Mass Reflect

Audio

After some time grounded by the bureaucracy of Earth (read: delayed by real world stuff), we’re ready to ship off on our final Mass Effect journey.

We’re back after a hiatus, and to ease us back into the discourse zone we decide to revisit one of our favorite sci-fi movies. We look back at the critical legacy of the movie, chuckle over the Jack Kirby comic book adaptation, and gush over a movie that still feels groundbreaking to this day.

After a sizeable break, due in part to the intense negative reaction to the last DLC, we return to discuss all things Mass Effect 2 with the Shadow Broker.

We take a break from our December break to talk about the media that stuck with us from this year.

CW: Violent ableism against people with autism.

While being critical, we also try to be even handed and give the writers of this series the benefit of the doubt. That goes out this episode as we venture through the “Overlord” DLC.

“‘Mass Effect 2: Overlord’ Should Have Stayed in 2010,” by M. Wesley Avery: https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7emky/mass-effect-2-overlord-should-have-stayed-in-2010

“Amazon Prime reportedly 'nearing a deal' on a Mass Effect adaptation,” by Jody Macgregor: https://www.pcgamer.com/amazon-prime-reportedly-nearing-a-deal-on-a-mass-effect-adaptation/

CW: We use the phrase "suicide" a lot due to the content of the game, however no actual suicide is discussed.

We complete the original final mission of Mass Effect 2. Now it’s time for Mass Effect 2 to truly begin!

Our task was simple: discuss the Reaper IFF and the Legion loyalty mission. Listener, let me tell you that we do that but we also go on some major digressions. The mystery the game tries to build up around the Reapers is hurt by the fact that we learned all of the important details in the last game, leading us to speculate whether it could have been handled better. When we finally meet Legion, the first character who can give us insight into the Geth, we’re once more baffled by how the game chooses to assign gender and identity—and how the times they don’t are conspicuous. This leads us to echoing our feelings on the first game, that there’s a weird rushed feeling to Mass Effect 2 that often leaves us wanting deeper dives into the world.

Shepard, this a type of enemy you have not faced before. She doesn’t use a type of warfare you know. She uses drugs and cool clubs and scintillating conversation. Worse yet, she has a weapon for which there is no known defense. A weapon so powerful and vile that most civilizations have banned its use in warfare. She uses a thumping bass to leave her prey completely defenseless.

CW: Discussion of ethnic cleansing, fictional war crimes. Also audio issues that might make it hard for some people to listen.

Woof, we get into it as we go to Tuchanka to help Grunt pop his violence cherry then Mordin must go to face his past as we go in search of his missing assistant. Then we go over to the Migrant Fleet to find out that there are fresh war crimes that need to be dealt with, and we deal with them by sweeping them under the rug. It’s time for Mass Effect 2 to truly begin!

CW: Discussion of sexual assault, discussion of fat phobia and antisemitism.

We finally get to the discussion of the two recruitment missions and loyalty missions, and much to our surprise there’s a lot more to talk about than we initially thought! We discuss how two recruitment missions feel as though they should be reversed and the strange fat phobia and antisemitism that are presented with the Volus. Finally, we end on a discussion of Miranda’s loyalty mission. She’s probably the best companion character in the game, and the one “badass” character that the game is capable of presenting convincingly. However, the game seems to keep her backstory weirdly vague in a way that leads to it seeming to want to white wash the trauma she’s experienced.