Fridge Logic:
See Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019)
Fridge Brilliance:
- Back in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Gaz was a Non-Player Character who’s only ever referred to by that In-Series Nickname from Captain Price and Soap; his full name was never revealed. It makes sense that Kyle Garrick in this Soft Reboot of Modern Warfare is Gaz when there exists a Real Life style of nicknames used for males in the United Kingdom: a long (sur)name with the letter "R" in the middle can be substituted with the letter "Z" as a short form of that name.
- It also makes the twist more unprecedented; "Gaz" is usually a nickname for Gary or Gareth, rather than being based on a surname.
- Farah wears her hair in multiple long braids, despite the obvious impracticality of long hair in combat. Then when you finally see her in "Captive" you notice that her hair was reduced to a buzzcut just like all the other female prisoners, and considering that she had been imprisoned for at least a decade, this could very well be an act of defiance to General Barkov as much as it is a reference to real-life female fighters from the Peshmerga and SDF, who wear their hair in a similar fashion.
- Why did the Al-Qatala bomb London when they claim that they are only trying to liberate their country? Well, obviously, because the Americans and British are also inside Urzikstan. Al-Qatala wants to expel all foreigners from the country. Except not really as we later find out that they're the same group allied with the Ultranationalists from the original Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. They're actually allied with an Anti-West group of Russians. Just not the ones that are presently in charge.
- Barkov is a General Ripper who engages in massive numbers of war crimes against civilians throughout the game. He also is severely prejudiced against the locals, calling them an entire country of terrorists. Given Al-Qatalla and the Uzrikstani Liberation Force are being supported by the Ultranationalists as well as United States/Britain, its easy to see why he feels he's fighting a Forever War with victory not in sight. The fact the occupation has lasted twenty years and started seemingly right after the fall of the Soviet Union, you can tell he's suffered some Sanity Slippage.
- Doubled with Fridge Horror but why was there a plant for manufacturing chemical weapons in Urzikstan versus inside Russia? Because General Barkov planned to use the gas himself rather than under any instructions from the Russian government.
- Why did the government disavow Farah's group and declare them terrorists? Because the entirety of the mission the United States and Britain are involved in is illegal. They're only helping them because it's meant to be subject to Plausible Deniability. When Harim uses a WMD he stole from the Soviets, they have to publicly deny them as they can't reveal that Farah's group was an allied party.
- Why did Hadir switch sides to Al-Qatala? Well, he discovered that Barkov's second chemical weapons factory is in Russia. While the Proxy War may allow the Americans to bomb the location in Urzikstan, they aren't going to do it in Russia. Stealing the nerve gas also gives him a weapon that he plans to use against Russian military forces. As we see with the Butcher, while Al-Qatala does get the nerve gas from him, he actually planned on deploying it against Barkov's mansion. Which is a Asshole Victim sort of target if you're unsympathetic to the servants there.
- What exactly were the Ultranationalists planning by supporting Al-Qatala, an organization killing Russian agents? Barkov shows no sign of Ultranationalist sentiments despite being an enormous bastard. Having terrorists kill thousands of Russian soldiers is going to likely stir up nationalist sentiment and revenge as we saw with "No Russian" in the original trilogy. We also know they eventually nuke the country so they have no loyalty to the Urzikstani.
- The London terror attack happens only a day after Alex's raid for the chemical weapons. Someone could have realized earlier that it couldn't have been Al-Qatala that stole the gas because they were focused on the London attack and at that point didn't seem structured to be able to run two large operations at once.
Fridge Horror
- The revelation that Urzikstan is the country from the original Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare means that not only is the government about to fall under the sway of a terrorist organization that will execute its President but that it is going to have its capital nuked by Zakhaev. This is going to happen before the Ultranationalists take over and become an expansionist super-power. Their misery is only beginning, really. About their only hope is that events turn out different in this Alternate Timeline.
- Barkov's General Ripper status is apparently the result of having witnessed so many of his soldiers being killed by the Urzikstan La Résistance. Repeatedly, he calls out the "terrorists" and uses the guerilla tactics of the public as the reason for his harsh policies. Given that Farah and Harim killed three soldiers when they were children, it's easy to understand why he thinks anyone could be a threat.
- Al-Qatala being an anti-Russian nationalist organization puts a new spin on the Ultranationalists nuking their capital in Modern Warfare. It is very possible that Makarov was doing a Pay Evil unto Evil and You Have Outlived Your Usefulness moment in one. It also adds context to how Makarov had contacts with African terrorists in M3 if he had long-standing ties to multiple terrorist organizations.
- What would Barkov do to the Urzikstani after they attacked his family home and his children?
- One can't help but wonder what's going to happen to Hadir now that he's in Russian custody... Heck, Price and Farah actually touch upon this.Farah: They'll kill him.
Price: ...if he's lucky.- Similarly, one could actually consider sparing the Butcher an arguably worse fate than killing him, since the following cutscene has him being apprehended by Russian police. At best, he'll be spending the rest of his life in The Gulag... Then again, considering his reputation, who's to say that the Russians wouldn't want to have some fun with him first? Either way, he's pretty much screwed.
- The fact that The Zakhaevs and Al-Asad exist means that it is very likely that Complete Monster Vladamir Makarov does too.
- The reveal in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War that this game is now a part of the Black ops timeline means that Raul Menendez and Cordis Die could be lurking around by now.
