Borderlands 3's Director's Cut Almost Redeems The Calypso Twins
Borderlands 3 is the first game of the franchise that does not feature Handsome Jack. In exchange, the main antagonists are Tyreen and Troy Calypso, who lead the Children of the Vault cult. The opinions on the antagonists of Borderlands 3 are slightly divided with some fans thinking they are an interesting twist, and others thinking the story was better off with Handsome Jack. Recently, Gearbox released the Director's Cut, another DLC for Borderlands 3.
This DLC not only brings an exciting new card system and amazing loot, but also new content which changes the story dramatically. The sequence where Ava returns to Sanctuary III with Lilith, and tells her about Maya's death, is much more emotional than the small scene we see in the base game. With the added scenes, Ava gets the arc all fans were waiting for just by showing her actually shaken by Maya's death instead of just blaming everyone and behaving like a brat. Additionally, the extra scenes show the reactions of Lilith and the rest, as well as a funeral for Maya, and thus finally giving the event the weight it was supposed to have all along.
Tyreen and Troy Calypso were born as conjoined twins who happened to be Sirens. Their father, Typhon DeLeon, decided to separate them so they could live normal lives, but this made Troy's Siren condition unsustainable as he is a male and only women can be Sirens. Because of how quickly he deteriorated, Troy had to stay close to his sister Tyreen so he could leech on her power.
Because of how they were raised, the Calypso Twins craved fame and they were willing to do everything to become the brightest stars. They started recruiting the Bandits and Psychos from Pandora by putting up an act and convincing these chaotic fractions to help them in their quest to rule the universe. Much like today's influencers, the Calypso Twins would "livescream" (livestream) how they make their way to every vault monster so Tyreen can absorb their power.
Some cannot help but compare the Calypso Twins with Handsome Jack, Borderlands's former antagonist. While some of them find the Calypso Twins annoying enough to be considered good antagonists, others miss the type of humor that came with Handsome Jack. Furthermore, some argue that the issue with the Calypso Twins is that the characters' backstory has not been properly developed as they have only appeared in one game, whereas Handsome Jack has had the rest of the franchise.
Although the Calypso Twins' story comes across as convoluted, it has a lot of big repercussions in the whole narrative of Borderlands 3, it seems as if it did not have the intended impact. The revelation that the true bounty of the vaults was the monsters' power and not only the loot should have been a huge plot twist. Unfortunately, it seems like most were distracted by the death of Maya, one of the most beloved characters in the game, and by how annoying Ava was in the base game.
Besides Ava's cut scenes, there is another key element added in the Director's Cut which greatly affects the story of Borderlands 3. As part of the DLC, the Vault Hunter and Ava get to fight The Seer, a new boss. In the murder mystery quest Mysteriouslier: Horror of Scryer's Crypt, it is revealed that The Seer has actually been orchestrating everything behind the scenes, and that The Seer was a puppeteer all along. The Seer urges the Vault Hunter and Ava to stop the Calypso Twins, urging them to instead go to the Architect Vault before the instrument arrives.
Ava even mentions how she wants to ask The Seer why Maya and Lilith had to face that fate. This seems to further indicate that The Seer has a bigger plan and is aware of how all the other events fit into this great scheme of things. In the end, Ava and the Vault Hunter reach The Seer who confirms that the Twins' actions affected the plan and how the fact that Lilith firehawked Elpis completely ruined the chance of the future The Seer keeps mentioning.
In the end, once The Seer is defeated, the Vault Hunter mentions how with the information they have been given by The Seer states that their actions seem to be pre-determined which, in turn, means that the actions of the Calypso Twins were pre-determined as well. In a way, that should serve to redeem all of the character's actions, including those of Tyreen and Troy Calypso, since it seems like no one had free will. However, there are at least two major reasons why the new information from the Director's Cut is not enough to redeem the Calypso Twins.
The first problem is that actions do not seem to be actually pre-determined. First of all, even despite what the Vault Hunter says at the end of the fight with The Seer, there is nothing to indicate that in the game everything is determined, just that The Seer knew much more than other characters and had a plan that depended on controlling others.
Nevertheless, it is not revealed to what extent (if any) the Calypso Twins were being controlled by The Seer. Furthermore, The Seer complains about Lilith's actions which seems to suggest she did not act as she was supposed to. Perhaps this is because Lilith is a Siren and, just like Ava said and The Seer confirmed, they cannot be controlled. Then again, Tyreen was also a Siren so she could not have been controlled either.
The second problem is not an issue with the in-game events, but the decisions Gearbox took in terms of character creation. It seems like Borderlands 3 had the recurrent issue of having characters underdeveloped that did not engage players enough. This has been thoroughly discussed in the case of Ava, who is most likely the next game's Siren, but it also happened with the Calypso Twins. It seems like The Director's Cut was planned as a stepping stone for upcoming games in the series, but the characters that were introduced were not developed in a way that would make fans root for them and, most importantly, look forward to their appearances in the games to come.
Borderlands 3 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Post a Comment