Did So Mi actually care for V, or was she just telling v what they wanted to hear?
Did So Mi actually care for V, or was she just telling v what they wanted to hear?
27 Comments
I think we put too much agency on So Mi, she obviously is sympathetic towards V given similar situation we are in, but she is a victim of long-time abuse. She is survivor first and foremost, her whole life she had to tell and do what FIA and Myers wanted to hear/do. Her opening at the end of her ending and trusting V shows immense trust she put into someone maybe for the first time in years.
Prior to train to space station, she trusted V because she had to, but on the train she tells V the truth knowing full well she is in no position to stop V if they change their mind. She basically make herself vurnable to V and put faith that someone, in that case V, will actually take care of her and not use her like she was her whole life. Any adoptive parent or friend of someone who went through lifetime abuse would understood how important and intimate this trust is.
She is basically a groomed child that was abused that lies and cheat as the only defensive mechanism she knows, so you shouldnt trust her blindly but also shouldnt boil down her character to lier or cheater.
It’s certainly open to interpretation either way. I think it’s possible to interpret her actions that she believed at the start that she could actually help V, but later learned that the matrix could only be used once.
You could also interpret it as she always knew that it could only be used once, but also came to care about V and felt awful about being deceitful.
At least, that’s my interpretation of the conversation you have with her before Firestarter, when she tells you “that’s the last thing I wanted to get off my chest” – it’s clear that she’s lying, and it’s clear that she feels remorse over that lie.
A little bit of both, is my guess.
manipulation
Depends, you could think that at this point, SoMi has a moment of weakness where she actually asks you to chose for her, giving you the proper information for your choice. She would be doing that likely because of the feeling of impending doom that rapidly dying gives her, knowing she is going to miss what happens next. So, care, not necessarily, but trust, sure. V had proven to be her only shot.
However, you could also think that she has to come clean because she knows she will pass out and they are still missing Reed, who could use her lies against her (whether he knows himself or lies about it too). It sounds not that well thought out, and that’s why it’s believable, actually. She tends to fuck up her plans.
She appears to, after all that, have some care for V once she’s on the moon, but then again what do we know, could be blue eyes posing as her and she died on the way up.
tl;dr: Good question, dunno. Probably meant to be uncertain.
I can’t exactly remember how much So Mi knows about V, but at the very least she knows they are an extremely capable merc with a timebomb in their head, ready to do anything to get rid of it. The bomb aspect is very relatable to her, as their situation is very similar, but she is someone who lived in a use or be used kind of world, so of course she uses V 99% of the time. The greatness in her writing is that she is swinging between the two, V is the only person who can understand her and help her but ultimately when the chips falls, she will have to cut them loose, wether she knew that or she learned it later on.
So Mi in the train to the moon confess to V because she is overwhelmed with guilt, a stupid confession from a cold tactical perspective, but a rather human and bittersweet moment if you take her position. Up to this point, most of the conversation with her should be taken with a grain of salt in retrospct, but this was the moment she completely dropped her mask and was the most vulnerable. That is a strong human moment in a world governed by indifferent Corpos.
I think it’s a bit of both. I don’t even think SoMi herself knows when she’s honest or deceiving anymore.
An emotionally underdeveloped and at the same time highly intelligent and arrogant kid that was never allowed to grow up thanks to the NUSA.
They had their reasons, but both Songbird and Reed went to great lengths to manipulate V, and only had very brief moments where they were speaking honestly. If anything, It seems to me So Mi was overcome with guilt — not compassion — near the end of the story.
my take on the entire dlc: V would be fucked anyway. I feel it in every side mission clearly. No good or bad choices, only consequences matters. Even if So Mi is caring, empathic and prone to help, the whole idea is to get what she wants.
she didn’t care, when you have your final dialogue with her and ask “what am I going to do” or something similar she answers “isn’t that obvious, you ll keep looking” in a very annoying tone, of course she didn’t care about V at all, the biggest simp on the planet and you also receive an award for being the biggest simp
Honestly she was just using V. Ever since the start she betrayed everyone and was lying non stop to V. She opens up to V a little but still puts him in incredible danger knowing she won’t be able to help him.
Latter for sure
I’m pretty sure, like with most things human, the answer lies somewhere in the middle.
I think So Mi has lived a life surrounded by such manipulative opportunists that when someone really wanted to help her that she is surprised that V may truly have helped her without having to be deceived.
If So Mi lives I can imagine she will have some guilt over using V like that, and I don’t think she’d feel that guilt if she hadn’t learned to care for V.
I cared about So Mi. Still sacrificed her in the end so my V could live. I imagine it’s the same for her. She cares about V, but the desire to survive is a strong one.
On the train she told V the truth about there being only one cure when V still had the chance to sell her out to Reed, knowing this will alienate V and potentially make V change his mind, but she confessed nonetheless. I interpret this as her no longer being able to bear the guilt and shame of having failed V. So I say she did care for V
I really wanted So Mi to be a love interest for V for story telling purpose. It would’ve been a great parallel for David and Lucy.
What V did for So Mi was way too much for a platonic friendship, it would’ve made so much more sense if in the end So Mi admitted she was using V but V admits they know and they wanted to get So Mi to the moon regardless. Cementing a relationship for So Mi for the first time in her life that someone was actually willing to give up their life for hers.
Both
simptastic mental gymnastics – refusing to believe you’re being played
here’s a thought, if she was ugly 80% of who believed her would have second thoughts.
tell me i’m wrong.
Deliberating this doesn’t change the fact she’s a rat. If she cared it wouldn’t matter, she still pulled rug under you. But then again, her telling V minutes away from dying is strange that it leads me to believe she did, but convinced herself to be forced to secrecy.
She. Did not. Care.
i had a hard time ever really trusting her, but i did understand her reasoning and pov especially the farther i got into the dlc story line and the more i learned about her and the situation. ultimately i wound up helping her instead of turning her in and i didn’t have to think too hard about it. it felt more fitting with the theme of cyberpunk to help her rather than sell her out to a big overhead corporation who i found it equally as hard to trust. going out in a chaotic blaze of glory rampage against the government felt like a more proper ending even if it might not be the most logical
If So Mi didnt care about V she wouldnt have sent them proof that she made it and is safe if you sent her to the moon.
If So Mi didn’t care for V at all, I don’t think she would have told them she was lying about them also getting a cure. She would have let them put her on the rocket and then just never contacted them again. The fact that she told them first tells me that she probably cares in some way.
At that point on the train she had grown to care for V and clearly felt awful about lying. In telling the truth she’s putting her life in V’s hands
Starting to think putting a bullet in So Mi is for the best. No one gets blackwall and the gate closes, until we open it up again for a sweet smg!
She’s the King of Cups*. She cared and cares.
If she could save V, she would. But her goal was from the beginning to survive, herself. Most of the bad things that happen are not her fault, but the fault of the System determined to not let her survive, to the point that others who HAD gotten out are roped back into service for the purpose of keeping her from escaping. If she could’ve done it another way without people dying and also by helping you, she would. With the exception of Myers. She wanted that bitch dead. Understandable. We Stan.