yeah that actually makes sense. but i guess it depends how harshly you look at something or a characters story.
in this game its got that crime/mob boss element so yeah he'll do his own play. some games have tried making the boss a female to avoid watching a dude bang his girls. others refused to change anything or changed the wrong thing and it usually tends to fail.
as for the feeling of bein frozen yeah like i said it depends how you look at it. some girl could be close to losing her home and in the story she couldve been dealing that reality for months but an MC could help her out in different ways depending on dev. other games will probably show you or at least hint at what happened if MC didnt get involved.
i cant remember the name of the game at the moment. but it was a zombie game and depending on a choice you either save a girl and she'll probably show up again. or dont get involved and at some point you'll see her as a zombie.
buuuuut branching paths tend to be difficult for some devs. even worse if its a sandbox game cause then more coding is involved.
i honestly dont know what im hoping to see in this game though. maybe Charlene switching to MC's side? i'll admit her model is very interesting. backstory is depressing though....like damn son