u/thepudz

tl;dr at the end.

This whole post will contain spoilers for the entire DLC, but without spoiling anything: I think it was beyond excellent and a great take on some unexpected story beats. Well worth the low price!

Spoilers from here on out:

My main take on this DLC is that i am IMMENSELY glad there was 0 follow-up on the true ending. As much as I know people are desperate to know what happens post-Tadhana cafe, I have to give props to the devs on sticking with their guns and leaving it up to our interpretation. I think they made the right choice to explore the other ‘false’ endings so as to not detract from the main theme of Until Then: Acceptance, Moving On, and how grief can affect us and even define us if we’re not careful.

HOMECOMING: My Cathfia heart… I loved this chapter purely for the emotional aspect of it all. It’s very short, but I don’t think it needed a whole lot of length to it. It would’ve been nice to get a bit more focus on Sofia, but I think expanding on what was clearly a budding relationship of some sort between Sofia and Cathy from the main game is a good choice. I loved Sofia’s character and how she’s grown, how she’s still her quirky lil self, how her fashion choices linger as a side hustle, yet how we can clearly tell grief still affects her. Not only of Cathy, but of her grandmother, both impacting her heavily during a visit to a delicate part of her past.

Louise’s scene surprised me, but didn’t fall completely out of line with my understanding of her character. Any Louise in a timeline post-Cathy’s death is absolutely stuck in a headspace of working, studying, and immense doubt. She is almost always aware of something going on with disappearances and has been closely linked to Cath’s death. Especially if this is meant to take place after Ending 1, then yes, Louise acting cold and distance absolutely makes sense, even if it’s heartbreaking to see.

The dual-cut scene of exploring Sofia’s reaction after Cathy’s death, as well as how she shuts down is so fucking heartbreaking, and so tremendously well done. They did a phenomenal job expanding on a character who had brutally little screen time in the main game yet left such a deep mark on our hearts. This is the focus Sofia deserved. And the butterfly dress at the end is an absolute masterpiece touch to this.

SPARKS: I can tell this one is gonna be contentious and perhaps controversial. I also feel like there’ll be a lot of interpretations of this whole section that easily makes up 3/4 of the DLC as a whole. I am beyond fascinated to see what others think of this section, because I for one fucking loved it.

Now, I think the start is a little confusing. At least in my case, I was very lost in what was going on, the org’s dynamics, the characters… it has a very overwhelming start that it throws you into. Maybe I was a bit slow to catch up, but I settled into it once the pacing slowed down a tad. Seeing Mark as VP of a whole organization is certainly a change to what we’re used to, yet as Cathy always said, there’s a sleeping genius hidden in his noggin! I think it’s a natural way to develop his character, and a fascinating one. I’m also glad they went ahead and confirmed Nicole’s presence right away. I was interested once events really found their footing, and that started when Mark and Des matched on a dating app.

I have a feeling Mark and Des may be loathed by certain parts of the fandom, but I… kinda liked it? It’s oddly cute. I really enjoyed Des as a character, she felt real and as in-depth as any other Until Then side character. I think Mark’s love for her made sense in the context. Other than her, I enjoyed Dan and Trish (in the first half, though I cannot deny i chuckled at timeskip Trish and her ‘fuck this shit’ attitude), though the other club members bordered on forgettable. Lucas was certainly not what I was expecting as boyfriend material for Nicole, but their dynamic was entertaining enough.

Really, I think the first half of this section as a whole, before the timeskip, had a tiny amount fat that could’ve been trimmed. Just sections that could’ve been neater or even cut to put more focus on what’s really fascinating about this section.

Because what I find fascinating about Sparks is how beyond fucked up it is.

No seriously. This is so horrific in the worst way.

I was finding the first half of this section sweet. Mark and Des’s love was aww-inducing (idc, it’s cute). The concert was good. Nicole and Mark were on speaking terms. I was expecting just a heartwarming lil thing.

Once you get into the second half… Holy fuck, y’all.

Let’s start with one thing: Mark and Des. I slowly realised it as the DLC went on but it’s pretty much spelt out. Mark is dating her—practically fell in love with her—because she’s a perfect Cath/Nicole blend. A strict, no-nonsense teacher that demands the best out of her students because she believes in them and having a soft side to herself; whilst also having issues at home with her parents. Mark pushes himself to breaking point after breaking point, practically organising a whole event himself, purely to save her from stress and her parents’ expectations. And this feels… so fucking gross in the best way, narrative wise. Mark hasn’t moved on. Mark is so physically incapable of moving on that he’s dating a physical manifestation of his past trauma.

And Nicole is doing the exact same thing. Lucas is what she thought Mark would be. Before Cathy died. Before Mark shut down. Before Mark… went quiet. And yet she’s so desperate for that past Mark, that Mark who still had light in his eyes, that she’s blind to what she’s gotten herself into—a relationship with a cheater and practically a manchild. She’s never moved on, either. Not quite.

But what makes Sparks so fucking good is that ending. That talk between Mark and Nicole as the concert burns to the ground and injuries pile high just blocks away. As Mark relapses into cigarettes and Nicole relapses into her past, for whence she will always be stuck. And then, amidst it all, they share a deep, intimate, near-sexual kiss.

And it is fucking disgusting.

And I love it.

Let’s not ignore the elephant in the room that is that these two are so stuck in their trauma, their inability to move on, that they’re cheating on their partners. I know a lot of people are going to love the kiss, I can’t deny being one of them, but I love it for how gross and awful it is, and how it ties into Until Then’s themes.

These two broken people never got to move on. They never talked things out. Never accepted their grief. They just… boxed it away after Cath’s death. Pretended they were fine. Yet through that, they stagnated, misunderstood, and ended up as the messes they are. Because that’s what unchecked grief does to us. It corrupts us in unseen ways and influences us for years.

I don’t think it matters what specific ending this follows. We know Cath is dead. That their trauma is still unresolved. This could be any of the countless timelines Cath died in. Maybe even some others are gone, like Louise. We don’t know. But Mark and Nicole always meet, and perhaps they always end up like this in these ‘false’ timelines. Codependent broken messes to a fault.

I don’t think the kiss is to be celebrated, in my opinion. It is… just hollow. Dark. Sadistic. And frankly, sad. And that is masterful writing.

CONCLUSION TL;DR:

We received two incredibly done stories in a timeline I’m very glad they explored as opposed to tarnishing the true ending. I’m glad to see that this DLC continued to expand the main themes of the base game: How unchecked grief can define us and break us. I was shocked at how dark and harrowing it all was, whilst still having that heart and soul that drew me into the base game.

I think Homecoming is going to be a crowd favourite, rightfully so. I had a way more emotional time with it, and my Cathfia heart is now glowing and shattered. Tad short, but overall, beautiful stuff.

I am going to be very eager to see Sparks’s reception in the coming days. There’s a lot to like and dislike, and there’s going to be a lot to interpret about Des, about Mark and Nicole, and especially about the kiss. I personally think it’s a beautifully harrowing story about two broken, grieving messes that cannot move on from trauma, so much so they end up committing to relationships that are physical manifestations of their trauma. And to top it all off, the kiss (as much as it was nice to see) was… gross, disgusting, and wrong in a way that I applaud. Just a truly horrific ending, written perfectly.

Thanks for reading this long as hell post if you did. I’m eager to hear any thoughts! Thanks y’all!