You Can’t Go Back _ GTA Analysis Beyond The Mission

One Last Ride On The Road To GTA VI 📅 81 Days to launch

You Can’t Go Back to Who You Were

The first thing Franklin does when he sees Stretch is interesting. He walks straight past him. No dramatic confrontation. No excitement. Just… “I don’t want anything to do with this guy.”

Stretch immediately tries to re-establish the old relationship through insults and bravado but Franklin isn’t playing along. That’s the heart of the scene. Sometimes growing up means realising that the people you once considered friends aren’t necessarily people you still want in your life.

“You can’t change the people around you, but you can change the people you choose to be around.”

The deeper character point

There’s something really interesting happening with Franklin here. Lamar is still Franklin’s friend. Stretch isn’t and Franklin is trying to figure out why.

Lamar says; “We from the same set, Stretch.” Franklin understands that history but shared history doesn’t automatically equal shared values. That’s an important distinction.

Franklin is increasingly moving between two worlds. The world he came from and the world he’s trying to enter. Stretch represents the first. Michael represents the second and Lamar sits somewhere awkwardly in the middle.

That’s why Franklin is such an interesting protagonist. He’s constantly being pulled backwards by people who knew him before he started changing.

Then there’s a brilliant little line from Franklin; “I gotta spend my day with another middle-aged fool trying to recapture his youth.” That’s actually a pretty perceptive observation.

Franklin is surrounded by older men; Michael, Trevor, Stretch, who are all trying, in different ways, to reclaim something they’ve lost. Michael wants his old excitement. Trevor wants his old partnership. Stretch wants his old status. Franklin is the one person in this group who is actually moving forward. That’s probably why he’s the natural bridge between the characters.

Growing up isn’t always about leaving people behind. Sometimes it’s about realising they’ve already left you behind. Franklin hasn’t necessarily become a completely different person, he’s simply started wanting something different from life. Stretch hasn’t necessarily become a worse person. He’s just remained committed to a world Franklin is beginning to outgrow. That’s a much more interesting conflict than simply “old friends don’t get along.”

Sometimes the hardest part of growing is discovering that your old life doesn’t fit anymore.

With Grand Theft Auto VI on the horizon, I thought it was the perfect time to revisit one of the greatest games ever made. Over the days leading up to the launch of GTA VI, I’m returning to Los Santos for one last ride through the narrative.

In this new collection I’m analysing the story in the comments to tell you what I think is going on. Disagree with what I say? Get in there! My challenge is to get the whole game covered by GTAVI launch.

Link to full GTA playlist here:

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