The very last movie from the first game: The Thievius Raccoonus is reassembled, the 5 criminals who stole it were defeated, and Sly happily proclaims that it was time for him to write his own legacy in the book. He also shows how proud he is of his friends coming in during his time of need.
In the introductory mission, we see Bentley's first time out in the field, and his efforts to calm his nerves include an abundance of codenames that Sly jokingly mangles. Much later, both Sly and Murray are arrested, but even on his own, Bentley trails them. After three consecutive solo jobs to bust Sly out, Bentley acknowledges Sly's thanks by saying it's part of a friend's duty. Sly agrees wholeheartedly and calls Bentley by his proper codename.
The conclusion of "Jailbreak". Bentley has saved his two best friends from the Contessa, and their escape from town was nothing but joy from the reunion; even with the Contessa on the loose, the gang still treats their friendship as the bigger priority. Murray even lets Bentley drive the van at one point.
Carmelita has a slight one in "He Who Tames The Iron Horse": Despite wanting to get Cooper and his gang, she's shown to be caring when she captures Murray. She keeps an eye on him, apologizes for the cramped cage, and even goes out to give the hungry hippo some jelly beans.
This motion was apparently not forgotten by Murray, who, in the third level of Thieves in Time, asks Bentley where she is because he's starting to miss her. Maybe the two are unrelated, but it's still sweet regardless.
Also during this mission, Bentley tells Sly to be careful, as he doesn't want to be alone again.
Mild, but while on a job in Venice, a disguised Sly pretends to be relief for various guards. Most are happy to be able to go home early. One is especially happy, as mama was making spaghetti, and he loves his mama's cooking.
Carmelita seems to respect the mercenaries under her command, helping them out when things get sticky for them. The feeling seems to be mutual.
Murray took his vow of pacifism because he blames himself for Bentley being in his wheelchair. That stuff is tragic, but what makes him break that vow? Octavio kicking Bentley out of his chair, Murray overcome with his desire to cave the lion's face in. Badass and sweet.
Murray: That does it!! I'll floss my teeth with your spine! The Murray returns!!
While he gets arrested, Octavio does get something of a happy ending, as he ends up finding a good chunk of his fan base — they'd simply had been at the very prison he himself ended up at, and they are happy to hear him live and in person.
Before going out with Sly on a mission, Panda King tries to reconcile his decision with his darker half, who represents the Panda King from the first game. Sly 1!Panda King wants nothing to do with Sly or his humility (Sly 3!Panda King), but is convinced to cooperate when Sly 3!Panda King explains that combining strength and humility will let them be the father Jing King needs.
When the gang is in China, Murray's van, which was last seen on an iceberg in Canada, turns up half frozen in ice, and Murray starts dragging it back to the Safe House. The Heartwarming part is that the Panda King helps Murray by blasting any guards who get close to tiny pieces. You need to see it to get the full effect.
To explain, after Murray has tried his hardest to pull the van away with Penelope covering him with her RC chopper, Murray states that he'll never leave her [the van] behind again. Panda King is moved at this since if he had that heart and spirit, he would have saved his daughter from being captured and forcibly betrothed, and thus helps Murray get the van back. For this, Murray gives him shotgun for a month.
Near the end, Carmelita shows up in the Cooper Vault only for Dr. M to attack her with an energy blast in order to make Sly suffer. Sly jumps in front of her and takes the blast head-on which causes Carmelita to go full badass mode and utter this awesome line.
When Sly is going for the Cooper Vault treasure, Murray and Bentley stay behind. Bentley questions his friendship with Sly and whether Sly's just using the two of them for his own ends, but Murray explains that it was okay because if they switched places, Sly would've been proud of Bentley, supported him through thick and thin, and gave his enemies a beatdown. He says this before laying down a Curb-Stomp Battle against Dr. M's thugs, which later gives Bentley the conviction to brush off Dr. M's manipulations.
Murray: Think of it this way, Bentley. If it were you in that vault, and Sly and I were out here, what would he do?
Another Bentley-related one when after being kicked out of his wheelchair by LeFwee, Penelope goes and fights him. The end of the chapter shows Penelope in Bentley's arms as they fly off in his rocket powered wheelchair.
Bentley and Penelope's relationship nonstop. During their missions in the final level, they affectionately call each other pet names, and during his closing narration, he reveals he's deeply in love with her.
There's a minor one when Muggshot shrugs off every insult Bentley throws at him. What finally sets him off? Bentley insulting Muggshot's mother. It's pretty cliche, but a villain like Muggshot angrily defending his mother's honor like that shows that he's at least capable of loving someone.
Bentley: Your mother was a broken down tub of junk with more gentlemen callers than the operator!
Muggshot:Nobody talks that way about my mother!NOBODY!
A downplayed moment prior to this is when Muggshot refuses to fight Bentley, due to Bentley being in a wheelchair, as it wouldn't feel right to do so. If nothing else, he does have a small amount of honor, as he refused to fight a handicapped person — at least until Bentley insulted his mother.
After defeating a Mask of Dark Earth-possessed Carmelita, who then collapses unconscious once the mask is removed, Sly and the gang watch over her until she recovers. That's right, instead of fleeing from her like most criminals, this gang of thieves looked after the one person that had sworn to capture them, in order to make sure that she was safe.
Bentley tries to talk like Dimitri, which leads to a case of Be Yourself.
Though the newly expanded Cooper Gang ended up dissolving after their grand adventure, the mission wasn't a complete failure, and they ended up going on to do things that truly made them happy.
For starters, Sly left his gang a back door to the remaining treasure of the cooper vault "worth millions", so they all got a decent cut from the journey.
Then there's Bentley narrating how they're all doing, starting with Murray getting some quality time with his recovered van.
He and Penelope are now partners in crime, working together in love and brains on various projects. Plus, with Sly in "retirement", Bentley is now the keeper of the Thievius Racoonus.
Dimitri left to become a celebrity skin diver.
The Panda King retired to the mountains along with his daughter Jing, making sure to carefully screen her potential suitors.
The Guru took on some celebrity disciples and they work in the (relative) peace of New York.
And though he's lying through his teeth, Sly finally gets some normal time with Carmelita with his amnesia just getting to know her.
At the start, Bentley and Penelope are shown working together on Bentley's time machine, and for a few seconds, we see her resting on Bentley's body while he fidgets with his gadgets. He's even hung a picture of her on his binocucom. D'aaaaw. It becomes heartbreaking when Penelope ends up betraying him later on and their relationship ends.
In "Clan of the Cave Raccoon", Carmelita soon realizes that she and Sly are not so different and after spending time with the gang and Sly's ancestors, she gains a newfound respect for him.
From that point onward, while she remains abrasive towards Sly, she shows a softer side time and time again — giving him an "almost compliment" in the Ice Age, pushing him out of the way of a crashing castle gate in the Medieval era, and so on. Then comes the Grand Finale, and she finally softens up completely.
Even if she is abrasive to Sly throughout the game, she shows a much lighter side to his ancestors and to Bentley and Murray. She's genuinely concerned for Bentley and Murray's safety when they're briefly captured by Toothpick and is the first to try to help Murray when he faces Grizz.
From the same episode - after being stuck in a Heroic BSoD for the latter half of the episode, the gang’s final operation goes off the rails when Murray is sent into the Grizz’s lair on his own. However, the other members of the gang trust Murray enough to win the battle and simply watch from the sidelines.
After Bentley gets his Heroic BSoD in "Of Mice and Mechs", he tucks into his shell. Before the gang goes to their operation, Murray leaves Bentley a crayon drawing of the gang and Carmelita. It's implied after the boss battle that the drawing was what caused Bentley to conclude that Penelope is just a Gold DiggerFalse Soulmate who never really cared about his feelings, in contrast to Sly and Murray, who made it clear that they see him as a brother, will always be there for him, and will do whatever it takes to cheer him up.
In the boss battle against Penelope as Sly, you can hear Carmelita, of all people, cheering you alongside Murray and Galleth on in the background.
Out of all the villains in Thieves in Time, Ms. Decibel gets the happiest ending. Sure, she's in jail, but decides to turn her life around by getting that trumpet removed, teaches music lessons to the inmates and is learning to control her anger with a high chance of having parole for good behavior. After the huge Kick the Dog moment Le Paradox gave to her, it's nice that she's going to get on the right path.
The Grizz also gets a somewhat happy ending. Despite being in prison, he turns to art and singing.
At the climax, Le Paradox's blimp is coming apart, but Sly is determined to finish the fight with the rival thief once and for all. There's no talking him out of it. But before she's forced to run away with the rest of the team, Carmelita and Sly share a poignant moment that makes up for all the tension that existed between them in the previous episodes:
Carmelita: (clasping Sly's shoulder) Sly...I... Sly: (turns to face her) I know. Me too.
So much unsaid, yet with that exchange, you get the impression that they finally made up — that really, despite everything, they didn't NEED that many words to do so. Deep down, they understand each other that much.
In the dining room of Rioichi's restaurant, he has prominently displayed a series of paintings depicting how he came to invent sushi. Specifically, he spared the life of a shark he caught while fishing, who in return became a trusted friend and Rioichi's steed in battle for many years. When the shark grew old, he asked that Rioichi turn him into the first batch of sushi. While it dips into Black Comedy by immediately following his friends sacrifice with a picture of Rioichi celebrating the success of this new dish with fistfuls of cash, the fact that he chose to honor his friend by ensuring everyone who eats at his famous restaurant will know the story of this shark is very sweet. It can also remind veteran players of the previous game's themes of loyalty and honor among friends.
Despite them being related to Sly, Carmelita always treated Sly's Ancestors with respect, even when they flirt with her. Makes one wonder where Sly got it from, and how they reacted towards Carmelita's counterparts in their respective eras.
Alternative Title(s):Sly Cooper And The Thievius Raccoonus, Sly 2 Band Of Thieves, Sly 3 Honor Among Thieves, Sly Cooper Thieves In Time
