Matthew Perry- how I remember him

 Regretful respects

It's been a while since the news has come out but it's only fair that I take the time to talk about the passing of quite the influential figure within the world of Entertainment. Matthew Perry, the comedian and actor with comedic tendencies, recently passed away at a honestly shockingly young age quite suddenly to the shock of apparently everyone, friends and family included. Of course the man was best known for his iconic work on the series Friends, but given I was a literal infant when that show was popular I can't say I knew him from that. And even if I did, that would hardly be the reason I included him on this blog. The way I knew of Matthew Perry was through his work as the central figure in one of my singular favourite video games of all time- Fallout New Vegas. Oh yeah, during his one foray into video game acting mister Perry scored a role in the big one. And that is how I'm choosing to remember him.

Matthew played none other than the big impetus of the plot himself, Benny- a character worth talking about all of his own for the way his actions set in motion a machine much larger than he could have ever conceived of. Benny was a member of 'The Chairmen' from 'The Tops' casino on The Strip. In fact, he was their leader. Every faction running The Strip of New Vegas were once gangs and tribals that gave up their barbaric ways in order to play at some form of either sophistication or exploitation (or a mix of both) for the profit of everyone. Returning Vegas to it's hedonistic prime proved a valuable time investment and as the leader of arguably the safest place to go gambling (you're most likely to get trafficked at Gammorah or eaten at The Luxe) Benny was a vital piece of that operation. But that's when that bug called ambition got involved in the conversation.

We can't enter the brains of the people we meet, but I like to think there was something of a dissatisfaction brewing in the motor mouthed fop for the station he had acquired. Afterall, we're talking about a scavenging tribal who rose to extreme wealth and power within a short life span, but still had to live a careful balance under the watchful eye of the mysteriously enigmatic caretaker of The Strip known only as Mister House? Hell no. He was a man of ambition and rank entitlement. He deserved to sit at the top of the tower domineering The Strip with his finger on the pulse of all the known world. And as such Benny embarked on the ruinous plant to subvert his position, upend the power structure and land himself at the top of the food chain, and all it would require would be taking over the station of the man called 'Mister House'.

This is, of course, where the game takes place. Couriers around the Mojave are covertly hired by Mister House to transport some mysterious item from the ruined facility it was manufactured in to the New Vegas strip. The operation is secretive, decoy couriers are employed, and Benny makes the move to get involved and steal whatever curio has Mister House so very worked up. This is where the dapper suited gentleman crosses the path of the player, Courier Six, just outside of Goodsprings wherein he delivers what are now famous lines. "From where you're kneeling, this must seem like an eighteen carat run of bad luck; but the truth is- the game was rigged from the start!" Cue the bullet to the head, the music, and the later revelation that Benny apparently shot you twice. The bastard.

Benny is a presence that stands out right away in your Fallout adventure. In a world surrounded by dust and grit, flanked by very rugged and predictably Great Khans, stands a dapper looking man in a white checkered suit with a rinky-dink swag attitude like he slid in right off the set of 'Some Like it Hot'. Every expectation of the world of wasteland is established in him alone, you see the faded glamour of the past drug up and put on show, pearly teeth and all- but it's only skin deep. It's a suit that they wear in order to feel as 'special' and 'privileged' as the old world, mimicking their airs and voices and vices and moral failings in order to spark some ghost of the what just isn't there anymore. It's a large theme of the West Coast Fallout games, in fact, to be trapped in worship of a romanticised past. Fallout New Vegas even makes that the driving force of it's final DLC- The Lonesome Road.

It's indicative of the scope of New Vegas how the narrative supercedes Benny by the midpoint. Whereas he drags the Courier, literally out of the cave, to chase him down across New Vegas- it's the war for the Mojave that takes over precedent as the story goes on. Benny made his power-move half informed of what he was even doing, stepping far above his station stealing a trinket far beyond his ken and becoming a playing piece in the middle of nationwide war. When The Courier reaches and beats him, they are establishing themselves as the force for change that Benny thought himself to be. A braggart with an inflated opinion of himself ends up lionising the player and justifying their rise to becoming the wild card of the Mojave, capable of taking the entire region and passing it out to whoever they please. He's a springboard towards greatness.

Which is why it's so fitting that Benny's fate, if he even survives into the third act, is piteous and deprived- captured and cuffed in the middle of the Legion Camp; a man who fought to defy destiny now robbed of all agency and left at the hands of the player, merciful or merciless as they please. A testament to how much the stakes of the world has grown around him, and how much of an opportunistic worm Benny is at the end of the day. A man like that never had what it took to seize control of a warzone like the Mojave, and his punishment for his hubris is becoming another one of the Mojave's victims. Whether you choose to kill or spare the man, the destruction of who he is has already been completed. He will go on to forever remember himself as the man who flew too close to the sun and lost everything for it.

Benny is an often overlooked and discarded antagonist but one who serves a very important purpose in the Fallout New Vegas narrative, and given his role was brought to life by Matthew Perry I consider him an important aspect of the best Fallout game ever made. So whereas the actor and comedian will go down in the hearts of many as the lovable playboy goofball of one of the most successful syndicated sitcoms of all time- to me he'll always be the impressively understated foil of The Courier in the battle for power that New Vegas represents. And to set the record straight, I don't think his performance in the role was bad at all. Maybe a little flat, but I never lost the feeling of the character to the performance and that's the least I ask for. (I wish I could say the same for modern Assassin's Creed all the time...)