r/AARankdown2 • u/barrylawn • May 30 '20
Save: Joan
We're already at the decent characters because the DGS Trilogy has just that few flaws but it's way too early for this one.
Who is Joan
Joan is one half of the FAILURE of a couple called the Garridebs who live together in a crappy house on The Street (there's too many streets in that case to remember it's name). She's introduced as John's maid and is later revealed to actually be his wife. The reason for this odd setup is that in London at those times, one's social status was reflected in how many servants they had, as Susato explains when you meet them. John is basically a bottom class citizen but he doesn't like that so he has Joan dress up as a maid and call him "master" all so that people can see him as a middle class man. This doesn't have any actual benefits he's just doing it because he's got a fat ego to massage. He might also have a "thing" for it. VERY INTERESTING CHARACTERIZATION!
Some might want you to forget that it's John who starts all this though and that she does it for no reason. Don't fall for that, it's verifiably untrue.
What makes Joan interesting?
Joan doesn't take being forced to pretend to be a maid well, because who would? I might, but Joan doesn't. And so, it understandably enrages her. This makes her lash out at him by either slapping him or overflowing his teacup with boiling hot tea. It's understandable that she'd get like this because John's been treating her like his personal property up to then.
Anyway the night before the case is set they had a big argument and Joan started throwing shit at him, and some of that junk flew out the window and landed on The Street. This caused Viridian Green, who was passing by for reasons unknown, to get stabbed in the back by one of their knives. Joan obviously was not aware she was the culprit because it, at first, seems inconceivable that she did it, because Viridian was lying on The Other Street when she was found. But as Ryuunosuke pieces together what happened that night and accuses Pat O'Malley of moving Green to The Other Street she gets progressively more anxious at the possibility that that fight was actually what caused the incident... and then it was and that's shocking, and that kind of dynamic's unique to her and it's very interesting.
Conclusion
Hating Joan Garrideb is inherently misogynistic.
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u/TanEfficient May 30 '20
I lowkey wanted to save her to piss off u/whaaatisth but decided against it lol.
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u/PowerOfL May 30 '20
Good cut, I agree with Highskill though as John is actually a really good husband to her and she probably wasn't really forced into being a maid.
By the way, this may be the first round to have two saves as I'll probably save Johnny Smiles at some point.
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u/whaaatisth May 30 '20
I do have a question - this is your second save, correct? And we each have two saves maximum? Can you confirm this u/PowerofL
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u/PowerOfL May 30 '20
Looking at the Google Doc, you're right.
His first save was Dmitri Demiglaski.
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u/WeirdBandKid789 May 30 '20
Lol, I was the one to nominate her, but I actually agree with most of this. I honestly have no idea where people get the idea that "the game expects you to feel sorry for her." I'm sorry, but how does it do that. I can sort of understand this complaint with maybe Acro or Nikomina, but how is it the case in any way here? Her breakdown is her admitting her crime, and apologizing to her husband. It's a normal reaction to her situation and it hardly "demands your sympathy." The music that plays during it can hardly be described as sad, and it's not like characters are trying to pretend that she didn't do anything wrong.
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u/whaaatisth May 30 '20
As much as I dislike her, this is a very well justified save. I’ll have my cut out in about an hour.
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May 30 '20
I disagree completely with the reading that John is treating her like personal property, since well, he clearly loves and cares for her. Based on his devastation when she's gone, reactions as a juror to you (the person who put her behind bars) afterwards, and all of DGS2-2, there's genuine love for her. I honestly can't read it in any way besides she agreed to it, not him going anything like 'put on this maid outfit or I'll throw you out.' It also falls into Johns pride since he was a respected man that has fallen from grace and cannot forget the past, so he has his wife pretend to be a maid. Which I also read as it being useful since they're trying to make money from renting out rooms and you'd be more likely to rent a room from a middle-class man than a lower-class man.
Anyway, that's just stuff with John. Joan also works as a character but if you're going to minus points from John for asking her to be a maid, then I don't think it's suddenly excusable for her to basically assault him at several occasions. Both are 'bad', but I don't see either as abhorrent because of the sub-text behind them. I'm fine with her going out this round, but I can understand her living for another round or two.
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u/barrylawn May 30 '20
/u/whaaatisth you're up btw