[CHARACTER DESIGN] Sal and Georgie Marcano from Mafia 3

SPOILER ALERT
Mafia three game very commendable ambiguous, in which the plot is far from the last place and exists not just for show, but to tell a story. Many made three claims to the Mafia, they say, “This is just a story of revenge and nothing more.”. I will not go into comparisons with previous parts of the series. I’m not here to defend this game, but to look at its character development. We have the thesis “This is just a story of revenge and nothing more”. Many judgmental players present this as an argument against, rather than for, buying the game. However, I don’t agree with them. I just can’t understand since when did revenge plots become a bad thing?? Having put forward such a thesis, we are burying not only action films like “John Wick”, “Sin City” and many of Tarantino’s works, but also, together with them, dragging Shakespeare’s Coriolanus into the abyss of oblivion. Something, but this work definitely should not be forgotten. A plot about revenge can also convey ideas and tell an interesting story, and few will argue with this. Here we end the introduction and move on to our today’s heroes.

Sal Marcano as a character has absolutely no character issues. As a character, he has depth, and also, thanks to the acting, color. Sal is more American than Italian. It has a Southern Redneck charm, so to speak. However, he continues to honor and respect the Omerta of Cosa Nostra. Marcano knows the price of human life, and in general he soberly understands the price of anything. He doesn’t revel in power like a typical villain, but understands power and pays the price for it. He is clearly not greedy, because he spends a huge fortune simply to legalize the casino so that his son, when he takes the helm, will not have to do terrible things. He is moderately fair with his henchmen, but does not treat them as individuals, but rather as property. This character trait of Mr. Marcano can be seen in the betrayal scene, and in the ending, where Lincoln directly points it out.

In the betrayal scene, Sal kills all of Lincoln’s friends and participants in the robbery. And here this character’s problems begin and the question arises: “Why?». The option “They will let it slip” is not suitable, because all the participants in the robbery are either their own or their sons, as well as the person to whom Sal entrusted an entire area of ​​the city. The option “He just didn’t want to share the share” doesn’t work either, because in one of the scenes in the game, Sal lectures his son that money no longer plays any role for him, because the main thing is power. Personally, I needed to replay the game TWICE to understand all the cause-and-effect relationships here. The problem here was that due to grinding, this episode is forgotten by the player, but it will play a role in the plot. Sal needed the money to pay a bribe to the judge, whose soul we will come to in the MIDDLE OF THE GAME. It is necessary to bribe the judge so that he helps Sal in legalizing the casino in the city.

The screenwriter, of course, makes https://casinojoyuk.net/login/ excuses in the scene discussing the robbery plan that Sammy (the boss of the Hollow district) “was no longer the same,” although the problem with the Haitians was solved and money began to flow from him again. He proposes the candidacy of the head of the Hollow district to Lincoln, but he refuses because he is loyal to Sammy. Probably, Sal decides to kill everyone in the bar precisely after Lincoln’s refusal because, I don’t know, his ego angered him, which is not there. The player believes in Sal’s anger because he simply has not yet seen him as a character in the cutscenes that will appear throughout the game. What we end up with is that Sal betrayed black crime just to betray black crime. He doesn’t have a person to take Sammy’s place, money has begun to come from Sammy, and Sammy himself is not rowdy, but directly performs the functions that are assigned to him. Sal doesn’t say it directly, but judging by his accountant and personality, it’s clear that he agrees with what Leo Galante says at the end of the game.

There is only one thing that matters to me – my 20%
Here you can already understand that the problem with Sal, as a cog in the plot, is that as a character he is written perfectly, if not brilliantly. However, the actions that he performs behind the scenes do not make any sense, do not carry any logic. Let’s take a look at these actions.

Sammy is dead and the Hollow belongs to the Haitians who are in conflict with Sammy, Marcano’s man, so you understand. Haitians are not Sal’s people and Sal apparently doesn’t give a damn about what happens to the area that brought him profit. Moreover, at a time when he vitally needs this profit in order to legalize the gambling business. By the way, let’s decide in advance the question of why Sal didn’t recapture the areas recaptured by Lincoln. In terms of gameplay, this question is clear – the player will get tired of recapturing areas that he had already captured. However, plot-wise this is justified by the fact that, firstly, in the occupied areas there are boss guards everywhere. And secondly, this would start a gang war that would attract the feds, and even Sal’s expenses on the war would be huge. Now to the problems.

Why did Sal need to kill Vito, who also unfastened his share and kept the area in check?? The commission will bury Sal in the ground if he does anything to their people and Sal knows about it. Let me remind you, this is not a villain who is a villain because he is evil, but a mafia boss who wants to prepare his throne for his son. Yes, so that he doesn’t have to go through what he went through. Here, I think, everything is already clear. However, the screenwriter tried to excuse himself by saying that Vito was “giving Sal problems.”. What problems Vito, of course, will not tell, because this is not a script move, but an excuse.

This act surprised me even during my first playthrough of the game. Burke (Lincoln’s Irish partner) is undoubtedly a drunkard and a brawler. However, the game did not say that he did not unfasten Sal’s share or anything like that. Why, even Jonathan McGuire, who appears in the in-game documentary, says to the player’s face that NOBODY knows why he did it. There were no personal scores between them until Sal killed Burke’s son. A completely pointless act just to explain Burke’s motivation to take revenge on Sal.

Just these examples are enough to understand the fact that the characters were first written, and then the plot was not adjusted to them, but on the contrary – they were adjusted to the plot. And that’s the problem. A perfectly written character who has depth and his own story creates, don’t understand, just because the screenwriter needed it that way. And now – Georgie. There will be very little about him.

This character does not suffer from the screenwriter’s excuses, unlike his father, but this is only because his role in the plot is extremely small. Giorgi Marcano gives the impression of a frivolous daddy’s boy in the beginning. This image remains in the players’ minds until the very end. At the very end, on the very last mission, Georgie reveals himself as a character, telling the player that he betrayed Lincoln not because he treats his father’s subordinates as property, but because he is ready to do anything for him. This greatly changes the attitude towards him and after ten seconds he retires. This character can be understood, he has character and, most importantly, he is well motivated. But nevertheless, I believe that he was saved from the cold pen of the screenwriter only because he does not participate at all in the plot of the game, after the prologue.

Georgie and Sela are amazing characters. They are well motivated, they make sense, but outside of the cut scenes with Sal, or rather with his actions, there is some kind of devilry going on. He does things that are meaningless and contrary to his motivation. Their on-screen duet reveals them best. However, their screen time is extremely limited, so their potential is not fully realized. And yes, they had great potential to reveal themselves, the history and torment of Lincoln. But still we have what we have. Leave comments, write your opinion. Peace to your home. I take my leave.