Fridge / BioShock 2

As a Fridge subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

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Fridge Brilliance

• Got peeved off by the difficulty change in BioShock 2? Consider this: the only living non-spliced people were in hiding (Tenenbaum, Grace Holloway, Stanley Poole) and the rest were immediately killed by splicers. Splicers are constantly battling each other to harvest ADAM from their corpses. So between Jack's departure and Delta's resurrection, splicers have been fighting each other with the better spliced prevailing, and the ones Delta fought are the strongest of the strong. In other words, natural selection is the reason you can only have a Big Daddy as the protagonist of BioShock 2.
  • In addition to the natural selection bit, it seems like a few of the Splicers from Bioshock 1 have been Killed Off for Real in the span of 10 years thanks to being unfit for the changes. Ducky, or at least his original Grumpy Old Man incarnation from Bioshock 1, would have been too old to do well in the free for all that Rapture became, and it's doubtful his lifespan might come up to the events of the sequel. Pigskin is a reluctant, teenaged and very confused Splicer who despite being an athlete would have struggled to withstand the horrors of Rapture. Rosebud has the mania and ferocity to match up well with and against the other Splicers, but seeing how she likely despises the entire concept of a Little Sister thanks to her own daughter becoming victim to the procedure, she'd have no place in Sofia Lamb's cult.
• In Bioshock 2, some of the good/evil choices seem odd, especially since at least two of the "good" choices could be argued as being more evil than the respective "evil" choice. The explanation for that is simple; it's not YOUR morality making it so. It's Subject Delta's. Delta is conditioned to be a Big Daddy, which also reestablished his moral compass as a Big Daddy. To him, the "right' thing to do is to disengage once a person is no longer a threat to himself or to the Little Sister in his charge. The "wrong" thing to do would be to kill someone for any other reason than to protect himself or said Little Sister.
• Gil Alexander/Alex the Great garners some dislike on the basis that the developers tried to make him too much like Sander Cohen and created what was essentially a bad knock-off. Gil's similarities to Cohen may have been because he probably had some of Cohen's ADAM spliced into him, giving him his thoughts and memories, and possibly even some aspects of his personality which took over. The great Sander Cohen isn't one to share the spotlight, after all...
• The area of Rapture that was forcibly sunken into the oceans depths at the end of BioShock 2 doesn't stand out too much, until one realizes that area was called: Persephone, in theme with the other mythological motifs in Rapture, this one referencing the Queen of the Underworld. More so that it’s sunk into a trench. Ocean trenches are essentially the closest we can get to the literal "underworld" of the earth.
• On the surface, BioShock 2 seems like it just exchanged a Libertarian Objectivist villain for an Authoritarian Collectivist. This is a seemingly shallow premise, especially given Levine's statement that the game's real message wasn't specifically anti-Objectivist, but that mankind's ideas of what makes a perfect society fail because we're still only human. Now think back to Sophia Lamb's philosophy and goals: "Utopia cannot precede the utopian." Her plan was to genetically re-engineer everyone into "utopians", who lacked the inherent flaws of human nature. She took Levine's message, and applied it! And, guess what, that failed too. She's as much a rebuttal to the real message of the first game as the superficial one.
• Ryan Amusements is actually a very sorry excuse for a theme park with very little attractions to offer. There is only one ride (Journey to the Surface), one museum exhibit (Rapture Memorial Museum), one Plasmid store (Hall of the Future), one restaurant (El Dorado Lounge), and one gift shop. It might be interesting when you visit it for the first time, but afterward why would anyone want to pay to go there again? And considering that there isn't any outside tourism in Rapture, it should have gone out of business a long time ago. The answer of why it manages to remain open is simple: Do you see any other theme parks in Rapture?
• Delta uses the trains, not the Bathyspheres. Why? Because to use the Bathyspheres you need the DNA from Ryan and Delta doesn't have that. Eleanor mentions that she and Tenenbaum managed to get the Vita Chambers to sync to Delta's DNA, but they are under a tight schedule and Delta needs to hurry. Between that, the fact Bathyspheres are probably more difficult to reprogram (and fit a Big Daddy inside), and just plain difficulties for Eleanor and Tenenbaum to communicate, they probably decided to just make sure Delta is up and running if the train works just as well.
• Notice how every time you see an Alpha Series Big Daddy underwater, he's dead. In fact, if there are any Alphas still alive when you flood the docking bay in Persephone, they will die almost immediately. Well, look closer at their diving suits. Their suits have gaping rips in them, and tumors have broken through in various places. A few models even have whole sections of their suits torn away. The porthole in the helmet is broken, such that it barely even lights up anymore. Age, violence, and ADAM mutations have rendered the Alpha Series' diving suits useless for deep-sea diving. So any time you see an Alpha Series Big Daddy out in the ocean water, this is what is happening inside that suit.
• Why do the Portholes of the Big Sisters glow red? Because the little sisters in the first game had red eyes.◊
• The "Ducky" splicer - the Rapture Constable/Security Guard - model and vocals significantly differ between Bioshock I and II; to the point where the uniform is different and the second game's character voice is the same as that of the "Waders" splicer - the religious fanatic. This seems odd until you realise that all the old security guards must be long dead - these guys were technically the last remnants of Rapture's original authority; how long would they last once Ryan died? - and Sofia Lamb must have built up a new force of guards using fanatics of her regime; hence the new look, uniform, and voice.
• The buckles on the Big Sisters' suits make a lot more sense when you realise they resemble the straps on straightjackets, and in the little sister training facility there are restraining straps on the beds.
  • Further fitting this, Eleanor's Big Sister outfit lacks such straps. A way of showing that, unlike the other Big Sisters, she has maintained her sanity, thanks to her mother. Lack of such restraints could also indicate her being free from her mother's grasp
• Giving the player bad karma for what looks like a clear act of mercy by fulfilling Gilbert's last request of killing him appears backwards. It makes a lot more sense when you remember that the man Gilbert Alexander is effectively already dead and has been for years. The being Alex the Great clearly wants to live and won't be able to hurt anyone that the player wouldn't have killed also. The player has no right to decide that his quality of life is unworthy for him, and granting Gilbert's request will result in Alpha murdering Alex in cold blood.
• In BioShock 2, it turns out the ADAM-producing slugs eat a type of polyp that has the effects of an Enrage plasmid when thrown at Splicers. So that's why splicing up induces a mental breakdown! Not to mention why Little Sisters become homicidal Big Sisters as their conditioning wears off... and why doing too much harvesting grants you a bad ending!
• In the first BioShock, the Little Sisters are pretty creepy-looking, and pretty ugly, falling under the Unintentional Uncanny Valley. In the sequel, they look much cuter and adorable. It could be chalked up that the designers got better with models... or the fact that in BioShock 2, you're playing as a Big Daddy. Big Daddies see their Little Sisters as something they must protect. You're seeing them through the eyes of the Big Daddy.
  • Alternatively, since the new Little Sisters were all kidnapped from the surface, they were less affected by the toll of crawling all over Rapture gathering ADAM than the old ones.
• In the second game you don't actually see any of the genetic memory "ghosts" like in the first game. That's because Sophia already had them extracted from the plasmids so she could put them in Eleanor before Delta used them.
• Between the two games, the way enemies are handled is different. In Bioshock 1, you mostly fight the Splicers in small numbers or one-on-one and in isolated situations, and their overall toughness varies between pushovers to inexplicably sturdy and dangerous foes to face. They also can be found fighting each other to the death if they encounter another Splicer. In Bioshock 2, the Splicers are even less bulletproof than before but they also now attack in large numbers, sometimes even charging at you in groups of dozens. In other words, under individualist Andrew Ryan's leadership, some Splicers are able to rise above their peers through competition (combat) and create a tangible difference in power between each Splicer depending on how much ADAM each Splicer can amass. Under the collectivist Sofia Lamb's leadership, the Splicers unite as a single force to fight for their common good, but those Splicers are unable to get enough ADAM for themselves to make them comparable to Ryan's Splicers, since hoarding ADAM and using it all for oneself would be against their collectivist ideals.
• Splicers in 2 will often dramatically scream at the top of their lungs when killed by even the more mundane of attacks, like a quick melee strike. But this change is fitting when you realize that you're no longer playing as Jack, a human using conventional weapons like a revolver or a wrench. You're a Big Daddy smashing skulls open with the strength of a metal giant and shooting at people with .50 caliber bullets, whaling harpoons, and a shotgun with barrels the size of a persons face, with a high-powered drill added in for good measure.
• During the loading screen for Dionysus Park, instead of a generic music piece you usually get, you hear the song "Here Comes the Bogeyman" by Henry Hall — which serves as subtle foreshadowing for the level you're about to enter. The song that describes a demonic entity that preys on those weaker than itself but is also a Dirty Coward who’s easily deceived. You then spend the rest of the level dealing with Stanley Poole, an unrepentant mass murderer who quickly lapses into spineless begging the moment you go to confront him.
  • The soundtrack for the game includes the song "The Boogeyman" by Chick Bullock, which describes a much more intimidating version of the character than Henry Hall's song. This one makes sense when you realize that depending on your choices it can apply to several people. Sofia Lamb literally begins the game by abducting a child, and in later levels she condemns Stanley Poole to be murdered, mutates Gil Alexander into a barely recognizable form, and abducts Sinclair before transforming him into a Big Daddy. She can certainly seem like a Boogeyman for the citizens of Rapture. But in the darkest possible version of the story, Subject Delta himself becomes a Boogeyman-like figure, who kidnaps and murders Little Sisters while terrorizing the people of Rapture.
• In the first game, should Jack choose to save the Little Sisters instead of harvesting them, they initially try to resist until the process is completed, yet Subject Delta is able to do it easily. Why? Because Jack is a complete stranger (one the Little Sisters come to trust, but they have no idea who he is before he arrives). Being picked up by someone they've never seen who is about to do something they probably don't understand would obviously be unsettling; it's usually a death sentence for the girl if a stranger manages to physically grab one of the Sisters in Rapture. The outcome may be a positive one but that doesn't mean they realize that right away. Subject Delta on the other hand is a Big Daddy, someone the Little Sisters instinctively trust. He already has experience with the Little Sisters and knows how to properly approach them, so saving them is much easier.
• Given that Little Sisters see burning barrels and the like as fire places, them reacting to splicers getting lit on fire with "Marshmallows!" makes a lot of sense. From their view, it might look like they just conjured up a campfire or something.
• The gameplay for this game, particularly in terms of combat and plasmid use, has been greatly improved from it's predecessor. Out of universe, it's because the developers learned from the first time, and improved the gameplay. In-Universe, Subject Delta was mentioned to have helped test the original plasmids for Fontaine Futuristics, explaining how he is able to have more versatile upgrades for the various Plasmids. He had practice using them.
• Part of Sofia Lamb's Goals, in order to create "Utopians" is to create people that are not only genius level intelligent, but also skilled at a vast variety of tasks, depending on the situation. Combined with using Jack's mental conditioning, she wants them to be selfless. In other words.... she is making everyone a Jack of All Trades.

Fridge Horror

• If Delta chooses to spare Grace Holloway near the end of Pauper's Drop, Grace Holloway will only be heard from again early in Siren Alley. Seeing as how Sofia Lamb mentions not being able to be swayed as easily as Grace to Delta as he exits Pauper's Drop, it's likely that Grace became a victim of Sofia's wrath for her Heel–Face Turn.
• Should Delta spare Stanley Poole, then considering Sofia Lamb has opened the door leading to his booth, he may not last long against the Splicers still running around Rapture. That is assuming that, like Grace, he doesn't become a victim of Sofia.
  • Then again, that could be your plan.
• Sure, the idea of unknowingly killing Mark Meltzer at some point in the game is depressing. What about all of those other Big Daddies, in either game? They are all Faceless Goons until you realize that every single one of them were, at one point in the past, normal humans, and many were likely coerced or outright forced to become mindless monsters.
  • Same with Subject Delta. Somewhat chilling when you find out you were made an example to Rapture by being turned into a Big Daddy...
  • It does leave one to wonder about a particular aspect of the Big Daddies- part of the conversion process involves altering the subject's vocal chords and making them unable to speak for reasons not made clear. This is of course with the exception of Sinclair, who is kidnapped by Sofia Lamb who subsequently converts him but leaves his vocal chords intact. The whole game seems to lean in the direction that being transformed into a Big Daddy is an excruciating experience, but after being converted Sinclair voices his complete lack of control over himself and the fact that it hurts just to express himself at all, using what little control he does have to plead for Subject Delta to kill him to end the pain. This whole passage suggests that being turned into a Big Daddy might just be A Fate Worse Than Death. It also suggests a reason for the vocal surgery- distorting the subject's voice into whale-like moans (in addition to sealing them inside a suit) makes it impossible for them to express themselves. They are truly alone, unable to communicate with others or get help. It suddenly makes you wonder if those bellowing noises are actually cries of pain or pleas for help. Is it a Mercy Kill every time Jack or Subject Delta takes down a Big Daddy?
  • One has to wonder what it's like for Gil Alexander, having been drafted in for experiments which have made him into a monstrous, immensely disturbing foetus-like creature through feeding him gigantic amounts of mutagenic gloop and now not even being recognisably human, let alone having friends, conversation, a love life or anything he (may have) had as a human. All after having his body contort into something vomit-inducing disturbing, which is probably not the most enjoyable process. That fucking sucks, damn near putting him on a Woobie level. Then, for extra Fridge Horror, try imagining what he'd do should he be released free into the ocean as part of him begs to be allowed. How, precisely, do you think it would end up having THAT floating around?
• Given that Sofia Lamb was able to obtain power, thanks to the power vacuum left from the deaths of Andrew Ryan and Frank Fontaine... who ELSE will want to obtain power in Rapture now that she's gone? Assuming that Rapture is going to last much longer structurally.

Fridge Logic

• Why did Eleanor have the BioShock 2 style Little Sister dress when she was a little sister in the flashback, despite all the sisters issued with the same dress as seen in the treatment facility in BioShock? She was the first Sister successfully bonded to an Alpha, so she got a pretty dress and hair bow. Factory line Little Sisters weren't as valuable, so they had cheaper dresses. Later, when Lamb brought in new little sisters, she must have had the new little sister design based on Eleanor.
  • Maybe it was mostly since you play Subject Delta: A BIG DADDY. Just as Little Sisters, your view is not "real". It is perfectly possible that all little sisters look the same to him - like the one little sister that he was programmed to protect, Eleanor.
• How is there a Plasmid instructional video for the "Summon Eleanor Lamb" Plasmid? First of, not only were Big Sisters yet to be created, by the time that the Rapture Civil War went down, but that even after Sofia Lamb took power, the Big Sisters were created as a stopgap to maintain the life blood of her society. Secondly, even after Big Sisters were created, and made to be a standardized force, it would be incredibly unlikely that such a Plasmid would be created for someone to summon a Big Sister at will, much less, one that was as unique as Eleanor Lamb herself. Third, HOW, did Eleanor create/gain access to a plasmid like that in such a short time? Presumably, such a power would have, if it was made afterall, been INCREDIBLY restricted of a power, perhaps limited to those that were considered responsible enough to not mishandle the ability to summon a Big Sister.
  • It's possible for the man-on-the-street to make their own plasmids if they know what they're doing (the Brute is the result of the dregs of several body-enhancing gene tonics being mixed together, for example), and Eleanor collected ADAM from a whole bunch of people. It's likely she's picked up some things from that. A bit of Security Command level 3, Teleport, and her own ADAM to fill in the gaps, then a (relatively) clean Plasmid jar/syringe, shake well before serving. As for the video, she's likely seen plasmid commercials as a child and projected something similar in the same way she telepathically communicates with Delta. Or it's Gameplay and Story Segregation for the sake of showing you how it works.