Gray family

What do you people think about this?

The gang certainly made a mess of the Gray-Braithwaite family feud plan, which proved to be potentially very damaging to the gang - causing them to move to Saint Denis and all the accompanying problems, killing Sean, causing John and Arthur to begin doubting Dutch’s wisdom, and causing John to become closer to his family, thus giving a reason for Dutch to become extra paranoid. I think the end of chapter 3 sowed the seeds for many future problems. But was the fault in not executing the plan very well or was it doomed to fail in the first place?

Having Arthur involved in both jobs was an obvious mistake because he could’ve easily been spotted. Furthermore, Bill was apparently colluding with the Grays quite early on, telling Arthur about it in the Valentine bank robbery. It’s quite plausible that he messed up back then and that’s how the Grays found out. Selling the moonshine back to the Braithwaite may have been another giveaway, as it suggested that the gang had been working with the Grays.

On the other hand, perhaps failure was inevitable? Trelawny states “it’s a small town, people talk”, to show how the environment is such that anyone new is bound to raise suspicion as it will be noted instantly and thus word will get round about what happens. Maybe it didn’t matter what the gang did, that would’ve ruined it anyway? Furthermore, wouldn’t it be obvious to the families that the escalation of attacks had something to do with the newcomers? The old military veteran states that the Grays were “Yankee spies” during the Civil War - perhaps an ominous warning sign that the Grays are watching the gang a lot more closely than they think. Also, just note how eerie the Scarlett Meadows ambient music is. It certainly gives a feeling of unease and suggests there’s something not right. After all, the gang are out of their depth in such foreign territory and so far east.

I generally take a fairly fatalistic view of RDR 2’s story and lean towards the latter, that it was doomed from the start. Quite depressing when you think about it, especially as chapter 3 was perhaps the biggest opportunity to start anew.