I actually quite enjoyed it and thought it was very well played out. It tosses what you THINK you know out the window, only to make you realize what you truly knew all along.
Cole starts out seeming like basically the perfect man. He's a war hero, is genuinely interested in justice, and is an all around great guy. As the game goes on, however, you realize... That's not Cole at all. Cole is actually a weak man who doesn't want to accept his flaws. He can't stand on his own, which is why he does everything by the book, and to a fault. Instead of accepting his weakness and flaws, he runs from them, instead trying to hide them via his actions in the police force, which is basically his "redemption." It's why he's such a try hard. He WANTS to solve the big cases. He WANTS to truly be the hero that he KNOWS he isn't. In the end, however, he's simply not strong enough. He gives in to temptations, and he acts out on them by stepping out of this "perfect" life he has made for himself... By cheating. It brings him back to reality, and reminds him that he is, in fact, a very flawed human being, and he can never truly allow himself to forget all of his mistakes. His act of adultery is his way of "grounding" himself, or as the chick puts it, "Bringing him back to reality instead of the ivory tower he crafted for himself." He created this perfect, redeeming life... And yet he can't accept it because he can't let go of the past.
Jack, on the other hand, is a very strong individual. In the beginning, however, this makes him... Well, he looks like a dick. He's loud, brash, arrogant... Seems to not want to accept authority or do stuff by the book. He's the foil to Cole. The game progresses, however, and you realize... Jack is what Cole truly wants to be. Jack stood by what he knew was right, no matter what it did to him. If it was against authority? He was okay with that. Where Cole was weak and didn't question orders, Jack despised them if he knew they weren't right. Where Cole failed and fell into temptations, Jack stayed strong and remained true to who he was. He didn't pursue justice because he felt he had to in order to redeem himself... But because he knew it was right. It's why he didn't give in and take part in the initial theft of the morphine. It's why he helped Cole in the end.
It basically reverses how you perceive them. Jack seems unlikable, Cole seems like a great guy. But by the end, you realize it's the reverse. Cole was weak, Jack was strong. Jack was what Cole truly wanted to be like, but knew he couldn't.
And so on.
tl;dr:
-Cole's weak
-Jack's strong
-Rusty is awesome
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SEP Nash, Smelling Like the Vault since 1996
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