For as beloved as Snoot Game and I Wani Hug That Gator are to their audience(s), neither game is above criticism from said audience. Many critiques and complaints have been leveled at both--some less worthy of merit than others--but perhaps no issue is more contentious than that of Ending 1 of Wani which features an iteration of the protagonist many find very off-putting and abhorrent. This version of Inco--known as 1nco by the wider community--is so contentious, in fact, that some believe his mannerisms and actions to be completely at odds with how he acts beforehand, and thus represents a failure upon the writers to deliver a version more compatible with how he's portrayed up to that point.

Of course, some could argue that the purpose of E1 for both games isn't to present a satisfactory narrative conclusion but to show the consequences of the player's choices up to that point in the most visceral way possible. This consequentialism is one of the biggest factors which creates the emotional bond between the player and both the protagonist and their female deuteragonist counterparts. And the shocking impact leaves a mark on the player that defines their first experience, for better or worse.

This is no more evident than E1 of Snoot Game which ends in a horrific way which fans still discuss to this day. Though despite the gravity of the situation in E1 of Snoot Game being arguably far greater--in terms of measuring cost of life--than E1 of Wani, the latter still undergoes more scrutiny and criticism. From this, we can infer that the community does find it acceptable to show a horrible outcome. But what is not is deviating from how someone is portrayed to the point they may as well be an entirely different character. This is the basis of the complaints that I have seen, and I think there's some merit to them.

On the other hand, I personally believe it's more important to show the consequences of player choice and where it can potentially lead the protagonist in their character development than it is to make the audience feel comfortable with how said character is handled. Because in the end, the way in which 1nco behaves is extremely unsettling. And the more I've contemplated 1nco, the more I've actually come to respect Cavemanon for writing him the way they did (despite my own misgivings of how they wrote other parts of the story).

I really didn't think much of E1 at first, aside from some interesting interactions with Damien and Mia, both of whom I believe to be very nuanced, but not given enough development. I was ready to just forget it entirely and write it off as something done purely for shock value. Then I saw something while poking around the game's code that game me pause.



This is a section of the game which is the same throughout all outcomes with a few minor differences here and there depending on which ending is achieved. As you can see, if you're on the E1 path, 1nco doesn't even consider Olivia in his musings to himself about doing menial chores for the Paynes. She may as well be a nonentity at this point. For being such a small detail, the implications are quite disturbing.

Let it never be said that when Cavemanon does something they do it without a reason. They went out of their way to put in this small detail which would likely be overlooked by most people who play this game, especially if they're powering through the bad endings just to get them over with.

Now there's some speculation as to how and why E1 got made. I've heard that it's one of the leftovers from the original script back when a different team was working on the first version of Wani and they just stuck it in like the arcade chapter. Even if this is true, I don't think they just shoehorned it in. Clearly, they put thought into how it was to be executed. Even if we may not like E1 for having an "out of character" version of Inco, I still think it's worth considering why they chose to go in this direction, because I don't believe they were half-assing it, and I don't think 1nco should be taken so lightly.

For all that Anon and Inco may behave differently from each other in radical ways (the former is essentially 4chan incarnate, and the other, Reddit), I believe there is surprisingly a lot of overlap between the two in how they behave in their respective E1 scenarios. When analyzing Snoot, the one thing that stands out immediately is when Fang asks Anon if he'd like to do something with her, and he responds by saying he's saving up money for a video game. She then patiently watches him play video games.

This version of Anon would still rather goof off and play games than seize an opportunity to further develop his bond with Fang. Later on after the disastrous prom night, he ends up playing Xbox for ten hours straight while Fang is God knows where. And when she returns, he reacts with terror, thinking her to be either her dad come looking for him, or a Skinrow thug come to kill him and skin him alive. He acts very craven and cowardly, thinking of his own immediate desires like a goon with high-time preference.

Even when he takes her to a rock n roll museum, he can't even muster the enthusiasm to be interested in her favorite hobby. Which itself is interesting because there's a lot of overlap between E1 of Snoot and E2 of Wani, right down to Fang and Olivia becoming victims of their own hubris. Cavemanon may as well have used E1 of Snoot as a template for E2 of Wani, though Inco shows far more enthusiasm and support for Olivia.

During prom when things don't go according to Fang's plan, Anon handles it poorly, and in the aftermath, only fosters Fang's growing nihilism by trying to tell her that nothing matters. This, and his confession to her of Naomi's plan, sends Fang over the edge, and what follows is the worst case scenario.

So as we can see, Anon in E1 acts like a coward who treats Fang's needs like annoyances keeping him from his shallow pleasures. Inco in E1 of Wani behaves similarly. He shows little to no concern for Olivia's depressive state, and when he plans their date he eschews an original idea to take her to a pier in order to go to the mall for a meet and greet with some content creator he follows. Like Anon before him, he's prioritizing immediate gratification over Olivia. This only escalates on the night of the Formal when all he can think about is looking presentable for all his peers. Both characters act craven with regard to their girlfriends and treat their needs as secondary, and behaving in a cowardly fashion before all adversity, whether it's Anon refusing to confront Trish, or Inco brushing off Damien's concerns and capitulating to Mia.

But where they differ in their actions as the endings proceed to get worse is, I believe, why so many take issue with 1nco.



During the shooting incident, Anon--who has been acting selfish and cowardly up to that point--does something arguably very courageous and ventures into the school to find Fang, risking life and limb. He has entered a nightmare scenario, even commenting as much. What is transpiring is almost entirely his fault, however directly or indirectly, and he's forced to confront the grim reality of it. He still wills himself towards Fang, thinking of her and her pain at that moment. And during the final scene with him at the cemetery he's filled with self-loathing, even though what Fang did was objectively worse (to the point where Cavemanon themselves characterize her actions as "evil").

What this tells us is that, despite Anon's flaws, there is still something fundamentally good and decent about him, as though a better version of him were forced to wake up and confront what he had allowed to happen when things reached their lowest point. He is remorseful and doesn't hide from the reality of what has happened as a result of his actions.

1nco does the opposite.



Thoughout E1 of Wani, Inco's actions are those of someone who acts socially inept with no capacity for introspection, and when things proceed to get worse, he only doubles down on living in some kind of deluded world he's made for himself. He refuses to acknowledge reality to the point he denies what happens to Olivia is even his fault.

Given that the goal of Wani is to develop Inco beyond a simpleton who doesn't think for himself and to develop in him personal agency, I suspect Cavemanon made the ending as shocking as they did as a kind of tongue-in-cheek jab at visual novel enjoyers who would like to see themselves in the role of a protagonist who can never do wrong and is entitled to a happy ending. The correct choices to make in Wani are less obvious than in Snoot, I believe. And whereas E1 of Snoot Game portrays a version of Anon who is more or less the same as when he begins the story, E1 of Wani shows a version of Inco who has, if anything, regressed and gotten worse.

Given that Inco is a very impressionable, I took this to mean that aspects of Ben and Mia had rubbed off on him and made him worse--and I still believe this to be the case. Inco shows signs of narcissism, and narcissists often behave in a sycophantic manner towards perceived social superiors while lording any amount of power over their social inferiors.

I think Cavemanon's intention was to shove in the player's face just where they themselves can wind up as a person if they walk around with main character syndrome, unable to demonstrate critical thinking or introspection, and always taking things at face value--and Inco's initial tendency to take things only at face value is supposed to be one of his biggest road blocks to his development.

If we accept all this as given for the sake of argument, then it would actually point to Inco being more fundamentally flawed than Anon from the start, despite Anon being more openly negative. In other words, if we take them both at face value, Anon only seems worse than Inco, but is actually a better person from the outset for being a free-thinker, unlike Inco.

Inco himself begins as a shallow consumerist with brain rot. I personally think he's worse than Anon for that alone.

Yet another thing which gave me pause while poking around in the game's scripting is during the chapter Art Contest Blues when Inco is presented with the first choice, which is either "I can't hate you," or "But why do all this?"

"Hate" is a very strong and very visceral word, and I believe (have actually always suspected) that it may even lie at the heart of Inco's character. And when he tells her that he doesn't hate her, that's actually a lie he's telling himself more than her.



As you can see, the label for when you pick "I can't hate you" is Hate_You. Now, I'm probably reading too much into this, but given what I said in my preamble of Cavemanon not doing things without a good reason, I suspect this was intentional on the part of the developers to imply that Inco does in fact feel antipathy towards Olivia, and how he chooses to handle his relationship with her going forward determines how it ultimately manifests.

If you choose "But why do all this," his immediate response is "I'm going to hate myself for this, but..." Implying he's already carrying some kind of self-hatred or capacity for self-hatred.

Now I've already gone on and on about how I think Inco's a wimp in my other guides so I won't do that again. For now, I'll just assume that this wording is very deliberate by the writers to show that Inco may have some internalized self-hatred. This is even somewhat evident in the first chapter when he wants to give up during dodgeball. He's suffering from constant feelings of longing and inadequacy, and when he finally finds someone with whom he can develop a more intimate relationship, he's met with the revelation that not only did she think very little of him, but even tried to use him.

Though at this point, he's so desperate for any kind of companionship that he's willing to accept this if it means he can still be friends with her, and more. Yet that alone doesn't make this ember of hatred go away, and I think it ends up metastasizing differently in the first three endings. If E2 is achieved, it merely remains self-hatred and only compounds Inco's feelings of worthlessness and inadequacy. Even if we assume that the "canon" score of E2 is Inco 0 and Olivia 4 as it's set when the game asks you what ending you want in the chapter select (meaning that Inco chose "I can't hate you" and thus didn't muse to himself "I'm gonna hate myself for this, but...") it seems evident that Inco still carries that initial spark of hatred and has only continually redirected at himself. And this is why he regresses into a simp that lets his girlfriend (who probably has BPD) abuse and belittle him to no end. It's how he rationalizes what she did to him. He wants to hate her, but is (always was) too weak to confront her. He's a self-hating simp through and through.

On the other hand, if E3 is achieved and Inco develops a stronger sense of self and self-confidence, then we can see this hatred reemerge and vent itself on Ben. Having finally found a suitable outlet, Ben becomes the center of Inco's smoldering wrath. He's forgiven Olivia because he now sees her as Ben's victim, and by extension even sees himself as a victim of Ben's deviousness. Given that they were both victims of Mia, this would further validate that kind of rationalization. He still sees Olivia as weak and in need of a protector, and this furthers his growing egoism which fully manifests in his ending tirade at Ben and growing desire to smother Olivia. His hatred now is for Ben and any and all adversity that comes for Olivia whom he is now coddling.

However, if we go down the E1 route then I think it's pretty clear that 1nco's hatred still hasn't found an outlet, and his rage towards Olivia is merely venting itself in passive aggressive ways. Couple that with his undeveloped sense of self and growing narcissism and it becomes more evident why he behaves the way he does. He's still a blank slate, but he's crying out for acceptance and validation of some kind. And this need for validation leads him to do evil things.

In that way, he's actually quite similar to Fang.



If we analyze Fang's behavior in E1 of Snoot Game, we can see that she too has an undeveloped sense of self; so much so that she backslides into her codependency with her abusive and manipulative friend, Trish.

Just as an aside, I think Trish is far worse than Naomi who, at best, is a disingenuous busybody, but doesn't do anything nearly as bad as Trish; yet Trish attains some kind of redemption arc whereas Naomi is shoehorned into the role of villain.

E1 Fang and E2 Olivia share in common the fact that they're desperate to be acknowledged by their peers on their own terms, only to fall victim to hubris. The difference is that Olivia has grown arrogant and conceited, and shuts away the only person other than Iadakan to instill her with confidence, only to then abuse him. Fang, on the other hand, feels relatively powerless without Trish to dictate what she should do and surrenders to her demands. Further, Fang is still riddled with guilt and self-hatred for when she accidentally endangered her younger brother, Naser. She's forced to relive the experience of seeing him plummet off a cliff when she sees Anon tumble down the stairs. And like before, she feels responsible.

Fang is still desperate for validation and even forgiveness. She still has that fire in her belly and is willing to do anything to gain acceptance from her peers, and this backfires catastrophically with a repeat of their first concert when they're subject to cruel ridicule yet again. This is what pushes her over the edge.

Inco, like Fang, has a troubled homelife, though arguably worse since he's constantly isolated and unable to maintain lasting relationships. And the friendships he does form shape his understanding (or misunderstanding) of social interactions. Essentially, Ben--and to an extent, Olivia herself--have the same detrimental affect on Inco that Trish has on Fang.

Though most people don't like how Inco is written in E1, I believe it's still worth it to be as charitable as possible to Cavemanon with regard to their choice to write him the way they did. I do believe there are subtle hints throughout the game that point to him at least having the potential to become 1nco. And since Snoot and Wani share the same theme of self-improvement through introspection, it's important to acknowledge how far we can potentially slip into the depths of depravity.

I will now attempt to go through these hints point by point, but before proceeding further, it should be made clear that neither Snoot Game nor Wani have consistent characterization. Since the outcomes of both games are governed by a point system, it's natural that there will be moments when their respective protagonists choose to behave in a way which is at odds with how they behave in their E1 scenarios. For instance, we can imagine a "timeline" in which Anon speaks to Trish in the Principal's office and then waits for her so he can fess up to the fact that what happened is as much his fault as it is hers (I personally thing that's debatable, but that's another subject entirely). His responses here are from a version of him that is much more grown up and self-aware. Yet it's theoretically possible to still achieve E1 anyway if his and Fang's score still aren't higher than 2. Likewise, it's possible to ignore Trish, essentially telling her to piss off, and still get E3 or E4.

Taking this into account, I think it's only fair to give Cavemanon some leeway here as far as consistency in characterization goes and how it fits with the scoring system of both games. Further, the point of E1 is to show both the protagonist and the dino girl deuteragonist at their lowest and most undeveloped. For this, we can assume that the "canon" score for E1 in Wani is zero across the board.

For the first choice that affects Inco, it's whether or not to play with Olivia during her chain note game. I've already outlined in my first guide how this is whether or not to rebel against one's peers and authority figures for the sake of connecting with Olivia. If Inco chooses to withhold the note then he's still worrying over what his peers think while simultaneously reinforcing in Olivia that it's futile to try and form connections with others. Inco remains craven and sycophantic while Olivia remains isolated.

For the second choice, please consult my guide on this. This, I believe, is the first time we see 1nco manifest as how Inco behaves here is easily the one part of the game where he most acts in line with his E1 counterpart. He is seething with petty jealousy towards Olivia while manipulating her psychologically. We can also see that he resents his own parents for choosing to pursue material success over a traditional home life with a nuclear family. He's a latchkey kid, and narcissists often are/were victims of unstable homes.

For the third choice, the negative outcome leaves him on the receiving end of scorn and ridicule from Kiara and Lunara who flip from being friendly towards him to being callous and cruel. He's at the whim of his peers whose approval he would still like. At this point, Olivia too is still his peer whom he's desperate to impress.

For choices four and five, he's already manipulated Olivia at the barbecue and now feels manipulated himself. By now, he's likely beginning to view all social interaction as no more than manipulative power struggles like a sociopath.

For choice six, I guess it could be argued that by not cheering on Olivia he doesn't respect her enough to hold her own against Buster and needs a pity W from him. I still don't think it's a very interesting choice.

For choice seven, he's still appealing to a peer, Damien, instead of being confident enough to stand on his own and earn Olivia's respect.

For choice eight, his desire to control Olivia's fate overrides everything else and reinforces her feelings of dependency on others.

For choice nine, again, it's still caving to peer pressure once more while lacking the spine to assert himself.

For choice ten, he is letting Ben control both him and Olivia, thus cheapening Iadakan's death.

Add all these things together and we get a picture of a version of Inco who acts cowardly in the face of all pressure from peers, friends, and authority figures; and who desires control over Olivia, whom he sees more and more as a social inferior. Thus, a new Inco emerges who is only concerned with pleasing his peers while chasing after their validation like a temporarily embarrassed popular kid. (On a personal note, this is one of the reasons why I like E3 the best because he decides not to go to the Formal in a limousine. He no longer cares about peer approval and has the fortitude to make his own special night with Olivia).

Further to this, there's a scene before choice three when Inco contemplates taking a photo of the mess of meatloaf Ben had landed in during lunch but thinks better of it. I've seen others mention that this is subtle foreshadowing to when he takes Olivia's photo at the Formal--1nco, by that point, has left his conscience behind. There's also a moment where Inco muses to himself that Ben has a remarkable ability to turn a potential social disaster into a non-issue and envies him for that ability. That could be a hint as to how he ought to handle Mia bullying Olivia; it could also be foreshadowing to when he lies about being the cause of Olivia falling down the stairs--I'm personally not sure which, though if I had to guess it's the latter.

Here's his internal monologue as he muses the quandary.

"On my way to photography, I'm still a bit caught up by what'd just happened."

"I think I'm starting to see how Ben accomplished that."

"I mean, ordinarily an incident that embarrassing would be just detrimental to your social standing."

"On my first day I went through something like that; an event so humiliating people were spreading rumors for days."

"Sure, they died out pretty quick, but the fact is it happened."

"One moment everything is fine, then suddenly something you couldn't have even seen coming just upends your life."

"Stuff like that can happen all the time, and to anyone."

"It's something that's always terrified me."

"It's something that just happened to Ben, only..."

"He was exempt. He was quick on his feet, and diffused the situation faster than it could have even really started."

"It's like...Disaster avoidance."

"I seriously think it's the most important skill one can have."

"To have everything under control, to see trouble from a mile away and make it a non-issue even when it takes you by surprise."

"That sort of social capital is something I need."

"Maybe it's a little selfish, but if I were seen that way then any sudden happenings would be forgiven instantly."

"Of course, Ben isn't alone."

"The world is full of people with that skill, only I'd be lying if I said most of them deserved it."

"Most people able to get away with stuff use their unique ability for just that, getting away with stuff."

"What should be seen as a blessing of a social buffer is just some enabling trait of theirs, a charismatic get-out-of-jail-free card."

"If I had that ability, I'd use it to push myself to my limits both artistically and productively."

"That's my ultimate goal."

"Ben is one of the good ones, definitely."

"He's definitely earned my respect over this."

"The question remains though..."

"How do I get like that?"

How indeed. I'll leave it to the reader what to make of that.

If there's one thing I like about E1--despite seeing 1nco behave in the most painfully cringey manner possible--it's that it reveals another dimension to other characters we don't get to see, particularly Damien and Mia, both of whom I think are fascinating characters. It's the first and only time we see Damien get angry and vent his pent up frustration, and reveal another side to himself that secretly resents Olivia. It's always cathartic to see the friendly nice guy lose his temper, and his outrage towards Olivia (and later 1nco) is justified.

And this brings me to an important detail which may get overlooked by some when talking about E1: Olivia is just as flawed. If the theme of Snoot and Wani is that the female deuteragonist is meant to attain personal agency and betterment as much as their male counterpart, then it's only fair that they be judged as harshly for their own actions. From Damien's outburst, we can infer that Olivia has been trying his patience for years; Randy's as well. He's been trying to be supportive of her, and Randy in turn has been doing his best to be a good god-father, but Olivia only acts like a spoiled, ingrateful brat in return. This is even hinted at in E3 when Olivia admits she didn't part with the Paynes "on the best of forms." No matter how despicable 1nco may be, Olivia's own culpability should not be overlooked.

Furthermore, in some ways she has a hand in creating 1nco, whether she knows it or not. She's not honest with him during the rain scene--unless he presses her--and is manipulating his emotions after taking advantage of him for her own gain. This comes back around on her when he becomes manipulative and takes advantage of her--almost karmic in a way. And later on, Mia is also able to make him feel insecure the same way Olivia did with her reductive description of him. 1nco feels perpetually insecure and his inability to control his feelings is what drives him to becoming the way he is.

To elucidate this point, I want to highlight an important conversation between Mia and 1nco during the Winter Formal. To preface this, a lot of people view Mia as one-dimensional villain who acts like a stereotypical jock-bully. While I can agree that she acts like a stock standard bully character and is maybe not as complex an antagonist as Trish, I don't believe she's one-dimensional. For one thing, she's quite intelligent. Even if she has a short fuse, she's very street smart and able to read people. It's only in E1 when it's mentioned that she takes drama class and is a skilled actor (this is according to her, but I think we can take her word for it for the sake of argument). Her acting skills are even put on display during E4 when she's caught physically abusing Ben and tries to play it off like she's the victim. It's funny how some people who play this game even actually believe that (stop taking things at face value, people).

Here is the conversation in question

"It's surprising how easily Mia falls into the steps of a slow dance, I hadn't expected her to know how."

"Still, Mia's smile keeps me tense, so I keep to more simple steps."

"I think she notices my stiffness though, as the corner of her lips turn downward."

I "Mia, what did you tell Olivia?"

"My words work as a distraction, and Mia's mouth purses in thought."

Mia "Oh, you know..."

Mia "Woman-talk. Dino-woman-talk."

I "Oh."

"I give Mia a twirl, and thankfully she tucks her tail so she doesn't stab me with one of her spines."

"Her hands land on my shoulders again and she glares at the unexpected move."

"But our dance continues."

Mia "Don't think you'll pull that kinda move with Olive-girl, Inco."

I "Har."

"Her grin is back."

Mia "Don't know what you even see in her."

I "I thought you two would bury the hatchet, Mia."

"She shrugs and puts me into a twirl."

"Maintaining my balance, my hands instinctively take her hips this time."

"Her grin grows wider."

Mia "Just saying."

Mia "It's a miracle you've gotten this far."

Mia "But you have, and I am impressed."

I "What's that supposed to mean?"

Mia "Means that fling of yours is less stable than those other morons in drama club one day sober."

Mia "Everyone can see it, plain as day." (Despite Mia's own duplicitous nature, she's being honest with 1nco)

I "You don't think we're a good couple?"

Mia "Like hell I do."

Mia "That ♥♥♥♥♥ is delusional."

Mia "Has {i}no{/i} idea how the world works. She's picked her fantasy, and she's mad about reality every time it rears its ugly head."

Mia "It wouldn't surprise me one bit if you told me she hasn't drawn a thing since ol' teach kicked the bucket."

Mia "Go on, has she?"

I "..."

Mia "See? It's a tantrum."

Mia "She's a toddler lashing out and screaming for attention that she says she doesn't want."

Mia "It's boring."

Mia "I may be {i}that ♥♥♥♥♥{/i}, but she's just {i}a ♥♥♥♥♥{/i}."

Mia "And it's only a matter of time before she throws you out, too."

Mia "You following?"

I "I don't think you're right."

I "Olivia's doing fine. We're having a great date night."

I "Just because it could be better doesn't negate that."

"I pretend the chord she struck a whole tune with doesn't exist." (I think this is a brilliantly worded line on a lot of levels. To further use a musical pun, it is a leitmotif to earlier when Olivia tells him he acts like a pretentious midwit and he admits to himself that it hits too close to home. Olivia and Mia have both played into his insecurities. Only now, Inco is pretending not to have heard what Mia just said, even though this would be the most important time to hear her out)

Mia "You don't got to, but don't say I didn't warn you."

Mia "I guess it would suck for both of you if I, of all people, got how she ticks."

Mia "So pay no mind to lil' ol' me."

"Then I won't. She's just trying to get to me."

"We'll make it work."

"I know Olivia far better than her." (Obviously, he doesn't. She understands Olivia better than he, and was just being brutally honest with him. None of what she said is untrue)

What's especially important about this exchange is when Mia says that Olivia has picked her fantasy and chooses to live in it, then lashes out when the world reasserts itself. Olivia has a solipsistic attitude to life, and this is her mindset across the first three endings. In E2, her conceitedness only grows as she refuses to compromise with her untenable circumstance. In E3, she still chooses to isolate herself, cleaving to Inco for comfort. The significance to this can be seen in their date when it's simply the two of them alone as opposed to E4 when they venture out to try something new and then buy presents. I believe that's the theme Cavemanon was going for, though I personally prefer E3.

In E1, Olivia has no refuge. She hates the world, and 1nco now embodies everything about it she despises; thus the brutal significance of her line to 1nco when she says, "I hate you." I think deep down, 1nco hates her too. He too has picked his own delusional fantasy and is throwing a temper tantrum of his own when reality comes back to bite him (perhaps this is even a meta-commentary on the player). And when Olivia shoves him away in disgust, she is shoving "the world" away, and is thus as much the architect of her fate as 1nco himself, whom she had a hand in creating with her initial dishonesty and manipulation.

This is the fate both characters deserve by this point, and no amount of copefics in the world can convince me otherwise.

I myself would have written things differently, though that's just me. But by now, I'd like to think I understand why they wrote him the way they did, and I respect it. If anything, I think those who feel the most offended by his portrayal here are likely trying to ignore what 1nco's actions may possibly say about they themselves and their own conceitedness. There's a little 1nco in all of us, after all. There was even a little in Olivia herself. He is Cavemanon holding a mirror up to the player, and maybe this is why he creates such a harsh overreaction; because some of us would prefer to continue living in fantasy than face reality.

Now that I think about it...that's probably what Iadakan was trying to tell them both.

As of writing this two days after posting the original analysis, I just wanted to share one additional insight. When Mia is telling Inco that Olivia has chosen her fantasy and is throwing a temper tantrum about reality rearing its ugly head, this is not only true of Inco, but Mia herself. She's living in her own fantasy through her abuse and manipulation of Ben, and she throws a temper tantrum of her own at the climax of E4 when her physical abuse of him is made painfully clear.

Ben and Mia's abusive co-dependent relationship is supposed to be a dark reflection of Inco and Olivia's own relationship. And when Mia is telling her break down of Olivia's character to Inco, she's merely projecting her own flaws and insecurities. Of course, that still doesn't make her any less correct in her summation of Olivia; it's just that sometimes it takes one with the disease to recognize the symptoms.

This still doesn't make Mia's convenient appearance at the Formal in E4 any less lazily written and contrived, however. Cavemanon chose to give her plot armor just to get her there so they could achieve this payoff, even though Ben is woefully underdeveloped. If having this revelation was supposed to be that important then they should've just axed the chase scene. The logistics of believable story-telling just don't allow it, and I can't suspend my disbelief for it.

And with that said, that's why I don't feel like doing an analysis of E4 either as I think it's too contrived and idealistic. The most I'm willing to do as far as sharing any revelations about that ending is to say that Inco and Olivia working in tandem to make her portrait is them using their acquired skills from Iadakan to reach his level, like each of them is one of his wings. The music during their dance scene is a variation of his theme, thus symbolizing their mutual attainment of his level of both skill and maturity. And the fact her portrait is described as looking more realistic--thanks to Inco's photography--as opposed to her usual surrealist approach is supposed to signify her making peace with the world.

There you go. There's my analysis of E4.