[dalli_x]
Soooooo....*pulls sleeves up*, I think its that time again where we absolutely have to discuss if Lynette is dead or alive.
From a realism point of view I'd say its low to very low odds, but some things just strike me as very odd, so lets first establish how it could be possible.
When Neil and Lynette enter the hospital and Lynette gives birth, we know that she is awake for a long enough time, to say smth to the MC, as Neil explained in EP01. Now postpartum hemorrhage ( excessive blood loss after giving birth ) is a thing, it would trigger an emergency surgery at which point Lynette would obviously be unconscious. When that happens, Neil would no longer be the person that gets updated on her medical status, but her next of kin, in this case: her parents. An artificial coma is sometimes used in cases of excessive blood loss to stabilise the patient, it's also possible that Lynette sliped into a coma herself. Needless to say a coma can go hand in hand with memory loss, you can read those stories all the time : "mother wakes up and had forgotten that she was pregnant and gave birth."
Now up untill here, if I squint my eyes long enough, I can see it happen, but I just cant bridge how Lynettes parents would have managed to either convince Neil that she died, or have someone else do it. Yeah, money is often helpfull in these circumstances, but I dont think a doctor would risk his/her license by falsely stating someone died.
Did Lynette parents blackmail Neil ? Like was there a very good chance Lynette would die and only an extraordinary expensive surgery would give her any odds to survive ? Did they tell him "We'll pay for it, but in return you take that bastard child and never contact our daughter again!!!"? Is that why Neil cant move on even after 19 years? The death of a loved one is a final state, it's closure, its something that, with time, a person can learn to live with, especially when there is a child involved, guilt on the other hand, can hollow you out for the rest of your life.
Now why go there in the first place ? What's so odd ?
1. The entire 'inheritance procedure' made absolutely no sense whatsoever. The MC's age at the time (6 weeks shy of turning 19), how he was contacted (he wasnt), how it was delivered(by mail), who it got delivered too(his dad) and finally you guys have any idea how unlikely it is, to recieve a flat 5k check after 19 years of interests ? Inheriting is not a "oh well its Monday lets do it this way" thing, its governed by laws and wills. I doubt that DPC didnt at least cover the rock bottom basics when researching it, so something is super fishy here.
2. The MC almost flipped when he recieved his Mom's diary, it instantly became his most valueable possession, yet when he gets bullied in school, when Zoey leaves, when the hook up with Josy goes sideways or when he gets his 'inheritance', DPC is supposed to pass on at least one "visiting his mothers grave" moment ? Thats like a free supah dupah "awwww" moment right there, thats makes the MC more human and more relateable. DPC totally milked the MC telling Josy, Maya, Sage, Jill and Bella about his mom, and yet he stops at the biggest possible emotional respone ? Not even a single line with 0 renders "I visited moms grave today and told her all about college". Yea, Im not buying it, thats super fishy aswell.
3. Why did not a single person of his mothers side of the family ever try to contact him ? No grandpa, no grandma, no aunt, no nothing ? He doesnt even seem to know their last name ! Even if the grandpa hates Neil with a passion, after the pain of the loss slowly subsides, wouldnt there be a moment of realisation where he goes like "That's my heir, my legacy !!!". Why not avoid Neil altogether and visit him at school, or when Neil is at work ? Losing a child is the most excruciating pain any parent can ever feel, but having a grandchild is usually the #1 best cure for it, even if there is a constant reminder of the person they lost. That's an entire fish market of fishyness !
4. The diary itself. Why throw that into the mix and waste a shitton of rendering ressources on that ? If Lynette is dead, she has no part to play in future episodes, the MC never knew her and the hole in his life due to the absence of his mother is already well established. There is nothing new for us to learn, except what was and unless I'm mistaken, its the only story in the entire game with the sole purpose of shining a light onto a time before the MC was even born! And on top of all that, its not a one episode 'MC reads his mom's diary and is glad he got to know her' thingy, it spawns multiple episodes and is almost handled like its sacred or very important ?! Like why start the game showing the difficulty of growing up as an half-orphan from a low income home and then throw the 'dead parent' into our faces again and again ? You guessed it : fishy !
My guess is, IF Lynette is alive and I'm very well aware the odds are slim, the diary is the key. There has to be a reason why DPC stretches it out like a rubberband, one of them pages has to have an impact on the future, it just has to ! Maybe its an Aunt we dont know about or maybe its Lynette herself, but something is going on here, I'm certain of it.
If you read all that, respect and thank you... man that was .... A LOT.
Hawk out.
[/dalli_x]