ASSIST ME! Season 3 - Shadows of the Past Overview

Overview

It begins with a dream that plays out in flashbacks. We see Wesker and Birkin, just before the events of Resident Evil. Birkin is delivering the Progenitor virus strain that will make Wesker into the superpowered villain we know him as. He briefly describes the effects he expects it to has, and during this scene there is a brief flash of Dark Phoenix, accompanied by the evil voice that haunted Doom in the Deadpool episode of season 2 (and later Jean Grey, in the Phoenix episode).

"Break him," the voice commands her.

Wesker seems hesitant to take the virus, and asks Birkin if he would inject himself with a virus if it were his best shot at survival. William humorously responds "No! No, no, no. Jesus no... Well... maybe."

The dream flashes to another memory. Wesker, dressed for his STARS mission, is with Crimson Viper. She discourages him from his course of action, telling him that if he comes with her the CIA will protect him.

"Maya, if I don't find a way out, I get exposed as a double agent. That happens - I die," he tells her.

"If you inject that virus, you're already dead. You'll become a monster. Don't do this. Please," she warns him.

But Wesker brushes past her.

"Make him remember," the evil voice again. "Make him suffer."

We see brief flashes of Wesker injecting the virus into himself, and writhing in pain as it takes hold.

And then we're in the dark Umbrella lab. Wesker is with Chris and Rebecca. Barry enters with Jill at gunpoint, and the scene turns humorous. Wesker's irritated with Barry, as he didn't want to deal with Jill until after he dealt with Chris (Resident Evil players should get the joke here.)

A huge argument breaks out between the STARS team. Chris is live tweeting the entire thing, Barry is tired and sick of Wesker's scheme, Jill and Rebecca are confused as hell, and Wesker's just sick of everybody. He kicks Barry and Jill out and shoots Rebecca.

A final flash of the nightmare reveals Wesker standing over Max and Doom, dead on the couch. Nightmare Wesker turns to the camera with an evil grin.

"Break him down," the evil voice one last time.

And Wesker wakes up. He grabs his phone to call in a favor from the CIA.

The next scene is Doom and Max back at the house. Max finds Doom in a heap of beer bottles, bags of chips, and cans of yogurt, snoring on the couch. When he wakes up, Max asks if he's okay. Doom plays off that he's enjoying his newfounds bachelor status with the charm only Doom can muster.

Max asks, "You're not upset about that whole Morrigan and X-23 thing?"

"Check it out, Max, I'm giving the world's smallest fuck!" Doom says, thrusting his pinky into his fist.

Max offers to give Doom advice on women, should he need it. Doom scoffs, asking what he could possibly know. Max points out that he has a wife. Doom asks where she is, and Max admits he has no idea.

Wesker enters, clearly shaken by his dream, and armed with a leather purse that Morrigan tells him "is very 'in'." Max and Doom team up to give him sass about his weird taste in turtlenecks, skinny jeans and leather boots, and Wesker finally snaps, thrashing Doom off-screen while Max winces.

Wesker steps into the garage, where he finds an attache case with a biohazard emblem. His CIA order came through, delivered by Crimson Viper. They scuffle for a second, almost as if they're testing each other, but they break away to talk.

Wesker asks her what the CIA wants in exchange for his request - which C Viper reveals is the vaccine to his Progenitor virus. The CIA wants data from AIM, which Wesker captured from MODOK after the battle at the end of season 2. Wesker still hasn't unencrypted it, but tells her she'll get in when he does.

C Viper wants to know why he ordered the anti-virus, but he won't tell her. She knows it has something to do with whoever has been hunting Max and Doom, and reminds him:

"You had potential to be a good man, but that was a long time ago. Why are you trying to protect them? What's in it for you?"

"Max and Victor are my friends," he answers.

"Everybody has friends."

"I don't."

Seeing his potential character-turn, she offers to help, but Wesker tells her that it's too dangerous. She's offended, obviously, being the badass in her own right that she is. But he tells her that she should be with her daughter. When she exits, she tells him that when the time comes, she hopes he makes the right choice.

"So do I," he mutters to himself.

The somber scene is finally broken when Doom enters the garage for a round two brawl. A bitchslap fight breaks out between the guys before we roll credits.

Author's Notes

 

Development

As I've mentioned in previous posts, my original outline for season 3 included short films that focused on individual character arcs. As I recall, I definitely had episodes focusing on Strider (who is now completely absent from season 3), Doom, X-23, and Wesker. These episodes took place between the traditional tutorial episodes and helped to thicken the plot significantly.

Max wanted me to trim season 3. Though I really liked the idea of every character getting a larger arc, I'm sure he had his reasons for wanting it shorter. He told me that from his perspective, season one was Max's story, season two was Doom's story, and season three should be Wesker's story. I ran it by him that we keep "Shadows of the Past" in the season, because it was the Wesker episode and it had some pretty significant plot points. He agreed, and so it remains.

The original drafts of this episode were somber and to the point. Wesker was supposed to be humanized in this season, and facing some fairly dark inner-demons, and without the rest of the episodes to justify it, the episodes seemed unfittingly dark for the series. I rewrote it numerous times to maintain the character development, but added appropriate humor to make it feel right.

What's Left?

The entire dream sequence is still unfinished. We shot preliminary footage of Wesker and Birkin, but should we pick the season back up it will be reshot. We also never shot Chris' footage of the STARS scene, hence why I only have a shot of Barry and Jill. These are both easy pick-ups to film though, so if the show continues it'll be no problem to finish this episode.

The Plot Thickens

Max and Doom seem to be carrying on with their lives, but Wesker can't help but pursue closure to the events of season 2.

In the beginning of the Dante episode, we see Wesker torturing a mercenary to find out who hired Taskmaster. Aside from that, the Dante and Morrigan episodes play out without any advancement to the main plot. This episode brings it back, hard, right in your face. The evil presence that taunted Doom and Phoenix is back, now using Phoenix to torment Wesker.

It's also evident in Wesker's conversation with C Viper that he still doesn't know what he's up against, but he knows it's big, and he knows it's bad, which is why he turns down her offer for help.

And How 'Bout that C Viper?

C Viper was never meant to get her own tutorial (sorry guys!) but she's used in this season because her role was important to me in telling Wesker's story. I see her and Wesker almost as opposite sides to the same coin. They both serve evil corporations as double agents, but while Wesker embraces the dark side, C Viper is ultimately fighting for good. Wesker has shut family out of his life to pursue his goals, while C Viper makes time for her daughter. There are even little details in C Viper's costume design (like the colorization of her gun) to show that she's the Yin to Wesker's Yang.

Or the Yang to his Yin. I don't know which is which.

Anyway, there's a lot of implied history between them. Running off the basic Resident Evil lore, Wesker took data from Umbrella to eventually go to Tricell, yadda yadda, but in this episode we're seeing that he had another option - the CIA - and he was too afraid to take the path of good.

He and C Viper would have been double agents in communication with each other - she would have been his route to the light side, so to speak. And it's clear they were at least close enough to be friends. He cares about the safety of her family, and she cares about his path. When he sees her again at the end of the episode, it's bittersweet for him, because he's reminded of his years and years of mistakes, which is a big part of his arc in this season.

So Wesker's Not So Bad?

In the continuity of Assist Me!, Wesker has obviously been an over the top villain on the path to redemption, and this episode sort of explains it, in as much time as a show like Assist Me! can afford to. Wesker was backed into a corner when he took the Progenitor virus from Birkin, what with Umbrella, Tricell, the CIA, and all of that spy life coming down hard on him. He took the route that seemed safer, because he was afraid of dying.

At this point in his life, he was just a guy trying to make a living, and he clearly got in over his head.

Birkin even tells him that the virus may bring out his best qualities, or his worst. Clearly, it brings out his worst - he becomes a power hungry maniac bent on "saving" the world via eugenics. But gradually, over years, and through his relationship with Max and Doom, that "normal guy" starts to come back.