Madsen, P.I. [EP 1-4 SPOILERS, LOTS OF WORDS]

David Madsen. Love him or hate him, he's undeniably an important player in the story of Life is Strange, both for his role as Chloe's stepfather and as the security chief of Max's school. When we first meet him, he seems utterly unsympathetic, getting in Max's face with an aggressive attitude and baseless suspicions. Soon after, we first see him interact with Chloe by first yelling at her angrily from downstairs, then barging into her room to badger her some more--depending on Max's choice to intervene or not, he may even become so incensed that he hits Chloe across the face. From the start, he's set up to be a hotheaded, overbearing bully at work and an uncompromising disciplinarian at home. The player's dislike and suspicion only grow when we find evidence of David's covert surveillance activities, including taking photographs and tracking the schedules of Max and Kate Marsh. Especially when we start getting end-of-episode cutscenes showing rows of some kind of binders or file folders with girls' names on them. Seems like the kind of records David would keep. But for all his swagger and bark, this former Marine is no Lt. Bull Meecham. In this overly-detailed and worryingly long analysis, I'll assemble what I've absorbed about David Madsen from my playthroughs of the game and make the case that he's not only one of the good guys, but maybe the most important good guy besides Super-Max herself. I'm going to break this up into two or three posts. I'll also provide links to some appropriately deductive investigation music to keep you awake as you read my stupid ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. Like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBOv1Ce6olA Paranoid, hot-tempered, stubborn, even abusive--David Madsen could be called any of these things, and with good reason. And if you don't think that a person's motivations or their ultimate goals are important in understanding their behavior, you might stop there. For me, though, there's simply too much evidence of his sincere desire to help protect innocent people for me to dismiss David as merely a jumped-up bully who gets off on pretending to be a spy. This isn't just going to be an exercise in David Madsen apologetics, though--I want to use evidence and logical inference to make the case that not only is David actively working together with Nathan Prescott, this isn't a bad thing, and may in fact represent Arcadia Bay's best hope to bring down Sean Prescott once and for all.In understanding a person's motivations, it's often important to dig into their past. What do we know about David Madsen? Well, he was a Marine. Specifically, he was involved in reconnaissance. We know that he was a combat veteran. His traumatic battlefield experiences provided with his chosen specialty of intelligence-gathering create the perfect recipe for an aggressive, paranoid self-made sleuth. If you've known combat veterans, then you understand how difficult it can be to make the transition from an environment where death and killing are a fact of everyday life, to a "normal" civilian life with its radically different norms and expectations. David is someone who was broken down and rebuilt as a professional killer. When he left the Corps, he had to undergo the same transformation in reverse; it hasn't been entirely successful. He seems emotionally tone-deaf and unable to get a handle on problems that can't be solved by shouting at them. He especially has no idea how to deal with teenage girls like Chloe and Kate whose own, very different traumas have left them in need of the kind of care he never learned how to provide. They may as well be from another planet. In episode 1, David tries to imply that he understands Chloe's teen angst by making reference to his own rebellious period when he was her age. What he doesn't understand--though it may seem obvious to most people--different people respond differently to different parenting. (Say that five times fast.) If the teenage David's "hell-raising" was rooted in a lack of discipline, and a firm hand got him back on track, he naturally assumes the same hard-ass techniques will work with Chloe and any other young people he encounters who seem to have lost their way. This misapprehension may only be reinforced by his relationship with Nathan, but we'll get into that later. Rather than being a bad person, I think he just doesn't get it."So what?" you might ask. "He may be ignorant, but he still hurts people." That's true. But it's very important that we establish the difference between understanding a person's behavior and accepting their behavior. Knowing the "why" doesn't mean that the "what" is automatically kosher. Despite his very evident flaws and misdeeds, though, I think you have to give David credit for trying. He does love Joyce, and, yes, even Chloe--the problem is that his feelings and his actions don't match up, and even he may not be able to understand why. He says to Max in episode 1 that he doesn't want to fight with her, and "I don't want to fight with anyone anymore." This statement is a rare and revealing glimpse into the heart-of-hearts of a man scarred by war who wants to live in peace but hasn't quite figured out how. If Max intervenes to (falsely) claim the weed in Chloe's room as her own, he immediately perceives that she's lying, but he lets the subject drop anyway. Despite his tough talk, he doesn't actually report Max to the police. He's suspicious of her and her influence over Chloe, especially after seeing Chloe become so attached to Rachel, who got involved with a drug dealer and then disappeared, breaking her heart. But he also appreciates that Max would be willing to lie to protect Chloe. It's an impulse that resonates with his own desire to protect her. There's also an outcome (not deleting the answering machine message about the Blackwell break-in, I think?) where David lies to the police to protect Chloe by falsely claiming that her truck being IDed at Blackwell was a mistake because he was with her at the time. It's easy to be thrown by the mismatch between his feelings and behavior, but as much of an ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ as he acts, this is a man who cares about and is willing to risk himself for his family. In the end, I think that's the entire point of his solo investigation into the mysterious happenings in Arcadia Bay. If Rachel hadn't been so important to Chloe, and if he hadn't feared the same fate might befall her as well, would he have been so motivated to conduct this ambitious one-man recon war? David's own words sum it up best. If you sided with him in episode 3 and he doesn't get kicked out of the house, Max can talk to him in the garage in episode 4. She asks why he stays in Arcadia Bay if he hates the artsy "elitists" like Jefferson. His response: