Faith
Episode FourSean wakes up at the Sacred Hope hospital two months after the events of Wastelands missing an eye and not knowing where Daniel is. His kindly nurse Joey goes through some hand-eye coordination exercises with him, before revealing that Sean is now well enough to be transferred to prison. Before they can talk further, FBI Agent Flores interrupts and questions Sean about the events that happened with Merrill and the cannabis plantation. Sean can look through the files she has to find out what happened to Finn, Cassidy and the others while Agent Flores takes a phonecall. On her return, she admits that they're still trying to find Daniel, something that irritates Sean as she's been hinting that they know where he is.
After Agent Flores leaves, Joey returns to clean Sean's eye and to teach him how to care for it. He also smuggles Sean's journal to him while wrapped up in a towel. On reading it, Sean realises that Jacob had left him a message before the journal had been taken as evidence, a message that reveals he is taking Daniel to Haven's Point. With that information, Sean decides to escape that night. If Finn survived the events of Wastelands then Sean can see him while escaping, and should he choose to, stop for a conversation. If Finn died, then Merrill will be there instead, and Sean won't risk interacting with him. Sean is able to steal a car and leave without raising the alarm, his destination Haven's Point.
Fatigued from the escape, and from the fact he is still recovering from his injuries, Sean parks in the middle of no-where to get some sleep. He dreams about his father, and is able to discuss everything that's happened to them up until that point, with Esteban being as kind and encouraging as he was in real life. Unfortunately Sean is rudely awaken by two racist thugs as he inadvertently parked on their land, and he has to choose to humiliate himself or receive a beating before he's allowed to leave.
When the car runs out of gas, Sean is forced to walk down the highway in the relentless sunshine, with nothing to protect him from the sun. A truck does pull over to offer him a lift, though it's up to Sean whether he takes the offer or not. Should Sean decline, he has to walk the rest of the way on foot. Should he accept, he meets a friendly man called Anton, who not only takes Sean to Haven's Point, but he gives him food and tells him to try and get some sleep. He even warns Sean about the church once they get closer, though Sean is adamant that he has to save Daniel.
On arriving at Haven's Point, Sean is able to sneak into a service and see Daniel, who has been lauded as some kind of angel by the pastor of the church, Lisbeth Fischer. Unfortunately, Daniel has been manipulated so heavily by Lisbeth that he doesn't want to leave with Sean, and the seemingly kind pastor reveals her true cruel nature when she has Sean thrown out. That's when Sean runs into Karen of all people, the mother who had abandoned him and Daniel all of those years ago. It turns out that Jacob was able to contact Karen for help once he realised taking Daniel to Haven's Point was a terrible mistake, and Karen had been working on saving Daniel herself until Sean turned up.
While he's reluctant, Sean works with Karen to find a way to free Daniel. Sean calls Jacob, who apologises once again for taking Daniel there, but that he panicked after the events of Wastelands and didn't know where else to go. He reveals that Heaven's Point is little more than a cult, and confirms that Lisbeth is a cruel leader. With that, Sean and Jacob sneak back into the church to look for documents that will reveal Lisbeth's true nature to Daniel, and end up confronting her and Daniel. Daniel is still reluctant to listen, even when Karen steps in to join the argument, but is slowly broken out of his brainwashing when Lisbeth tells her right-hand man Nicholas to kill Sean. Daniel uses his powers to save Sean, which inadvertently sets the church on fire. Lisbeth tries to stop Sean, Daniel and Karen from leaving, and Daniel is given the choice of simply moving her out of the way or killing her with his powers.
Either way, the Diaz brothers and Karen leave the church, reunite Jacob with his sister Sarah, and then leave in Karen's car. Daniel apologises for his behaviour towards Sean and hugs him, while Sean contentedly sinks back into his little brother's embrace.
Tropes featured in this episode of Life Is Strange 2:
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: While their love for one another never wavers, Sean and Daniel are at odds with one another during Wastelands and are apart for most of Faith only for Daniel to reject Sean due to the brainwashing and abuse that Lisbeth put him through. But once Daniel is able to break free from it due to Sean not giving up on him, he's incredibly tearful and apologetic, and embraces Sean afterwards.
- Berserk Button: While it takes a while for it to get through to Daniel, given how much Lisbeth has manipulated him, he is furious at just how badly Sean has been hurt.
- Big Bad: Lisbeth Fischer, the pastor of Haven Point, who only seeks to use Daniel and his powers for her own benefit.
- Big Sibling Instinct:
- Sean escapes from hospital while injured, ends up walking down a sunbaked highway and gets beaten up by Nicholas just to save Daniel from Haven Point, no matter how many times he's rejected.
- Jacob is willing to return to Haven Point despite how terrified he is because he wants to save his little sister Sarah Lee. She's sick and Lisbeth is denying her treatment as apparently faith can heal her.
- Break the Cutie:
- Poor Daniel believes that he killed Sean after losing control of his powers, and then is heavily manipulated by Lisbeth into following her every word, seeing her as the mother figure he so desperately wanted. It's hinted that she even abused him during this time, and that she forced him to use his powers to the point of exhaustion. Daniel even finds himself turning against Sean, the person he loves more than anyone, and feels immensely guilty about it when he's able to break free of the control Lisbeth had over him. Wolves reveals that Daniel still has nightmares about his time at Haven's Point.
- Sean fights off racists and forces himself to walk down the side of the highway while suffering from sunburn and dehydration, all while recovering from the injuries he got in Wastelands and with just one eye, only for Daniel to reject him. He then ends up getting beaten up even more by Nicholas, to the extent he's willing to let himself be killed if it means saving Daniel. There's a reason this episode is known as 'Sean the punchingbag simulator' in some areas of the fandom.
- Jacob once it's revealed what Haven's Point is really like and how hard it was for him to escape. He can tell Sean that Lisbeth forced him to attend conversion therapy, and that he only took Daniel there because he had no-where else to go. Jacob just wants to save his little sister Sarah Lee, even if that means striking out on their own like Sean and Daniel.
- Cure Your Gays: Lisbeth sent Jacob to conversion therapy because he liked boys instead of girls. If Sean kissed Finn, he can tell him.
- Dream Intro: The episode starts with Sean dreaming about himself and Daniel in the forest together, where they both have the appearance that they did in Rules. He abruptly wakes up when Daniel begs for Sean to come find him before jumping off the cliff they're looking out from.
- The Dragon: Nicholas Durand, a worryingly violent man who serves as Lisbeth's right-hand man.
- Expository Hairstyle Change:
- Sean has had his hair shaved off while in hospital, most likely due to having been in a coma and the various medical procedures he needed to undergo to remove his damaged eye. It makes him look more vulnerable in many ways, while it can also make him look threatening to certain people. It fits the fact that he is just so determined to find Daniel no matter what.
- Daniel is given a hideous bowl cut by Lisbeth, strongly implying just how much he has been manipulated by her as the Daniel we know would refuse to have such an old fashioned haircut.
- Hypocrite: Lisbeth advises her followers to avoid doctors and medicine as they can be healed through faith alone, even if little Sarah Lee is dying from her easily treatable illness, while she happily goes to the doctors and takes medication herself.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Daniel believes that he killed Sean during his outburst at the end of Wastelands which is what allows Lisbeth to manipulate him into helping her to atone for his sins. He also goes through this again when he's able to break free of Lisbeth's brainwashing to finally return to Sean's side, who has been badly injured while trying to save Daniel.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Even if not fluent in the language, most Americans know a smattering of Spanish. This bites Sean in the ass if he attempts to insult one of the bullies, as he levies an insult on the man's mother and the man recognizes "madre" as meaning "mother".
- Tragic Keepsake: The bracelet Finn gave to Daniel can be considered this if Finn died at the end of Wastelands.
- You Have Failed Me: While a less villainous example than most, this is how Merrill can end up killing Finn, for betraying him.
