Farewell, My Turnabout, Day One 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 weekly series where we recap, analyze, and review the cases of the Ace Attorney series. But who, exactly, is 'we'? Why, I am Roy, and I think the Steel Samurai franchise's most underrated installment was The Pink Princess.

I'm Sam, and I think people are holding The Steel Samurai on a pedestal and not giving The Nickel Samurai enough of a chance. It's good too!

That's pretty relevant for today's episode, because we're starting our discussion of Farewell, My Turnabout, the last case of the second game in the series. It begins with a cutscene at an awards show, where various kid's show heroes are vying for the top prize. It goes to the aforementioned Nickel Samurai, and from there we see that Phoenix, Maya, and Pearl are in the audience watching. How did they get tickets for this illustrious event? Why, the first client of the Wright and Co. Law Offices gave them the tickets, none other than the original Steel Samurai, Will Powers.

It's nice to see him again. I like Powers a lot.

These days, Will is on a kid's exercise program...which still requires him to hide his face, since a lot of people see him as having the kind of face that would scare kids. They explain to Pearl, who is as media unsavvy as Phoenix, about a few of the shows that were on display: there's The Nickel Samurai, the third series in the franchise and stars hit actor Matt Engarde, and The Jammin' Ninja, about a ninja with a bright red guitar, and he's played by Matt's rival, Juan Corrida.

I love that The Jammin' Ninja is about a ninja who's so bad at being a ninja that he becomes a musician instead.

They don't just have tickets to the show. Soon, there's supposed to be a post-ceremony stage show and a press conference where the Nickel Samurai is going to confess something. They wander around the hotel a little while they wait, then head to where the show is supposed to start. Only one problem: a PA announces that it's been cancelled, and for everyone to stay right where they are, as a special request from the police. If that wasn't bad enough, then someone in a weird spacesuit, complete with fishbowl helmet, comes by to accost the protagonists...and it's none other than Wendy Oldbag, back again.

I have to say, she has this idle animation with the helmet on where the helmet fogs up with each breath, and I love it. The sprites in these games have such personality.

They ask her why she's working here now. Apparently, shortly after Turnabout Samurai, she got canned from Global Studios. Now, she's a security guard at this place, which is the Gatewater Hotel. Not the same one from Turnabout Sisters, but a second location that was mentioned having opened up in one of the examinables earlier in this game. I mentioned it was foreshadowing at the time.

Oh right. That's...a weird choice.

What, to open up a second hotel and hold the event there? Or the fact they specifically made it the second branch of the hotel from the first game?

For the game to use the name of a notable location from earlier in the series, but like, not the same one. For some reason. Feels like a weird detail, is all.

Well, it is the same company, they just opened a new hotel, partially thanks to the press the murder from Turnabout Sisters got them.

Makes enough sense in universe, just seems like they could have just made it the Gatewater Hotel from the first game and nothing would be lost? It's not a big deal, obviously, it just makes me think of giving two characters the same name or something. Weird bit of context that complicates an unimportant detail of the story without adding anything of value. Unless that's a lot point later and I forgot.

Well, it does kind of become something later, as very soon they hint out how much Gatewater is expanding, which we then get to see later in a different game. Nothing to really do with this case, but it does kind of form an arc over the larger series lore.

Anyway, after talking with Ms. Oldbag a little, Maya decides they should sneak away and see what's going on. Doing so has them run into this butler, who tells Maya she has a call waiting for her. They head off, leaving Phoenix and Pearl to look around by themselves. They quickly run into Detective Gumshoe, who is arguing with Lotta Hart. Apparently, her camera has been stolen, but that's put on the backburner when Gumshoe slips that there was a murder, and she runs off to spill the beans to the world. Specifically, it turns out Juan Corrida was killed, and they've already arrested Matt Engarde for the crime.

I have to say, that butler? The most obviously sketchy character in this whole damn series. And this series has Frank Sahwit.

I have no clue what you mean by that. Heading back to the Hotel Lobby, they run into Will Powers again. He's shocked to hear about the murder, both because he knew Juan and considers himself Matt's mentor, but also because it feels like the events from his case are repeating themselves. He also has a walkie talkie to give to Phoenix, apparently from the same butler as before. Talking with Mr. Powers involves him explaining that Matt and Juan's rivalry ran very deep, that they competed over anything they could. He also makes a comment that feels like a big continuity error: that Juan joined The Jammin' Ninja in an effort to beat Matt, who was already The Nickel Samurai. Considering that The Jammin' Ninja was said to be up for the Hero of Heroes award the year before, and The Nickel Samurai is made clear to be the newest incarnation of the Steel Samurai franchise, that makes no sense, unless they recast Juan as The Jammin' Ninja between seasons or something.

I suppose the timeline doesn't quite match up. Hopefully that won't be the basis for any important contradictions later.

I don't think it is, and the simplest answer is actually just that Will got the order of events wrong in his head, which is pretty in-character for him. He's a beautiful himbo. Anyway, after they're done talking, that walkie talkie goes off, and a mysterious person on the other ends reveals a horrible truth: Maya is in their possession, and her life is in their hands. Or rather, Phoenix's hands. The only way to get Maya back alive is to take on Mr. Engarde's defense and win in one day. The kidnapper is claiming that someone has framed Engarde for the crime, which matches what Gumshoe said earlier, about them finding almost too much evidence that pointed to Engarde. The only other thing the kidnapper will tell Phoenix is his name: de Killer.

Told you the butler was obviously sketch.

Hey now, we don't know for sure he's the one who kidnapped her. Now you're just profiling people with facial scars, Sam.

Perfectly symmetrical facial scars right down the center of his face? That look like they got copy/pasted over from a Frankenstein drawing? No, I'm just an Ace Detective.

Putting Sam's prejudice aside, from there Pearl freaks out, because, y'know, this is crazy serious. Phoenix has no clue what to do, until he remembers Gumshoe's in the area. One quick explanation later, and Gumshoe is here to help. His first thought is that, if the kidnapper wants Engarde acquitted, then clearly the guy must be Guilty. When Phoenix weakly insists that the kidnapper said Engarde is innocent, Gumshoe points out that, considering the source, that isn't a great endorsement. Regardless, they'll need to stay the night with the police as part of the investigation, leaving Phoenix to wonder what Maya is going through.

I will say, Maya's kidnapping sure raises the stakes in a palpable way. This case is really something.

Speaking of Maya's kidnapping, we cut to what's going on with her. She's locked in what looks like a wine cellar, though it's apparently really dark. It's perfectly lit for us, the player, but from how she talks, it's near pitch black. She's alone, until the kidnapper enters and then we get the same conversation from before, but from Maya's perspective.

Phoenix and Pearl head to the Detention Center first thing in the morning, after they're released from questioning. Matt Engarde is charming, good looking...and a dumb surfer dude who has to call the people assigned to help him to answer even the most basic questions.

"Performer who turns out to be kind of an airhead" seems to be a running theme in this one.

True. Matt doesn't seem too worried about being arrested for murder, and thinks Phoenix is just a wandering salesman. Even Presenting his badge doesn't really help, as even when he realizes Phoenix is a lawyer, he points out as a rich and famous person, he can probably find someone better. But after showing off the walkie talkie, and mentioning de Killer is making Phoenix do this, Engarde agrees to accept Phoenix's representation.

Cool cool cool, that's not suspicious at all.

Now that he's actually talking to us, he reveals he was asleep during the murder, but no one can confirm that alibi. Why was he arrested? Well, it turns out that right after the police took him in, they did a body search, and found the Jammin' Ninja's button in the pleats of Matt's hakama. That's pretty good evidence, even if Engarde doesn't seem to realize that. The only time his doofy demeanor changes is when Juan Corrida is brought up, and it's clear they didn't like each other much at all, as Engarde is very dismissive of his 'rival'. Before they leave, Pearl suggests that Phoenix uses the Magatama to make sure he's getting the truth, and ask if Engarde killed the victim. After a short pause, he confirms he didn't kill Juan or anyone else, and there are no Psyche-Locks. Why Phoenix didn't try this with Max, I don't know...unless Pearl bringing it up was the only reason he tried it. In which case, wow, the kid has much better critical thinking skills than either Phoenix or Maya. Then we get a save point, I think the first one in the series for the middle of an investigation segment.

When Phoenix and Pearl start investigating in earnest, they hit a few roadblocks. Oldbag says she saw something, but has four (!) Psyche-Locks on it. Likewise, Lotta lost her camera and wants it back, but has two Psyche-Locks on whatever big scoop she was out to find.

When they search Engarde's hotel room, they come across a sharp young woman named Adrian Andrews. She's Engarde's manager. She also tells us that Corrida didn't have a manager, due to different policies in their production companies. She gives a timeline of the night: she and Engarde had dinner in this room, then she went to Viola Hall when the show started. Afterward she ran some errands, helped prepare the Lobby for the post-ceremony show, then came to get Corrida only to find his body.

We...are going to have a lot to talk about with Ms. Adrian Andrews.

Yes, we really, really will. Andrews helped prep for the press conference too, even though Engarde said he didn't know about it. She admits that it was a request by the publicity department, so she didn't know all the details either. Phoenix doubts this, since she comes across as very organized and would likely not do something without knowing any details. This suspicion increases when she says something about how maybe no one would have "needed to die" if he and Engarde hadn't taken their rivalry so seriously. When you ask her to elaborate, there are four Psyche-Locks.

In Corrida's room, Gumshoe fills Phoenix in on the details. Corrida was found sitting on a chair with a knife in his chest. They're still analyzing the fingerprints, but they're pretty sure they belong to Engarde. The room is messy from a fight, and apparently they found part of Corrida's suit on Engarde, thus the arrest. But what's more, they have a witness: Oldbag. But Gumshoe feels like something is off here, and tells Phoenix to figure it out.

There are also a bunch of bear related merchandise, which will be explained at a later date.

In Examining the room, Phoenix finds that the Jammin' Ninja's guitar case near the scene of the crime is empty, but has water on top of the lid. There's broken glass from a vase and cosmetic items on the floor, but there's also a full glass of tomato juice sitting unmolested on the counter they all fell from. Mentioning this to Gumshoe reveals that von Karma was here and noticed it too, because of course she's the prosecutor here. She immediately shows up and does her usual "whip Gumshoe into unconsciousness and monologue to Phoenix about how hopeless and pathetic he is" schtick. When she declares that victory will be hers, Phoenix just pauses and asks if that's all this means to her. That gives her pause, but she shakes it off and leaves with Gumshoe. But she apparently throws something at Phoenix as she goes. It's a piece of paper with Corrida's autograph and the words "to my dearest Wendy."

There is, as far as I'm aware, no explanation for why this autograph exists or why Franny had it. I'm at a loss.

Phoenix doubts this was intended for Wendy Oldbag, but shows it to her anyway, and in a moment that puts all Moe's jokes to shame, all four of her Psyche-Locks break to offer her information in exchange for the signature.

It is pretty freaking funny, a great way of messing with game mechanics for humor.

She says she say Engarde coming out of Juan Corrida's room about ten minutes before the body was found. She also reveals that Engarde had, in the past, created a scandal and framed Juan for something. At least according to her. She says Juan was led astray by a "vile temptress": Adrian Andrews. Oldbag believes Engarde pushed the two together in order to cause a scandal. This is all just celebrity gossip, of course, but still potentially useful information. More suspicious is that she claims that next week's issue of a tabloid will tell it all, which gets Phoenix wondering about her sources.

Of course, there is one person Phoenix knows who loves celebrity gossip, and is happy to talk about it.

Thankfully, Will Powers is happy to share what he knows about her. He gives Phoenix a newspaper clipping reporting that Corrida was romantically involved with one of Engarde's managers, with the initials A.A. So, theoretically, Adrian Andrews. With this, we can guess what Lotta was doing there. Phoenix makes it clear that he knows what she was after, and breaks her Psyche-Locks. She had been hoping to catch the two of them together, so she was waiting by Corrida's room. She apparently got some information, but the paper she wrote it down on is missing inside her camera case.

I love how she acts like she has this huge, secret scoop...when it's literally just speculation everyone else was making anyway.

That's the kind of thing that one might call out as bad writing, but like...that's Lotta. It's good character writing if anything, even if maybe also a stalling tactic gameplay-wise. Back at the precinct, Gumshoe glumly says the case is airtight. There are two major pieces of evidence: the button missing from Corrida's jacket, found on Matt Engarde later, and the knife in Corrida's chest, which has Engarde's fingerprints on it. And with Oldbag's testimony having seen him leave Corrida's room right before the body was found.

Things have looked bad in previous cases, but this might take the cake from Edgeworth's case in terms of how bad things look.

We also find out another important detail of the Corrida/Andrews scandal: two years ago, a woman named Celeste Inpax, Juan Corrida's manager and Adrian Andrews' mentor, committed suicide. But before he can explain more, von Karma shows up, gets mad at him for talking to the enemy, and fires him. But while she's yelling, she's interrupted by…Miles Edgeworth!

You mean he's alive?! Shocking twist!!

He chastises von Karma for blaming others when things go wrong. He's kind of snarky toward her, actually. She reacts poorly, and tells Phoenix shell defeat him in court the next day. He also calls von Karma a "wild mare"?

I think it's supposed to be something to show how well they know each other, but it has...connotations...

He says he has something Phoenix doesn't, and Phoenix can't win the case alone tomorrow; working together, he says, is the power to find the truth. Even so, the two clash a bit on their old differences. Phoenix accuses Edgeworth of selfishly leaving because of his losses, and when Edgeworth asks Phoenix what his motivation is, he says it's to defend his client, and save their lives. But Edgeworth says he has a lot to learn.

Perhaps the only time in the series Phoenix is actually honest about why he's there.

If the player asks him about Celeste Inpax, he says her death is still a mystery, as her suicide note went missing after her death. There was ink on her finger, like she had written one, but no note. And the police suspected Corrida might have been the one to hide it. Edgeworth gives Phoenix part one of the Suicide Report and tells him to look it over.

The fact that, to get the second part, you need to Present him the one he just gave you back to him, feels very clunky.

Exactly. This whole process goes 1) Present Celeste Inpax to Edgeworth, 2) select new dialogue option that appears in the "Talk" section (without indication), then 3) Present the thing he gives you in that very conversation to get another thing, then 4) go back into the "Talk" section to talk about that. It's extremely unintuitive.

Anyway, the second part he gives you is about an attempted suicide…by Adrian Andrews. Edgeworth says her professional facade is to hide her co-dependency. Apparently she tried to kill herself after Inpax's death because she had relied on her and couldn't go on without her. She has crippling anxiety that she always solved by having a completely trustworthy person in her life, because without that she falls apart.

We're going to talk a lot more about that in the analysis portion, but I will say here that what they're describing doesn't seem to be 'co-dependency' unless the other person is reliant on Adrian, which we get no indication is the case. It's more of a relationship dynamic than a diagnosis,

Oh yes, we will talk a lot more about her. The player can also Present Celeste Inpax to Matt Engarde, because requiring the player to do a bunch of random stuff in a bunch of different places is great. He gets quiet and tells you to stay out of his personal life, then leaves the visitation room.

When Phoenix returns to Engarde's room, Andrews is talking with von Karma. The prosecutor reveals that she has a tracker on Gumshoe, which…I guess will probably matter later. She tells Andrews to think about what they discussed, then leaves.

One thing: you don't have to Present Celeste Inpax to Matt Engarde. I never have before, the game doesn't require it.

Yeah, I didn't get the impression it was required, but it seemed worth mentioning. Time to break Andrews' Psyche-Locks. Phoenix suggests that she got close to Corrida to find out more about Celeste's death. She tries to deny that Celeste's death mattered that much to her, but her suicide attempt makes that easy to disprove. So, Phoenix points out, this makes Andrews the only person so far with a believable reason to want Corrida dead. Her Psyche-Locks break, and she admits her supposed weakness, but says she didn't and wouldn't kill anyone for the suicide note.

She specifically says that she's been getting treatment for her mental health, and part of that has been trying to develop better independence by emulating Celeste.

Pearl notices the card Andrews has been playing with since we met her, and asks about it. It has an image of a shell on it. She says she doesn't know where it came from; it was in her purse and she doesn't remember owning it.

Phoenix and Pearl go back to the office, and de Killer calls on the radio again. Maya yells to "ask my sis", and indeed Mia has once again taken the body of Pearl, saying she has a message from Maya. Apparently Maya wrote a note explaining the situation, then called Mia, and let her explore her surroundings so she could get some information back to Phoenix. Clever.

We cut to Maya, and control her for a bit. There's a card like the one Andrews was fiddling with. She uses it to get out of the locked door, and…the day ends.

That was quite a long investigation, and unlike some previous cases, a lot actually happened in it. Where do you want to start the analysis, Sam?

Well I should say off the bat that this case got me more emotionally invested, more quickly than pretty much any so far. Certainly any in this game. It's actually off to a really strong start, which is nice considering...all the other cases so far. I guess that's more review territory though.

Hmm...why don't we start off our analysis with some of the returning characters? I absolutely love that Will Powers not only returns, but now that he's not stuck as the defendant, gets some extra characterization. He's more goofy and obviously kind of airheaded than we got to see in his first appearance, plus now we know he loves gossip. He's also a great link between Phoenix, Maya, and Pearl, whose lawyering saved his life, and the world of entertainment, where he knows everyone while also being kind of on the outskirts.

I agree that seeing him again is really nice, and he's a good presence in this one. You know who surprised me? Oldbag. Despite the game replacing the usual "goofy incompetent character" music (which is uses for Lotta) with the awful clown song for Moe, I enjoyed Oldbag in this one? It helps that she has one of the funnier moments in the series so far, when she breaks all her Psyche-Locks at once for Corrida's autograph.

I mean...I guess? This isn't her last appearance in the series, and I'd say it isn't her at her worst. But while I do appreciate how her coming back further ties this case in with Turnabout Samurai, something we can talk more about later, I also don't know how much she actually adds to the case. Sure, she does bring some laughs, but I felt like she was a little more annoying than she was in Turnabout Samurai, but that might have just been me.

Do you know who I am befuddled is here? Lotta Hart. Not only did we just see her again in Reunion and Turnabout, but unlike the other two returning characters, she has no ties to the murder of Jack Hammer. More than anything, her presence feels like filler. She's not adding anything much to what's actually going on, she's just a roadblock that needs to be passed to get more evidence. And, y'know, I don't exactly enjoy spending half an hour talking with Lotta Hart.

I was very surprised to see her here. I feel like we've gotten everything out of that character that we can, short of a redemption arc where she decides to pursue actual news instead of unethical tabloid stuff. And I doubt we're gonna get that.

Ahahahahahahahahaha-no. I think there is another reason to fill the cast of this case with reoccurring characters, but I think we should wait a few weeks before I go into that more. Of the three, I think Will is the most justified and well-used, Wendy is okay, and Lotta is unnecessary.

I do want to note that, if I recall correctly, you said that Pearl's appearance at the beginning of Turnabout Big Top was her last in the entire game. I'm going to assume I read that wrong, and you meant that one case.

I'd need to pull up the records, but I believe I'd said that case, not the game. Her cameo in that case basically seems to exist for reminding us she exists between the second and fourth cases. So far, Pearl adds some cute to the case, and the ability to contact Maya indirectly through Mia, but for me at least that's it.

There's still a squick factor in Pearl's channeling Mia, but I do appreciate that it's actually used I'm a creative way for once? Pearl has mostly been a cute plot device so far, and Deus Ex Mia is pretty much Mia's only purpose ever since Turnabout Sisters, so seeing Maya use the spirit channeling to actually get Mia's help in a clever way was a nice change of pace.

It definitely sucks to see Mia once again basically used as a plot device, though you could argue thematically, since this case is all about Phoenix's morality, she is a relevant character since she's the one who taught him his way of being a lawyer. The case could address that more directly, but as of yet it does not. Will it later? Who knows.

I actually like Mia's role here, though. I guess you could still call her a plot device, but she's actually engaging with what's happening and helping in a way only she can, and it's clever of Maya to get her help like this. It's an actual, intentional action on the part of the character, instead of just showing up out of nowhere at the end of a case to point out a random detail Phoenix hadn't noticed.

I'm conflicted with this case's treatment of Maya. It's kind of frustrating that, after having to sit out Reunion and Turnabout because she was the defendant, now she's been kidnapped. Putting Maya in danger seems to be the writer's main way of raising the stakes, and using main female characters with ties to the protagonist as plot chips to cash in for emotions is...bad. It's bad. Like, it's a standard trope, has been for a while, and it reduces female characters' agency.

The Maya situation is rough for me, because it works? I really care about Maya, and putting her in danger got me immediately emotionally invested in this case in a way that pays off majorly in the end, if memory serves. But I do agree that the trope is a problem in its overuse, and this is the second time it uses her like this in this one game. And that's not great at all. I just also have trouble being mad at this case for it, when Reunion and Turnabout is right there. I want less Maya In Distress, but let's cut that one.

For reference on how much this trope is used with Maya, across the series, she has been (so far) arrested for murder three times, kidnapped twice, and her life has been in miscellaneous danger in a separate case. That's ridiculous.

It's entirely too much. I love this series but it could improve a good deal in how it handles its female characters.

Speaking of handling female characters, there's another pretty big one to talk about, namely Franziska von Karma. This segment revealed the mystery of how she was keeping track of Gumshoe, namely through bugging him, which also explained the beeping sound from last case. She also fired Gumshoe when he's made his allegiance to Phoenix too clear for her sake. It's messed up, and a pretty over-the-top reaction, but at the same time she does make a good point: this is an adversarial system, and a defense attorney for a murder suspect being assisted directly by a police detective seems like it defeats the purpose. There's also the fact that, at least during this Trilogy in the series, we know Status Quo is God, and they're never actually going to fire Gumshoe for real.

I'm uncertain exactly where the game is going with her, and I'm a little worried. As much as it's appropriate for her specific character, this segment seemed to give her the "This career woman needs to calm down" treatment, especially with Edgeworth snidely comparing her to a wild creature. And the thing is, the other woman in this case is also...not handled great so far. So the game isn't giving me much confidence.

Well, let's save her for a little bit later. I'm willing to give Edgeworth a little slack with his comment, if only because I do feel like that scene backed up the sense she'd given last case that they see each other as siblings. What was interesting about that conversation to me is that, despite Franziska saying that she considers Edgeworth her little brother, he clearly does not share that exact feeling. His 'wild mare' comment is definitely not cool, but on the whole he felt like a cocky older sibling acting overly paternal to the kid sister. Still not great, but also definitely a thing with siblings.

That's fair. I guess I don't think the game has established their sibling relationship well enough to make that clear at this point. It's been referenced once or twice, then this conversation was literally the first time we saw the two of them interact. It came across as condescending to me, and while that may be because I'm misreading the tone of their relationship, the game hasn't given me any real context to read it any differently yet.

I can definitely see it that way, for sure. But speaking of Edgeworth, why don't we talk about the man, the myth, the legend? I mean, the first thing to talk about there has to be his new intro music, the track that will become throughout the series his defining theme song: "Great Revival". It's actually not anywhere near my favorite songs in the series, a bit too heavy for my tastes, but it does fit the feel that he's back and he's a very different man than he was before.

It's one of those songs that serves its purpose very well despite not being the best on a purely musical level. It's good to see Edgey again, for sure, and he seems to be quite different. If still weirdly, frustratingly vague. And my relief at seeing him again was slightly undercut by that ridiculous back-and-forth of evidence and conversation the game made me do with him. But I always love me some Edgeworth, and I look forward to how the case portrays him as it goes.

That bit with trying to get the suicide reports is a bit ridiculous. What is clearly established in this segment is his new position: he thinks Franziska's aim to win every case for some idea of perfection is ridiculous, something to be seen as foolhardy and prideful; but he equally treats Phoenix's reason to stand in court as incorrect, and asks both of them to actually think about why they're lawyers and why the profession is important. He acts like he's found some higher calling, a true ideal to stand for, and in true Edgeworth fashion, part of that is acting like he's so much better than everyone else around him because some things never change. Still, he does help Phoenix quite a bit, so that's nice.

We can see the change in perspective he gained in the extra case from the first game, plus some extra development that's happened off-screen. So long as he's playing the higher-than-thou middle ground I'm not sure exactly what it is he believes now, but I'm sure the game will expand on it.

I think it's okay if we give a little bit of time to our good pal Detective Gumshoe. He's helped Phoenix out a few times in the past, but both of those times were to help Edgeworth, when he was a defendant and when he was being investigated for misconduct. This is the first time he directly aligns with the Wright and Co Law Offices for a non-Edgeworth reason, namely Maya being kidnapped. It's interesting, because while it definitely feels like she and Gumshoe have built a rapport over the two games, I don't know if he'd say they were friends exactly until this case, when he puts his job on the line to help.

There's a pretty clear trajectory for him, from Phoenix's enemy to his ally in Turnabout Goodbyes, even if still for Edgeworth's sake, then slowly shifting further toward Phoenix as von Karma tests his integrity and general good-natured spirit. I love my absent-minded cinnamon roll, and I'm happy to see him come into his own a bit more. Even if he got temporarily fired for it, and that sucked.

Phoenix doesn't across quite as well as Gumshoe in this case, I'm sad to say. Like, sure, he is under a lot of stress what with the kidnapping and all, but the way he treats Edgeworth is unnecessarily harsh. All those snippets of him acting almost like a bitter ex-boyfriend come out in full force when Edgeworth shows up, and it seems Phoenix is just 100% assuming that Edgeworth is at his worst again, with no evidence to back it up. It actually comes across like he has a prejudice against prosecutors in general now, with the way he also acts to von Karma. Franziska isn't the easiest person to work with, but Phoenix actually talks down to her as well in one particular scene, and it really makes Phoenix come across as kind of an jerkface, at least to me.

I agree it doesn't read well, but frankly it's just a continuation of Phoenix's reaction to all this in general. He's been kind of an ass about the entire thing, from asserting that Edgeworth is totally, definitely dead, to refusing to tell Maya about it. I'm surprised Phoenix would respond this way, but it's consistent with how this game has handled it.

Well, we've been at it a while, maybe we should switch to some of the new characters? Matt Engarde comes off in stark contrast to his Steel Samurai/Pink Princess predecessor, Will Powers. Will's perhaps not the brightest bulb in the bin, but he has buttloads of brainpower compared to Matt. He seems to rely on other people to do all his thinking for him, with the only exception being his rivalry with Juan Corrida. That, and the fact he seems to have something to do with the man who kidnapped Maya, adds tinges of darkness to his character.

Engarde comes off as being weirdly apathetic and unconcerned, as though he knows someone will take care of it so he doesn't even have to worry. And probably has never had to worry in his life.

Speaking of people being worried, let's move to the only other new character so far in this case, Adrian Andrews. Much like Dee Vasquez, she's a woman who seems to have some power and know how to use it. She appears confident and powerful, but beneath that she's struggling through trauma. Both characters have a death in their past, but for Adrian it's a woman. The way her past with Celeste is framed, and her interactions with Franziska, code her as being more than a little not-straight. That's never explicitly canonized, and the anime made it less gay by making Celeste her older sister instead of a mentor.

It does read a bit weird making their relationship so intimate and dependent and yet entirely platonic, and while that absolutely could be an actual thing, the way they try to explain it is...not great. A character with dependency issues is a legitimate thing, but the way this series generally treats its women hasn't built up enough credit to then pull a "surprise, this put-together woman is actually so desperate for someone else to run her life that she tried to kill herself when her mentor died." It's really not a good look.

It's not, I will agree with that. For me, I'm more curious about the dependency itself. I tried reaching out to several psychologists for consultation regarding this case, but so far haven't had any luck. I really want to make sure I am as well informed as is possible. From what research I was able to do, I can say that the characters saying that Adrian has "co-dependency" does not seem accurate. As I mentioned before, "co-dependecy" tends to refer to a type of relationship, one in which one person relies on the other for identity and approval, up to the point of enabling the other person's vices. Considering Celeste is dead but Adrian is still referred to as having a "co-dependency", it seems to me that they meant something else entirely.

From what I was able to tell, I think the more accurate diagnosis, what they'd perhaps meant to imply, was Dependent Personality Disorder. Like other Personality Disorders, it's something that is literally an aspect of someone's personality, a part of who they are. DPD is defined as someone who has an incredibly low-esteem, requires the approval and guidance of others, and has difficulty with independent actions. As far as I've been able to tell, that seems to fit Adrian pretty much perfectly. It's even stated a few times she's seen counseling for it, which is what's helping her cope. Specifically, the cold, authoritative way she acts seems to be her way of moving through life on her own. I don't know if it's a healthy way of doing it, but I do respect the games portraying a character struggling with mental health, doing fairly well at it, acknowledging the difficulties, and most importantly not just labeling her as 'crazy' or treating her as more dangerous or less human for her issues. You can also have DPD and be in a co-dependent relationship, in fact it's not uncommon at all, so she could easily have DPD while still having been in a co-dependent relationship with her deceased mentor. Compared to a lot of other stories that broach mental health issues, this case is, so far, doing pretty fantastic, I'd say.

That's fair. I'm very curious about whether this is an intentional or unintentional case of the story tackling mental illness; the original translation misused the term "co-dependency," as you said, but the Trilogy re-released have changed that to "a dependent nature," correcting the error but also making it sound like part of her personality rather than an actual problem she has. Which might be why I was approaching this from a feminism angle rather than thinking of her as a disabled character, since I'm playing the Switch trilogy, but yeah. That's an important perspective to have here.

I was not aware of that change in the localization between versions. I do feel like that still fits DPD, as it's a Personality Disorder rather than something like an Anxiety Disorder. These kinds of disorders are basically personality traits, and whether it is intentional or not, I definitely see her a character struggling with mental illness.

But yeah, the feminism angle makes this more complicated. It sucks to see a seemingly strong, awesome lady actually turn out to be much more fragile in a series with far too few actual women of significant power. Part of what makes it worse, for me anyway, is how they're trying to establish her personality. There's this thing called Character Shilling, where an author just tells you what a character is like. In moderation, and with proper supporting evidence, it can be good for establishing a character. But Adrian Andrews is frequently described by everyone as competent, cold, and intelligent...yet we haven't really seen any of that. The sheer amount of shilling versus what we're seeing directly is skewed, and it's only going to get worse.

I mean we kind of see that. It's pretty much her personality until we find out about her dependency and break her Psyche-Locks. But it may have been more effective for the game to save that reveal for later, to give us a better taste of her outward persona. In any case, I like this character in concept, but I am very concerned for how the game is going to handle her.

I think that's fair, though I do want to say that I see a difference between her being stoic and somewhat cold and the way they keep shilling her as being super smart. Now that we've touched on all the characters, there's more here to talk about still because this is a very rich segment, and case. Now, we've covered previously the parallels between corresponding cases from game to game. Turnabout Sisters and Reunion and Turnabout had a lot in common, as did Turnabout Samurai and Turnabout Big Top. Following that model, you'd expect this case to mirror Turnabout Goodbyes, but it really doesn't.

Instead, as we've alluded to a little before, this case is also tied heavily to Turnabout Samurai, but in a very different way from Turnabout Big Top. Here, it's directly the same situation, with the same or similar people, and the game is drawing even more attention to it. Once again, a Steel Samurai franchise actor has been accused of killing another actor, once again Oldbag is the only one who seems to have seen anything, once again there are dark secrets from the past of these entertainment folks at work. I absolutely love how this parallelism guides how we think about the case and its characters.

I also find it interesting that, instead of mirroring Turnabout Goodbyes at all, this instead contrasts it, heavily. That case featured a defendant we knew and cared about, Matt Engarde is a stranger. That case had no one noticing Gumshoe's assistance to the defense, here he's fired for it. That case's murder mystery was one with very little direct evidence but in a situation that seemingly left no other possible suspects, this case has a very open ended situation with technically many possible killers but with tons of direct evidence pointed at the defendant.

Huh. It's definitely a nonstandard approach to the whole "cases paralleling other cases" thing, and that is interesting. I appreciate that it's the same broad idea of a final case that ups the emotional stakes, but doesn't follow the same formula as the last of such cases.

Going back to Adrian Andrews, I did want to highlight one moment in particular. I don't know if the Switch port changed it at all, but after talking with her about her "co-dependency", she makes it clear to Phoenix that she doesn't want it coming out in court. In her words, "If... If people found out about my weakness... I... I would sooner choose to die than live." I just wanted to say that Phoenix acquiescing to what she's saying there does sound like the right thing to do, and it's what most people would do.

But if someone you know threatens to kill themselves based on your actions, or the actions of others, that is a sign of suicidal ideation. Especially in cases where the person in question has attempted suicide in the past. If someone you know has shown signs of suicidal ideation, or if you've been struggling with feelings like that yourself, please be aware the United States's National Suicide Prevention Hotline's phone number is 1-800-273-8255, or if you'd prefer not to talk on the phone, you can text HOME to 741741 to discuss things with the Crisis Text Line.

It's important to be careful when we're talking about topics like this. Stay safe!

Ultimately, despite the problems we've discussed so far I think this case is really effective at upping the emotional stakes. Even when Maya was in danger in the past, it's always been because she was accused of murder, and...well we know Maya didn't do it, and we know the Phoenix Wright formula well enough to know how this is going to turn out. The kidnapping carries more weight. But ultimately the key to the stakes here isn't Maya's endangerment, it's the demand from de Killer. If it was just Maya's life on the line I'd feel confident it would turn out okay, but making Phoenix potentially defend the murderer moves it from a mortal struggle to an ethical one, where Phoenix may end up letting a killer go free as the price for saving Maya. It's not just "can Phoenix do the thing to save his friend," but his soul is (figuratively) on the line here too.

It also plays right into his own reason for being in court. As he said in this segment, he does what he does, ultimately, to save people. The help the innocent and damn the guilty. But this demand switches all of that around, as now the only way to save Maya has nothing to do with the actual innocence and guilt of those involved. In a way, it reveals the underlying failing of his entire belief system: how is it really different from what the prosecutors want? The intent differs, but the result is the same: both want to win every case. The only difference is Phoenix acts like he has a moral step up on those he faces. And sometimes he does! But just as a prosecutor's trust in who the police arrest actually being Guilty can lead to a false arrest, Phoenix's belief in his clients could lead to a false Not Guilty, with a murderer sent back on the streets.

It's really setting up for an effective capstone on this game's overarching attempt to inject some grey into Phoenix's black-and-white approach.

Speaking of black-and-white, there's nothing more black-and-white than the eternal symbol that is the Wright and Co. Law Office examinables! Are you ready for them, Sam?

I was born ready, Roy.

Examining Charley has Pearls get excited about watering him, despite the fact that Phoenix already did. Phoenix realizes that, with the stressful stuff going on, she's just looking for something to distract her, and hopes Charley will survive being overwatered.

It's a good sacrifice, Charley. You will be remembered.

Looking out the window has Phoenix directly connect that Gatewater Hotel with the one in the center of the city, where the crime took place, which is apparently the "Gatewater Imperial Hotel". Phoenix wonders if their empire will stop growing.

I wonder if that Bellboy from Turnabout Sisters is still working there.

Well, considering we last saw him in Rise from the Ashes delivering Edgeworth tea, still in uniform, probably. Also, remember how last case, the poster had been changed out for one of the Nickel Samurai? Well, now we know what that was about, and looking at it has Pearl ask Phoenix to be Maya's Nickel Samurai and save her.

I maintain that Pearl is pretty cute.

Oh, Pearl being cute is what you want? Well, Examining the bookshelf has her freak out to help Phoenix, fervently offering help in getting any legal book he needs to save Maya. But then she realizes she probably can't read them...or reach them.

Aw, she's so helpful. She's doing her best.

But that's not the only examinables in this case, because we once again got access to Gumshoe's place of work, the Criminal Affairs Department. The Chief Detective is still on his computer, and this time freaking out that Jammin' Ninja lost the award, leaving Phoenix to wonder if he even knows about the murder.

People freaking out about minor details while everything falls apart around them is...disturbingly relatable right about now.

Last but not least, Examining the detective on the left has him mumble something about a contradiction in someone's favorite type of sandwich, leading Phoenix to guess he's training for interrogations.

I'd say sandwich preference is a silly detail to point out, but this is Phoenix Wright so who knows. Maybe it'll prove someone innocent someday.

I think we've mined everything we can from this segment. Next week, we'll be back for the big trial. We'll see you all then. Auf wiedersehen.

Later!