Episode 2:
Out of Time
The chapter begins with Max lying down again, but thankfully safe and dry in her bed, as her phone's alarm wakes her up with "Something Good" by alt-J. She's been up all night researching time travel, but checking her phone reveals an invitation to breakfast from Chloe, so sleep can wait. Max heads off to the showers, where Kate Marsh asks her to return a book she borrowed. As she washes herself, she sees Victoria show up and harass Kate over a viral video which apparently shows Kate drunk and making out with several people at a "Vortex Club" party.After getting dressed and finding the book, Max finds Kate in her room, sat in the dark and crying. It's made clear that she comes from a fairly religious family, some of whom have turned on her because of the video. After being pressed, she confides in Max that she didn't drink more than a sip of wine before switching to water, and that Nathan offered to drive her to the ER after she began feeling strange... It's fairly clear from her story that she was drugged, so she asks Max if she should go to the police, prompting an important choice. If the player encourages her, she'll be happy, but Max will be concerned about butting heads with the Prescotts again (especially after receiving a threatening text message from an unknown number). If the player tells her to wait, she'll become worried that Max doesn't believe her.
Warren is found waiting for Max outside the dorms. He asks Max if she'd like to "Go Ape" and join him at the drive-through theatre for a Planet of the Apes marathon, which the player can reject or accept. After that, Max boards the bus and listens to "Crosses" by Jose Gonzalez as she rides to the Two Whales Diner, workplace of Chloe's mum, Joyce. Chloe's still not up yet, but in the mean time, Max catches up with Joyce. She reassures her that moving on after William Price's death was the best option, and doesn't blame her for staying out of contact (or believe she was actually responsible for the doobie, if she took the blame in the previous episode). Chloe then shows up and tests Max's power by having her guess the contents of her pockets and several near future events, excited to have her best friend back "supersized". This overuse of her power causes Max to suffer a nosebleed.
After they've eaten, Chloe wants to leave immediately before her mum can lecture her, but Max gets a call from Kate, prompting another important choice. Should Max answer, Joyce will lecture Chloe as Max talks to Kate, causing Chloe to get angry...again. A mysterious man (who was sleeping behind the diner next to a camper van) watches Max and Chloe drive off.
They pull up at Chloe's "home away from home", the American Rust junkyard. An infamous sequence has Max explore the junkyard as she gathers bottles for Chloe's shooting gallery, including Chloe and Rachel's hideout (which leaves Max feeling vaguely jealous of their relationship). After gathering the bottles, Chloe has Max help her shoot by rewinding time every time she misses and telling her how to adjust. Max suffers another nosebleed, and then passes out. After Max comes to, we're introduced to Frank, Chloe's dealer and less-than-enthusiastic creditor. After the situation gets heated, he draws a knife, causing Max to point the gun at him. The player can decide whether to shoot in yet another important choice. If Max pulls the trigger, the gun will be empty, but Frank will be cowed and Chloe will be impressed. If Max doesn't shoot, Frank will take the gun before leaving, making Chloe angry (...again).
Chloe and Max then walk along the train tracks before lying down to reminisce. Max gets up to take a photo, but has another fainting episode, waking up to find that Chloe's stuck in the tracks as a train approaches. Using her rewind power, Max can either push a large spool of wire into the tracks to free Chloe, or use some wire cutters to bypass the signal box, avoiding doing too much damage. After being rescued, Chloe reveals some Hidden Depths and talks about chaos theory as she drops Max off back at school. Optionally, Max can help out Warren with an experiment by using her powers to find the correct chemical to add to his experiment (or just make it, literally, explode in his face). She then goes to Mr. Jefferson's class, only to find him being uncharacteristically unsympathetic to Kate, who runs off instead of taking her seat. Class then begins, but it's soon interrupted with news that Kate is on the dorm roof.
Max makes it there just in time to see her jumping off in front of the gathered crowd. On trying to rewind, she finds that her powers are failing from overuse. She manages to freeze time just long enough to make it to the roof, but at that point she can't use it at all and must talk Kate down on her own. If the player chooses the right dialogue options (which can be made easier based on how nice to Kate they've been in this and the previous episode), Max will be able to coax her down and be hailed as a hero. If not, Kate will jump and is Killed Off for Real.
The final scene takes place in Principal Wells's office. Max has the opportunity to accuse three different characters of pushing Kate towards suicide; Jefferson (for victim blaming her), Nathan (for drugging her) and David (for harassing her). Depending on who she accuses and whether or not she has proof, Wells can end up suspending any of the three, or Max herselfnote .
The final scene sees Max talking to Warren about her suspicions that Kate and Rachel Amber are connected somehow, as well as that Nathan and David are in league with each other. They are interrupted by a solar eclipse, which Warren explains was completely unpredicted. "Mt. Washington" by Local Natives plays over the ending montage. David and Joyce embrace as he explains the day's events; Wells and Jefferson argue before the later drives off; Victoria cries in her room before being comforted by Nathan; Frank and his dog watch the eclipse. If Kate survived, she's shown lying in her hospital bed, if not, there's a shot of a candlelit memorial outside the dorms. Chloe sits on the bench outside the lighthouse, apparently shaken by both news of Kate and the eclipse, exchanging texts with Max (who reassures her they'll find out what's going on "together").
There's a final shot of the same shelf of red binders from the previous episode. This time the camera pans to a desk, where a mysterious figure is preparing a new binder for Kate...
Tropes featured in this episode of Life Is Strange:
- A Day in the Limelight: The episode focuses heavily on Kate Marsh, who stays as a fairly minor character in the other episodes. Even if she survives, she only appears again in one more scene, when the player visits her in hospital in episode 4. Either way, she doesn't have much effect on the overall plot apart from being one of the girls taken to The Dark Room.
- Downer Ending: If you fail to talk her out of it, Kate commits suicide.
- Golden Ending: If you take the time to help Kate throughout the episode and say the right things, Kate won't commit suicide.
- Heroic RRoD: Max's powers burn out completely from overuse in the finale. At first she's limited to only freezing time, then she loses the ability to use it entirely. She's recovered enough to use them again a short time later, but not soon enough to rewind if she failed to save Kate.
- Instant Humiliation Just Add Youtube: The reason Kate is so upset is because she was filmed making out with several people after being drugged at a Vortex Club party.
- Kick the Dog: Mr. Jefferson, normally a somewhat dorky, but supportive Cool Teacher, accuses Kate of being responsible for the viral video that's destroyed her reputation. This appears to be what nudges her over the Despair Event Horizon.
- Kick The Wrong Dog: If Max accuses Mr. Jefferson and he's suspended and removed from the contest, it's played off as something like this, since his failure to take Kate seriously could have simply been a lapse in judgement (Max will feel guilty, and apologise at several points). It's also treated as the "worse" option, as he's the only one who you can accuse with no evidence without getting Max suspended. Of course, it turns out that he's been Evil All Along and was probably deliberately goading Kate into committing suicide, but Max doesn't know that yet (although the player might if they've picked up on the hints).
- Killed Off for Real: Unlike previous deaths in the game so far (namely, Chloe's), if Max fails to talk Kate down, she can't rewind it.
- Kilroy Was Here: On the wall of the hideout, there's graffiti that reads "Chloe was here" and "Rachel was here". Max can add her own "Max was here" below.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Victoria can be seen crying in her room after Kate's suicide (or attempted suicide), while Chloe seems guilty about trying to make Max ignore her when she called.
- Not Quite the Right Thing: Given how often you're told that the Prescotts practically own the cops in Arcadia Bay, telling Kate not to go to them until she's got proof may seem like simple Pragmatic Heroism. Unfortunately, while it may be true it's absolutely not what Kate needs to hear right now, and so that choice will make it harder to talk her off the roof at the end.
- Paper Tiger: Frank comes across as a typically scary lowlife at first, and will confidently snatch Chloe's gun off Max if she freezes up. However, as little as Max being willing to shoot him is enough to make him back off (even though she clearly has no way of defending herself when the gun is empty).
- Psychic Nosebleed: This episode establishes that Max starts suffering from them after using her powers too much.
- Talking Down the Suicidal: The climax has Max trying to dissuade Kate from jumping off the dorm roof. Max's powers have stopped working, so if you mess it up, Kate's Killed Off for Real.
- Video Game Caring Potential: There are several opportunities to help make Kate feel better, such as erasing insulting graffiti and answering her phone call despite Chloe's protests. They make it significantly easier to talk her down from the ledge.
