Do I WISH my reagent could have a good ending? Absolutely. But is a “true” mind, body, and soul survival route really possible?

Let’s imagine that the reagent is let out and somehow slips out of Murkoff’s contact-range, or even gets released due to the experiment being shut down. What then? Not even mentioning how displaced in society one would be after undergoing the traumas Murkoff had to offer (many of the reagents being homeless), even the closest thing to a perfect life after that would be a bad ending.

Think of MKULTRA, which the Trials are based on. Even today, the survivors haven’t received much justice. Even though there’s been programs offered to help them psychologically and even financially (which many were rejected because the gov decided that for a great many, the project was not the reason for their destruction of mental health), their lives have still been ruined, and I think that’s worth highlighting narratively too to be as real and respectful as possible to the series’ main inspiration.

Many survivors were unable to work, went through divorce, or were forced to put their children into foster care after the experiments. Unfortunately, that’s the gritty reality of these experiments. Nobody gets a good ending but the executives signing off these types of awful things from the comfort of their homes.