A Gentle Reading of Joyful's Secret Ending
LISA: the Joyful had an incredible amount of potential to tell a story of femininity, recovery, trauma cycles and love. This vision, however, was rushed into development and pushed out half-baked. It's disappointing, yes, but leaves a lot of room for murmurs of what could've been better. The Definitive Edition re-release barely fixed any of the glaring issues with Joyful's storytelling, but it did give us something new. Something beautiful.
The community calls it the Flowering ending, for the blooms that cover the Olathe landscape and decorate the borders. After coming to understand the Armstrong trauma, Buddy's story ends with the warm hold of a matronly figure- something she never had. It's beautiful, it's weird, it's really really weird. Pinning down a clear meaning for this is difficult thanks to how seemingly abstract and out of place it all is, but I want to give it a shot.
The circumstances to get this ending are just as confusing as the ending itself. The end goal is the Flowering Skull, which is obtained through a hallucination unlocked by collecting nine seemingly-random items. It's just as bizarre as it sounds, but I believe each of the items are parallels to those of LISA: the First.
The work gloves in the First and the garden gloves in the Joyful are clearly connected, though they are two sides of the same coin. The work gloves are used for hard work, moving boulders in Lisa's case- meanwhile, gardening gloves are used to foster plant life. There is a harshness associated with the work gloves that the gardening gloves present with grace.
The bottle of rum given to Lisa runs parallel to the bottle of clean water that Buddy can receive from one of Lardy's shipments. Whereas Lisa's bottle is full of memories of violence, Buddy's is full of assurance. The water is safe to drink.
They also both receive a memento. Lisa finds what is assumedly her late mother's necklace, and Buddy finds a small picture with no further detail- I want to believe that this picture is of the Armstrongs.
Buddy also receives a blue key, which is eerily similar to Lisa's red key, as well as a sheath that can be compared to a banana peel Lisa can get in the First. They each get some form of medication as well- Lisa's is ambiguously called pills, while Buddy's is specified to be Ipecac. Notably, Ipecac as a drug is used for inducing vomit.
After collecting these, among other items, Buddy can be brought to a room full of statues of people she knew, or once knew, and must destroy them in a particular order- her uncle Sticky, then Buzzo, Rando, Brad, Yado, Marty, then the two endpieces. This order is hinted at in Painful's Definitive additions. After that, there is only one statue remaining, and that is Lisa's. Interacting with Lisa's statue has her read a poem.
No friends.
No brothers.
No fathers.
No mothers.
Just me.
Ignoring how bone-chilling this is when paired with the visuals and the music, it gives us insight into Lisa's view of the world as well. After reading this, the game brings Buddy to another room with pedestals, this time to place the items on. The order corresponds to how they are found in the First, further strengthening the ties between these items.
I interpret this whole segment as being about Buddy discovering the Armstrong's history of trauma and abuse, through tidbits the world has left for her and manifested into items. She's learning about Lisa, who didn't start the cycle but is a catalyst for it in Brad's life and, therefore, Buddy's own. She is coming to understand, and everything is falling into place.
After completing these two puzzles, Buddy can return to the List and notice a blue door, which definitely wasn't there before. Upon entering, she is able to fight the Warlords again, but all together- and ultimately, this is a fight she cannot win. She is able to escape after a few turns in which the Warlords plead her not to leave them. All this is to show Buddy feels guilt. Past this battle is a nipple- presumably her own.
Once she leaves this area, Buddy can return to the Joy Lab wearing the Joy Mask. Again, though passages not otherwise present, she can reach anothet blue door. This one brings her to Olathe, but before the Flash. A normal Olathe.
To the left are the children Brad grew up with- Rick, Sticky, and Cheeks. They look like kids, but they speak of Buddy. They say she used to be funny, used to be brilliant. They speak of Brad, of his addictions and his inadequacy as a father. They reflect on their own roles as uncles. They reveal that they should've told Buddy about Brad's family. Most of the conversation is irrelevant to the rest of Buddy's story, but perhaps I will cover what this means for the uncles as characters another time. Regardless, she can continue to the right.
The path is lined with candles. Outside the Armstrong home, multiple Brads are playing, jumping, running around with a Joy-like smile on their faces. Past that, a scene with young Dustin and Buzzo plays out- after which the latter notices Buddy and mistakes her for Lisa.
When Buddy enters the house, a scene flashes for only a second of the uncles- now grown up but in clothing indicating pre-Flash- are sitting with Lisa. When they disappear, Lisa stays, staring into a teacup and taking the occasional sip. She can't be spoken to, but when interacted with, a heart appears above her head- reminiscent of an interaction with Marty in the First.
Upstairs, there is a face glued to the wall. Dusty's face. He speaks to Buddy, says he feels sick thinking about everything she's gone through. He says he understands all the people around him- Brad, Berny, Buddy herself- that their actions were attempts at healing. He wishes her good luck before his face fades away.
In another room, Buddy finds a human skull under the bed. It has a hole in the top, and the sprite looks bloody. She looks into it and sees herself- opening the inventory gives it the name Buddy's Skull.
This part absolutely kills me, and it's really hard to interpret. Asking around helped me form a better idea of what I think it means. I think, rather than symbolizing death as skulls usually do, that it symbolizes Buddy looking at the most basic parts of herself- when put literally, her bones. She's stripping away her skin to reveal the deepest parts to herself. She's peeling away layers to understand her trauma, and the trauma of those before her.
In the other room, Buddy can enter a hole in the wall to see a mound of flesh, Joy mutant style. Remember that nipple? It's now a Sacred Nipple. She can place it atop the mass, and it plays a saxophone sound effect from the First before allowing Buddy to pass through a secret door behind it. It brings her to an empty white room.
Well, mostly empty. There's flowers. Lots of them. There's an orange one that she can interact with, and it opens a third-person narration.
Buddy gently removes the flower from the radiant soil.
With much care, she plants it into the skull.
It has transformed into a Flowering Skull.
For the first time, Buddy is treating herself, her history, and her trauma with kindness. She is gentle with the flower, symbolic of growth, and plants it in what represents her being. She is giving herself the chance to bloom. She's planting the memories of Lisa into herself, understanding and comprehending the connection between them.
After all this, Buddy can continue on the ending as usual- fighting Sweetheart, Yado, Brad and Berny. For the ending scene that pairs with the Flowering Skull, Buddy has to take the vaccine and leave them.
After the first part of the credits, the camera pans over a flowering Olathian landscape. Buddy's sword is driven into the dirt. There is an unmarked grave. Buddy is swaddled in the arms of a great, blue-robed figure with long gray hair. She is smiling. She is safe. She is at peace.
Healing is the most basic reading of this series of events. Buddy is depicted without bandages, and the scar on her face is visible but faded. I also believe the figure in blue may be a callback to a woman we assume to be Lisa's mother in the First, who wears the same colour. Hell, even the shading is the same hex code. The idea that this is literally Mrs. Armstrong isn't out of the question, but I believe it's more of a symbolic thing.
Buddy has always been a parallel to Lisa. They're very similarly characterized- morally gray girls with strong personalities in fucked up situations who are driven to extremes. This is intentional in every element of Buddy's character- she is a spitting image of Lisa, even if she never knew her. Cradled in the arms of Lisa's mother, or an illusion of her, Buddy feels finally connected to Lisa. It comes full circle. That's why it's still called LISA, after all. The games all lead back to her.
After the final credits, we get a conversation on a black screen between Buddy and Brad. Buddy is curious about the flower that Brad keeps in a bottle. She threatens to crush it if Brad doesn't tell her about its significance. Brad tells her its a reminder. A reminder to cope, and a reminder to feel guilt. He tells her that someone close to him grew that flower, and that gardening requires one to be nurturing and diligent. Buddy asks if Brad will help her grow into a flower.
... Sure, smartass. A big flower... With VERY strong roots.
Joyful is a flawed game, there's no denying that. I have my gripes with this ending. But I need to praise it for just a moment. This whole sequence, from collecting the items to the last line of dialogue, is so incredibly well thought-out, symbolic, and brutal. Buddy's character goes from an angsty edgelord to something so much mkre profound. It's honestly striking how real Buddy begins to feel. Her healing is Brad's, and Lisa's, and Dusty's, and mine.
I've always seen myself in Buddy, in a weird way. Watching her cope with her traumas and overcome them, learn to heal and continue living, really got me. I'd never played the secret ending before writing this analysis, and it really resonated with me. Healing is a long process, but I think, in a weird way, I understand it a little better.
This post was brought to you by Benny.