Life is Strange: Episode 5 - Polarized

Robert Murphy


There are countless times throughout a persons life where they wonder what would happen if I could have changed the past, would things turn out for the better. Max Caulfield spent the entirety of this five part series finding out just what it would be like to change your fate but in the end, will it be enough and can she make the tough decision to save everyone she has come to know? 

It is an understatement to say that Max has not evolved as a character thanks to her new abilities and the challenges she has overcome with them. When we first met her she was a shy and timid girl who was comfortable silently walking through her life without making waves or getting on anyones radar. That has now drastically changed as she throws all her cards on the table in this final chapter and is thrown throughout multiple time lines in order to stop the horrible future that has come about. My heart strings were being tugged to the extreme as multiple futures led me to have to make insanely difficult choices and relive some of the previous episodes darkest moments. Max is faced with mind bending realities and it seems as though the worst fears that lay in the back in her mind came out in order to torment her. Even when I thought that the ending could have come to a happy one I was proven insanely wrong. 

That being said, as you time hop from one reality to the next the experience can be a little desensitizing. Max often must return to a pinnacle moment for this episode in order to move forward and the rehashing of this scenario over and over again was where the story loses it's momentum. It is already obvious that this is the lowest moment for Max so there was no need for it to be capitalized on repeatedly. This main villain that is created from one of the games least obvious characters was a low point for the story and having to come back to it made things even worse. The dialogue between Max and the character amounts to nothing but frequent cursing and psychotic delusional blabbering that was capped off by some irritating rewind sequences.

What comes of this though is what made this final chapter bring out what the game does best. Life is Strange has always been able to capture a sense of everyone's feelings no matter how small they or nonessential they are to the overall story as well as a drama to life that many people don't experience but one that Max has to live through in each chapter of the game. This is especially true for your relationship with Chloe as you two rebound throughout each episode and it would seem that that is what everything has truly been about. The bond you two have begun to share was admittedly much deeper than I realized by the ending of Polarized and made me think back on a choice that had been so minor before but now seemed really relevant. Whatever the case, Max and Chloe's relationship brought the story back to life and it won't just be Max doing all the saving this time around.

While there is multiple endings to the concluding chapter of Life is Strange, there is frankly only one satisfying conclusion to the story. The diverging ending follows along the same lack luster tropes and cliches that make moments throughout every episode feel like a let down. That being said this final chapter tended to lead you towards the more satisfying conclusion to the tale and make the hard choice in order to put a stop to the impending destruction. It's funny to say this about a game character but as I closed on the last moments of the game I felt that even Max was happy with the choice I made as a player.

Polarized continued to bring out what the series does best and that is tell a story with a deeply emotional look into teenage relationships, drama and their daily issues. Even though Max's problems tend to go to an extremely larger scale she was still a girl with normal everyday issues and by the end I feel that point came full circle. I still don't argue with the dialogue choice and the overuse of the word "hella" but oh well. There is however a large amount of after taste to take in when you process with the conclusion to the murder mystery that was hiding in the background till almost the end of the story. But by the end I was still able to find a satisfying conclusion to this emotional roller coaster ride despite the dark twists and turns that were thrown at me.

Good:

- The psychological journey

- Deeply emotional moments and dramatic conclusion

Bad:

- Horrible villain

- Unsatisfying alternate ending

- Rehashing of the darkest scene of the episode

Scully Rating: 6.8 out of 10