220: Paul Grayson is the master of his Fate

0:11 [SPEAKER_04]: I'm Commander Shepard, and this is my favorite lorecast on the Citadel. [SPEAKER_03]: Welcome to the Mass Effect lorecast. [SPEAKER_03]: I'm in seven the legend. [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm Genesis, join us. [SPEAKER_03]: As we explore along tides of light and through the shoals of dust to see where this lore began.

0:32 [SPEAKER_01]: And consider where it may go. [SPEAKER_03]: Specters, welcome back to the Mass Effect lorecast. [SPEAKER_03]: I am your host in 7 Allegent, and joining me as always is the wonderful, newly rejuvenated Genesis from some awesome conversations that you had at Portland Retro Gaming Expo. [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, I had really, really great conversations with like five different voice actors and had an amazing time doing my panels.

1:23 [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, and are those online anywhere? [SPEAKER_03]: Can people go and see those? [SPEAKER_01]: They are not yet, but as soon as they are, I'm sure that we will link them and post them on the socials because they were pretty fun and interesting. [SPEAKER_03]: Yes, they were. [SPEAKER_03]: You got to actually talk with a couple of voice actors from Mass Effect.

1:43 [SPEAKER_01]: I did. [SPEAKER_01]: I also got to watch a panel between Peter Jessett, who voiced Paladin Dance in Fallout 4 and Sovereign in Mass Effect. [SPEAKER_01]: Alongside Katie Townsend, who is the voice of Kate in Fallout 4 and Suvi in Mass Effect Dr. Andromeda, and their panel was BioWare versus Bethesda, [SPEAKER_01]: development studios.

2:13 [SPEAKER_03]: That's all what a tough choice that would have to be for me to choose between. [SPEAKER_01]: And it was it was hosted by our good friend here. [SPEAKER_03]: He can't really. [SPEAKER_03]: Wow. [SPEAKER_03]: Okay. [SPEAKER_03]: So I'm definitely going to have to go and check out those videos.

2:28 [SPEAKER_03]: But today we have our final episode covering Paul Grayson's story. [SPEAKER_03]: And Genesis, we left off at the point where Grayson [SPEAKER_03]: kills the terrian soldiers who rescued him aboard the server station and then they're on the shuttle and it's I have to mention that it's not really grace and acting it's the reapers controlling Grayson's uh body uh so he's almost fully under reaper control in that moment.

3:01 [SPEAKER_03]: uh... and he kills two terrian soldiers who try to rescue him and he assassinates them literally mid-flight and then the reapers had him take control of the shuttle and redirected where was it going [SPEAKER_01]: That's a very interesting question because originally the Turians were headed back to the Citadel to meet back up with Anderson and Kaylee, who had helped to orchestrate this multi-pronged attack on Cerberus.

3:33 [SPEAKER_01]: Now the Reaper forces Grayson, the Reaper's then forced Grayson to send a distress [SPEAKER_01]: Grayson has no memory of sending this message. [SPEAKER_01]: They knocked him out in order to do this. [SPEAKER_01]: And the next time that he wakes up, he gains partial control of his body and basically programs the ship to the middle of nowhere.

4:07 [SPEAKER_03]: So wait, wait, wait, wait. [SPEAKER_03]: When you say partial control of his body, what do you mean? [SPEAKER_01]: It's more like he has control, but knows that they are right there in order if they wanted to take over control again. [SPEAKER_03]: That's a terrifying lingering thought, like just a sort of damage, hangling, hangling, hanging above your head at all moments.

4:42 [SPEAKER_03]: knowing full well that in any given moment it could come down and you'll lose all control again and who knows what the hell you'll do. [SPEAKER_03]: So I guess it makes sense that he's like I'm gonna try and get this ship like literally so far from everything that I won't matter maybe if they take control.

5:01 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, because he wants to take himself out of the picture, and he also tries to do that. [SPEAKER_01]: But the reapers won't let him, and so even trying the unaliving route, they stop him, each and every time. [SPEAKER_03]: So just to be clear, wait, each and every time. [SPEAKER_03]: So just to be clear, he tries to kill himself multiple times.

5:28 [SPEAKER_03]: and the reapers take control of him physically to not allow him to do that. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, one was he tried on his arm and then he learned that the healing factor was too great in order to do that. [SPEAKER_01]: And the other he was going to go straight on the jugular to make it as fast as possible, but they physically stopped his hand.

5:58 [SPEAKER_01]: He couldn't bring the knife [SPEAKER_03]: Wow, that's, that's probably the darkest thing and mass effect that I think I've ever heard. [SPEAKER_01]: It's definitely up there. [SPEAKER_01]: I think that there was one mission in mass effect one. [SPEAKER_01]: That's also really, really dark.

6:20 [SPEAKER_03]: Dr. Salien, is that who you're talking about? [SPEAKER_01]: No, it's the, um, you have to have like a really high paragon score, or it's one of the background missions, where this woman has been like, tally battered. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_03]: I think that's her name. [SPEAKER_03]: Tallytha, right?

6:37 [SPEAKER_03]: She's the, she's the one who escaped peterian slavery. [SPEAKER_01]: Mm-hmm. [SPEAKER_01]: Because that one's also a really dark and messed up. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, especially if you're a renegade in that one, oh my god, that is like the most f-dub thing that like if you actually like playing renegade in that specific quest like I worry for you, there are free counseling services available online and I encourage you to take it.

7:09 [SPEAKER_01]: I have never gone run a gate on that mission, never ever. [SPEAKER_01]: Be at a grace and he wants to take himself out of the picture and offer the playing board in any way possible. [SPEAKER_01]: So that way the roopers can't use him to cause even more damage. [SPEAKER_01]: And so he's like, if I can't end me, I'm going to send us to the middle of nowhere.

7:33 [SPEAKER_03]: I guess the best possible solution for him at that moment. [SPEAKER_03]: So [SPEAKER_03]: How does that work out for him? [SPEAKER_03]: Or are we jumping too far ahead? [SPEAKER_01]: Well, yeah, unfortunately, that doesn't happen. [SPEAKER_01]: He's able to program the ship, but then Kayleebe's beginning to get worried about Grayson.

7:55 [SPEAKER_01]: And the Turian Ambassador Arena is concerned that her people haven't checked in since the raid. [SPEAKER_01]: All the other ships that they sent out have checked in, but this specific one hasn't, and they knew that this was the target that also had Grayson. [SPEAKER_01]: So through several moving pieces and a band of Omega Merks, [SPEAKER_01]: Anderson and Kaylee are forced on to Omega.

8:25 [SPEAKER_01]: There's a lot of storyline that we're skipping over here. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, exactly. [SPEAKER_03]: There's a ton of storyline here, but Grayson is an involved in that part of it. [SPEAKER_03]: The important part, though, is that meanwhile, while the Turians are playing catch up about what happened to their soldiers, Kaylee and Anderson pretty much know what happened, right?

8:46 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, at least they believe what's happened. [SPEAKER_01]: And they want to go and find out and check what's going on. [SPEAKER_01]: But they were also met on the ship that Grayson was originally on by forces from Omega. [SPEAKER_01]: Because Arya followed the exact same clues and got to the same location.

9:07 [SPEAKER_03]: And, Julie, I'm sorry, just to paint the scene here. [SPEAKER_03]: This is after the elusive man had already approached Arya and claimed that Grayson was the one, that killed Licell. [SPEAKER_03]: Right? [SPEAKER_01]: Yes. [SPEAKER_03]: And when in actuality it was Kailang, it was not Grayson, but the elusive man knows that he can kind of manipulate Arya into pursuing Grayson and trying to help recapture him or kill him or eliminate him in some way, if I'm remembering right, by basically blaming her daughter's death on him.

9:51 [SPEAKER_01]: right. [SPEAKER_01]: So the elusive man is trying to convince Arya to kill Grayson for him. [SPEAKER_01]: So that way, he doesn't have to expand anymore resources on it because he's running scared. [SPEAKER_01]: Now, back on Omega, Kaylee is strongly convinced by Arya to send a response message to Grayson [SPEAKER_01]: Now when Grayson wakes up again, he sees the message and has no idea that he sent the original message to her.

10:29 [SPEAKER_01]: And he's truly torn on this decision. [SPEAKER_01]: He wants to help Kaylee, but knows that going to Omega is dangerous for everyone involved. [SPEAKER_03]: So sorry to jump in this is this sounds like basically just the classic super hero dilemma of you know the girl you love right and and and like it does I don't want to go too far in that analogy because in the books It does kind of like draw a line for Grayson that like he acknowledges Kaylee as attractive, but they have kept it platonic at pretty much all times yeah [SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely.

11:12 [SPEAKER_01]: It's very much like a, you loved my daughter that puts, it's kind of like a sister relationship almost or a best friend, a really person, a good person that you care about. [SPEAKER_01]: It hasn't gone anywhere romantic between them. [SPEAKER_03]: Not that Anderson is an insecure about that, but that's a topic for another day.

11:33 [SPEAKER_01]: All right, so Grayson at this point is almost fully under Reaper control and is a danger to everyone, but he cares deeply for Kaylee and wants to help the one person who is helped him in the past. [SPEAKER_01]: The Reaper's pull on that. [SPEAKER_01]: They pull on the desire and also learn how important Kaylee is.

12:00 [SPEAKER_01]: and who she is to the Ascension Project. [SPEAKER_03]: I don't know about you, but I actually tend to be a fan of when people pull on my desire. [SPEAKER_03]: No, so this is like all jokes aside. [SPEAKER_03]: This is really critical for the interim between mass effect two and three. [SPEAKER_03]: Where the reapers are, we get like an inside granular look at how the reapers go about their business of learning who the biggest targets in the galaxy are.

12:38 [SPEAKER_03]: And this is one of the ways that they do it and look at everything that they can learn just from indoctrinating the right person. [SPEAKER_03]: And so you have to think when the elusive man was [SPEAKER_03]: or were the reaper is also kind of manipulating the strings there because they knew that since the reapers had already indoctrinated the elucidment at this point they knew that Paul knew something greater had greater connection to knowledge they wanted [SPEAKER_03]: then the elusive man did because the elusive man was never on board uh the grissum uh academy he was never he was never there but Paul was the elusive man never came into a contact with Kaylee but Paul did then the elusive man never went on board the migrant fleet but Paul did

13:43 [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, yeah, definitely because now that you're saying that like obviously the reapers would have known about the ascension project as like a thing because the elusive man knows about it, but the level of detail that Paul has is is a lot way more and then through Paul, they learn about Kaylee and now Kaylee is a target.

14:09 [SPEAKER_01]: because now the reapers want to learn more about these human biotic children. [SPEAKER_01]: And they make him applaud the course to Omega and make grace and feel relieved that he's going to help Kaylee. [SPEAKER_01]: Because he was torn about the decision. [SPEAKER_03]: that's so twisted like so basically they're so deep in Grayson's mind right now, that they circumvented his resistance to playing into their hand.

14:42 [SPEAKER_03]: They basically like he was resisting going to help Kaylee because he knows that the reapers are within his head and he knows what will [SPEAKER_03]: and they go to Omega, and now we get Grayson's mind, not just not resisting the Reapers, but feeling relief, the same kind of relief that Grayson felt when he would dust up, when he would do a hit of red sand.

15:21 [SPEAKER_01]: the numbness, the let everything else fade away and let me just be in this haze and... [SPEAKER_03]: Isn't it nice not to worry right now? [SPEAKER_03]: That kind of feeling, huh? [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: The sense of relief that we're going to go help Kaylee and that's his focus.

15:40 [SPEAKER_01]: There is another side to this though, because as always, stupid freaking Kyling is following the same leads that Arya did to find where Grace and went, to figure out what happened after him he and the elusive man fled. [SPEAKER_01]: And so his stupid ass shows up on a mega to intercept.

16:01 [SPEAKER_01]: but his plans fail and that makes me happy, but so do our ears. [SPEAKER_01]: Their plans also fail. [SPEAKER_01]: Now, Reperson is able to definitely take out all combatants. [SPEAKER_03]: Now you just combined [SPEAKER_01]: No, it's not Paul Johnson, it's not for a person. [SPEAKER_03]: No more Mr. Paul Johnson, it's Paul reperson to you now.

16:36 [SPEAKER_01]: Yep. [SPEAKER_01]: Now the repers are upset that the host has taken some damage and are even more interested in the human children and Kaley had to be mentioned. [SPEAKER_01]: Not like. [SPEAKER_03]: oh yeah it has to be the biotic children we need to learn everything that we can about these about these kids and you know I think the other thing that this proves here and I guess it doesn't prove but it just lends further evidence toward the theme in Mass Effect 2 and 3 that the reapers were uniquely threatened by humanity that they had not been threatened [SPEAKER_03]: And we get a little bit of that when we're talking to Morton about the genophage and he talks to us about the unique extreme biodiversity, comparative biodiversity of within the human species that other alien races don't have, we hear that same refrain later when we are learning about the human reaper.

17:49 [SPEAKER_03]: and why the collectors are trying to make a human reaper as opposed to another kind. [SPEAKER_03]: It's basically, it's a little bit of a hand-wavy space magic, but the gist of it, you know, was that human humanities adaptability and [SPEAKER_03]: diversity of biodiversity, biodiversity made them the best candidates for making a human reaper.

18:13 [SPEAKER_03]: And now we see that the reapers are wanting to take out human biotics and a key R&D facility for developing more human biotic soldiers or human biotic whatever. [SPEAKER_03]: I think this lens, like even more evidence onto the pile of like, and I know a lot of people hate this, but I think it, it lends more evidence onto that pile of that in the mass effect of original trilogy, humanity is special.

18:46 [SPEAKER_03]: Humanity special, you know what I mean? [SPEAKER_01]: I do. [SPEAKER_01]: And I agree. [SPEAKER_01]: There is something about the humans that the reapers are especially focused on. [SPEAKER_01]: And I don't even know if it's necessarily that they want to kill all the biotic children or have them be, like harvested, indoctrinated, because human biotics are extremely powerful.

19:13 [SPEAKER_01]: and if you can have them being doctor-needed, that's even better, rather than having them killed off. [SPEAKER_03]: Oh, that's a great point that they would be even more useful tools. [SPEAKER_03]: I didn't even consider that. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I mean, look at how useful Paul is to them and he doesn't have biotics.

19:33 [SPEAKER_01]: Exactly. [SPEAKER_01]: The reapers give him biotics and they're able to give him very powerful biotics, but if you take a human who is already biotically gifted, like these children, who are already at a high level, and then indoctrinate them and push them even further, that's, you know, talk about the [SPEAKER_01]: But of course, the reapers are thinking, a reaper son, Grayson, is thinking about Kaylee and that leads to thoughts of the ascension project, which then leads us to be one of the most disturbing thought processes for a human listener.

20:19 [SPEAKER_01]: I was thoroughly creeped out about the way that they did this. [SPEAKER_01]: The Reapers start going through Grayson's mind, like he is a computer. [SPEAKER_01]: Not a thought process of I am going from one thing to another, but literally pulling data and almost catacologing info sheets, not memories and feelings.

20:45 [SPEAKER_01]: They look at things in such a detached, clinical mindset. [SPEAKER_01]: There are aware of the emotions of affection and trust and admiration that Grayson has towards the people involved in the project, but the Reapers don't feel them. [SPEAKER_01]: Grayson is absolutely terrified of the Reapers using the information he has on the Ascension Project and of Gillian.

21:14 [SPEAKER_03]: So they're data mining his brain. [SPEAKER_03]: basically. [SPEAKER_03]: And at this point, they're not interested in the emotions like you said, but they're using their basically going through all of the information that might be relevant, that he has thus far witnessed and pulling the right intelligence reports that they want.

21:36 [SPEAKER_03]: to lead to an outcome that they want. [SPEAKER_03]: I find this particularly ironic because grace and when he was working for Cerberus was an intelligence operative, a field operative at that, but still worked in, you know, a clandestine intelligence and now look at what's happening to him.

21:58 [SPEAKER_05]: mm-hmm. [SPEAKER_01]: And I think the reason that it weirded me out so much is that it felt like I was reading a database entry. [SPEAKER_01]: Like I was reading it that it was a codex entry being read to me. [SPEAKER_01]: And that's not how people think. [SPEAKER_01]: That's not, I mean, that's the way that we ingest information is by having it all logically laid out.

22:22 [SPEAKER_01]: But then we attach our own feelings, we may reward it, so that way it's spoken more in our own voice. [SPEAKER_01]: But if I learn a piece of information, I'm going to absorb that and then restructure it for the way that I think. [SPEAKER_01]: This was just straight read the codex entry.

22:41 [SPEAKER_03]: This is a good reminder. [SPEAKER_03]: of the machine side of the reapers. [SPEAKER_03]: The machine side of the synthetic organic intelligence that they are. [SPEAKER_01]: In that machine takes over during this whole time frame, they are in complete control. [SPEAKER_01]: And reverse and then steals another ship off of Omega.

23:08 [SPEAKER_01]: Another theft happens and heads directly for a grist of Academy together all of the data on the entire project. [SPEAKER_03]: So Paul is losing just more and more and more control. [SPEAKER_01]: Hmm, yeah, he does not really have any form of control. [SPEAKER_01]: He can't even though he sees, I don't know if he recognized.

23:33 [SPEAKER_01]: No, he sees Kailang, he sees Anderson, he sees Kaley, but he has absolutely no control over what's going on. [SPEAKER_01]: Thankfully, Anderson and Kaley were able to escape the fray. [SPEAKER_01]: But I think we can get to that after the midbrake. [SPEAKER_03]: Yes, we can. [SPEAKER_03]: All right, here we go.

23:54 [SPEAKER_02]: We have beef, bacon, we have beer, the foods of my people. [SPEAKER_00]: Young men have funny ideas of what a star you're like. [SPEAKER_00]: I blame the extra net and computer games. [SPEAKER_04]: Rex, Shepherd, Grant, Shepherd, Rex. [SPEAKER_03]: All right, here we are in the middle of the show where we read out your five star reviews that you can leave on Apple podcasts or audible or Most places that you would catch your podcasts, but we also have a couple of Spotify.

24:30 [SPEAKER_03]: comments to read today. [SPEAKER_03]: One of them from Haku X Tamari, hopefully I said that right. [SPEAKER_03]: It says as someone who loves all but two of the Mass Effect books, so glad to see Paul get more focus. [SPEAKER_03]: And hearing more context and experience about how addiction and how it affected him really makes me love them more.

24:52 [SPEAKER_03]: Can't wait to hear more and as the biggest Kasumi simp wait for her episode. [SPEAKER_03]: That's right, yeah, we do we do still definitely have to get to assuming episode. [SPEAKER_03]: We also have one of from regretted coin 22 who says, what an unfortunate continuation of Paul Grayson's story.

25:12 [SPEAKER_03]: I can't wait to hear the ending of it and hopefully it has a better end to it than the cliffhanger you left us all with. [SPEAKER_03]: That was last week. [SPEAKER_01]: We will have an ending to grace and story, whether or not it will be enjoyable is a completely different topic. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, and we'll get to that in the second half.

25:39 [SPEAKER_03]: But Genesis, it looks like you've got a voice line for me. [SPEAKER_03]: I do. [SPEAKER_03]: All right, let me go ahead and pull that one up. [SPEAKER_03]: The file name is just called panic attack. [SPEAKER_03]: At the disco? [SPEAKER_03]: No, I'm kidding. [SPEAKER_01]: It is very much at the disco.

25:57 [SPEAKER_01]: Go. [SPEAKER_01]: What was that? [SPEAKER_03]: Probably the breed of the panic attack I'll protect you. [SPEAKER_03]: All right, that was, I know that music, that was definitely Mass Effect One. [SPEAKER_03]: That was so 80's sci-fi, I think. [SPEAKER_03]: Like, you know, like really hard, not hard sci-fi.

26:15 [SPEAKER_03]: You know what I'm talking about though? [SPEAKER_03]: Like the retro sci-fi. [SPEAKER_03]: Anyway, okay, I need to share that one one more time. [SPEAKER_03]: One more time. [SPEAKER_03]: What was that? [SPEAKER_03]: Probably the breed, I don't have a panic attack, I'll protect you. [SPEAKER_03]: This is Rex and Garus on board, the MSV, it's not the MSV Calloon, is it?

26:40 [SPEAKER_03]: It's the MSV something in one of those like, you know, freighters that you board, and they had all these boxes that form like basically like a small maze that you got to navigate through. [SPEAKER_03]: I can't remember exactly which one I hope I'm on the money there in my right. [SPEAKER_01]: Uh, it is Mass Effect One.

27:01 [SPEAKER_01]: It is Rex and Gary's, but this is actually when the Rack Nye start to show up and they create all of the ruckus and then they're like, [SPEAKER_01]: What was that? [SPEAKER_03]: It's an events. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_03]: All right. [SPEAKER_03]: That was a good one. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

27:20 [SPEAKER_03]: You stumped me on that one. [SPEAKER_03]: That was good. [SPEAKER_03]: All right. [SPEAKER_03]: Well, we do also have to shout out our tier 5 patrons, but spots, buts, on Fortune a benefactor, William Superfly 440, Reddrabot, Latina Tocino, Kira C, and Edboy. [SPEAKER_03]: Thank you all so much for your continued gracious support of the show.

27:39 [SPEAKER_03]: And let's get back to the rest of it. [SPEAKER_05]: After time, a drift among open stars, a long tide of light and through shows of dust, I will return to where I began. [SPEAKER_06]: Celery and reproduction different, very little sex drive. [SPEAKER_06]: If intended to try human, would try you.

27:56 [SPEAKER_06]: Out, my bakeries! [SPEAKER_03]: All right, so Genesis last we left off Paul Reeperson had committed grand theft auto yet again and stolen a ship to get off Omega, but this time there was no Paul left to wrangle the Reepers back and so the ship is headed toward Grissima Academy. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it does not get better.

28:27 [SPEAKER_01]: on the way to gruesome academy, the reaper show another display of control, by having grace in create an advanced virus software, it's good enough to actually disable the comms on the entire academy station, and this allows him to fly directly up to the station and expertly lie his way onto the dock.

28:53 [SPEAKER_03]: So he just like creates an advanced virus like computer virus at a nowhere. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I mean, the wrappers have the intelligence to do it. [SPEAKER_01]: Grayson wouldn't have any clue on how to do it, but the wrappers are just like, do this, and it's done. [SPEAKER_03]: I am lead hacks are.

29:12 [SPEAKER_03]: It's a super old reference, but yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: But I got you. [SPEAKER_01]: I got you. [SPEAKER_01]: Um, and yeah, and then the way that the Reapers are scary and how easily they can pull likely stories and information that would be believable. [SPEAKER_01]: You know, the Reapers and has to say Kaylee said to me, or here.

29:37 [SPEAKER_01]: And, oh, but why are you driving this weird ship? [SPEAKER_01]: Well, it's because I'm testing a [SPEAKER_01]: and why are you only wearing a sheet? [SPEAKER_01]: I have a really bad cold, so I'm wearing a sheet. [SPEAKER_01]: And it's a sheet to cover the implants. [SPEAKER_01]: Seriously, that guard was way too trusting, right?

30:02 [SPEAKER_01]: I just don't understand this one. [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, Kaylee said to me here, yeah, that's plausible. [SPEAKER_01]: because everybody on the on the base knows that Kaylee and Grace and her friends and Grace and was a former parent to a former student and testing a new ship for a business merger that one it makes sense of course people can fly different ships but Grace and has to cover up his implants somehow all these things that are growing outside of his body so the repers have him rap a [SPEAKER_01]: And he just tells the dot guard that he has a really bad cold.

30:39 [SPEAKER_03]: This part is actually pretty funny because the reapers would have never had to deal while they would when they were individuals in organic life. [SPEAKER_03]: But as reapers, they have never had to deal with a cold. [SPEAKER_03]: And certainly never had to explain away a cold. [SPEAKER_03]: So this is like so far out of their depth, and this is also a situation in which Paul would have never found himself in in real life wearing a sheet out and put well we're not going to go there.

31:17 [SPEAKER_03]: He did work for servers, but [SPEAKER_03]: Maybe that was the joke there and I'm just not getting it, but Paul would have never found himself wearing a bedsheet because he had a cold and then had to like explain that anyway. [SPEAKER_03]: The Reapers can't date a mind his brain for the right excuse here and they can't draw on their own experience for the right excuse here.

31:43 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, but at least they came up with something apparently semi-believable because the duck guard let him in. [SPEAKER_01]: And it was like, oh, I'm sorry, man. [SPEAKER_01]: I hope you feel better soon. [SPEAKER_03]: That's that's that's Skyrim NPC level. [SPEAKER_03]: That's must have been the wind.

32:02 [SPEAKER_01]: Now this blind trust unfortunately, it ends up getting all the guard's killed by the [SPEAKER_01]: And then hack into the archives and transmit all data back to the reverse. [SPEAKER_03]: Oh, crap. [SPEAKER_03]: PNG. [SPEAKER_01]: A Grayson is mentally assailed by that much data being absorbed and redistributed across deep space.

32:37 [SPEAKER_03]: The numbers Mason. [SPEAKER_03]: The numbers. [SPEAKER_03]: What do they mean? [SPEAKER_03]: Sorry, go ahead. [SPEAKER_01]: No, I mean, it is all the data. [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, we talk about how we have to have that's the quantum quantum entanglement communicator. [SPEAKER_01]: He is one in this moment.

32:54 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and that's that's insane. [SPEAKER_01]: And so it totally makes sense about why he's very distracted during this transmission and why it takes a lot out of him mentally. [SPEAKER_03]: I can just imagine him like literally having a seizure from this. [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, you can picture it exactly.

33:15 [SPEAKER_01]: It's going to be the guy standing in front of a computer console, head thrown back and just, you know, very sci-fi moment. [SPEAKER_01]: And it's during this transmission that he is attacked by Anderson. [SPEAKER_01]: Anderson made it to the station with Kaylee and Kai Lang, because the three of them are working together right now.

33:40 [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, there's a whole lot that goes into that that is not related to Paul and for everyone curious, I promise we'll we'll get to that. [SPEAKER_03]: We'll have our own separate series of episodes on Kai Lang. [SPEAKER_01]: I think Kailang, he doesn't deserve shit, but he at least deserves some Lord cast episodes to explain why.

34:00 [SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't deserve anything. [SPEAKER_03]: If we did not cover Kailang, then I suppose we would just not have a leg to stand on. [SPEAKER_03]: It's calling us a Lord cast. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: But I'm sorry. [SPEAKER_01]: No. [SPEAKER_01]: Okay. [SPEAKER_01]: During this attack from Anderson, [SPEAKER_01]: the body, Grayson's body, is starting to falter.

34:25 [SPEAKER_01]: And he has been forced to sleep by the wrappers, or at the very least, unconscious his own mind shoved so far back into a corner. [SPEAKER_01]: He's not even aware of what his body is doing. [SPEAKER_01]: But if I recall correctly, they don't eat [SPEAKER_01]: or drink or do any human functions since the initial imprisonment on the Turing station.

34:53 [SPEAKER_03]: That's right. [SPEAKER_03]: Do you mean the server station? [SPEAKER_03]: Yes. [SPEAKER_03]: So when he was prisoner and he was basically now I'm pulling from the deep recesses of my memory here. [SPEAKER_03]: The food that he was fed was basically just paced, right? [SPEAKER_01]: It was like little MRA packs and some water things.

35:13 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it wasn't good food, but it was nutrition necessary. [SPEAKER_03]: So he's been existing on like no sleep, no food, just red sand and rage. [SPEAKER_01]: Mm-hmm. [SPEAKER_01]: And indoctrination this whole time. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, well. [SPEAKER_01]: Um, the reapers realize that they cannot keep their avatar functioning for much longer.

35:40 [SPEAKER_01]: And as Grayson's biotic abilities begin to weaken, his advanced speed and strength are slowed back down to human standards. [SPEAKER_01]: And this is when he is forced to fight Anderson from cover. [SPEAKER_01]: Now, Kaylee is on board. [SPEAKER_01]: And when she finally finds for Grayson and Anderson are Grayson, biotically pushes and abducts Kaylee once Anderson is disoriented.

36:10 [SPEAKER_03]: Oh, hey. [SPEAKER_01]: I'm telling them. [SPEAKER_01]: Now, in a moment of pure will, Grayson tells the reapers not to kill Kaley because of how important she is to the extension program and how much information she knows beyond what is in the files, he mentally yells, save, who important, who ascension.

36:44 [SPEAKER_03]: only brain moved left galactic brain um this is this is a great appeal to their own desires since you know we were talking a little bit about it earlier that the uh indoctrination is a two way street we get to see this a little bit but on the other end with Grayson having the reapers in his head that he now understands what they want [SPEAKER_03]: That's a big deal because previously, Grayson did not really even know about the Reapers, right?

37:25 [SPEAKER_01]: No, Grayson didn't know anything about them until he was fully indoctrinated and was starting to understand what was going on. [SPEAKER_01]: And then that knowledge flooded him. [SPEAKER_03]: Right. [SPEAKER_03]: So he has learned from his own indoctrination, the motives at least in this context.

37:43 [SPEAKER_03]: of what the reapers want and now he's manipulating and using that against them to save Kaley. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: And so to me, it's like, okay, yeah, he obviously truly cares about Kaylee if he's going to use the last of his mental will power to save her. [SPEAKER_01]: And the reapers actually listen.

38:17 [SPEAKER_01]: And some part of his original self still manifests itself as the Reapers have Grayson explained to Kaley their views. [SPEAKER_01]: So we've got a little bit of both sides trying to tell the story about why the Reapers are amazing, why we should start following them, because Grayson is now believing this on his own.

38:43 [SPEAKER_01]: they have made him believe, just like we hear from the elusive man, just like we hear from Seren, it's them talking and saying, this is why we should follow them. [SPEAKER_03]: Right, this is the joyous conversation. [SPEAKER_01]: And she's kind of starts to fall for it. [SPEAKER_01]: You know, she still struggles to retain control, but Kaylee starts to fall under the reaper spell.

39:10 [SPEAKER_01]: because not only are they pushing indoctrination, but they can be very charismatic and they will not charismatic, but they know what lies to tell. [SPEAKER_01]: They know what words to use in order to bring people onto their cause. [SPEAKER_01]: And it would have worked until a meddling kid came by Nick Donahue, one of the students directly under Kaylee, attacks them with a biotic wave that sends them sprawling.

39:42 [SPEAKER_01]: There are a lot more reasons why it's Nick specifically, but you got to read the books to understand the full story about why Nick was there. [SPEAKER_01]: Reverson recovers from this mental biotic wave and shoots Nick. [SPEAKER_01]: This is like a 15 year old 17 year old kid maybe at this point.

40:02 [SPEAKER_01]: So I feel bad for the kid. [SPEAKER_03]: I think it's 15. [SPEAKER_03]: I think it's 15 or 16. [SPEAKER_01]: Okay. [SPEAKER_01]: And the Grayson is about to kill Kailang when Anderson arrives and is able to take Grayson down with a shotgun. [SPEAKER_03]: Damn. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, his body spent the reapers release their control at last.

40:29 [SPEAKER_01]: He smiles up at Kaylee, who comes over to him, and they spend a little last few moments together. [SPEAKER_01]: And then kayling unceremoniously puts two bullets into his skull. [SPEAKER_03]: This fucking guy. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, right day zero here in chat says if only Anderson had waited five seconds Seriously Anderson could have waited five seconds.

40:58 [SPEAKER_03]: I know you really wanted to kill Grayson, but if you could have waited five seconds Then technically Grayson would have saved fame oh Yeah, and the salarian counselor. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, they would have [SPEAKER_03]: possibly Miranda too, depending on what you chose in your story. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

41:19 [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: So, but yeah, that is pretty much the ending to Grayson's story. [SPEAKER_01]: Anderson declared his intent to study Grayson's remains and asks Sam's Kaley to join his research team. [SPEAKER_01]: And this is finally the moment where Kaylee and Anderson share a quote on screen kiss.

41:49 [SPEAKER_01]: It's in the book. [SPEAKER_01]: It's there. [SPEAKER_02]: Ooh, splattered brains. [SPEAKER_02]: Take me now. [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, this is later. [SPEAKER_02]: It's not going to be the far right. [SPEAKER_03]: Well, we were just immediately following it up after Kailang, you know, like, oh, nice moment.

42:04 [SPEAKER_03]: You're having their Kaley and grace in anyway. [SPEAKER_03]: Pow, like, so they take his body back to the Citadel. [SPEAKER_01]: And this is where Anderson is like, I'd like to study Grayson's remains and everything like that to learn about Reaper Tech and back in the calm times [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, okay, all right.

42:26 [SPEAKER_03]: So Grace and is gone, but there is a contentious fourth chapter to his story, kind of. [SPEAKER_03]: Uh, and I'm couching this because I'm talking about Mass Effect deception, right? [SPEAKER_03]: We're going to bring this up, I'll let you, I'll let you take the lead here. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

42:58 [SPEAKER_01]: Okay. [SPEAKER_01]: So we do have a little bit more information about Grayson after his death in Mass Effect Deception Anderson and Kaylee bring his body with them to the Citadel to show the Citadel Council as evidence of Reaper involvement in the attack on the Christmas Academy. [SPEAKER_01]: But as we know, the council remains unconvinced and believed that as alien and disturbing as Grayson's mutations are, an organization like Cerberus could be just as capable of producing such technology.

43:33 [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, I used a counselor voice on that one. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, yeah, you nailed it with that one. [SPEAKER_03]: which doesn't take a lot of imagination to write. [SPEAKER_03]: Sorry, it's just that there's so many lore inconsistencies with Mass Effect deception that it is no, like it's not widely regarded as canon.

44:01 [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, and I'm not addressing the council part specifically. [SPEAKER_03]: I'm sure that they would remain unconvinced to have that part been in the game, or in the previous book, but basically everything we get about Grayson and his daughter, Jillian, in Mass Factorception. [SPEAKER_03]: is kind of like, like, just take it with a grain of salt.

44:23 [SPEAKER_03]: Like, if you are gonna read that, because it's essentially like, like, I don't want to like, I don't want to like, crap on someone's work, right? [SPEAKER_03]: Because it's a lot of work that this author put together and making the book, but there's so many inconsistencies and there's so many, like, bad, [SPEAKER_03]: you have to think that the author may not have even played Mass Effect.

44:51 [SPEAKER_03]: And so I don't know. [SPEAKER_03]: I'm just, I'm definitely of the camp that I don't believe Mass Effect deception is canon. [SPEAKER_03]: I know that that one point there was a bioware had basically consulted with the author and said, um, there are a lot of inconsistencies and I'm pretty sure the author [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

45:16 [SPEAKER_01]: And I think that we can definitely go into deception further down the road when we do our episodes on Gillian because Gillian is a key player in deception and so we'll have to talk about it a lot when we get to there. [SPEAKER_01]: The council also said getting back to Grayson in deception is the fact that Grayson was once a member of service is further proof to the council that only service was involved and not the reapers, of course.

45:50 [SPEAKER_01]: And after learning of Anderson's and Kaylee's presentation to the council, the elusive man orders [SPEAKER_01]: because now he wants it to study the after effects of what happened. [SPEAKER_03]: And tough course. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: I also wanted to include this portion of it, because in our episode one on Grayson, we said, oh, is he even mentioned in Mass Effect 3?

46:19 [SPEAKER_01]: And we're like, no, I don't think so. [SPEAKER_01]: There's actually quite a bit. [SPEAKER_01]: And so I wanted to go over the three times he is mentioned. [SPEAKER_01]: He is, of course, mentioned by Admiral Anderson when Shepard asks him about Kindlang. [SPEAKER_01]: So Anderson, we'll talk about Grayson when talking about Kiling, which you should do definitely in order to get this next reference of Grayson on her horizon because he's mentioned by Henry Lawson in an audio lot.

46:53 [SPEAKER_01]: So it's a very quick little audio log, but it does mention grace and by name. [SPEAKER_01]: And then again, the third time during the final assault on Cerberus' headquarters, Shepard finds video logs detailing Grayson's fate and stating that the Reaper implants within him proved useful in adapting the technology for Cerberus' forces.

47:21 [SPEAKER_01]: And they are the reason that we have the revised server sources in Mass Effect 3. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, thank you for issuing that correction because we did leave that out in part one of Paul's story and it occurred to me shortly after we actually recorded that episode because I remembered those video logs and the final final fight at Cerber said quarters.

47:46 [SPEAKER_03]: I think that's also where we learned that ED was that rogue VI on the moon, right? [SPEAKER_03]: So, or that was her before she was an AI. [SPEAKER_03]: So, yeah, that's a crazy tie-in in the game that it's basically just like, oh yeah, Paul Grayson, this guy that Drew Carpison created for the books.

48:07 [SPEAKER_03]: He's also, he was the prototype for all of the reaper-fied server troops. [SPEAKER_03]: And essentially, the prototype for the extra implants that the elusive man gets put in himself. [SPEAKER_01]: Mm-hmm. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so it's a crazy way that all the lore is intertwined and works together.

48:26 [SPEAKER_01]: And that's one of my favorite things about trilogies and series like this is where you get external media that follows back and gets pulled back in. [SPEAKER_01]: And then you get these little, what feel like little Easter egg moments, because now the next time that we get to Mass Effect 3, we're going to be able to find these moments and [SPEAKER_01]: out.

48:51 [SPEAKER_01]: And that just makes the game feel even more special when you get every reference as you're going through for the second, third, 27th playthrough. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, cue the Leonardo DiCaprio meme like, you know. [SPEAKER_03]: So, all right, so my final thoughts on grace in this, this is going to be our final Paul grace in episode, but basically I think he has one of the best redemption arcs in the whole series, because he starts as this compromised agent who is battling addiction, [SPEAKER_03]: uh... and he's rationalizing his service to a human supremacist organization service but then his like paternal instincts kick in and they start to fuel a resistance within him uh... a gradual rejection of services methods and then eventually their ideology i think you can take it one step further from that

49:55 [SPEAKER_03]: Um, in, in Mass Effect ascension, Grayson resists out of love for Jillian. [SPEAKER_03]: in retribution, the book we're talking about today and last week, Paul resists out of principle. [SPEAKER_03]: So he goes from resisting services influence and then the reapers influence first out of love and then out of principle, even under indoctrination and even while being forcibly [SPEAKER_03]: But heroic transformation from reluctant participant and evil to a man who sacrifices everything to oppose it.

50:45 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: One of the things that we talked about in part two with his heavy on the addiction conversation was that he got sober for external reasons and you know it was like stay sober for Kaylee stay sober for Jillian stay sober to be alert and like on my toes at all times [SPEAKER_01]: And then I also see that when it comes to why he was rejecting servers in the beginning, it was, I'm now rejecting servers because of my external reasons.

51:28 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm rejecting servers because of Kaylee, because of Gillian, because I want to be free and on my own [SPEAKER_01]: His resistance is now internal reasons and his rejection of everything is due to internal reasons. [SPEAKER_01]: He no longer wants to be a part of this organization. [SPEAKER_01]: He no longer subscribes to the elusive man's rhetoric.

52:01 [SPEAKER_01]: He no longer wants to be a part of that. [SPEAKER_01]: he, you know, was surrounded by aliens that he actually cared about and was building relationships with. [SPEAKER_01]: And so he no longer believed in this humanity first. [SPEAKER_01]: And so that was now internalized. [SPEAKER_01]: Ilang, the elusive man, none of this indoctrination stuff happened.

52:32 [SPEAKER_01]: I think that Grayson would have stayed sober and could have at some point met back up with Jillian down the road and just, I know, gotten out of the game. [SPEAKER_03]: You know, and that's the other part that we failed to mention like 10, 15 minutes ago, when we're talking about grace and giving the last vestige of his mind to save Kaylee, is that it was probably not just about him caring for Kaylee, but also because Kaylee knew far more about the Korean expedition that Gillian was on.

53:13 [SPEAKER_03]: because that's how Paul was getting his updates about Gillian. [SPEAKER_03]: He was video calling Kaylee, every once every couple weeks for the past three years, and asking, you know, you heard anything from the Koreans or, or handle about how Gillian's doing. [SPEAKER_03]: And so there was that, I think, I mean, I'm just kind of head-canning this, in Paul's final moments.

53:41 [SPEAKER_03]: He probably remembered Jillian and it gave him that kind of anime like moment of like a, you know, go out fighting kind of approach. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, because if he, if Kaylee were to be indoctrinated in that moment, he knew that that would lead hurt, that would lead strip the Reaper straight to Jillian.

54:05 [SPEAKER_01]: because, yeah, okay, the Korean expedition is heading out into deep space, is heading out far away. [SPEAKER_01]: Where do we think the reapers are? [SPEAKER_01]: It'd be very easy for them to, you know, make their way over there, or send another ship that's closer to them out there. [SPEAKER_01]: There's saving Cayley meant saving Gillian, and that's what he did in the end.

54:31 [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, yeah, it is. [SPEAKER_03]: Well, what a character. [SPEAKER_03]: So I think that wraps it up for Paul Grayson. [SPEAKER_03]: Tell us what you think you can leave a comment on YouTube on Spotify Apple, whatever you like. [SPEAKER_03]: Um, but we have our patrons to talk to next week and I don't believe that they have chosen a topic for the end of, um, October yet, uh, but that will be a fun discussion as it always is.

55:03 [SPEAKER_03]: We also started something recently on the Mass Effect Lurecast, which, Genesis, that I think we ought to tell everyone about, we, um, [SPEAKER_03]: We're talking about this for quite a while, months, I think, that we wanted to start a shared play through of the mass-factility. [SPEAKER_03]: And so last week, we created Sharon Shepherd, as in sharing.

55:28 [SPEAKER_03]: Sharon, Karen, Shepherd, as in sharing is caring. [SPEAKER_03]: So, [SPEAKER_03]: basically you started the playthrough. [SPEAKER_03]: We kind of went back and forth during character creation, making someone look absolutely off the wall, but not bad. [SPEAKER_03]: Honestly, I could probably see this person walking around downtown Portland.

55:56 [SPEAKER_03]: So [SPEAKER_03]: This is is going to be really fun. [SPEAKER_03]: You had two hours to play last week. [SPEAKER_03]: I'm going to have two hours to play this week. [SPEAKER_03]: And we are both on the stream with the other person who's not playing, just kind of witnessing everything and providing some color commentary.

56:18 [SPEAKER_03]: And the the most fun part of this, I think, is going to come from decisions that you make that I would definitely not [SPEAKER_01]: the fact that I went all three points into, uh, not charm, but the other side of the coin. [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, intimidate because I was like, I need the, the renegade scoring in order to get the good weapons, at least we are both loot goblins and we'll do whatever it takes to get every item.

56:47 [SPEAKER_03]: I will be getting that mass effect, uh, one Colossus 10 armor no matter what. [SPEAKER_03]: Or no, I guess it would have to be Colossus 5 wouldn't it? [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: It's not new game plus. [SPEAKER_01]: You can only go to 5. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_03]: I used to play with a mod that just put all 10 ranks of everything in there in the first go through anyway.

57:07 [SPEAKER_03]: But anyway, that we're doing on Thursday, nights, 7 PM Pacific, right at 10 PM Eastern, on Thursday, nights. [SPEAKER_03]: Go ahead and follow us on the Mass Effect Lorecast Twitch. [SPEAKER_03]: We're also affiliates now. [SPEAKER_03]: So that's fun. [SPEAKER_03]: So Genesis and I are going to be huddling about getting some custom Mass Effect lore cast of moats.

57:28 [SPEAKER_03]: Other cool stuff like that, and Genesis, you got anything else going on until next week. [SPEAKER_01]: I've got my two other shows that I do, the two girls, one ship podcast, all about video game romances, and the cyberpunk lore cast talking everything, cyberpunk. [SPEAKER_03]: all right, both of them excellent shows.

57:49 [SPEAKER_03]: I am also picking back up my streaming on my personal account in 7 legend on Twitch. [SPEAKER_03]: I have been streaming a bunch of different games lately. [SPEAKER_03]: I was a stream more wind, Baldur's Gate 3, Squirrel with a gun. [SPEAKER_03]: That was fun. [SPEAKER_03]: It's pretty self-explanatory.

58:05 [SPEAKER_03]: You play as a squirrel with a gun. [SPEAKER_03]: And I was also streaming, oh man, what was the other? [SPEAKER_03]: There was one more. [SPEAKER_03]: I can't remember. [SPEAKER_03]: Anyway, I have been gifted very graciously by a friend of mine, Borderlands 4. [SPEAKER_03]: And so this is going to be my first border lands playthrough and I'm going to do it all on stream.

58:29 [SPEAKER_03]: So I can't wait. [SPEAKER_03]: I've heard pretty great things from friends of mine about the border land series. [SPEAKER_03]: So I'm very excited to start this. [SPEAKER_03]: I think I could use like the kind of [SPEAKER_03]: zany humor that i that that i've heard borderlands has uh so looking forward to that if you're interested in seeing that go follow me on twitch at in seven legend but um i think that's all we got for this week's actors so until next time we should go.

59:11 [SPEAKER_03]: Thanks for listening to the Mass Effect War Test. [SPEAKER_03]: Reach out to us on Blue Sky, Twitter, Discord, Patreon, or email us at Mass EffectLoreCast at gmail.com. [SPEAKER_01]: Join us next week for more lore, same space, same time. [SPEAKER_01]: Or check out our live streams at twitch.tv slash Mass Effect WarCast.