I'm sure people have talked about this before but I love how when you think about it, each one of the Dessendres represents a stage in the grief cycle in a way.
***SPOILER HEAVY YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED***
Aline - Denial. She refuses to believe her son is gone. She refuses to live in a world where there is emptiness in the shape of her beloved only son. She paints him just as she remembers him, the way she wants to keep him in her mind. Immortal so he can never die and leave her again.
Aline will play make believe until it is literally killing her before she will admit that her son is gone and there is nothing she can do outside of this canvas to bring him back.
Clea - Anger. Clea is angry that Verso's death has torn her family apart, that now they are all trapped in this grief cycle. She is angry at the writers for what they did -- and the fact that they used her naive little sister to do it. She is angry at Verso for sacrificing himself instead of letting Alicia die.
She is angry at Aline for being absent and refusing to cope with reality instead of running off to the painted world in the canvas. And at Renoir for chasing Aline instead of helping Clea fight the war on the outside and leaving her to rot in her own sadness. She is angry that she is forced to hold the family together because no one else will.
Alicia - Bargaining. Alicia is willing to do whatever it takes to keep Renoir from destroying the canvas. A place she now considers home, despite it never being hers to begin with. Alicia begs and pleads to remain there as Maelle, someone who is still whole and has a potential for a life inside the canvas with Verso and her new found family -- one that doesn't harbor resentment toward her and still loves her.
In a way I think she sees it as some kind of atonement, too. Of course she knows her mother blames her for Verso's death -- her painted portrait is evidence enough of that -- and maybe, just maybe, by keeping the canvas in tact she can stay with her brother and win back her mother's affection.
Painted!Verso - Depression. Imagine being the echo of a dead man. Imagine never being able to be your own person because your sole purpose was to be someone else. A tool for a grieving mother to cope.
Verso is trapped, undying, caught between his painted family and the real one on the outside that is suffering and falling apart because of him -- or at least because of the memory of the real him. He's watched all of his friends die, he's watched his family kill some of them even! He's lied to them, betrayed them.
He's tired and all he wants to do is die. But he can't. He's stuck in the never ending cycle of pain and grief and he's broken.
and finally, Renoir - Acceptance. Renoir, being the patriarch of the Dessendre family it falls to him to hold everyone together. He's watching his beloved wife deteriorate before his eyes and despite the love he has for her, Aline will only see him as the villain in her story. Of course! He's trying to take the last piece of her son away from her. What kind of monster would do such a thing?
One that wants his family to heal together instead of constantly being ripped apart. He says, "See things as they are, not as you want them to be." and that, I feel, is the epitome of acceptance in the grief cycle. Of course he's still heartbroken that he's lost his son, that his wife is in so much pain and his remaining children are bearing the brunt of it all, too.
But in the end, all he wants is for his family to accept the tragedy for what it is and start the healing process.
I definitely think cases could be made for each family member taking on other parts of the cycle, too. Aline is definitely angry on top of being in denial.
She's angry at Alicia for her part in Verso's death (she says as much in her journal entry ( … the person I cannot be around is Alicia. Her pain is a broken mirror, the shards reflecting back tenfold. Every moment with her, the cuts deepen, and I feel myself unravelling… )
She's angry at Renoir for trying to take the one thing that seems to be bringing her any solace, a brief escape from the pain, away from her.
As well as the fact that I think Clea has hit her acceptance of her brother's death as well. She is a realist at the end of it all. As the first one to walk away from Verso's grave in the 'A Life to Love' ending, that much is clear. In her mind, Verso is gone and nothing they do can truly bring him back. It's time to move on and get to work.
And obviously, Alicia is depressed. Outside of the canvas and her life as Maelle, she has nothing. She's left with scars and a missing eye as a constant reminder of what happened, of what she did. She can barely speak anymore and even if she could, can she really trust anyone again not to manipulate her and hurt her or her family more?
I think I could honestly talk about this forever and pick it apart to find more ways in which this tragic family aligns with the theme of grief that is woven through the entire narrative of Expedition 33 but, I'll spare you.
Anyway, this game better win GOTY or I'm gonna crash out.
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