Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness explores a time of change for its main characters. Years removed from the Raccoon City disaster that first brought them together, Leon S. Kennedy (Nick Apostolides) and Claire Redfield (Stephanie Panisello) are still leading the fight against bio-organic weapons but from different angles. Set after Resident Evil 4 but before the Kijuju incident in Resident Evil 5, Leon has embraced his role as President Graham’s top security man after saving his daughter from Los Iluminados. Meanwhile, Claire is overseas, working for an NGO in the war-torn country of Penamstan, where a bloody civil war has left the nation in crisis. But these heroes don’t stay apart for long. By the end of the first episode, they’re on a new mission that’ll take Leon to Chinese soil and Claire to the very depths of a conspiracy involving someone high up in the American government. And when zombies attack the White House, it’s clear that nobody is safe. So, how did this all play out and what does the ending mean for these characters? Here’s what you need to know: Since the very beginning, Defense Secretary Wilson (Brad Venable) has blamed the Chinese for a hacking incident and then a zombie outbreak inside the White House. In the final episode, we learn why. Wilson wants to a spark a war between the U.S. and China in order to unleash a new version of the Progenitor virus on the battlefield (we see him experiment with this during the crisis in Penamstan in flashbacks). The official American stance would make China the scapegoat, keeping the heat off Wilson and his big pharma cronies, while the chaos of war between two of the most powerful nations in the world, plus the unchecked spread of a virus that turns people into flesh-eating monsters, would leave the planet scrambling for a cure. That’s where a secret inhibitor Wilson has financially invested in would come in. The infected would have no other choice but to buy the inhibitor from Tricell, the pharmaceutical corporation that Wilson is in cahoots with, which would mean plenty of money going into the Secretary of Defense’s pockets. Yeah, he’s one of the biggest scumbags ever introduced to the Resident Evil universe, but karma sure does catch up with him when he’s infected with the very virus he helped create. How’s that medicine taste? Your own flavor?
What was Jason’s plan?
One of the earliest victims of Wilson’s machinations are Jason (Ray Chase) and his squad of soldiers, who drop into a warzone in Penamstan to rescue fallen helicopter pilot. Yes, it’s very Black Hawk Down but with a zombie outbreak. Jason and his men soon find out that they’ve all been infected with Wilson’s virus so that they can spread it to the people of Penamstan, which just so happens to border China. (Wilson was Jason’s commander at the time, which means he’s been working on this scheme for a very long time.) Although they’re able to escape the battlefield with their lives, they have no choice to continue doing Wilson’s bidding since he’s the only person who can provide them with the inhibitor that staves off the virus from turning them into monsters. Unable to live with this hanging over their heads, all of Jason’s comrades have killed themselves by the start of the show. But Jason has other plans. But after they recover the chip with evidence of Wilson’s plan, Jason reveals his TRUE plan. He wants to transform into the grotesque bioweapon he’s been infected with and expose this horror to the world so that they can see what the U.S. government and big pharmaceutical companies are capable of once and for all. After all, the true nature of the Raccoon City incident was covered up, which means the general. public still isn’t aware of the viruses turning people into monsters. Jason’s revelation would finally change all that. Shen Mei is killed while trying to stop Jason from unleashing his final plan, but Leon and Claire are finally able to put a stop to this entire nightmare deep within the lab where Wilson has been fabricating the virus.
What is Tricell?
After all is said and done, and the plan to ignite biological warfare between the U.S. and China is thwarted by the heroes, Infinite Darkness drops one major clue that Wilson isn’t the one truly pulling the strings. It’s actually a pharmaceutical corporation called Tricell. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because Tricell is one of the evil corporations that continued to experiment with Bio Organic Weapons, creating new versions of the Progenitor virus, after the fall of Umbrella. In fact, Excella Gionne, the leader of Tricell, is one of the main villains of Resident Evil 5, teaming up with Albert Wesker to unleash the Uroboros virus in Kijuju. It seems that the incident in Penamstan in Infinite Darkness was an early attempt by Tricell to experiment with the citizens of a troubled nation before unleashing its more ambitious plans for world domination in the later Chris Redfield adventure. Could a second season dive further into Tricell’s machinations before the events of Resident Evil 5?
Why do Leon and Claire part ways?
But there’s one thing left to do before the credits roll. Leon is still in possession of the chip with all the evidence on it. Should they finally expose the bio-organic weapons threatening the world and how some of the planet’s most powerful people are behind it all? Or should they continue to shield the general public from the truth? In the end, Claire is surprised by Leon’s loyalty to President Graham and the White House. Claire wants to use the chip to expose the truth, but Leon won’t give it to her. Knowing that proof that the Secretary of Defense was trying to unleash a deadly virus would seriously harm Graham’s administration and the credibility of the U.S. government, Leon decides to keep Wilson’s plot a secret. Unhappy with Leon’s decision, Claire decides to part ways with her former partner in zombie killing. While not implicitly stated, this key moment in their relationship might explain why they’ve never headlined another video game besides Resident Evil 2, choosing to go on their own, separate adventures instead. For now, their split seems permanent.
