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E2-5 complete! Four testimonies against Simon, the last two getting the Presto theme. The last piece of evidence is the lion lilies, because the traces of it on the hot air balloon proves Simon crushed the body double. This showdown is great because while it's a marathon haul like against Alba, it doesn't feel redundant or formulaic. Simon is great at manipulation and provocation. The only two people he can't provoke are Edgeworth and Ray, who takes the defense attorney's creed to heart and is essentially unflappable. He helps Edgeworth keep his focus and direct his attention in the proper direction multiple times during this part.

I really like the weird swerve they throw at you where Simon believes his father was actually Dover and not Gustavia, but in spite of that, he still somehow managed to follow in his father's footsteps (even down to freezing the body to throw off the time of death) and become the one he despised. It goes along with the theme of the bond between parent and child, and what a child chooses to do in response to the path his parent follows. Edgeworth chose not to follow his father's path while still retaining (or maybe "regaining" would be the better term after von Karma) his father's heart. Sebastian chose to follow his father's path at first but diverged from it when he realized he didn't want to be like his father after all. Simon declared he wouldn't follow his father's path but ended up doing so anyway, albeit unwittingly. It's an interesting series of contrasts and foils there.

Simon also proposes a few of the ethical dilemmas that AAI2 is so good at. He claims he sent the letters to Blaise, Jill, Kay, and even John (although he trolls and says "maybe" he's lying about that) because he wanted them to know the truth, and isn't the truth always a good thing, like Edgeworth claims? Simon also talks about how he had to take revenge into his own hands because there was no other way. The law wouldn't help him because the law was essentially the one after him in the form of Blaise. He also accuses Edgeworth of only wanting the truth when it's convenient to him because he's pursuing Simon with only circumstantial evidence when more evidence points to John as the body double's killer. Edgeworth takes this all in stride (with a little help from Ray as mentioned earlier), but some of the other characters struggle with it.

All the talk about Simon encountering the body double on the rooftop is super good. He mentions that the body double was planning to kill Courtney and John, and they should be thankful he's dead now. Again, that's another odd ethical dilemma. Although it certainly wasn't his motive, Simon essentially stamped out an evil greater than himself and prevented more tragedy by killing the body double. It doesn't justify his actions by any means, but it's interesting to think about. They somehow manage to make Simon into a somewhat sympathetic and tragic figure by surrounding him with as many heartless villains as possible. Edgeworth at the end says that he wants to remain a prosecutor so that no one has to take matters into their own hands the way Simon did, and he doesn't want anyone not to be able to believe in others as a result of the law's contradictions.

Anyway, after Simon's A+ breakdown, we get a weird sequence with De Killer and Dogen, where everyone just stands around and does nothing until they both leave. Dogen giving the knife to John doesn't really do anything for me because you know there's no way it's ever really going to be a tough decision for him. After it's all said and done, Edgeworth gets his prosecutor's badge back and Gumshoe finally gets a raise, which is a surprisingly touching moment. Then the final image of Edgeworth and his father back to back with their respective badges behind them is awesome and a fitting end to this great game.

Final numbers incoming next post!
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