Why Dex DeShawn Was Doomed From the Start | Cyberpunk 2077 Character Analysis & Explained

TODAY, we get into all the little hints that show us Dexter DeShawn's true intentions and personality. I don't think he was ever going to give Jackie and V a fair shake, and I think he just would've swept their deaths under the rug as, "gig-related accidents", no matter what. But as much of an opportunist Dex might have been, he was the kind who refused to endure the discomfort of learning.
Because of that, I don't believe that Dex ever would've made it far even if he had managed to get the relic. Even if he HAD been planning on actually giving it to Evelyn (which i doubt), he would've have escaped corp notice for long.
Maybe if Dex had learned from his mistakes after Pacifica, things could've been different. But I also doubt he would've taken on the heist anyway, in that case.
Likely cut content aside, there was a LOT of detail put into Dex as a character, despite his limited appearances in-game. His impact lived on a lot longer than I think we all wish it had.
Thank you so much for watching! Have a good one guys. GOOODBYYYYYEEE! :D
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[@clarencewalters338]

There's a hilarious meme video with a title along the lines of "How Cyberpunk 2077 Should have ended" and it's the conversation in the Afterlife with Dex about the job, followed by a voice clip of V saying it all sounds like a bad idea and walking out 😹

[@SeMetin]

That should have been an option in the main game. I know something like that can be done in phantom liberty.

[@RadicalWombat]

​@@SeMetin Yeah a nice Far cry early ending would've been fun, maybe show Dex getting someone even worse for the job and our Crew watching the Fallout. Have a Jackie and V Convo going something like "Ey Chica look he found someone stupid enough to do the job! Imagine if it was us, I think least one of us would've died hehe" "We'd all be dead Jackie, nobody fucks with Arasaka and gets away with it even if we managed to complete the Job alive." "Heh yeah probably, but maaaan if we would've done it we'd be Legends by now." "Knock it off Jackie." "Come on Chica, don't get mad at a man for dreaming." "Just don't let your Dream kill us." "I'll never let that happen, we're always gonna find a way out" The Convo gets interrupted by us walking into Vic's Clinic, Misty and Vic waiting with food and cold beers, chairs ready in front of the TV with a fight starting just after we arrive. The last thing we see is a Photo of us and our friends in front of the TV enjoying themselves.

[@lordofchaosinc.261]

That's how it would've ended if I presented that campaign as a game master to my players. Arasaka, hell no.

[@clarencewalters338]

@@lordofchaosinc.261 it's funny because my V every step of the way didn't trust Dex, Eve, the job, I thought Jackie was a mark and I so desperately wanted an option that says "you can make a fortune just doing odd jobs for the NCPD and more trusted fixers, we really don't need to be taking a suicide job"

[@Cryptic0013]

That's why the character of Jackie Welles is so important. I think the video is right that V knows this is a bad idea and isn't even in it for the money. He/she is going along because, depending on your RP style, either they want to make his dream come true or they're just there to try to watch his back. If V refused, Jackie would still have gone along with some other gonk Dex sourced. It's kinda like James Bond. All by himself, he's an almost too perfect character, but he makes mistakes when he gets emotionally attached to someone like Felix or his latest romantic interest, and that's often how he ends up in hot water he'd otherwise have sidestepped. His head isn't in the game.

[@rsookchand919]

Working with Dex will cost you, hell even his iconic pistol takes money straight out of your account with every reload

[@lornmalvo2541]

*with every shot

[@kortonstillpeak2388]

Huh???

[@ShadowAimai]

@@kortonstillpeak2388 Dex's gun does not use bullets. It costs Eddies to shoot.

[@majormissile5596]

To be fair, that's more a fun game mechanic than lore if you ask me. Certainly fits very well though.

[@zambekiller]

​@@majormissile5596 na that definitely seems like something he'd have made especially at the height of his career when he'd have cash to burn in mass

[@ravenblood1954]

There’s a line in phantom liberty where V outright states that the only reason they took the job was because Jackie wanted to do it

[@lydiscott]

It makes it all even more depressing. Aghhhh. Just played that bit the other day and it HIT.

[@ravenblood1954]

@@lydiscott The literal dialogue hits so hard too. Songbird: Konpeki, why’d you do it V: Had a friend, we worked together, gig was important to him. He… Songbird: and he was important to you…he didn’t make it V: …he did not

[@giovannicervantes2053]

​@@lydiscottgod that last moment with Jackie "See ya in the big leagues brother"

[@max1mate]

@@giovannicervantes2053 V getting the title that jackie wanted in the exact same moment he lost him. Everytime V gets called a legend, a pang of jackies memory probably echoes in their head. Then just like before they have to keep moving forward. Insanely tragic and makes me want to die personally.

[@giovannicervantes2053]

@@max1mate the moment mama Welles told me I could have Jackie's bike I immediately didn't want it cause I knew the moment I'd rev the engine up I'd hear his big chested laugh or him asking where'd we eat next rip our greatest homie🕊️

[@Flight_of_Icarus]

Fitting how he was left to rot in a landfill, with the rest of the trash. A place he tried to dispose of V

[@robertwatson6880]

And Bartmoss beside him who had the luxury of a fridge to compose in.

[@Cryptic0013]

Dex made me realise a couple things, on later playthroughs. One, he's a warning that V is right in the car if he says there's no such thing as a quiet retirement in NC. You're either somebody or you're worm bait. Dex wanted "the quiet life" and it got him dead, because there's no room for that in the NC jungle. And two, if you're playing a Nomad and ask Jackie about his motorcycle, you find out he bought it on credit. The man took a loan to buy a fancy bike, in Night Bloody City, home of the knee-breaking loan sharks and 666% interest rates. That alone should have told me everything about his priorities, foresight, and common sense.

[@ved2360]

I think people read too much into Dex's speech. They always say he represents one extreme or another, but I think he's much more opportunistic than that. The speech is more to groom Jackie and V into taking on a suicide mission and frame one of Cyberpunk's themes diegetically. Dex is himself aware that Night City is a rat race, but he never has any intention of dying young, he just thinks he can maneuver other people into it for his benefit.

[@Cryptic0013]

​@@ved2360 Well, him "representing" something isn't the same as him, as a character, understanding anything. He asks you that question as a test. He wants to feel out whether you're more like T-Bug or more like Jackie, so he knows how to plan for and manipulate you. The reason he represents the futility of the "quiet life" mentality is because, as Judy warns Evelyn, taking shortcuts in NC will lead to your demise. Dex wants an easy, quick payout without doing the hard work to earn it, then he thinks he'll go put up his feet and enjoy his millions unbothered. NC does not work that way. You have to earn it, you have to do the hard work of becoming an apex predator and remaining one, simply because, once you have anything of value, there's already a bunch of other predators getting ready to come take it from you. You can't put your feet up, you have to get to the top of the mountain and then *defend the mountain*. Look at Rogue, in contrast. That's someone who has led a long life as a merc and a fixer because she gets it. Her guard is always up, she's still sharp, still in shape to make runs at nearly a century of age. Meanwhile Dex is a third her age and can barely walk. He's literally and figuratively soft, because his mindset is soft. That's why she's the Queen of the Afterlife and Dex is worm food.

[@nickbriggs8059]

@@Cryptic0013 I agree. I got shady vibes from dex straight off. I know it was meant to be like that or I think it was but I had a feeling my first time that I was going to have to end up killing dex at some point. He beat me to it for the story sake but if I had encountered him later in my playthrough dex woulda been sat aside or dealt w the right way.

[@PhilNightmareBrutality]

Dex is a walking red flag 🚩 misty did warn Jackie welles and v ( who entered when she was helping Jackie) as he is wearing a jacket that is red

[@ved2360]

@@Cryptic0013 Wow. I'm baffled you have so many people agreeing while missing my point so hard and being completely 100% wrong to the point of being incoherent. Honestly, your thinking is bordering on the type of "heroism" that fascists glorify. Don't deny it. You're literally doing the "soft man" versus "hard man" rhetoric. And now I know why so many people didn't get the point of the Phantom Liberty, where people literally wish they could be a sick nasty cyborg who can kill thousands of goons and don't like V "becoming an NPC." You're all completely media illiterate. Most people wouldn't want to live in the Cyberpunk universe just on the off-chance you get to be an Adam Smasher. First off, Dex is presenting an overly-simplified false dichotomy. And you don't have to accept his framing as some deep moral lesson he failed to understand, nor falsify it, because Dex himself doesn't seem to actually care that much about it. Being famous doesn't really seem that important to him, he's willing to cut-and-run if it means he gets his bag. And he'll do it even if he fails. He's just using you. That's it. It's literally the same way any other thief operates. That's not even a real moral failing on Dex's part -- that doesn't make him weak. That's just how everybody in Night City behaves. Don't get bent out-of-shape over-philosophizing about a riddle he made up specifically to hire on disposable talent. You're like idiots looking at personality tests for a job in the real world and taking it seriously. Imagine thinking that a capitalist dystopia is about "earning" anything. In his framing Judy and Rogue _are_ living the quiet life, relatively speaking. Same with Misty and Viktor. Rogue has lived 50+ years after Johnny died. Mostly by appearing inoffensive to Arasaka, to the point she has to avoid Adam Smasher. Judy winds up getting married after the events of Phantom Liberty, if you pick the ending where you wake up in 2079. Mister Hands mostly keeps anonymous and operates mostly secretly while maintaining a private life separate from work. Viktor is fine "being an NPC." He'd probably frame it as, "giving up your illusions" and getting full nights of sleep. They simply adapt to the system to survive and that's it. For them, fame or being able to mow down hordes of thugs isn't important. Rogue does help Johnny in the Path of Glory ending, but that has more to do with settling a personal score than fame or fortune. She already had both. They all have personal risks and danger to face, but it's never about fame or making a big blaze. And here's the other thing: Nobody smells of roses when they die. Jackie didn't. He died pissing his metaphorical pants, slowly bleeding to death in the back of the cab. Mama Welles outlived all her sons. Probably will die a '"nobody" as some of the internet would like to say.

[@Sodasaman]

Shoutout to Dex for reinventing himself as a bike ramp after his failed fixer career.

[@oatjuice5921]

lmao every playthrough when i get plan b i try to set a new pb on how far or high i can get

[@acey_rest3096]

Dex on Yorinobu Arasaka: “….As the billion eddy name with no talent to back it up.” - projection much Dex?

[@nickbriggs8059]

Yeah he’s a complete narcissist that isn’t very smart.

[@bbutler3230]

This is especially ironic because if you look into yorinobu's backstop, he is probably one of the smartest and resourceful characters in cyberpunk.

[@Citrakite]

@@bbutler3230 Yep. Dude went to Tokyo University and has multiple degrees. Turned a bunch of punk kids into one of the strongest and well-connected speed gangs in Japan that make the Claws look like Boy Scouts. and that was all just in his 20's.

[@charaznable8072]

Well if Dex and V didn't get involved with Arasaka then Yorinobu would of basically dismantled Arasaka after deleting his father I wouldn't call that no talent, Dex just a hater.

[@Kaiomikelee]

About Dex offering more payment without much persuasion: later on, during one of Johnny's flashbacks, a merc notes that Johnny very easily offers a lot of money. He says that someone who does that either has a lot of money to begin with, or doesn't expect the merc to survive long enough to collect. I always took this as, much like many of thr flashbacks, a lesson from the past meant to inform VA present. I hadn't thought about Dex manipulating Jackie specifically and I do agree, but I don't think he expected them to walk out alive to behind with. And T-Bug had no personal attachment to them, so their survival was, at most, a secondary objective...if convenient.

[@gamblerfls]

That's not true. Dex wanted them to accomplish the mission. The difference is that Jack and V would be more easier to be disposed than other mercs in case anything went wrong, as they were still considered 'hookies', first time in The Afterlife and all. More experienced mercs probably wouldn't even go back to Dex after the heist failure, they'd vanish instead and would sell the relic to someone else.

[@Kaiomikelee]

@gamblerfls I'm not sure which part you're saying isn't true. But what you're saying doesn't contradict what I stated above. Silverhand's story is meant to inform V's own -- Dex wanting them to accomplish the mission and wanting them to survive to tell about it are different things. For all we know, he intended on flatlining them even if they did pull it off. It's all speculation, but I'd say given how NC operates and what we do know of Dex, it's not outside the realm of possibility.

[@gamblerfls]

@@Kaiomikelee He expected them to walk alive, the plan was almost perfect. Maybe we think the same thing and I just misread.

[@ravendelacour1917]

One detail that stands out with Dex if you're trained in reading people is the way he speaks. People in general speak as they think. Watch how of the professional fixers V deals with speak in measured, controlled fashion showing their deliberate and methodical process ofvreasoning. Dexter's rapid, shifting, and evasive mode of speech shows his mercurial and unsteady thought process. He never has a soild plan or all the necessary information. All he has is a series of small cons and manipulations he keeps throwing at the wall until something sticks. Such a process might work in the short term but inevitably Dexter meets something that his limited bag of tricks won't work on and fall short. That something this time was Takemura.

[@MrNb22]

Funny that Rache Bartmoss - another person who died ungloriously - was mere feet away from where Dex died. In fact, you can see Rache's icebox right behind Dex and Goro. Considering V was dumped there, this appears to be a common spot for dead runners to get dumped....wonder who else is there.

[@linktojinx]

It's funny just how many little coincidences lineup in movies and video games like that. Guess real life is complicated and sometimes maybe it's hard to write without simplifying things as such. Plus, gives you a marker as a player sort of a reason to even be looking there where bartmoss is. I found him completely by accident running from some guys while I was low level through the junkyard and just by coincidence stumbled upon it all having never heard of it in a video or anything.

[@bogatyr2473]

I think a portion of Delamain is that Dex doesn't have any other options. He can't find a good driver who's willing to do the job. A big issue with Delamain is that it is high profile and high status. Meaning it's a TERRIBLE choice for a car during a heist. I suspect that both Dex and Jackie's body (if you send it to Vic) get found so quickly specifically because of the Delamain connection.

[@ved2360]

It's more Delamain has their personal information and he's a public figure, which makes him way too vulnerable to interrogation by Arasaka. If some Saka ninjas want to get at his AI core, there's not a whole lot he can do to stop it.

[@tickledeggz]

​@@ved2360Probably why delamain gets all f'd up after the job, imagine all the cars we retreive were hacked by Arasaka and dumped, weve seen how they treat living humans.

[@Iwasfoundunharmed]

I knew the second he asked me that question in the car that the whole mission is going to be a hell.

[@DatDarkOne]

Agreed. Dex came off as wrong and shandy from the first meeting. I kept getting the vibe of someone pretending to be cool and chill but wasn't.

[@Charles_Bro-son]

First time meeting Dex in his limo: "... Woman's name's Evelyn Parker. Vettin' her wasn't easy. Put the word out was lookin' for any kinda intel… Some brothers from Pacifica got back to me. Tol' me to stop lookin', end of convo, heheh..." - End of convo! The Voodoo Boys told him to back off and that's it! In hindsight that was suspicious as hell and smelled like big trouble.

[@AshyGr33n]

OF COURSE, Dex hung out with V in his (?) limo not because of exclusivity etc. but because *he ain't got no place*. Every other fixer dress lowkey or stay behind doors and Dex dressed like he's ghetto-rich. The most obvious answer is usually the correct one. You earned yourself a sub ma'am.

[@BobCorban]

I really wish the different lifepaths had more dialogue options in the heist here. Corpo V working in Arisaka counterintel should have them seeing more of the red flags and having the option to call-out on it.

[@PNut8421]

The gun you can loot from Dex is also pretty telling. Plan B. Visually speaking, it's one of the nicest-looking pistols in the game. it just comes with a literal cost to using it. literally draining your bank account with every shot fired. Dex makes himself look good but is ultimately a curse to anyone who works with him.

[@MalzraAirwynn]

In a sense, the only way they would have gotten away with the heist in the long term, is the same thing that sent it off the rails: Yorinobu murdering his father. Yorinobu was fine with not actively pursuing the chip because he was secretly trying to destroy Arasaka from within. His dad on the other hand would have stopped at nothing to get it back.

[@tjpprojects7192]

I always had suspicions about Dex. He seemed kinda sleezy, and I was just waiting for him to betray me. He felt like he was trying to appear more high-profile than he actually was.

[@nickbriggs8059]

Yeah I never snitched Evelyn out to him. The fact she was trying to play him was exactly what I wanted to do cause he comes of greasy and sleazy ah. Even if you tell him he still kills you. Dex was a scared lil boy trying to play a grown up game. So glad when he gets dealt with.

[@Gyrokaenzo212]

Dex reminds me of Emperor Calus from Destiny 2, a desperate beast seeking his own deliverance, he desires power not to lead or change the world but to revel in the luxuries and pleasure while the rest toil in the filth. They were blinded by their own delusions of Grandeur to the point that when they first escaped the death penalty of their actions they saw it as being special instead of lucky and it led them to worse deaths

[@TheBloodyMutt]

As a TTRPG player first and video gamer second I was annoyed that the game didn't allow you to call Dex out because man those red flags were bleeeeding.

[@ominousthorn1673]

I agree but I think that's because v wouldn't call dex out v falls for the show dex is putting on

[@someidiotnamedtricks6397]

@@ominousthorn1673 well, according to another comment apparently it's mentioned in phantom liberty that V only accepts the job purely because jackie did

[@Magarthryx]

I mean, I couldn't literally describe the flag the way this video does. But something about the other fixers having this long term outlook.

[@jeffy1862]

Yeah, but unfortunately one of the elements of Cyber Punk is making the high risk moves that either make a veteran or a statistic out of you.

[@ranmikisudia426]

V is basically a character with a middle grade perception in the first chapter but extrem loyalty . But Jackie has looow perception but is the far more outspoken than V.

[@Uldihaa]

I truly wish that CDPR wasn't forced to drop the 'settling in as a merc' gameplay and reduce it to just its cutscenes. There was so much that could have been done to establish Jackie's personality and tendencies more solidly. And to show the player what a real fixer is like, so that when Dex comes along, the player can more easily see the red flags. As it is, players lack even the most basic skepticism that should have been in play for V, no matter what their background. The player is still too new to this setting.

[@austinwallace4624]

I feel like Faraday, from the anime, was inspired by Dexter DeShawn. They both follow a similar arc. Both underestimate the mercs that they're working with, have no higher creed than pure self-interest, and try to play corps in order to pull themselves from the brink; this results in the end of their arc as some form of refuse. After their arcs, they're effectively forgotten for the rest of the story, despite their critical role as inciting characters. Excellent video as always. More Cyberpunk analysis, please!

[@lydiscott]

Thanks so much, Austin! 😄

[@nickbriggs8059]

@@lydiscott great content! I love listening to your work while I’m at work lol. Set your vids up in the cue and drift away into a life and story much more interesting than my own. Thank you! ❤️

[@lazytitan3928]

I said this in your other Dex video, but one thing that struck me recently was when you speak with Dex about what he knows about Evelyn he mentions his search ending when he was told to back off by “two brothers from Pacifica.” A new player wouldn’t connect that to the Voodoo Boys, but an experienced merc like V should have. The fact that Dex didn’t mention their affiliation seems weird. It sounds like either this supposed top tier fixer got shut down by two random thugs or that he’s to weak to take on one of Night City’s gangs. This should be especially concerning since we just hit a Scav implant harvesting location in behalf of Wakako the previous day and our other fixers regularly have us interfere with their business for our jobs. The fact that Dex backed down so easily do to a gang stepping in should have been a huge warning signal that Dex has no pull in this city anymore.

[@YevhenRawrs]

To be fair the VDBs are definitely considered a little bit different from the other gangs, a little spookier, mysterious. Them being specifically a netrunner gang means they can do things others can't as easily. Hack you, watch you, implant a virus that lies dormant until they need it, who knows what? Maybe in actuality they're not more dangerous than Maelstrom or 6th Street, but the netrunner ~magic~ I think can have an intimidating effect on people who don't understand netrunning themselves. Like some of those scam emails you can read, there's one that has a certain string of numbers and then says "If you read that you've activated this hack, now do as we say!". Obviously ridiculous, but some people must fall for it. The VDBs techno-cryptid reputation I think is a more refined form of that same misinformation.

[@dyamonde9555]

he did it twice. He paid up front with Maelstrom because they dictated terms to HIM instead of the other way 'round, and he had neither the rep nor the pull to do anything about it. Then Royce doesn't think twice about shaking him down for double-money, no fear of retalitation at all. So yeah, to the Gangs Dex is a joke.

[@lazytitan3928]

@@dyamonde9555 Good point. I know she mentioned that as reason to why we should have seen Dex as foolish, but I didn’t even think of if Maelstrom demanded payment up front because they knew he couldn’t do anything about it.

[@gamer47e17]

I can also see it as Dex isn't exactly that much of a pushover, bu he can't push back this time because he's basically winging it, and he's desperate. He's willing to brush it off because if he pushes back, it might upset the client, or throw in another kink in the plan that he doesn't want. He was hinging on everything going right, and was completely unwilling to even risk the smallest hiccup.

[@johnsmith60]

I think the reason why the VDBoys told him to stop looking is because they hired Evelyn Parker for the heist in the first place

[@chrisadams1438]

I have an NPC I'm running in an upcoming D&D campaign who's very much like the late Mr. DeShawn - "subtle" displays of power and wealth, an air of mystery, a reputation among the criminal underbelly of society...all a paper-thin veneer to hide exactly how much power he doesn't really have and how fragile his bubble of influence is. This analysis has given me a lot of insight into ways I can flesh out that character, so I thank you for your hard work.

[@captainziggy82]

I don’t think Tbug is a trash Netrunner, but the fact that it took her SOOOO long to break the ice proves she was not really equipped for the job…. To be fair, we weren’t either given none of us knew the Emperor would show up. But when you have Netrunners out there like So Mi, and Spider Murphy… Tbug was just not the right one, and her fate proves that. Jackie and V do a pretty good job all things considered..

[@Cryptic0013]

In T-Bug's defence, you have to remember this was a heist where they wanted to be in and out without anyone noticing. Doing the job in perfect silence is different than Spider just kicking it open because they plan to blow the place up anyway.

[@Qeshen]

You also have to remember that So Mi and Spider Murphy are legends among legends, at least in terms of raw skill. Dex couldn't have afforded that. Tbug was a good runner that did exactly what she needed to do and succeeded at it. I strongly suspect that her being made was a result of the security scramble when Saburo showed up. I think if Dex was less focused on a quick payout, he'd have kept the infiltration team small like he did, and had an extra runner to help Tbug out. Problem is, no one but Tbug trusts him.

[@MrNb22]

Some theorized she was alerting Saburo. The chance meeting may have been far less than chance and more of a setup - pending whenever V decided to do the Konpeki meeting. Those few hours were just enough time to stall V and Jackie while Saburo makes his way to Konpeki so they could stand witness to his death.

[@MrEstaporqueria1]

If T-Bug wasn’t acting out of malice chances are she was a good netrunner but not “burgle the penthouse of Yorinobu Arasaka's son” good. I mean, you’re introduced to her during a mission that has you raiding a derelict apartment with some low level Scavs

[@dungeonsanddobbers2683]

Trash? No. Good enough for what Dex wanted? Absolutely. It's worth remembering that Dex's MO (something V can call out in dialogue with Jackie) is to get a bunch of no-names so he can fleece them on percentage and put the blame on them if the job goes bad.

[@zandosdwarf-king]

Dex wasn't talking with Tbug in room, he was literally on the phone ordering a cab

[@ameliorategrey]

I wonder if the Delamain bug quest is a result of T-Bug hacking into Delamain for the Excelsior package lack of wiggle room. Spitballing here.

[@felipepaulo397]

It’s pretty funny how Delamain, a literal AI taxi driver, is more trustworthy and has better morals than Dex 😂, Delamain is one of the reasons V is still alive

[@Cryptic0013]

Del is True Neutral. No morals, no malice, no benevolence. Just pure logic. Which is still a big step up from Chaotic Evil.

[@silverbane8065]

it's part of his programming. he could not change it unless it was full filled. if jackie had survived till V got to the NoTell, it's possible that we could have managed to wrangle him to taking jackie to Vik (alive) with V going into the NoTell as that full fills his part of the contract.

[@dungeonsanddobbers2683]

@@Cryptic0013 "no benevolence" Not true, he comes to pick you and Goro up despite the fact that you are "outside the service area" when you call him up and (IIRC) assists Viktor with your initial treatment, he just rationalises it away as "part of the Excelsior Package"

[@QuarantineV1]

Never really thought of DeShawn like this, since superficiality is just a very cyberpunk genre trait. I really enjoyed your perspective on him.

[@lydiscott]

Hey, thanks so much! 😁

[@QuarantineV1]

@@lydiscott looking forward to catching more of your videos!

[@s1os2s3]

This entire discussion reminds me that there were supposed to be a much more ample story and quite different but we got what we have right now because the life paths have been cut down. In regards to Dex. V smelt him. He comments on it if you reply to Jackie, when he calls you after meeting Dexter in the car, with the second option. V replies along the lines of "I think he is out to do us" or something along those lines. There are multiple hints that Dex did a sloppy job. First, the Heist was a mess because T-Bug took alot more time than it was planned. The longer it took, the lower the chances to work. After all we knew he stole the relic from Arasaka, it would be safe to assume that Saburo would confront him. Even if Dex did not know about Saburo's whereabouts one would assume after hearing Yorinobu talk about it in the BD of Konpeki that time is of the essence.

[@warlordofbritannia]

First time I was playing through the game, when Dex adjusted the cut so quickly, that’s when I knew for certain we weren’t supposed to live.

[@dungeonsanddobbers2683]

I mean his MO is also about fleecing non-name mercs. To him, half the cut is as good as three quarters because he's still the one making the most bank from the job.

[@morabones3768]

Something I find interesting about the difference between the "quiet life" and "Blaze of glory" endings is just how bleak the "Quiet life" is at the end of PL. In all the endings besides the suicide ending, V comes out the other end with at least half a year to live, or alternatively, giving Johnny a chance at a second life. Its not ideal, and its the last twist of the knife that Night City can throw in, but there's still freedom there, and a chance that maybe, just maybe things will be alright (Meeting the nomads outside of night city, the crystal palace gig, etc). V has someone in their corner, and there's hope, even if it might be blind in the end. But the "Quiet Life" is miserable, even though V will live much longer. Anyone V loved has moved on with their lives, Misty is leaving Night City, Vik is in Zetatechs pocket, and to cap it all off, V cannot use even rudimentary or basic implants without risk of death, meaning any career of being a solo or a merc is effectively done and dusted. V is alone, and even though they'll live much longer, its an ultimately lonely, quiet, and empty existence.

[@lazy_kalm]

Looking forward to your T-Bug video. There's a popular fan theory that she actually survived the heist, used the confusion to drop off the grid since no-one really sees her die and the one person who comments on it (the quickhack vendor at kabuki market) could easily be covering for her. Would be cool to hear what you make of it all. Love how much research and insight you put into these. Thanks for your hard work!

[@Foogi9000]

You don't see her die because she absolutely got soulkilled.

[@Shinigami88X1]

Tbh T-Bug reminds me a lot of Alex

[@DamnWhoAsked]

Let’s say she DID fake her death and go off the grid… What does that do for her in the long term? One of the main reasons she participates in the heist to begin with is to make enough eddies to cut all ties, leave cyberspace, and presumably spend the rest of her life on an island. The relic had a billion-dollar value, so we’re talking ABSURD amounts of money on the line. If she fakes her death, she doesn't get her cut, and she doesn't get the happy ending she desires. We also have to take into account that even though she's one of Night City’s elite runners, her strong role during the heist would've definitely sent Arasaka’s dogs on her scent. Hanako pointed out that Arasaka ALWAYS finds the one they pursue, and if T-Bug was still alive, they would've got to her eventually. Her faking her death would also suggest that she chose to betray and leave V and Jackie for dead when the Relic was already klepped and they were pretty much at the finish line. All they really had to do at that point was escape the building and dodge security.

[@ravendelacour1917]

T-Bug survived the Pacifica heist fiasco and unlike Dex might have learned something. She didn't have to escape, she just had to go to ground long enough for the heat to fade. Also consider whole Arasaka likely could find her if they looked long enough, Yorinobu has no desire to find V or anyone else connected with the heist as they are witnesses to his murder of his father. This is why Yorinobu tries to ice Takemura when he discovers V. An Arasaka interrogation would reveal his crime and Yorinobu can't count on everyone remaining loyal after that info gets out. Better to just let the high fatality rate of merc life catch-up with any potential witnesses on its own. I mean it's not like anyone would be crazy to assault Arasaka Tower or anything, right? :)

[@annieworroll4373]

I suspect the letter from des moine you find on your desk was T Bug, probably injured by the attempted zapping or whatever her emergency exit was, and unable to access all of her money to get out of the country. She's pissed, and while it's not fair to blame V for things going sideways, anger and pain can make even the best of us irrational. It's a reference to a Phillip K Dick novel, of course, but it wouldn't be surprising for her to be up to speed on 20th century science fiction as well as Greek philosophers.

[@apcook34]

I think Yorinobu and Smasher knew about the heist, and it was a great cover for murder. In an earlier version of the game, Smasher would light up to show he detects you in the room with Yorinobu and his father. It seems there were multiple levels of 4d chess being played.

[@silverbane8065]

nah, that was a bug. all boss characters can always *see* V no matter what. and Smasher was a boss character. think that's another reason they took out the eye cyberware chips. so you couldn't tell he knew you were there lol.

[@Theodore_LocusCh]

​@@silverbane8065It doesn't take a genius or fancy glasses to know he knows you're there. Smasher literally pauses right in front of you and stares at you for a good 30 seconds. Then he lets out an audible chuckle and moves along. You're too insignificant for his time. And he genuinely couldn't care less if Yorinobu dies or not in case you decide to jump up and kill him. Because at that point in time you have no chances against Adam.

[@bigjah5249]

“My man, Dex Deshawn, how’s that quiet life workin’ out for you now, choom?” - Johnny Silverhand, 2077 *V then robs Dex’s pistol from his rotting corpse and empties the mag into his head*

[@foxdavion6865]

Corporate V is the most cautious and calculated version of V, this gets on Dex's nerves immediately, as he realises V isn't some punk street kid, but a down on his luck ex-corpo; This V makes it very clear from the start that they're only in it for revenge against Arasaka and being a corpo, this is the best kind of revenge as he believes it hits them where it hurts, money, face and power. Corpo V even gets irritated and warns Jackie on the job, which gets on Jackie's nerves, in my story I decided to drop the issue, didn't want a fight with my friend right before a dangerous job.

[@drachepumpernickel7056]

Not sure if the other paths have it, but I'm pretty sure corpo-V low-key tries to get Jackie to drop the job multiple times, which makes him angry. Corpo-V knows it's a shit, red-flag riddled job, but also sees Jackie is dead set on doing it, so reluctantly joins to try to keep him safe. We see it in the options that has V trying to get Jackie to take things seriously leading up to and inside konpeki. Corpo-V isn't a simple, run of the mill street thug, they were potentially the right hand of what could have been Arasakas counter-intelligence chief in Night City if their boss got the promotion earlier. That suggests V was VERY good at their job. Someone like that likely saw through Dex, but did the job because they're loyal to a fault.

[@TheKindOni]

I am unequivocally grateful I found your channel, and am happy I'm not the only person who thinks about this world, and these characters in it 25/8. Cyberpunk as a genera has always been a favorite of mine, so finding a channel I can binge exploring the human motivations and characterizations of the people in that medium is the soul food I needed. You clearly put a hell of a lot of time and effort into your videos as well as your analyzations and it absolutely shows. Keep up the good work, without overworking yourself.

[@paulscott2037]

I really wish we'd got more about T-Bug because she never came across as naive as Jackie or V and we know she knew Dex so she must have known the whole plan was kind of dumb.

[@IronDragonslayer2316]

all i could think about after Dex zeroed me is “ I HOPE i can kill this man myself later on myself “ only for Takemura to do it left me bitter .

[@temmy9]

As someone who never saw the trailers, I always found t bugs post heist plans to be suspicious. She Intended to leave town and basically vanish, and seemed to know that loose threads tying her to the heist would not be a concern.

[@Fronkville]

Your production quality has been going up! Love to see it Wont lie these vids have made me start replaying again while also paying more attention this time, it's hard to stay away from Night City

[@lydiscott]

Hey thank you! I’m glad things are looking better, that makes me really happy! And ohhhh you enjoy!!!! 😊 I totally hear you, it’s hard to stay away from.

[@ved2360]

I think a distressing fridge thought I had was this: Yorinobu was winging-it too. He stole the prototype Biochip, but I think he was improvising much the way Songbird or Dex was. He probably had a sense that the Biochip was a solid chess piece but had no defined plan on how to use it. He might've sensed it was valuable for reaching Alt or because Silverhand was a potential bomb waiting to go off -- and was correct on both counts. But he had no plan on what to do if Saburo were to confront him on the theft, which is why he strangled Saburo on the spot. It's all very impulsive. He didn't exactly steal the chip on the hush hush. That's what always threw off the vibes of the Konpeki heist for me. Who buys experimental prototypes that's only useful to the scientists who built the thing? That doesn't really translate into money for most people. There's no way to really back-engineer the Biochip, it's a highly experimental one-of-a-kind prototype. At best, it's just a curiosity that some corpo engineers can poke at a bit for the sake of science. But that's hardly tantalizing enough for a corpo to buy out while braving Saburo's wrath. If you know how the scientific process goes, then you know that a study like that probably wouldn't result in some in-house Relic program at your corpo. As any STEM student probably knows, it'll just result in a report that goes, "We learnt nothing all that important, which is an important data point in of itself." Or you might learn a couple broad conclusions about the Relic that Viktor and Hellman readily learnt anyway. Again, mildly interesting intel, but nothing groundbreaking enough to start a war over. The difference is that Yorinobu is the Arasaka prince, so he's a bit more credible as your inside man selling you stolen tech, and likely, documentation and other expertise on the Biochip. And while I'm not saying all corpo suits are rational actors, it's not hard to see some suit at Biotechnica or Netwatch telling Dexter to get that hot potato as far away from their door as possible. Imagine Dex trying to shop his Biochip around town to a bunch of confused suits who don't want what he's selling. And the explanation for _what_ he's selling doesn't make things better. "Yeah we're the guys who knocked off the most powerful man in town, who also happens to be beefing with the most powerful man in the world." I genuinely think the chip is only valuable to about three factions: Yorinobu, Netwatch and the Voodoo Boys. To everybody else, it's a mild curiosity at best, or a whole lot of unwanted heat at worst. Netwatch only wants the chip, but so long as their reputation as "Defenders of the Net" remains untarnished. Netwatch's power derives from being a _mostly_ neutral entity that polices the Net. But they can't claim that neutrality if Arasaka is waging war on them or it gets out they're using a rogue AI to their own ends.

[@Cryptic0013]

Little suggestion here: Yorinobu was not looking out for his own gain. He stood to inherit Arasaka, and he has more money than anyone could ever spend. His goal was to *harm* Arasaka, and his father, because he sees them as evil and he realised that his father was going to steal his body via the Relic, just like Johnny is stealing yours. His purpose in giving NetWatch the chip wasn't to make money, it was to prove to a neutral third-party authority that Arasaka is using Soulkiller and they have a massive collection of stolen human consciousness at Mikoshi, which could easily turn into some kind of apocalyptic level rogue AI, or even worse, some kind of global mind control scheme where they Soulkill world leaders, CEOs, etc., and replace their consciousnesses with an AI loyal to Arasaka. Dude's trying to save his own life and prevent his dad from becoming an immortal all-powerful dictator who rules the world forever and destroys all free will on Earth. So yeah, when it all goes to crap, he has to act fast, take out Saburo, and just fly by the seat of his pants. If you leave him in control, it's revealed that he sabotaged Arasaka from within, leading to their near-collapse and expulsion from America, before the Board finally terminates him.

[@gamer47e17]

I think you're right, though honestly I can see any of the major corps willing to pay for it even if they learn next to nothing from it, purely because it gives them a small insight into Arasaka tech, and given the tech we see, I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility that getting and analyzing the chip could jump start their own versions of soulkiller.

[@ved2360]

@@gamer47e17 That's just the thing, back-engineering tech isn't that easy. To make a point of it, I doubt there's even a single human being alive that knows the entire hardware architecture of any kind of proprietary GPU or CPU that belongs to any company. It's simply too complicated to replicate. If you had to do it from scratch, you'd never succeed. And I couldn't hand the GPU off to a genius and have them rebuild it. In the game, Hellman invented the Relic program but he still couldn't do anything to help with the prototype chip in V's head. He has no idea of what production methods were used and probably no idea of the principles behind it. It's thoroughly possible Hellman can't even build the Relic in the exact same way on a different company's resources. Because he's lost access to Arasaka tech.

[@gamer47e17]

@@ved2360 Fair point, I just wanted to point out that the tech in universe can get pretty fucking crazy, and it might not be impossible to at least partially back engineer it to a point they could make their own working version, even if it works somewhat differently.

[@BlueViper8907]

SPACE! Omg the Tim Curry plug was perfect 😂 Also, not me waiting in anticipation for the recurring announcement of, 'The Hog Dog Man' 🤣

[@lydiscott]

Hot dawg man is the key to all this somehow

[@jakerooke174]

He escaped to the last place corrupted by capitalism

[@marcoamazo]

gotta love SPACE

[@unknown_spy_1984]

Ironically it IS corrupted by capitalism. SPACE!

[@bbd121]

How did I miss you? You're pretty cool, chica. Jackie and Beckie would be proud.

[@astray3856]

Me: thinking my cyberpunk phase was starting to die after 6 years. Your channel: exist Me: Aight, we're back in Night City chooms! But all jokes aside, I love your videos. They are so well-made and you have so many good points about the character and the whole narrative. Keep the good work, choom!

[@NathanBroden]

Never even thought of how Dex had no place in NC or that he hid away in a booth from the rest of The Afterlife until now. Great analysis, along with your other vids!

[@goobertime2119]

Part 2 of Dex analysis, let’s go!

[@dyamonde9555]

i think you're pretty spot on with your analysis, especially about Dex's situation at the start of the game. He probably really lives in the Motel, and we meet him in the car because he simply has no office. He choose absolute no-name mercs for the job because they could be duped easily, and probably wouldnt see the job for the disaster it was, and was always planning to screw us over somehow. He paid up front for the Flathead because Maelstrom was dictating terms to HIM, and he didnt have the pull or respect to even bargain with them. And then Royce doesn't even think twice to screw him over for double pay, no fear of retaliation at all. The only reason the heist doesnt go completely to shit at this point is because Dex had the accidental luck of landing V, the unknown , no-name hyper prodigy. I also agree with a comment someone else made here that T-Bug was crap as a Runner and Dex simply couldn't get a better one. And if V had actually been the simple Merc Dex was hoping to recruit, the entire heist would have been a non-starter. The whole endeavour really was doomed.

[@ReubenAStern]

You reminded me of the gunfight right next to his car and his rose tinted glasses... I noticed that on my first playthrough. Forgot it long since.

[@KevinoftheCosmos]

These are clever questions and observations. I was taken by surprise with Dex's betrayal, not noticing until the very last minute. It kinda shows how much of a gonk I was way back then.

[@ereder1476]

22:18 i am pretty sure yorinobu didn't want to kill takemura. He let him go on his wild goose chase. Not only does this make him look innocent and good, but also that at best it would lead to nothing, and at worse create a scape goat.... up until takemura called him and said he found the killer with certainty... meaning he found a witness. That's when he sent the automaton to kill them both.

[@Rufkin._]

i loved this so much, you framed Deter DeShawn's story so poetically and introspectively.

[@valkayrie1198]

I found you a couple weeks ago via your Doc video popping up on my timeline, absolutely loving your content! gonna be throwing your channel at all my fav CyberpunkRED GMs. I'm not well versed in Cyberpunk lore (yet haha) but I **love** discussing lore and details with them. 2077 is so deep and so saturated throughout the story that even a newcomer like me who only started when PL launched sometimes catches details my friends that played since launch have missed. I'm constantly blown away by how much more there is than any one person seems to notice. after watching your Doc vid I went back and watched every Cyberpunk video you've put up so far. I'm blown away by how much your production quality has improved from holding up the mic on your earpods til now!

[@booyahkos2100]

I started playing Cyberpunk again recently and I see your videos in my feed and I thought oh cool video analysis on characters in Cyberpunk let’s get lost down some rabbit holes

[@kevinjohnanand]

I'm so shocked that I only just discussed this channel! I've been looking for this kind of character analysis when it comes to cyberpunk. Time to binge!

[@Drakescythe9]

T-Bug's line to V about burning all bridges makes a lot more sense if you see her as a rat for DeShawn. She knew there was a chance that Dex's plan to double-cross V would fail, and she wanted to be able to avoid V coming after her if she found out.

[@adrgs12]

Started playing CP2077 again and just found your videos, glory to the algorithm

[@raysprotege]

This is the best Dex breakdown available on KZbin. Can’t wait to see what game captivates you next

[@RiverWijaya]

love these type of videos where there's a deep dive into each and every character I wish more videos like this were out there.

[@Revenant-oq9ts]

Yeah, with T-Bug offed by Black ICE, that Flathead they left on the Arasaka runner's face would have still had her digital footprint all over it. Takemura would have found it near instantly.

[@sumerian88]

You're excellent at reading the characters and the context of their stories. Really entertaining.

[@nathanweitzman9531]

I'm just 10-15 hours into my first cyberpunk 2077 run. A bit blown away, was not expecting this much depth and thought into a game. Things like how the staging of the two main 'deaths', V followed by Silverhands demise left me wondering, after coming to consciousness in the landfill, not just where I was but *who* I was. And having that experience revisited so quickly yet again at Viks Your deshawn videos are fantastic. I am very looking forward to viewing the rest of your content after completing my playthrough

[@Cryptic0013]

I've been on another run after asking the same things, and I keep noticing these hints in dialogue. Vik lets slip that he's trying to save "what's left of you," implying V is a lot less intact than everyone seems to think. And Misty hands you those pills that will accelerate Johnny's takeover. She says it's just to end the agony, if it gets too much to bear, but... the game hints that her powers of clairvoyance aren't just superstition. What if she knows something, by looking at your aura, that you just aren't ready to mentally process yet?

[@nathanweitzman9531]

@@Cryptic0013 I'd buy that possibility %100, the mystic/spiritual stuffs in cyberpunk are pretty heavily leaned into so far from what I've seen The bit with Misty in Jackie's apartment before the ofrenda kind of doubled her up for me as an extremely perceptive, sensitive and kind soul and likely critical to the game plot. Picking an appropriate offering felt more meaningful for 'just a video game character' than I anticipated. It's been interesting to see how Silverhands is playing out. The whole premise of a relic storing someone's 'soul' is already loaded theologically, then the game has advertisements from Arasuka selling and commodifying that. It's tempting to look at it as a sort of 'jacob wrestling with angel' scenario, or 'jesus descends to hell to fight satan' scenario but I'm not sure if V is enough of a main character for that yet. Then again, Vik does state V probably has the 'lowest net worth' of anyone with a relic in them.

[@Cryptic0013]

@@nathanweitzman9531 It really is fascinating! BTW, if you return to Misty and ask her, she'll give you a tarot reading. They give some interesting insights into both future events and the people you've already met. Also, the tarot cards you find around town have these notes on them, and if you can connect them to certrain people or events, it offers further insight. I won't spoil anything, but both they and "Garry the Prophet", whom you can meet in the alley near Vik's, have at least a grain of truth in them, even if their interpretation is a little off kilter. It's a big part of what makes the game so fun. I've played it multiple times, and on every run, I find another side quest or hidden encounter, and piece together a little more of the mystery.

[@Thatfantasyfootballchick]

As a former English teacher - glad you brought up the excelsior poem …really well done video!

[@rx42711]

18:15 Misty ever said, avoid the red color

[@saqhorov]

your analysis vids are so detailed and well done, there's clearly a ton of effort you put into them, and they are FANTASTIC because of it!

[@RustyShacklefardd]

I like how when you meet up with Jackie and he tells you about the job, there's a dialogue option about Fixers. "They find the cheapest gonks for the job." Ironically V and Jackie were those gonks

[@silverbane8065]

yep, i often quote V when people say about Dex and so on. V literally predicted their own demise in the landfill, and even Jackie agrees. "hit the nail on the head there" it really is unfortunate that you can't just get the flathead for him then bow out and say "hm...Nah, this jobs a bust. Won't bill you for the Flathead, if you won't try to force me into your dead end sceme... We go our seperate ways, we never heard of each other again, got it?" and walk away. that's where the tabletop is king. a flexible GM would have been able to think on their feet and redirect the story from that point onwards. i imagine V would have ended up meeting the poor gonk Dex hired someplace, likely on deaths door, and perhaps have carried on from there.

[@pabloarias9734]

Just so happened to stumble across the deshawn video from last week and low and behold the second part shows up today. It's a shame you don't have a bigger following since you're 1 willing to show your face adding that personal touch other cyberpunk enthusiasts don't usually have, and have respect for your viewers time getting right into the content without minutes and minutes of preamble or intro

[@ZeallustImmortal]

Dont blame delamain? Were people blaming him? Whats wrong with them?

[@WforBogart]

a thing relating to Dex increasing the percentage. if you outright tell Dex that Evelyn is planning to fuck him over, he'll be very appreciative, saying he values honesty and increases the percentage of the payout happily, to which Jackie says ''cool!''

[@jetdathreat]

Found you likely because I'm doing my phantom liberty run and have been watching a lot of lore videos. I'm in awe of just how much effort went into the story. I don't think many award winning movies go into this much detail. One thing about t bug, i do recall from another video that there is either an off hand comment or message about her body being found after the heist.

[@nihili4196]

I find it kinda funny that at some point V, Dex and Bartmoss are laying in same dump, meters apart from each other. There is funny poetry in this.

[@Finnatese]

Wow really cool insight! I’m just playing through it again now so I’ll have to keep a closer eye out

[@ChimeraArchive]

A part of me assumes T-Bug has been assisting with the funding for this as a part of the deal she hypothetically has with Dex. Netrunners are notorious in the TTRPG lore for being nosy and sticky fingered where potential paydays and paydata are concerned, if T was well and truly convinced this "one last job" would put her in a Ceretian villa for the rest of her days, I imagine she'd pony up for the opportunity. Incidentally, I wonder if T-Bug was a former member of or trained by a Voodoo Boy.

[@theguybehindyou4762]

"Hides behind sunglasses and a cloud of smoke" I actually hadn't caught that. Good eyes on you.

[@lila95_]

Thank you for adding another breakdown video! As for his plan, I am sure Goro or Arasaka could easily track down the man who hired Delamain that V and Jackie used. I highly doubt Delamain will risk being run down by Arasaka for a petty fixer.

[@connorupton4200]

This was some pretty good analysis. Recently played the game and didn’t realize how caught up Jackie was in the lies of Dex. Maybe I also was 😱

[@Luis_Alfredo141]

Another gonk move Dex pulled was asking the VDBs about Evelyn; he was basically asking the same people that got Ev to record the BD, that she was betraying and later tried to zero her by frying her synapses at Clouds cause she was a loose end. My guess is the VDBs knew about the heist before Dex even assembled the team and the only reason they did nothing was cause this was their playbook, to let others "ranyon" do the dirty work before flatlining them.

[@MrEstaporqueria1]

I love how the catalyst for the whole story could be resumed as “a bunch of people waaaay out of their league almost trigger the corporate equivalent of a civil war”

[@SpottedHares]

I think it’s funny that most likely the only time he ever got his hands dirty doing the work him self was the last thing he did before his permanent retirement. He truly was not cut out for this life.

[@douglastarbox7640]

Biggest hole in the heist was the utter lack of keeping an eye on Yorinubu and no contingency to make sure he stayed away from his suite.

[@soupking5392]

Wouldve loved to see some more world building for the heist, It could’ve been great early game. Cause after that exploring night city its up to you to figure out whats going on. And the world is so beautiful understanding it/where you are and whats happening is so important to truly enjoy it. Great video btw

[@TheBoostedDoge]

Another subtle indicator of Dex's paranoia and discomfort at the Afterlife (and Night city) is his choice to reverse park. Ensuring he can make a quick getaway if he encounters a disgruntled Animal

[@BigDamnGyro]

One of my favorite little hints for Dex's need to reach the top again as fast as possible is how impatient he is upon the check ins after Evelyn and Maelstrom. "How's thing's looking Ms. V." The cadence in his voice is absolutely a mix of impatience and desperation and easily one of the best hints at the cracks in Dex's facade. It's VERY jarring. Shout out to Michael-Leon Wooley for his voice work.

[@markittystuff]

This is a month old but I could not find it sooner. This was an incredible deconstruction of Dex's motives and his insecurities about his image that he wanted to project on to people like V and Jackie and how people like Evelyn do so much to put pressure on how he operates cause he likes the read he can have on people that won't question him like people like Jackie. I also loved the part about Delamain cause yeah it is odd that he would pin up so much before the heist to insure that at least the relic would get to him no matter if V and Jackie were alive in the car. I mean it makes sense why he wouldn't trust someone else's driving let alone surviving and having that car at his disposal that's automated would just basically guarantee that even if his pawns fell he'd get his cut and can rush out with the relic and consider the gig a success at least for him. I think Evelyn having a deep tie to Pacifica solidifies in my head that with her knowledge and lack of read from Dex's perspective put him so much on edge that I think no matter the ending if V and Jackie were successful that V and Jackie were going to end up in the scrapyard cause even if the pawns survived he still has someone else in his operation that could have more tricks up her sleeve and can tell V and Jackie what bs Dex put em through. I'm so glad I found this channel I played the game countless times and this deep dive was amazing and gives me a finer perspective on just the inner gripes and schemes in this late stage capitalistic world that doesn't seem to grant anyone any happy endings whether it be an immediate end or a lack of discipline on ambitions to pursuit another gig that'll "surely go well this time"

[@linktojinx]

Recommend play speed: 1.5x

[@AndragonLea]

I absolutely love this part of the story because it highlights that people in Cyberpunk are still people. If you work in the moral grey areas and outside of the law, it's perfectly possible to bite off more than you can chew or end up collateral because someone else messed up or acted outside of your expectations. Dexter is a bottomfeeder and opportunist but he also did everything mostly right. He hired competent people, he vetted the weak links with jobs to make sure they could do what they said he did. The people he hired weren't more connected than him, so anyone trying to double cross him would know they're on thin ice. His only real crime was that he didn't have an exit route prepared in advance and wasn't ready or able to roll with the punches when the job went south as hard as it did and drew the kind of attention no broker wants. Well, other than going up against effing ARASAKA. That's kind of a big fat nope in building-sized neon red letters for anyone who wants to keep sucking air. If he had been a bit smarter he would've had an exit strategy in case he got burned. A location that wasn't wired very well for corpo runners to make him, unmarked vehicle, some bolthole he could run into prepared with enough cash and gear to outfit him for moving somewhere like Dogtown where Arasaka wouldn't have as easy a time finding and bagging him. Instead, he tried to grovel, not realizing that he meant as much to anyone who is anyone in Arasaka as V meant to him: another loose end to tie up with literally no backing to speak of that would take a permanent solution off the table. It's the perfect reminder that even people you thought were important could be flatlined like so much gutter trash if they stepped out of line, outlived their usefulness or even just got unlucky.

[@skull1lego]

This video reminds me of “the emperor” tarot that is found on the wall outside konpeki plaza. Reading it makes you think of Yorinobu killing sobaru. But you can strike the similarities between yorinobu and dexter, but where as one has near infinite resources literally sitting on an ivory tower to achieve complete authority the other is having to start on the bottom.

[@Suprisedbuzz]

I gotta say, i fuckin love your content. Your slowly turning into one of my favorite creators. The video quality is insane.

[@Nyghtking]

I imagine how it went with Oleg was, since Takemura works for Arasaka, he probably has those cybernetic eyes that let you see enemies within a radius of yourself when scanning, so he may have justed up to a door that Oleg was behind, stabbed his katana through it and into Oleg's head, killing him, pushing the door opened and Oleg's now dead body out of the way and stepping into the room with Dex.

[@freakboy220]

Something bugs me, if T-bug was left to fend for herself along with Rhino while Dex ran off into space then why would she agree to work with him again? It must have been a much bigger cut of the money than whatever she was offered for the Pacifica gig if she was willing to risk getting screwed again. or is she really that loyal to Dex?

[@ImpendingRiot83]

God I wished my Corpo former-Arasaka-Intelligence-agent V could’ve saved Jackie with the instinct she showed in the Militech client interaction; she was smart enough to see right through Dex. She should’ve been able to get through to the poor bullheaded fool. Made me so sad my first playthrough.

[@ZeallustImmortal]

Man i was waiting for this. Here it is. Cant wait to jump in later

[@lydiscott]

Ahhh thank you! 😄

[@Oblong-Orange]

I found this vid to be a massive treat in my day to day, thank you very much for your insight.

[@roryrousseau111]

Great analysis on Dex! I thought I noticed everything on him, but you pointed out some very insightful details I hadn’t even realized. Well written hatable character, especially when the only thing you end up liking him for is teeing up Takamura’s intro (I think it’s the first time you see takemura…). Glad you didn’t stop with Edgerunners as 2077 is a goldmine of characters deserving of analysis, looking forward to whoever comes next!

[@HerrIMorke]

I super appreciate your videos. They're thorough, informative, well narrated and genuinely interesting!

[@lydiscott]

Glad you like them! 😄 thank you so much!

[@beige_projection]

7:24 This is why Corpo V is the best for me. I just love when Corpo V uses her office smarts.

[@cantide]

Thanks for another great video. I agree that even getting the relic, Dex would have had the same ending... He is a type of person I have met, people who clearly know how to manage others but don't know the difference between ambition and greed, good judges of character who that recognize talent when they see it, but instead of nurturing it, they see the opportunity to exploit it, ignoring that talent needs to be developed with experience and that learning from experience entails difficult falls. Dex is betting on catching capable people early, before they realize their own value and dispose of them when they become a problem. Dex never learned from his past experience, perhaps because he always had someone to take the blame for.

[@Cryptic0013]

Yup. Play out the scenario. Say that Saburo shows up later or V and Jackie leave earlier. Whole heist goes to plan. So now Jackie and an alert, canny V with his head in the game leave with the chip... what then? Maybe Evelyn and the boys cut him out. Maybe T-Bug screws them all. Maybe Jackie and V just straight flatline Oleg in a heartbeat. It's pretty clear from the Maelstrom situation that Dex has no idea how to handle situations where his first plan didn't work. His whole "Plan B" is just to try shooting you, and that never goes well with V, if he's not so addled and shocked by his best friend's recent demise that he can't see it coming.

[@claytonbigsby6911]

God this video is so good!! Just discovered your Pt 1 at random, 3 hours ago. I was waiting for the Pt 2, but I had no idea it would be so soon!! Thank you for your time and diligence in breaking this all down for us!! Wishing you all success ❤🎉💖

[@LLamaClipped]

I just found your channel yesterday and I've been binging all of your videos, keep up the good work! You hands down make my favorite cyberpunk related videos.

[@pillmatik4239]

Yes!!! I just found this channel and now you dropped a new video. Dexter was someone you can see the betrayal coming a mile away. Any human with a big ego and low self esteem tend to be flakey. Add in the criminal element and his cowardice, Dexter Deshaun was a man Jackie and V probably would’ve planned to take out after the job anyway

[@psychoticbreaks167justletm4]

Anybody who grew up in a hood new dex was a buster from the jump. People out my way would say V and Jackie did it to themselves. And V proves that poor judgement MORE THAN ONCE with Kurt lol

[@Cryptic0013]

Even to the end, he was trying to bluster. Telling Takemura "She's heavier than she looks" when he's too weak to move your body on his own. So much for "The Beast Inside." Closest this man's ever been to Beast Mode is blowing up a toilet after too many vending machine burritos.