of Phoenix Wright formula manages to obscure it.

Edgeworth brings up Phoenix's odd behavior in court, and Phoenix decides to finally trust him with the knowledge that Maya has been kidnapped, seemingly by de Killer. Edgeworth is shocked, and when he learned the condition for her release is an acquittal for Matt Engarde, he immediately works on setting up a rescue team to save her. Phoenix thinks it's hopeless, since they have no clues to go on, and says he doesn't want any pity from Edgeworth. He counters Phoenix by implying a difficult truth: if Shelly de Killer killed Juan Corrida, he did it because someone paid him. And now, he's forcing Phoenix to defend Matt Engarde. Phoenix doesn't want to think through that implication, and Edgeworth respects that, giving Phoenix a letter he can use to investigate the hotel.

It is nice to have Edgeworth on our side.

It is. He heads off to form that rescue team, and with him gone, Pearl wonders nervously out loud if Engarde really is the client. Phoenix can't bring himself to believe it, since he didn't have any Psyche-Locks.

From that, we once again cut over to Maya, who uses the sea shell card she found before to unlock the door and escape the cellar she's been trapped in. She emerges into a room with a sofa, large screen television, an antenna attached to recording devices, and another door with a cat flap on the bottom. Sadly, Maya isn't small enough to get through the flap. On a coffee table is a photo of Celeste Inpax with a note reading "With love, Celeste". Sadly, after this exploration, de Killer arrives to detain her once more, and makes clear again that he is an assassin.

In case we forgot.

I definitely want to talk about this section later. Anyway, heading to the Detention Center reveals that both Engarde and Adrian are in questioning, but Matt left a note for Phoenix. He has a cat at home, named Shoe, and he's getting worried since he didn't leave extra food for the kitty in case he got arrested. He wants Phoenix to go to his place and make sure the cat is okay, which Pearl is very happy to do.

I don't know if Shoe is a great name for a cat, or a terrible name for a cat.

Either way, Shoe seems like a great kitty. Heading to the Engarde Mansion, Pearl and Phoenix quickly find the cute cat, as well as the mansion's butler, John Doe. He is a normal butler with nothing odd about him at all who doesn't answer any of the questions Phoenix asks him, then leaves. Oh, and there's a door in the living room with cat door on it, looking a lot like the one in the room Maya was being held in. Nothing ominous here at all.

Not like it's the same butler with the extremely conspicuous stitching down the center of his face who got Maya at the hotel on the night of the murder.

I mean, Phoenix doesn't know that waiter at the hotel was a kidnapper. He could have just given her the message and led her some place where someone else kidnapped her.

Then ended up at the defendant's house, yes. Mostly it's just that Phoenix is like "Why do I feel like I've seen that butler before," like he's just your average Joe with one of those faces.

Heading to the Hotel has Phoenix run into Oldbag, who refuses to let him pass until he gives her the note from Edgeworth giving him permission to investigate. She accepts that, but lets Phoenix know the cops are investigating Engarde's Hotel Room so he can't go in there. Going to the Hallway where the two relevant hotel rooms are, Phoenix runs into Lotta, who talks a lot about nothing of importance before disappearing from this case until the big wrap up.

That was weird. Say what you will about her but she's usually important at least.

That uselessness done with, going into Corrida's room means the return of Oldbag. She's there grieving Corrida's death, and finally gives the explanation for why all those bear things are in his room. Apparently he wrote an autobiography, at 21, and there was something in there about fighting a bear while training? Then Oldbag leaves.

That's a detail that I feel didn't get enough expansion, but whatever. Not that it's relevant, but like...what?

I mean, it's coming from Oldbag, so we don't have to necessarily treat it as real canon. She's known to stretch the truth.

That's entirely fair.

Just before Oldbag leaves, one of the presents goes off, signalling to everyone that it's now 'bearly' 8 in the evening. Then, the transceiver starts beeping. The kidnapper is unhappy with Phoenix not holding up his end of the deal, but agrees to give him another day, since the acquittal is something he needs more than anything else. Phoenix asks to hear from Maya, to make sure she's actually okay, but while the kidnapper is willing to do that, the call is interrupted by static that forces them to end the conversation. Heading back to the office, Phoenix thinks to consult Gumshoe, since he's shown himself to actually be pretty clever with technology in past cases. They turn on the transceiver and it's clear it's not broken, so Gumshoe can only think there must have been something in the room causing electromagnetic interference. He heads out to snatch a bug sweeper from the police, and tells Phoenix he'll meet them at the crime scene.

Heading back over there, which takes a while considering all the locations in-between, we learn Gumshoe couldn't get the police bug sweeper, but he did bring the one he made in school as a kid, because apparently Gumshoe was kind of a science geek back in the day. The only issue is that it goes off to anything using electricity, so searching for the offending transmission source takes ignoring all the obvious stuff. The culprit turns out to be the odd one out among all the bear stuff, a huge, life-sized bear that looks like a real bear and not like a cartoon bear. Specifically, in its eye is a camera, connected to a timer and a transmitter. It's been set up to face where the murder occurred and record from 8PM to 9PM, then transmit the recording somewhere else to be recorded. Since that's when the murder occurred, it seems clear someone filmed the murder happening.

A strange development all around. Honestly exactly how it factors into this is a really cool detail, I think.

Gumshoe takes the spy camera, hoping to find out who bought the gift and bugged the room by finding out who bought it. Of course, it's already 9PM, so most stores will be closed, but Gumshoe heads off anyway. Edgeworth arrives soon after Gumshoe leaves, having created and deployed the rescue team for Maya. Chances are slim they'll be able to save her, but it's better than nothing. He points out that Gumshoe's effort is inherently fruitless, as those cameras are too common to be reliably tracked. The bear, on the other hand, is an extremely expensive import from overseas. Since very few ever come to the States, tracking that is actually possible. Edgeworth will use that to find who planted the spy camera. But before he leaves, Phoenix asks why he's doing this. Edgeworth tells him he refuses to answer such a question while Phoenix still can't comprehend the answer. Until that time comes, he asks that Phoenix think about who the real killer is, and try to find the truth.

Phoenix and Pearl talk about next steps, recognizing how much sense Engarde makes as the killer and concluding that they have to talk to Engarde and Andrews before the night is out. On the way out of the Hotel they run into Oldbag, who says that Celeste Inpax’s suicide came days after an announcement that she and Juan Corrida were engaged, when Juan suddenly canceled the wedding.

Weird that no one mentioned this the first day.

Detention Center visiting hours are over, but Edgeworth got the new Chief of Police to give Phoenix special permission to visit. Adrian Andrews is there, so Phoenix tries to find out about the dirt Corrida had on Engarde. She’s cagey about the details, but does explain that she had heard Corrida hid Celeste Inpax’s suicide note, and she wanted to find and burn it so it wouldn’t spread among tabloids and gossipers. She is also convinced that Engarde is the killer, which is why she planted the evidence to implicate him. When asked why, she says “Revenge,” and a single Psyche-Lock appears. Trying to break it gets stuck on the question of what Inpax and Engarde have to do with each other, so we have to move on.

It is helpful that this is clearly a point we can't get past, so we don't have to waste time throwing evidence at it and losing health.

Engarde, meanwhile, clams up about the secret Corrida was supposedly planning to reveal. Clams up with five Psyche-Locks. When Phoenix brings up Adrian’s intent to get the suicide note from Corrida, Engarde plays the air-head and changes the subject. Back at Criminal Affairs, Will Powers is overwhelmed because he’s apparently been called in to testify, and while he isn’t allowed to say what he saw, he does tell Phoenix more about Inpax and Corrida. Specifically that Inpax said at one point that she had gotten caught up with someone horrible, presumably Corrida, and potentially the reason he supposedly hid her suicide note.

As has become evident, Will Powers is a big fan of celebrity gossip.

Phoenix gets a call from Gumshoe, who says they’re in trouble and to meet him at the office, but gets cut off. When they get there, Gumshoe says they know who bought the stuffed bear and the camera: Matt Engarde. Confronting Engarde about this runs us through all the evidence and reasoning; Engarde bought the bear, proven by the receipt and the clerk’s testimony, and put the camera inside it. Engarde dismissively tries multiple times to tell Phoenix to just stop, but of course Phoenix does not. He theorizes that Engarde set up the camera because he knew de Killer would assassinate Corrida. Which means Engarde is the client. 

And Engarde admits it.

The transition he goes through is both simple and very over-the-top, and I kind of love it.

Definitely adds to the shock factor, for sure. He says he wanted to keep Phoenix in the dark so he could do his job guiltlessly. He consults “himself” over his wrist phone, much like he had been consulting others, and decides it’s time to drop the act. He flips his hair to reveal heavy scarring over his right eye and changes his demeanor entirely, introducing himself to Phoenix anew. 

He admits that he hired de Killer to murder Juan, and that he installed the camera to have dirt on de Killer as a countermeasure against potential blackmail. He contrasts himself with Adrian, saying that rather than depend on people like she does, he uses them and throws them away. And he knows full well that Maya’s life is resting on his Not Guilty verdict, so he retains his cocky attitude and the stakes are clear; truth and justice will get Maya killed.

The question of what his consulting "himself'"means is something we'll come back to later.

Edgeworth shows up, telling Phoenix he’s finally found the truth of the case. Back at the precinct, he says he left because he realized he didn’t truly understand what a “prosecutor” was, and now it’s Phoenix’s turn to figure out what it really means to be a defense lawyer. Phoenix muses that he became a lawyer to protect innocent people, but has failed to even protect the people closest to him, and Edgeworth calls him out for having blindly defended his clients with trickery and unquestioning devotion. 

Phoenix says he can’t fight against the truth he way Edgeworth and von Karma have, but Edgeworth clarifies that von Karma only fights for herself and her perfect win record, and Phoenix accuses Edgeworth of fighting for the same petty reasons, and leaving when his pride was damaged. But instead, Edgeworth insists that Phoenix helped him see the error of his ways, and that his win record is meaningless. He says he has faith that Phoenix will learn the same lesson before the verdict tomorrow; and if not, he will be powerless to change the ending of this story.

I do want to specify that Phoenix doesn't just want to 'protect' people. He says his goal has always been to 'save' them. There's a lot of hero complex stuff rapped up in Phoenix's motivations.

The assassin calls again, and when Phoenix gets mad at him, he explains that this process is “aftercare.” He’s making sure no suspicion falls on his clients, since he’d be a pretty terrible assassin if his clients were arrested for his murders. But just as he’s about to hang up, we hear a meow. Phoenix tells Edgeworth to send the police to Engarde’s manor immediately, and follows them there. 

By the time they get there, de Killer has left, but there’s a teddy bear with a number of thin cuts in it left outside the door Maya had been kept in. There’s also a tape deck that presumably held the recording of the murder, but there’s no tape inside. The room Maya had been kept in is empty, but it contains a framed picture of Celeste Inpax, with the words, “With love, Celeste” written on it. Written on the back is a message from Maya; she says she knew they would come, and tells Phoenix to get Engarde a guilty sentence. She’ll never forgive Phoenix for acquitting him. She also tells Pearl to help Nick.

Not gonna lie, this scene is really sad.

The clarity of this moment, that Phoenix will be forced to choose between justice and Maya's life, and Maya wants him to give her up, is really powerful and finally sinks the knife of this case in all the way.

The fact that she writes the note as if this is just some small thing, and she'll be back soon, but with the clear intention that she might not survive this, is really great.

Phoenix already knows more than he ever wanted to, but there’s one last crucial bit of information: whatever Andrews is hiding behind that Psyche-Lock. The picture of Celeste Inpax at Engarde’s house is sufficient to prove a connection, which finally prompts Andrews to tell her secret: the reason Corrida called off his engagement was because of Matt. 

Celeste and Matt had been in love long before, but as Engarde said, he uses people and throws them away. When this became clear, Celeste moved to a different studio rather than tarnish Matt’s reputation with a scandal. But when she and Corrida announced their engagement, Matt told Corrida about their past relationship; since the two of them were such fierce rivals, Corrida reacted by calling off the wedding, and Celeste killed herself that night. Andrews is convinced that she left a suicide note with a detailed account of Matt Engarde’s misdeeds, and killed herself to stop Matt from ever hurting her again.

Much like in Turnabout Samurai, we discover the victim was a pretty huge asshole himself, though not to Jack Hammer's attempted murder extreme.

Seriously though, I have very strong feelings about Juan Corrida after this reveal.

Andrews believes Corrida kept the note and intended to use it much like Matt used his past relationship with Celeste; waiting until the right moment, and revealing its contents just when it could do as much possible damage to Matt’s career. Andrews finds both of them despicable for using Celeste’s death as a pawn in their juvenile rivalry, and in addition to framing Matt out of certainty he had killed Corrida, she wanted to find and burn the suicide note so as not to bring attention back to Celeste and her death. Andrews asks if Phoenix is still going to try and acquit Engarde, and he doesn’t quite know how to respond to that except that it’s his job. But he expects he won’t be getting any sleep before the trial the next morning.

And that's the end of the recap for today! Which means it is analysis time. As usual, why don't you start us off, Sam?

Well, this is really the part where the game's complication of justice takes its final form. Even in previous cases, justice has been achieved by just trying really hard, but now everything Phoenix usually does to get his verdicts would be used to get a murderer off the hook, and while he would absolutely just take the loss in most cases, Maya's life is at risk. There doesn't seem to be a way out of this scenario that includes a just outcome as well as Maya's life, and it's easily the most challenging scenario of Phoenix's career so far. 

The game has been building up to this for a while by demonstrating various ways that justice isn't as black-and-white as Phoenix thought, but this is the breaking point.

Absolutely. We're not quite at the culmination on this arc, and what the game is trying to say about it overall, since that comes next week. What I do feel like I can say now is that I don't feel like this case challenges Phoenix's ethics in a way that sticks in the slightest. That's because he is forced into defending Engarde thanks to Maya's kidnapping, and therefore must defend Engarde no matter how much of an over-the-top evil jerk he is. While we haven't reached the game's ultimate message, I think it's fair to say right out that Phoenix does not stop viewing being a defense attorney as being about him saving people after this case.

What would have been a more effective way to challenge Phoenix's mission statement would be to give him a defendant who is genuinely kind, sweet, and a good person...who actually did kill someone. Whether in a fit of anger, or for moral reasons. That would exploit the obvious fault in his 'believe in his clients' mantra. Because Engarde basically becomes a cartoonishly villainous asshole the second his crime is revealed, there's no way Phoenix can have a moral struggle over whether he should defend the person or not. As Edgeworth says right afterwards, even guilty people deserve adequate defense under the law. The idea of defending someone who actually committed the crime isn't explored as well as it could have been, but that's more a gripe with where the series goes from here and how they never try this trick again.

That's fair. It does seem like this kind of moral question is limited only to this game, which is strange. I think it works pretty well here, especially since the shock to the player's expectations for how a Phoenix Wright case goes is just as much a factor as Phoenix's feelings, but it does sort of require a degree of follow-up that the series doesn't seem interested in afterward.

You said you had some thoughts about Juan Corrida, so why don't we discuss that Jammin' Ninja a little bit?

Oof. OOF.

Yeah, that about sums it up.

So to recap, Celeste dates Engarde. He turns out to be a massive douche, so they break up. Later, she dates Corrida. They get engaged. Engarde, still a terrible person, informs Corrida, his rival, that Celeste used to date him once, intentionally trying to sow discord and ruin their relationship. And Corrida breaks up with her because of it.

Here's the thing; I'm already pretty against jealous drama nonsense in these scenarios. No one should care who someone dated or how many people they've been with or how well they remember those relationships; it's immature at best, misogynistic and controlling at worst. 

So for Corrida to find out that his fiance had been in an abusive relationship with someone he hates, and respond by breaking up with her? Absolutely awful on every level. It further harms Celeste on a psychological and emotional level, it just gives Engarde what he clearly wanted anyway, and one has to wonder whether Corrida ever actually cared about Celeste anyway since apparently "she dated some dude you hate once" was enough for him to break off a frigging engagement. 

Corrida then goes on to hide the note that exposes Engarde's misdeeds, and while it's possible the note could be damaging to him as well, it's clearly stated that he did it so he could use the information against Engarde when the time was right. 

Engarde is "The Villain," and it seems fairly clear that he's guilty of many more sins, of greater variety and severity, than Corrida. But as far as I'm concerned, in the matter of Celeste's suicide, they are equally guilty, and I am not shedding a tear for this particular victim.

Corrida was not a good guy, further pushing that theme of the game's on how the usual morality of these cases can be bent. I agree that he is easily just as responsible for Celeste's suicide, and his actions since are morally reprehensible. As Adrian Andrews says, both men were monsters. In a way, it seems the only real difference between them was that Engarde was willing to get his hands dirtier in order to win their little game once and for all.

Pretty much. Honestly I hate them both so much.

Speaking of, I think it's my turn to talk about someone, namely Matt Engarde. We get a little more about him next time, but for the most part all we need to analyze about him we get from this particular part of the story. Now, what throws a lot of people off is what he says right before revealing his evil side, where he decides to 'consult himself' over his wrist-mounted cellphone, and even referring to 'him' as a different person.

This has led some fans to wonder if he had Dissociative Identity Disorder, multiple distinct personas occupying the same body. Now, I don't really think that's the case, since I haven't been able to find any other signs throughout the case that would point to that being true, aside from this one line. But at the same time, I don't think dismissing it as a one-off joke works either.

I believe that Matt Engarde is an actor. By which I mean to say, neither the surfer dude we first meet or the cackling villain we see swirling chocolate milk is the 'Real' Matt Engarde. They're both characters. I believe Matt is the kind of person who builds Masks to suit the people he's talking to.

When he first meets Phoenix Wright, he knows that the do-gooder lawyer would prefer to have a nice, innocent, dumb client, so that's the part he plays. It's probably not far off from the part he plays most of the time, the charming but dumb actor people can feel confident is a good person. He's 'Refreshing like a spring breeze'.

But when Phoenix figures out that can't be the truth, Engarde has to switch gears. Instead, he knows now that Phoenix is expecting him to be an Evil guy with a capital E. So, he's an actor. He acts. He goes full hammy villain, indulging in being the most evil of evil people.

I don't mean to imply that Engarde isn't evil, I'd say he most definitely is, but instead that we have yet to see the kind of person he 'really' is. The scarred villain is just as fake as the rich playboy. They're all projections meant to keep people from seeing the person he really is. The only thing I can say for certain about the real Engarde is that I think his speech about using others is probably a genuine thing from him, but in the sense that he thinks that is how everyone works, or how they should work. You know, one of those jerks.

That makes sense to me. The airhead personality was very useful for someone who had to play dumb and innocent without arousing suspicion when he dodged questions. And of course someone who only thinks of other people in terms of what he can gain from them and how he can mess with them would switch gears whenever it suits him; he's like a 4chan troll, trying on whatever values and personalities entertain him without actually committing to any of it on a personal or ideological level.

How about we discuss the real killer a little, Shelly de Killer? The honorable assassin got quite a bit more screentime in this part, and it's clear he does genuinely follow a code of conduct, even if the things he does are awful.

He's very much a gentleman killer kind of thing. Weirdly common trope for assassins.

Enough so that it almost feels odd how much all the characters note about his honorableness every time it's mentioned. Like, this isn't the very first time that trope has been done.

I assume it's an attempt to strongly establish it since we don't actually see much of it firsthand. Still might be a bit much though.

Another interesting kind of unique thing for this case is its Big Bad. Even though this is just the second game, we've already seen that, generally speaking, the Big Bad's of the last cases of games are supposed to be not only evil, but really intelligent planners. Manfred von Karma's murder plots were done to the exact detail, and while Damon Gant's were both crimes of opportunity, his cover up jobs were pretty fantastically well done.

By comparison, Matt Engarge is just kind of an idiot. He hired an assassin to kill his rival, not foreseeing any fallout from it at all, and that's the extent of his presence, mystery-wise. The assassin himself is handling a lot of the details, including the manipulation to keep Phoenix on the case, and Adrian Andrews's interference in the case is where a lot of the actual cover-up details are. Beneath his cruelty and charm, Matt Engarde is kind of an underwhelming jerk, without the intellect or forethought to back it up.

I don't bring this up as a bad thing, mind you. Not every Big Bad needs to be a Machiavellian genius, it's good to have variety. Especially on a case that provides far less of an actual mystery and far more of a thematic and character-focused journey. It's just strange for a mystery-focused series, of any medium, to have a major foe who isn't a smart person working deceptions on others.

That's certainly true. I kind of enjoy that, honestly; we're still dealing with a cunning enemy, but they're more behind the scenes, and the villain right in front of us is just some jerk that we have no reason to even respect.

Switching gears, something that kind of bothered me here was the nature of the Maya flashbacks we've been getting. The first one came on the first day of investigation, when they used Maya's clue over the radio about channeling Mia so Mia could explain what Maya wrote to her on a note. After that, we went right into a flashback of her looking around the room and escaping.

Sounds okay, right? But that just kind of trailed off, and then we started the next day ready for trial, no mention of what happened next with Maya. Then, during this segment, after the trial and some investigating, Phoenix thinks back to Maya's situation and we cut back to her escaping the room. My question is...what happened there? The best I can guess is that Maya's entire escapade, through both flashbacks, were what Maya wrote on a note and communicated to Mia, meaning Phoenix knows about the contents of the full flashback for the whole trial. But...we never get that impression?

It feels like the game wanted to give us a Maya flashback, and gave us an in-story reason for it to happen. But the way they structured the flashback is so odd, and the framing they gave it makes no sense when it's never referred to again. It isn't the last time in the series they do a neat-sounding narrative trick while trying to ground a flashback in story logic, only for it to make 0 sense at all if you actually take two seconds to think about it. I would have honestly just preferred if we had gotten the flashbacks interspersed without the Mia communicating to Maya bits, if only because then this wouldn't be as confusing. What do you think, Sam?

I agree that would have made more sense. But frankly, we'd need them to matter a bit more too. The only information we got from the flashback that we hadn't already found out elsewhere was the picture of Celeste, which we found later anyway when we went there with the police. I just wish seeing Maya's predicament had worked to move the story forward I'm any tangible way, or even to reveal something to the player to increase tension when we get back to Phoenix and crew who don't know what we know. Instead it felt kind of pointless.

What do these flashbacks accomplish? They give us the terror of Maya's kidnapping, followed by the end of segment hope for her escape. Then, when we get back to her, we get hints at where she could be, which are fulfilled when we go to Engarde's Mansion and it becomes clear exactly where she is. That's what they do. Considering this is a mystery story, I agree entirely that actually tying some clues or evidence to this flashback more strongly would have worked better. As they are, they don't add much to the case, and the more you think about them the less they work in the narrative.

I guess I would probably have been more scared for her situation if I didn't know anything than if I see her briefly try to escape and fail. That might be a personal preference though.

What were your thoughts in regard to Gumshoe's contributions in this segment?

I liked seeing him be a bit more active in helping us solve the case! He's still himself, and Edgeworth had a better idea of how to really go about it, but seeing him fight to help us out with his own contributions was nice.

I really like the idea that, after being fired from his dream job, his first idea is to join Phoenix's office. Like, that is just really cute, and it makes me sad when it seems like Phoenix doesn't appreciate how much Gumshoe is there for him.

That's very true. You'd think Phoenix would appreciate that more, but I feel like the game was more into Gumshoe the Comedic Dork than Gumshoe the Affable Guy Who Just Wants to Help.

Sadly, I think you're right. Not sadly, I think it's time to look at the Wright and Co Examinables! I'm going to be covering what happens at the beginning of the segment, with Gumshoe there, because they're more unique and funnier. Starting with Charley the Plant, Gumshoe is very excited to water him, looking around for 'Mr. Watering Can', which Phoenix snarks about a little in his head.

Gumshoe is just trying his best.

He is indeed. Looking at the poster has Pearl note that it's of the Nickel Samurai, and asks Phoenix to be Maya's Nickel Samurai. This is the same message as the day before, which I feel is a tad lazy. They couldn't have Gumshoe saying anything Samurai-related?

Adding Gumshoe to the situation but using the same dialogue as before does seem a little lazy.

Looking at the bookshelf seemingly gives the same dialogue as the day before, with Pearl excitedly offering to help with legal books before realizing they're up too high and she can barely read. But now, Gumshoe chimes in that he's tall and he can read! This leads Phoenix to comment that it's a bit disturbing to see a grown man competing with a child.

I feel like "disturbing" is a little harsh, but sometimes Phoenix can be a little judgmental.

And...that seems to be it? For some reason, I can't find any information through my usual sources about what happens if you examine the window facing the Gatewater Hotel. I don't know if that means it just gives the same message as before, or what. This has not happened to me before.

Oh, weird. I wonder what secret Phoenix Wright fandom society is covering this up, and why they don't want you to know.

Well, they can't cover-up the examinables at the Criminal Affairs Department! Depending on when you look, the detective at his desk is either training for corporate interviews, 'image training' (whatever that is), and finally seemingly reveals that he's one of the heroes from the Hero of Heroes Grand Prix, leading to Phoenix wondering if he's losing grip on reality.

"Image training" is basically optics, from what I understand. Like PR. How to look good representing the department. Which, at time of writing, honestly makes me kind of uncomfortable. But I don't expect this series has grappled with police brutality at all, so it's probably not particularly worth discussing.

Ohhhh...okay. Considering he was working on that right after training for corporate interviews...I hope nothing was trying to be implied by that.

Hmm. Considering the series never addresses police corruption beyond the first game (as far as I recall), probably not.

The first time you're able to examine the Chief of Detectives, he is freaking out over hearing von Karma was shot, and wants to know who did it, leading to Phoenix thinking that Gumshoe could take the guys job at this point. Later, he's reading the report that the real killer was an assassin, but doesn't believe it because it sounds too silly, leading Phoenix to think he should trust his subordinates more.

I'd be interested in compiling all the examinables from the Chief and seeing if they form a consistent image of his character.

I feel like they do, in that he's a Gumshoe level buffoon with more power. Also, in the non-canon manga series with new cases, he turns out to be the murderer in one case.

Oh dang. I do need to read those.

As someone who has read a bunch of them, trust me, you don't.

Oh. Well that's disappointing.

I mean, I wouldn't say they're bad, they're mostly just Case Closed/Detective Conan mysteries with Ace Attorney characters in them.

Ah, okay. Yeah that's certainly not quite what I'd expect.

Like, they attempt to make Ace Attorney looking characters, but they're never quite there.

Huh. That's a shame, I feel like the series could work quite well in manga form.

You'd think so, but one of the issues is pacing. Each new case they make takes between one and three chapters, from what I remember. I don't know how well you know manga, but three chapters wouldn't even scratch the surface of some of the shorter cases of the series (not counting Tutorial Cases), so all the manga cases feel very abbreviated, and aren't able to really build weight.

Ah, that's unfortunate. And sounds a bit like the live-action movie, but with less stylistic flair to justify them.

We got a bit off track, but next week we'll be finishing up both this case and this game. Auf wiedersehen!

Until next time!