- Sorry for all the censors. The 149 times that the f-word and n-word were said was too much for UA-cam so they’d always age-gate and demonetised the video. - I do not consider the job mentioned by Franklin on the Paleto Score to be a “heist” he did with Lamar. I was speaking more of the large scale jobs frequent in the game. - Yes, Gerald in online sends us after the Ballas. CGF didn’t like the Ballas, there was just no formal hostilities. In the same way Lamar was willing to “stealthily” kidnap D, Gerald is willing to send us who doesn’t belong to the CGF to steal from the Ballas. He wouldn’t do this himself. Either that, or this was just written later.
No wonder Franklin knew he was bad luck getting into his new life with Trevor and Micheal. Bro got his name in his car like a cartoon with their name on their shirt ☠️
You might have missed one clear indicator about why Lamar isn't an option for a heist gunman and gotten one fact slightly incorrect. According to the Paleto Score dialogue, the first bank heist Franklin pulled was with Lamar. Thus Lamar did in fact have some experience in heists previously. It is also implied that since Franklin was just the getaway driver, Lamar must have been the one that actually was responsible for getting the cash and ultimately responsible for the dye packs being included, causing the heist to fail completely. It makes a lot of sense that Franklin would not want someone who has already proven to cause a heist to fail to be included in another one.
this '' wait man, let me do this and i'll include you soon'' still happens in gtao despite franklin being THE boss, it is quite clear to everyone that Lamar just fucks up everything and doesn't learn, ever, the low skill heist members u can pick do fuck up in their first heist but are still an option for the next because their skill increases
@@welheizel9682Such as Karim Denz, who in the jewel store job brings the bikes for the wrong terrain and also can't navigate the sewer system, but his failure motivates him to do better on the bureau raid and bring an ambulance for a stealthy getaway.
@@riiaz i think that goes against what Franklin says in chop ''Look homie, I don't mind dying. You feel me? But I just want to die with something that matters, homie. That's what Forum Gangsters should really be about." Franklin didn't want lamar in fearing he'd die, he probably didn't want him in fearing he'd get everyone else killed or arrested
Stretch spent his life working his ass off, and paying the higher ups, just dreaming of one day "retiring" and becoming a higher up himself so he gets paid by the small fry, but said small fry no longer buys into that shit rendering his past struggles and everything he's been looking forward to pointless, like an abusive parent realizing the abuse they suffered from their own parents aren't working on their kids anymore.
@@stellviahohenheim That's how most organized crime works. However, the more organized groups like Triads and Yakuza have a more rigid structure which isn't just "I'm rich now, so now I'm making you pay me money." It's far more like a military structure, where the senior members have to actually do something to justify their existence to their superiors
He wanted to become the modern day Sweet but instead is more like Smoke. Look at what Big smoke did, his ideas, ambitions and everything it cost him and now analyse Stretch, Franklin and Lamar. Smoke wanted the money, power but more importantly, he was willing to click up with Ballas and put the past behind him in order to make that move happen. Sweet and CJ were in the way so he targeted them and tried to get them out of the way. Stretch is Smoke, Franklin and Lamar is CJ and Sweet, regardless of their position in things, the bottom line was, they couldn't be controlled or counted on to change their stance and go along with Stretch & Smokes plans.
I always thought stretch was just generic bad guy character. But now i can at least understand why exactly he acted the way he did. Even if it doesn't make him a "good guy", I understand his motivations and philosophy.
You just solved racism. If we learn the motivations and philosophy of cultures and communities that we tend to misunderstand, we can understand why our society functions the way it does.
This video has reminded me of two things: - The voice acting in this game is freaking amazing - Lamar and Franklin have the most genuine relationship in this game
@@kainoawaikiki2614Franklin would have if Tanisha didn't talk sense into him. Franklin had no intention of saving Lamar when he got kidnapped, and had Tanisha not showed up and criticized him for it, he would have left Lamar to be killed. Franklin thought Lamar was holding him back and that he was better than Lamar.
I absolutely do not remember ever being phoned by Stretch, and him demanding dues. This was informative. Neither did I realise that Stretch was trying to peace out with the Ballas, after LD's big time fuckup.
Honestly Stretch is sympathetic. Well of course he actually isn't, murders and gangs and assassinations are bad, but in the world of GTA, he isn't actually bad like I thought he was. If Lamar was anything except a main character, if he wasn't Franklin's friend, if he wasn't one of the fan favorite characters, if he was instead a side character and the story centered on Stretch instead. Having to sacrifice that random gang member who went too far and started an entire war between two gangs, and to bring peace between them, is something that would be sympathetic and normal in the world of GTA protagonists. No player would really care about killing Lamar. The only reason we hate Stretch is because Lamar is our friend, but his goal makes sense.
yeah this gave me insight into stretches character the only thing he did wrong was cross franklin and try to hurt his friend otherwise he was all good heck he didnt even try to get franklin get killed he was probably just little angry because of franklin not paying him but thats it if Lamar wasnt franklins friend he could have lived
@@therranolleo468yeah that was basically what happened to jim in gta 4, dude was johnny's closest friend in tlad but was quickly taken out by niko for betraying the mafia
yea in fairness to Stretch you can't blame him for what he did Lamar dumbass did some stupid ass shit that was going to start a war and Stretch was like yea if i can sacrifice 1 dumbass to prevent many of my friends dying e z
I find it actually really interesting, and something I never thought about. Stretch never tries to set up Franklin. Even tho they HATED each other, Stretch decided to only give up Lamar. He really did try to look out for his gang
He knew Franklin wouldn't be as gullible. Or maybe he knew that Franklin was surrounding himself with more people, i mean he brought Trevor to Grove st and that's how they found out the brick is drywall. And whenever Franklin is seen around town he's seen with this "inconspicuous white man". i mean all the times he set up Lamar is when Franklin had already moved out so that means he wasn't planning on Franklin tagging along, He probably told Lamar to not tell Franklin about the mill. That's why everyone except Franklin knew
I think Franlins "change" that gets him a family, is more due to him mostly giving up the "boots on the ground" grunt work, where he can end up dead in a ditch somewhere. So when his illegal schemes became much less about possible getting shot or shanked, Tanisha saw him as still being true to himself like she wanted him to be, while making her feel safe enough in a relationship. And let's be honest here... The normal healthy relationships in this game would still be considered toxic in the real world, so the fact that Tanisha still has reservations about what Franklin does, that's basicly the best possible relationship as far as this game is concerned...
@@nineg9963 True... It would honestly make sense that she had many of the same issues facing reality as Franklin does given their similar background, so she sorta made herself feel better by projecting that insecurity on Franklin in some way...
@@nineg9963judging from the in game social media posts she probably got sick of his covert racism: ala ‘Teaching me table manners’ and ‘correcting my pronunciation’.
It is possible that something bad must've happened between Tanisha and Jaiden to break up and she went back to Franklin. I think maybe she relaized her mistakes.
Ending C was meant to kill Franklin and Lamar replace him as playable character. Lamar's VA revealed that this year (I think) in AMA. He was busy irl, so Rockstar didn't have time to make it. Honestly, I initially picked ending C and expected Franklin to die (considering skull icon on the phone). Seemed like a good outcome, Franklin not being a coward/traitor.
that’s fits the theme best to me the ending you pick should be the lesson you think franklin learned he either learns to put himself first or learns to be loyal
I know this is a heavily unpopular opinion, but Franklin is absolutely my favorite character in GTA V. His overall levelheadedness makes him become an outlier in the world of Los Santos. I love seeing the way people just use him as a punching bag and treat him differently for being a normal dude. It also helps that I think that he has the funniest dialogue out of the 3 protagonists
How the heck is this unpopular?! He's the only NORMAL guy in the trio. The other two are mentally unstable! Every story needs an everyman or average Joe to root for! Franklin fits that. Chad sanity vs Virgin Crazies
@@asscheeks3212 I wouldn’t call Franklin totally sane. He is 100% crazy and shows zero regard for everyone not within arms reach of him. He is just comparatively ‘more normal’ than the other two.
Sorry for all the censors. The 149 times that the f-word and n-word were said was too much for UA-cam so they’d always age-gate and demonetised the video.
You put up this comment while I was watching during a long strong string of bloops. The noise used here is so much less annoying than other censorships, I was laughing about it.
I never really thought about the beef between Stretch and Franklin like this, it's a really nice explanation. Frank has imo pretty solid views on gang hierarchy, but Stretch also has equal reason to be like "These two fools are too much of a liability". Nice take!
I like Franklin. It seems that his story is him learning to make his own choices, especially about his own thoughts of loyalty. After all, he says "It seem like all I do is let people tell me what to do and I do it and nothing changes" but at the end, he defies the FIB and Devin Weston to choose option C.
Yep, he either covers only his back with option A or B, or he covers everyones back with C. Option C is like the correct answer, the question is “Have you been listening to the story? Do you know what Franklin must do?” Michael gets opportunities, Trevor saves our asses, now Franklin brings them together.
Strech was probably one of the 3 baddies that has reasonable reasoning for what he did, the other 2 mofos got what they deserved but knowing Strech was probably just trying to keep the 2 gangs away from what they were back in 2005 gives him more depth.
Usually crime stories are all about the rabbit hole and the heartbreak it brings. For Michael, Trevor, and especially Franklin though, the heartbreak is moved to before the story. Explaining Stretch's narrative here and how Franklin and Lamar essentially screwed up a possible truce between the Families and Ballas really makes me realise that the three protagonists did the impossible. They knocked off everyone they had to, and lived to tell the tale, even thriving ten years on as a movie producer, record executive, and life coach. I'd like to imagine none of them canonically took a life after Devin Weston.
@@Bren5K I can honestly see it. Agressively telling people to go for the things they want when they want them, the tenacity, the fervor, and people getting swept up into it, could even spin his whole "living in a trailer huffing gasoline, and look at me now with a multinational shipping company and brand." Like it was a total accident, and he just capitalized on it.
I can imagine Trevor probably did, but yeah F and M probably didn’t. They don’t need to do that thing anymore. And thank you for talking about how good the endgame is, I also think the way the characters end up is a pretty good ending, especially compared to how they were at the start.
I believe Strech recognizes that Franklin is trying to leave the hood which would basically disband the offshoot Forum Gangsters. Essentially Franklin is a problem with no urgency that will self-solve anyways; OGs recognize things like that. Lanky Dumbass on the other hand is a defcon 1 threat that is the root cause of Stretchs concerns
There will be nothing that can truly surpass the dialogue between Lamar and Franklin, not only was it entertaining but showed how deeply rooted their friendship was.
Ngl biggest takeaway from this is Stretch is actually... kinda a sensible and thought-out character. Like the character motivations are a lot stronger there than I ever pieced together.
It's a disguise for his selfish ambition. Stretch is the lesser version of Big Smoke. Their front is "let's make peace and all be friends and we can make money together" when in fact it's about one rising to the top and controlling everyone and everything. Stretch isn't built like that but he wanted to be the shot caller and would be willing to dismantle the majority of Grove Street if it meant his ambitions being realised.
When I played this game as a child I thought Stretch became a turncoat while on prison and decided to kill Lamar and Franklin as revenge for kidnapping that Ballas dude
@@dolphinerofachero3159 He wanted to get rid of them because they weren't willing to fall in line. By not falling in line and continuously messing with Ballas, there's no way Stretch would be able to do business with them peacefully. The real issue wasn't even Franklin, he was trying to stay out of the way, it was Lamar. But because Franklin was Lamars best friend, you can assume by default Stretch knew Franklin would have to go because he would've 1000% got his get back for Lamar as we saw later in the story when they kidnapped Lamar.
@@royalrosepetal In his head maybe but nobody seemed to give him that level of respect. He wanted a hierarchy like how they used to run gangs back in the day but Lamar was one of the ones disrupting his plans because he kept messing with Ballas causing issues. I think Stretch wanted to merge which would allow him to be at the top of Grove and handle the all the business affairs associate with the grove but I have no doubt he would've tried to stab whoever was running Ballas in the back once the merger happened and everyone became one. You can hear how he thinks just from the interaction with Frank and Lamar. He expects everyone to treat him like the head honcho.
Another thing about Franklin and Stretch’s beef is that Franklin has always been more smart than Lamar and Stretch can only manipulate Lamar, but seeing as Franklin and Lamar are best friends since young, Stretch sees Franklin as a pain in the ass always messing up his plans. TL:DR : Stretch finds Franklin as a pain in the neck and unable to manipulate him like Lamar
@@AJayZyLamar tends to always do something and fk up in the end not just Stretch but in GTA Online Vernon and Gerald sees him as an liability stretch was probably using Lamar until he finds that Lamar doesn’t have much use he decides to have the Ballas take him out
@@AJayZyDid you watch the video before posting? It was because Stretch was trying to make peace between the gangs after Lamar attempted to kidnap that Balla guy in the beginning.
You mentioned in the video that you don't believe there's anybody who directly references Michael's (or Trevor's) special ability. There is one event where Tracy says something along the lines of "my dad never misses!" which is obviously a reference to Michael's special ability.
I don't think the CGF would be my choice but definitely seeing Lamar and Franklin starting or maintaining Forum Gangsters in the early game would've been nice.
I've never accepted the idea that Michael, Franklin and Trevor had "magical superpowers" in the literal sense of the word. Michael is an experienced shooter and Franklin is a talented driver. How do you translate it into the game, if the characters are as good as the person playing? That's right, you give Michael bullet time and you give Franklin the ability to slow down time while driving. It makes perfect sense. As for Trevor, his ability is the adrenaline kicking in when he is consumed by rage. And people are capable of crazy things on adrenaline, including surviving for longer. So his ability makes perfect sense as well. In addition, since GTA V is the first GTA game with more than one playable character, the abilities further differentiate the characters and give you the reason to switch between them. Choosing a driver on I Fought the Law? Franklin is an obvious choice. Fighting in a shootout? Michael and Trevor are preferable and so on. The abilities don't make GTA V a fantasy game, lol.
I mean, gta v is the same game where 3 random dudes steal aircrafts and steal a toxin from a lab and then steal a nuclear superweapon with a submarine. gta v isn't really realistic, specially with gta online's laser weapons and flying bike thing
@@UltraCenterHQ True. But unrealistic game doens't equal fantasy game. That was my point. I'm not talking about GTA Online at all because they kind of killed the universe with the futuristic weapons and vehicles.
Honestly I dont feel Franklin and Lamars "problems" were "hastily solved" that is just how those type of friendships work. Frakling and Lamar are the type of friends that having been friends so long, nothing could break that bond and sure they had issues but they at their core are best friends who cant stay mad at each other for what they do.
I'd also say that Franklin and Lamar have that kind of relationship. There comes a point between two people when some events solidify the friendship/relationship so much that nothing is capable of breaking it. There can be misunderstandings, quarrels etc., but at the end of the day they can't stay away from one another for long.
As someone with a friend like that, I absolutely agree. When you've been friends that long, you tend to flip flop between despising each other and being willing to die for each other
Theres a ton of parallels between Franklin's and Gustavo's realizations regarding gang hierarchy. It would have been neat to see more of a friendship between them.
He is kinda the player's avatar. Character who is new to Michael and Trevor's story, but who kinda knows Los Santos already. Franklin's main use is to let us experience the main story from the side and let us experience the classic "getting rich" storyline. Michael is quite wealthy from the start and Trevor's idea of spending money is... interesting. So they gave us a character who just needs to get "there" from the bottom
To be fair, you always had the option of someone like Rickie Lukens during heist planning, and that crew members do increase in skill after finishing heists, so I thought useless people like Lamar getting recruited in one wasn’t a far-off question.
@@andreaswong8829 Due to Lamar's relevance in the story, I don't think it would happen. It would be too much change in a very straightforward and strict story.
Except in the game he is shown time and time again that he doesn't exactly learn from his mistakes, so I doubt his skill would've increased by much, if at all
@@fallen_vague28 Skill can come from more than mistakes, like making something more efficient, like a speedrunner would. That being said I still agree with you. That and he'd probably pester everyone for a big cut and get cut out from the heist.
@@roosterball1999 Then that just kills how dynamic the heists are... you choose the cheap story character who can't die and won't punish you with a bigger cut then most players would choose him and miss on how different the heists could play out. Also, it kills the narrative that Lamar was feeling left out.
18:47 - Missed one. Also, you were right. I didn't understand Franklin's story. I never caught onto the Ballers thing and thought of him as being above Michael and Trevor...as in, they screw things up because of their massive personality flaws, and then drag Franklin into it like he's an intern. Never really put it together that all three of them are equally responsible for the BS they keep finding themselves in. In my defense though, I am kind of an idiot.
Ironically this video helped me understand STRETCH more than Franklin and made me respect him hell of a lot more. He was my least favourite antagonist out of the 4 and after this video he became probably my favourite and Chang became the least favourite.
Rockstar put sooooo much thought into this game and lore… and just like the world building, car conversations, social media posts in game, text messages, all too tell all of these weaving stories.. I don’t know why some people disliked the singlet player game and story. It was great and well thought out
I think the problem is that al lot of the optional stuff is important in understanding vital motivations and informations that you just dont get if you dont hear all the conversations, phone calls, hangouts and stuff. Thats why a lot of people dont "get" the story
Stretch lived through the chaos and bloodshed of the 90s. It took me til this video to see the kind of unity he was striving for, but it makes total sense. It makes sense that he hates Franklin and Lamar because they were too young to truly understand what the LS gangs went through in the 90s, and they've both broken the mould and rejected the typical gang hierarchy. To him, Lamar is a small sacrifice to broker peace between the gangs. Obviously sacrificing anyone's life like that is wrong, but like most good villains, I understand why Stretch did what he did now.
@@BonJoviBeatlesLedZep Stretch wants to become Sweet in his mind but doesn't realise he's more like Big Smoke. It's not only about peace, unfortunately, it's about him wanting to be the shot caller. He wants to be the leader, wants the power, the money, the control and from seeing his interactions with Ballas, it already looked like he had a lot of influence over there so he could've easily sat above the Ballas too just like Big Smoke.
Feel bad that Shawn Fonteno’s character did not get enough attention during the campaign. I’ve played through the story a bunch and never knew about the lore you brought up. Great video as always 💯
As someone who played GTA San Andreas too many times. I always thought the Ballas and Families were on bad terms. Leading me to believe that Stretch betrayed CGF to survive in prison as Franklin hints all the time. It also isn't the first time Rockstar didn't change NPC outfits when they betrayed their gang. Big Smoke and Ryder wore green even when they were no longer associated with the Families.
Considering that every single time I play SA, one of the first things I do when gang wars opens up is to destroy every single gang, I was quite surprised the Ballas still existed in 5. 😂
@@varadsalunkhe9008 Then those same members family would later rep the same gang. That's how it goes. Remember a lot of them would've been in prison as well. (If we were relating it to real life).
Wow. I saw you did one for the other characters and tried to search for one of Franklin's merely a couple of hours ago. I was disappointed to not see one of him. Good timing.
When he said Stretch "got in with the ballas" he means that he became friends with ballas that were in prison with him and that friendship helped mend the relationship between the cgf and the ballas
There's also trevors ability is like a "quarter" Referenced on that one mission where Trevor says to Michael to stop smoking and talks about how hes fit because of his lust for meth and says he can take Michael on, and Michael responds with "your only fit because your *deranged* " so yeah, everyones ability is canon.
@NorthTexasNewYork yeah also that and forgot to mention Franklin's where Lamar tells him to use his ability which to others looks like Franklin squinting his eyes and getting really focused. "It's like watching Chop learn how to read!" Is what Lamar says in the long stretch
Maybe other characters see Franklin's ability as not too special. Kinda like when gamers lean slightly forward when playing difficult sections, except whilst normal people get a little bit better by doing this Franklin gets a lot better. So maybe they see him as "just a good driver"
@@absolution6191 Anger, rage, adrenaline, when you're in those states, often you can do things you never thought you were capable of doing. I'm sure you've seen or heard about someone getting shot but not realising it until that adrenaline rush simmers down.
It’s crazy how Franklin and Tanisha’s relationship(before gta online) is exactly like my situation rn. Except for me being a robber and a killer for that matter.
Finally, thank you Matto for this video. I know you read many comments and if you read this just know that I've been watching you for years and I profoundly admire your dedication to this game (series). Cheers!
You're right with that ending point, I had no idea who tf Tanisha when she finally showed up despite all the supposed importance she had to Franklin, and for the most part I had forgotten mostly about the stuff with Stretch so when he showed up in the final mission I was confused about why we were killing this guy lol
To me it seemed like Stretch saw Lamar as the main reason the gang war started and therefore he was the one who needed to be killed, while Franklin just looks like some kid from the hood Stretch has some arguments with. So Lamar was Stretch's target and Franklin just happened to be an annoying inconvenience that came with trying to kill Lamar
I never noticed most of the points you made about Stretch, truly an amazing video! With that in mind, what do you think about covering the rest of the antagonists in the next GTA V story video?
Tanisha is like the only normal and well-adjusted person in the entire story of GTA V, especially going by her final scene begging Franklin to save Lamar and by the social media posts. Even that janitor seemed to not even be scared of Michael threatening him. Tanisha is the last sane person left in Los Santos.
This is the first time that I ever heard that Franklin had an off shoot of the CGF under his belt, no wonder he was really all against the entitlement of the OGs.
It's so good when someone explains the lore behind a certain story, and in this case, a certain character. I didn't pay much attention to the story of this game, but now that you have these videos abt the lore behind the 3 protagonists I can see that the story in GTA 5 goes deeper in many ways that as you said, most player might just go by. Thank you, and keep up the good work, wish you all the best :DD
When you're playing, it can be hard to fully absorb the story, and very easy to miss the missable scenes that occur in random encounters or when you do missions in non-obvious ways.
@@tin2001 yeah it's true, but it depends on the player too, like I wasn't paying much attention to what was happening, or why was something happening even if was watching the cutscenes, more or less paying attention.
Matt, I have a idea, you could do the lore for some of the side characters like Stretch, Steve Haines, Dave Norton, and all of the other characters that are relevant to the story. Or you could do a video explaining all of the strangers and freaks
This video finally made me understand what Stretch's deal was, I did not get his motivations before this. And honestly, he's... weirdly justifiable. At least in comparison to most GTA antagonists.
Another question that would've been interesting to answer is "Why doesn't the drug that Barry gives to Michael and Trevor not have any effects on Franklin?" And what do you believe his fear would be?
It’s probably just because Franklin is already a pothead. I agree that it’s a bit silly because if anyone would have a drug resistance it would be Trevor, but that’s clearly what the game is trying to say with that
As far as Lamar being a potential gunman for heists, I'd love to see what kind of idle conversation would go on with Lamar and Chef in the car on the way to the heist.
I think the sacrafice for peace is a great point. You see the same thing in Sons of Anarchy. The Mayans failed a hit on the SOA President, and to preserve peace, the Mayan president offered his own son's life to the SOA
He is one of the most used side characters next to Lester i don’t Think he needed to be in the heists But some ekstra Franklin missions to flesh out their past with Stretch and the GSF
It was such a bad move to hide important pieces of lore in optional dialogue such as the one in hangouts and the optional phone calls, It's a shame R* choose that path for storytelling in GTA V cuz most people don't get to hear about those details that ad so much to the characters. I think they did it better in GTA IV where you would hear interesting things (such as the fate of Roman's mother or what Packie's father did to him) but that were non-essential for the story and you could understand it perfectly without them. I hope R* learns from this for GTA VI. Great video as always Matto! Definitely the best out there in lore videos
Can't wait to hear darkvipers reaction believing that there are no cougars in online to finding out (preferably the hard way by being mauled to death and eaten by one but unlikely since he's on PC) that there are in fact now cougars in online.
This video finally made me understand the whole character of Stretch... I really wish the Franklin storyline woulda been more fleshed out, but I guess Rockstar were trying to do too many things at once.
I wish the whole Franklin's story arc was fleshed out more in the main game. I feel like 10 years after playing the game it was always weird what the whole Stretch beef was. After the "Long Stretch mission there was only Hood Safari and Lamar down that were focused on Franklin. I wish there were more missions in between to solidify why we wanted to kill Stretch
What Franklin was meant to do was start a click for the Families hood. But what the result was Franklin trying to make a whole new hood but still claiming Families. That’s a big no no in hood politics
because franklin was one of a thousand faces michael saw that day, Dave was the face trevor saw for weeks in newspapers and news as ''the man who killed my best friend''
another reason that franklin knows who martin madrazo is, is pretty simple. he’s a gangster. it’s very likely that one of madrazo’s top men is a supplier (whether for weapons or illicit substances) for someone in CGF.
For the reason Stretch didn't really seem to care much about Franklin, I'd suggest something The Professional pointed out in his video about Tommy Vercetti's lore in Vice City: just because the leader of a gang doesn't like someone lower down the pecking order doesn't mean he can have them killed on a whim, there needs to be a solid reason. Since Lamar was supposed to take the fall for D's death, Franklin was in the clear. Plus, it seems reasonable to assume that the setup on Grove Street was there to give the Ballas both Lamar and the cash as apology money, since Stretch brokered that deal, because he did get one the Ballas' higher-ups killed.
I just realized Franklin's description about Martin Madrazo is a reference to GTA Online where our player character carries out a series of assasinations against people who were snitching on him.
Another reference would be Franklin telling off Lamar when he sold oil tankers. Lamar got the tankers after hiring the GTA Online Protagonist to steal them in a Contact Mission. I always like the connection between GTA Online and Story Mode.
this video turned out a lot better than I thought. here is my small bit of "theory" about how Franklin knows Martin. its probably through our legitimate business man. I mean if he made deals with Rubio of all people (evidenced from his photo with Rubio) then he probably made some deals with MZ.
A "You Don't Understand The Wildlife Of GTA V" video would be awesome. It wouldn't take as much effort and it's not something I've ever seen covered in detail (as much detail as there is). Things like where they roam, behaviors, population numbers, spawn locations, interactions with the story, etc..
Stretch might have been a bit pragmatic, but facts is facts... You can't bring 2 rival families from the hood together, ain't no playing both sides. A stalemate works better than brokering a peace. It's just the pride of growing up in the hood; you're either with your homies or a rat
Stretch knew Franklin was realistic and Lamar was idealistic about hood life. Stretch took advantage of Lamar’s idealism. He just saw Lamar and Franklin as chumps who he can sacrifice for his power grab.
35:20 This happened with me,when I first played I didn't know Tanisha could appear in other cutscenes other than the final one, so I was very confused when a character that only mentioned in dialogue, emails and Life invader appeared on Franklin's house.
Just because Stretch keeps talking about the OG life doesn't mean he didn't switch out in prison. He very well could be what's known as a false flagger. These are gang members who still represent their set while actively working with the enemy.
What an amazing video! I genuinely did not know most of this stuff. The three character dynamic really became too much to handle because all of this information is left unknown on the first play-through.
I don’t think he’s a leader. I won’t pretend to know anything about GTA 5 but my impression was that “Forum gangsters” consisted of literally just Lamar and Franklin
15:02 this line is absolute gold and I’m not really sure why. Franklins movement when he says it and his lips not matching up to the words at all makes it funny
If only the whole Stretch side plot was actually well explained. Guess that's the result of Rockstar having to cut much of the Lamar plot, maybe originally Stretch would've been more succesful at poisoning him against Franklin.
Franklin really got the short stick of the writting, to the point all the people around him are better developed than him, its sad becasue based in the trailers its implied he was gonna have his own storyline
I think stretch placed more of a focus on Lamar because Lamar was actually CGF and Franklin had clearly been distant from the gang for a while, so Franklin does not cause friction between the gangs cuz they see him as just some knobhead that isn’t connected
Since lamar is a 'low skilled' gunman if he was ever a possible heist member. He will be one of the characters that would die in the heist like norm or daryl and that would mess up the plot if he dies.
- Sorry for all the censors. The 149 times that the f-word and n-word were said was too much for UA-cam so they’d always age-gate and demonetised the video.
- I do not consider the job mentioned by Franklin on the Paleto Score to be a “heist” he did with Lamar. I was speaking more of the large scale jobs frequent in the game.
- Yes, Gerald in online sends us after the Ballas. CGF didn’t like the Ballas, there was just no formal hostilities. In the same way Lamar was willing to “stealthily” kidnap D, Gerald is willing to send us who doesn’t belong to the CGF to steal from the Ballas. He wouldn’t do this himself. Either that, or this was just written later.
No Problem. Just dont say the n-word anymore Matto.
Gerald is also only on the level of Lamar, not Stretch
@@zimzimma2.0 Yup
gg
N word ⁉️⁉️⁉️☝️😳😳
Lamar getting recognized while kidnapping D might’ve been the funniest thing in the whole game
The license plate on the van he goes around doing crime in says "LAMAR"
😊😊😊😊😊😊
Reminds me of ryder. “It aint me fool”
No wonder Franklin knew he was bad luck getting into his new life with Trevor and Micheal. Bro got his name in his car like a cartoon with their name on their shirt ☠️
@@hectorsanchez1377 Yeah
You might have missed one clear indicator about why Lamar isn't an option for a heist gunman and gotten one fact slightly incorrect. According to the Paleto Score dialogue, the first bank heist Franklin pulled was with Lamar. Thus Lamar did in fact have some experience in heists previously. It is also implied that since Franklin was just the getaway driver, Lamar must have been the one that actually was responsible for getting the cash and ultimately responsible for the dye packs being included, causing the heist to fail completely. It makes a lot of sense that Franklin would not want someone who has already proven to cause a heist to fail to be included in another one.
this '' wait man, let me do this and i'll include you soon'' still happens in gtao despite franklin being THE boss, it is quite clear to everyone that Lamar just fucks up everything and doesn't learn, ever, the low skill heist members u can pick do fuck up in their first heist but are still an option for the next because their skill increases
It also makes a lot of sense that Lamar would've failed horribly at that job
What if Franklin didn't want lamar to be a gunman cos, yk, he might die
@@welheizel9682Such as Karim Denz, who in the jewel store job brings the bikes for the wrong terrain and also can't navigate the sewer system, but his failure motivates him to do better on the bureau raid and bring an ambulance for a stealthy getaway.
@@riiaz i think that goes against what Franklin says in chop ''Look homie, I don't mind dying. You feel me? But I just want to die with something that matters, homie. That's what Forum Gangsters should really be about."
Franklin didn't want lamar in fearing he'd die, he probably didn't want him in fearing he'd get everyone else killed or arrested
Stretch spent his life working his ass off, and paying the higher ups, just dreaming of one day "retiring" and becoming a higher up himself so he gets paid by the small fry, but said small fry no longer buys into that shit rendering his past struggles and everything he's been looking forward to pointless, like an abusive parent realizing the abuse they suffered from their own parents aren't working on their kids anymore.
The first comment with some actual insight man, thank you.
Funny how they followed the Chinese triads way of organising themselves
Very succinct way to put it. Makes his anger a bit more understandable.
@@stellviahohenheim That's how most organized crime works. However, the more organized groups like Triads and Yakuza have a more rigid structure which isn't just "I'm rich now, so now I'm making you pay me money." It's far more like a military structure, where the senior members have to actually do something to justify their existence to their superiors
He wanted to become the modern day Sweet but instead is more like Smoke. Look at what Big smoke did, his ideas, ambitions and everything it cost him and now analyse Stretch, Franklin and Lamar. Smoke wanted the money, power but more importantly, he was willing to click up with Ballas and put the past behind him in order to make that move happen. Sweet and CJ were in the way so he targeted them and tried to get them out of the way. Stretch is Smoke, Franklin and Lamar is CJ and Sweet, regardless of their position in things, the bottom line was, they couldn't be controlled or counted on to change their stance and go along with Stretch & Smokes plans.
I always thought stretch was just generic bad guy character. But now i can at least understand why exactly he acted the way he did. Even if it doesn't make him a "good guy", I understand his motivations and philosophy.
You just solved racism.
If we learn the motivations and philosophy of cultures and communities that we tend to misunderstand, we can understand why our society functions the way it does.
This video has reminded me of two things:
- The voice acting in this game is freaking amazing
- Lamar and Franklin have the most genuine relationship in this game
They are just Micheal and Trevor but more caring and considerate
No because neither of them are crazy and neither of them have betrayed eachother. @plasma2125
@@kainoawaikiki2614Franklin would have if Tanisha didn't talk sense into him. Franklin had no intention of saving Lamar when he got kidnapped, and had Tanisha not showed up and criticized him for it, he would have left Lamar to be killed. Franklin thought Lamar was holding him back and that he was better than Lamar.
They just mesh so naturally together, it's unreal, as if the VA's really are just two dudes hanging out
@@kainoawaikiki2614White friendships vs Black friendships
I absolutely do not remember ever being phoned by Stretch, and him demanding dues. This was informative.
Neither did I realise that Stretch was trying to peace out with the Ballas, after LD's big time fuckup.
Exactly. I never had those phone calls
@@nope4034you have to call him I think, unless it just takes a long time
You have to call him yourself it’s one of them hidden phone calls
Thought I was the only one, the hidden details of phone numbers in this game are great.
@@tmoney3298 They don't always work. It's not a guarantee that you can. It usually just says hang out on the call list.
Honestly Stretch is sympathetic. Well of course he actually isn't, murders and gangs and assassinations are bad, but in the world of GTA, he isn't actually bad like I thought he was.
If Lamar was anything except a main character, if he wasn't Franklin's friend, if he wasn't one of the fan favorite characters, if he was instead a side character and the story centered on Stretch instead. Having to sacrifice that random gang member who went too far and started an entire war between two gangs, and to bring peace between them, is something that would be sympathetic and normal in the world of GTA protagonists. No player would really care about killing Lamar.
The only reason we hate Stretch is because Lamar is our friend, but his goal makes sense.
yeah this gave me insight into stretches character the only thing he did wrong was cross franklin and try to hurt his friend otherwise he was all good heck he didnt even try to get franklin get killed he was probably just little angry because of franklin not paying him but thats it if Lamar wasnt franklins friend he could have lived
In another GTA game our MC could've likely gotten a mission to dispose of of Frank and Lamar as a story given from Strech lol
@@therranolleo468yeah that was basically what happened to jim in gta 4, dude was johnny's closest friend in tlad but was quickly taken out by niko for betraying the mafia
It's also really interesting how most people, including myself, never even notice because we are just seeing one side of the story.
yea in fairness to Stretch you can't blame him for what he did Lamar dumbass did some stupid ass shit that was going to start a war and Stretch was like yea if i can sacrifice 1 dumbass to prevent many of my friends dying e z
This has been one of my favourite series.
Shame you're out of main characters to explore
Chop episode up next
Wildlife (Cougar) lore when?
He could probably do Lamar next
Lesteeeeeeer
Jimmy
I find it actually really interesting, and something I never thought about. Stretch never tries to set up Franklin. Even tho they HATED each other, Stretch decided to only give up Lamar. He really did try to look out for his gang
It kinda makes sense when you realize Franklin was at the end of the day just along for the ride most of that shit was Lamar instigating and planning
Yeah but Franklin kinda left that life when he got involved with Michael and Trevor. Especially when he moves into his house in Vinewood Hills.
He probably would have set Franklin up if he could. He set up Lamar because he was dumb and easy to manipulate.
He knew Franklin wouldn't be as gullible. Or maybe he knew that Franklin was surrounding himself with more people, i mean he brought Trevor to Grove st and that's how they found out the brick is drywall.
And whenever Franklin is seen around town he's seen with this "inconspicuous white man".
i mean all the times he set up Lamar is when Franklin had already moved out so that means he wasn't planning on Franklin tagging along, He probably told Lamar to not tell Franklin about the mill. That's why everyone except Franklin knew
If Lamar never did the whole thing with D from the Ballas maybe this whole thing would never happen.
35 mins to tell us michael wasnt in witness protection
Witness protection? No one was convicted of anything
😂
To be fair he coulda taken a lot longer to get that point across 😂
Would have been even longer if he included your mom 😂
This might be the joke of the morning for me
I think Franlins "change" that gets him a family, is more due to him mostly giving up the "boots on the ground" grunt work, where he can end up dead in a ditch somewhere. So when his illegal schemes became much less about possible getting shot or shanked, Tanisha saw him as still being true to himself like she wanted him to be, while making her feel safe enough in a relationship.
And let's be honest here... The normal healthy relationships in this game would still be considered toxic in the real world, so the fact that Tanisha still has reservations about what Franklin does, that's basicly the best possible relationship as far as this game is concerned...
Yeah also definitely think Tanisha just got bored and started to dislike that lifestyle with the brain surgeon
@@nineg9963 True... It would honestly make sense that she had many of the same issues facing reality as Franklin does given their similar background, so she sorta made herself feel better by projecting that insecurity on Franklin in some way...
@@nineg9963judging from the in game social media posts she probably got sick of his covert racism: ala ‘Teaching me table manners’ and ‘correcting my pronunciation’.
It is possible that something bad must've happened between Tanisha and Jaiden to break up and she went back to Franklin. I think maybe she relaized her mistakes.
I think it's just shit writing in gta online
Ending C was meant to kill Franklin and Lamar replace him as playable character. Lamar's VA revealed that this year (I think) in AMA. He was busy irl, so Rockstar didn't have time to make it. Honestly, I initially picked ending C and expected Franklin to die (considering skull icon on the phone). Seemed like a good outcome, Franklin not being a coward/traitor.
that’s fits the theme best to me the ending you pick should be the lesson you think franklin learned he either learns to put himself first or learns to be loyal
Didn't he go to jail? Pretty sure that was said at one point, so yes technically busy
@@Litterbugtaylor method acting is crazy nowdays
@@one-nu2dh😂😂
I am glad they didnt go for it then cause deathwish is an good ending that I think does more justice to all the main characters
I know this is a heavily unpopular opinion, but Franklin is absolutely my favorite character in GTA V. His overall levelheadedness makes him become an outlier in the world of Los Santos. I love seeing the way people just use him as a punching bag and treat him differently for being a normal dude. It also helps that I think that he has the funniest dialogue out of the 3 protagonists
You and franklin are both straight Busters
- Ryder from gta afterlife
Why do you type like a redditor lol
Definitely an unpopular opinion. Michael is on top
How the heck is this unpopular?! He's the only NORMAL guy in the trio. The other two are mentally unstable! Every story needs an everyman or average Joe to root for! Franklin fits that. Chad sanity vs Virgin Crazies
@@asscheeks3212
I wouldn’t call Franklin totally sane. He is 100% crazy and shows zero regard for everyone not within arms reach of him. He is just comparatively ‘more normal’ than the other two.
Sorry for all the censors. The 149 times that the f-word and n-word were said was too much for UA-cam so they’d always age-gate and demonetised the video.
its np. You forgot one at 18:47 btw. Idk if it affects the video
I did notice a couple of uncensored N-word and F-words, so it could have been worse.
You put up this comment while I was watching during a long strong string of bloops. The noise used here is so much less annoying than other censorships, I was laughing about it.
its funny actually, it reminds how many slurs the game have and how often the characters says them.
Great video👍
To be honest I found the choise of censor sound funi
I never really thought about the beef between Stretch and Franklin like this, it's a really nice explanation. Frank has imo pretty solid views on gang hierarchy, but Stretch also has equal reason to be like "These two fools are too much of a liability". Nice take!
Well, it’s more just the Lanky Dumbass that’s a liability. He didn’t really have a reason to get Franklin killed other than to be petty.
I like Franklin. It seems that his story is him learning to make his own choices, especially about his own thoughts of loyalty.
After all, he says "It seem like all I do is let people tell me what to do and I do it and nothing changes" but at the end, he defies the FIB and Devin Weston to choose option C.
Yep, he either covers only his back with option A or B, or he covers everyones back with C. Option C is like the correct answer, the question is “Have you been listening to the story? Do you know what Franklin must do?” Michael gets opportunities, Trevor saves our asses, now Franklin brings them together.
Thats why option c is the canon ending
Strech was probably one of the 3 baddies that has reasonable reasoning for what he did, the other 2 mofos got what they deserved but knowing Strech was probably just trying to keep the 2 gangs away from what they were back in 2005 gives him more depth.
Why’d you call him a baddie😭
@@Kiid-bn8lbBaddie as in a bad guy
@@unequivocalsuffering2734Its sounds sus as hell
@@absolution6191 You're sus
90’s** GTA SA was in the ‘92 (when the actual bloods and crips who the families and ballas were based off were at the height of their feud irl)
Usually crime stories are all about the rabbit hole and the heartbreak it brings. For Michael, Trevor, and especially Franklin though, the heartbreak is moved to before the story. Explaining Stretch's narrative here and how Franklin and Lamar essentially screwed up a possible truce between the Families and Ballas really makes me realise that the three protagonists did the impossible.
They knocked off everyone they had to, and lived to tell the tale, even thriving ten years on as a movie producer, record executive, and life coach. I'd like to imagine none of them canonically took a life after Devin Weston.
Wait Trevor became a life coach?
@@THESHRIMP209 yep
@@THESHRIMP209during the smugglers run thing for online Ron says he became vinewood and became a lifestyle coach who probably has a 6 pack
@@Bren5K I can honestly see it. Agressively telling people to go for the things they want when they want them, the tenacity, the fervor, and people getting swept up into it, could even spin his whole "living in a trailer huffing gasoline, and look at me now with a multinational shipping company and brand." Like it was a total accident, and he just capitalized on it.
I can imagine Trevor probably did, but yeah F and M probably didn’t. They don’t need to do that thing anymore. And thank you for talking about how good the endgame is, I also think the way the characters end up is a pretty good ending, especially compared to how they were at the start.
I believe Strech recognizes that Franklin is trying to leave the hood which would basically disband the offshoot Forum Gangsters. Essentially Franklin is a problem with no urgency that will self-solve anyways; OGs recognize things like that. Lanky Dumbass on the other hand is a defcon 1 threat that is the root cause of Stretchs concerns
There will be nothing that can truly surpass the dialogue between Lamar and Franklin, not only was it entertaining but showed how deeply rooted their friendship was.
Ngl biggest takeaway from this is Stretch is actually... kinda a sensible and thought-out character. Like the character motivations are a lot stronger there than I ever pieced together.
It's a disguise for his selfish ambition. Stretch is the lesser version of Big Smoke. Their front is "let's make peace and all be friends and we can make money together" when in fact it's about one rising to the top and controlling everyone and everything. Stretch isn't built like that but he wanted to be the shot caller and would be willing to dismantle the majority of Grove Street if it meant his ambitions being realised.
When I played this game as a child I thought Stretch became a turncoat while on prison and decided to kill Lamar and Franklin as revenge for kidnapping that Ballas dude
@@11bornrichhe was already at or near the top from the sound of it
@@dolphinerofachero3159 He wanted to get rid of them because they weren't willing to fall in line. By not falling in line and continuously messing with Ballas, there's no way Stretch would be able to do business with them peacefully. The real issue wasn't even Franklin, he was trying to stay out of the way, it was Lamar. But because Franklin was Lamars best friend, you can assume by default Stretch knew Franklin would have to go because he would've 1000% got his get back for Lamar as we saw later in the story when they kidnapped Lamar.
@@royalrosepetal In his head maybe but nobody seemed to give him that level of respect. He wanted a hierarchy like how they used to run gangs back in the day but Lamar was one of the ones disrupting his plans because he kept messing with Ballas causing issues.
I think Stretch wanted to merge which would allow him to be at the top of Grove and handle the all the business affairs associate with the grove but I have no doubt he would've tried to stab whoever was running Ballas in the back once the merger happened and everyone became one. You can hear how he thinks just from the interaction with Frank and Lamar. He expects everyone to treat him like the head honcho.
Another thing about Franklin and Stretch’s beef is that Franklin has always been more smart than Lamar and Stretch can only manipulate Lamar, but seeing as Franklin and Lamar are best friends since young, Stretch sees Franklin as a pain in the ass always messing up his plans.
TL:DR : Stretch finds Franklin as a pain in the neck and unable to manipulate him like Lamar
Is that why he decided to off Lamar? Did you read that before posting?
@@AJayZyLamar tends to always do something and fk up in the end not just Stretch but in GTA Online Vernon and Gerald sees him as an liability stretch was probably using Lamar until he finds that Lamar doesn’t have much use he decides to have the Ballas take him out
@@AJayZyDid you watch the video before posting? It was because Stretch was trying to make peace between the gangs after Lamar attempted to kidnap that Balla guy in the beginning.
You mentioned in the video that you don't believe there's anybody who directly references Michael's (or Trevor's) special ability. There is one event where Tracy says something along the lines of "my dad never misses!" which is obviously a reference to Michael's special ability.
I always attributed Trevor's to his methamphetamine use lol
@@wadephony9954that’s exactly what it is bruh. They say crack/meth make them feel invincible
I wish there were more missions involving CGF
Same, I didn't even realize that was a thing
Play GTA San Andreas
wouldn't make sense as franklin was tryna leave the gangs
I don't think the CGF would be my choice but definitely seeing Lamar and Franklin starting or maintaining Forum Gangsters in the early game would've been nice.
@@kikosawathats not CGF
Seeing old Chop, laying in a comfy bed with his name on it, makes me smile
I've never accepted the idea that Michael, Franklin and Trevor had "magical superpowers" in the literal sense of the word.
Michael is an experienced shooter and Franklin is a talented driver. How do you translate it into the game, if the characters are as good as the person playing? That's right, you give Michael bullet time and you give Franklin the ability to slow down time while driving. It makes perfect sense.
As for Trevor, his ability is the adrenaline kicking in when he is consumed by rage. And people are capable of crazy things on adrenaline, including surviving for longer. So his ability makes perfect sense as well.
In addition, since GTA V is the first GTA game with more than one playable character, the abilities further differentiate the characters and give you the reason to switch between them.
Choosing a driver on I Fought the Law? Franklin is an obvious choice. Fighting in a shootout? Michael and Trevor are preferable and so on.
The abilities don't make GTA V a fantasy game, lol.
I mean, gta v is the same game where 3 random dudes steal aircrafts and steal a toxin from a lab and then steal a nuclear superweapon with a submarine.
gta v isn't really realistic, specially with gta online's laser weapons and flying bike thing
@@UltraCenterHQ True. But unrealistic game doens't equal fantasy game. That was my point. I'm not talking about GTA Online at all because they kind of killed the universe with the futuristic weapons and vehicles.
Lamar always talks about how it’s funny that he never met “this Michael dude” but they met within the first 15 minutes of the game, there’s the irony
Officially.
Honestly I dont feel Franklin and Lamars "problems" were "hastily solved" that is just how those type of friendships work. Frakling and Lamar are the type of friends that having been friends so long, nothing could break that bond and sure they had issues but they at their core are best friends who cant stay mad at each other for what they do.
I'd also say that Franklin and Lamar have that kind of relationship. There comes a point between two people when some events solidify the friendship/relationship so much that nothing is capable of breaking it. There can be misunderstandings, quarrels etc., but at the end of the day they can't stay away from one another for long.
As someone with a friend like that, I absolutely agree. When you've been friends that long, you tend to flip flop between despising each other and being willing to die for each other
Theres a ton of parallels between Franklin's and Gustavo's realizations regarding gang hierarchy. It would have been neat to see more of a friendship between them.
i never thought of that i do wish the gunmen were a little more involved in the story
judging from Gus' first heist story during Paleto Score he seemed to be more competent than Franklin lmao
@@wasabi5338 It was Lamar that fcked up Franklins first heist. Franklin was the driver.
Franklin is one of the payable characters but narrative wise hes a side character.
Shame his side wasnt as fleshed out in the main story.
He is kinda the player's avatar. Character who is new to Michael and Trevor's story, but who kinda knows Los Santos already. Franklin's main use is to let us experience the main story from the side and let us experience the classic "getting rich" storyline. Michael is quite wealthy from the start and Trevor's idea of spending money is... interesting. So they gave us a character who just needs to get "there" from the bottom
@@viv12348 I'd be interesting to see player data on which characters they use most to see if that idea holds true. Haha
@@viv12348 facts people dont see this perspective
@@popdogfooldef Franklin just because of his driving ability
@@popdogfoolgotta be Franklin. Most hip, most young, and a very useful ability.
To be fair, you always had the option of someone like Rickie Lukens during heist planning, and that crew members do increase in skill after finishing heists, so I thought useless people like Lamar getting recruited in one wasn’t a far-off question.
Problem is Lamar probably would have started low skill gunman and we all know what happens to low skill gunmen in heists lol
@@andreaswong8829 Due to Lamar's relevance in the story, I don't think it would happen. It would be too much change in a very straightforward and strict story.
Except in the game he is shown time and time again that he doesn't exactly learn from his mistakes, so I doubt his skill would've increased by much, if at all
@@fallen_vague28 Skill can come from more than mistakes, like making something more efficient, like a speedrunner would.
That being said I still agree with you. That and he'd probably pester everyone for a big cut and get cut out from the heist.
@@roosterball1999 Then that just kills how dynamic the heists are... you choose the cheap story character who can't die and won't punish you with a bigger cut then most players would choose him and miss on how different the heists could play out. Also, it kills the narrative that Lamar was feeling left out.
18:47 - Missed one. Also, you were right. I didn't understand Franklin's story. I never caught onto the Ballers thing and thought of him as being above Michael and Trevor...as in, they screw things up because of their massive personality flaws, and then drag Franklin into it like he's an intern. Never really put it together that all three of them are equally responsible for the BS they keep finding themselves in. In my defense though, I am kind of an idiot.
He missed one way earlier too
@@SomeOne-vf1rs There's one at 5:07, that what you mean?
@@nathankurtz8045 Yeah that’s the one I was referring to thanks
This is literally the first time I'm hearing any of the Stretch phone calls, and I've finished the story maybe a dozen times over
Ironically this video helped me understand STRETCH more than Franklin and made me respect him hell of a lot more. He was my least favourite antagonist out of the 4 and after this video he became probably my favourite and Chang became the least favourite.
I can't wait to not understand GTA 6 story just for Matto to make video explaining that Lucia wasn't in witness protection
Plot twist Lucia was never on parole
i liked the pacifist explanation of stretch's story better.
"He's a bad person, who does bad things, because he is bad."
Rockstar put sooooo much thought into this game and lore… and just like the world building, car conversations, social media posts in game, text messages, all too tell all of these weaving stories.. I don’t know why some people disliked the singlet player game and story. It was great and well thought out
I'm sure after GTA 6 comes out suddenly everyone gets nostalgic and will say GTA 5's story was better
@@pyro934 lol you are probably right... We all know half of the players will hate the woman solely because she is a woman... Smh it's so ridiculous
I think the problem is that al lot of the optional stuff is important in understanding vital motivations and informations that you just dont get if you dont hear all the conversations, phone calls, hangouts and stuff. Thats why a lot of people dont "get" the story
This will certainly happen.@@pyro934
@@garfieldfan925 in GTA 5 you don’t play as a woman I think…
Holy crap, I totally misunderstood Stretch. I really thought he joined the Ballas while still in CGF, so he could play both sides.
Stretch lived through the chaos and bloodshed of the 90s. It took me til this video to see the kind of unity he was striving for, but it makes total sense. It makes sense that he hates Franklin and Lamar because they were too young to truly understand what the LS gangs went through in the 90s, and they've both broken the mould and rejected the typical gang hierarchy. To him, Lamar is a small sacrifice to broker peace between the gangs.
Obviously sacrificing anyone's life like that is wrong, but like most good villains, I understand why Stretch did what he did now.
@@BonJoviBeatlesLedZep”sacrificing someone’s life is wrong” in a gang context is crazy
@@BonJoviBeatlesLedZep Stretch wants to become Sweet in his mind but doesn't realise he's more like Big Smoke. It's not only about peace, unfortunately, it's about him wanting to be the shot caller. He wants to be the leader, wants the power, the money, the control and from seeing his interactions with Ballas, it already looked like he had a lot of influence over there so he could've easily sat above the Ballas too just like Big Smoke.
Feel bad that Shawn Fonteno’s character did not get enough attention during the campaign. I’ve played through the story a bunch and never knew about the lore you brought up. Great video as always 💯
As someone who played GTA San Andreas too many times. I always thought the Ballas and Families were on bad terms. Leading me to believe that Stretch betrayed CGF to survive in prison as Franklin hints all the time. It also isn't the first time Rockstar didn't change NPC outfits when they betrayed their gang. Big Smoke and Ryder wore green even when they were no longer associated with the Families.
Considering that every single time I play SA, one of the first things I do when gang wars opens up is to destroy every single gang, I was quite surprised the Ballas still existed in 5. 😂
@@tin2001aren't they set in different universes anyway? Or did the gang just fall apart after the leaders left it or something
@@Dabazuka they are set in different universe in 3d universe CJ just wiped ballas out completely
@@varadsalunkhe9008 Then those same members family would later rep the same gang. That's how it goes. Remember a lot of them would've been in prison as well. (If we were relating it to real life).
@@varadsalunkhe9008i dont think gta sa and V is in a seperate universe cuz f dog spoke about grove street also lamar said what happened to em dudes
Wow. I saw you did one for the other characters and tried to search for one of Franklin's merely a couple of hours ago.
I was disappointed to not see one of him.
Good timing.
When he said Stretch "got in with the ballas" he means that he became friends with ballas that were in prison with him and that friendship helped mend the relationship between the cgf and the ballas
Tracey mentioned Michael's powers in daddy's little girl because she says "My dad never misses!"
That’s awesome tbh
When does she says that tf?
@@dolphinerofachero3159 during daddy's little girl
There's also trevors ability is like a "quarter" Referenced on that one mission where Trevor says to Michael to stop smoking and talks about how hes fit because of his lust for meth and says he can take Michael on, and Michael responds with "your only fit because your *deranged* " so yeah, everyones ability is canon.
@NorthTexasNewYork yeah also that and forgot to mention Franklin's where Lamar tells him to use his ability which to others looks like Franklin squinting his eyes and getting really focused. "It's like watching Chop learn how to read!" Is what Lamar says in the long stretch
POV: *An unhinged man kidnapped you in his basement and explains GTA V lore to you.*
The Families and the Ballas were at peace for 20 years, from 1993 to 2013. That is a pretty good stretch.
Maybe other characters see Franklin's ability as not too special. Kinda like when gamers lean slightly forward when playing difficult sections, except whilst normal people get a little bit better by doing this Franklin gets a lot better. So maybe they see him as "just a good driver"
I mean isn’t that what Michael does too?
@AJayZy I'm confused about what tf Trevor's ability is about then
@@absolution6191 Meth and gasoline
@@absolution6191adrenaline
@@absolution6191 Anger, rage, adrenaline, when you're in those states, often you can do things you never thought you were capable of doing. I'm sure you've seen or heard about someone getting shot but not realising it until that adrenaline rush simmers down.
It’s crazy how Franklin and Tanisha’s relationship(before gta online) is exactly like my situation rn. Except for me being a robber and a killer for that matter.
???
GTA V's story is weird because it kinda feels like it ended in the middle and stopped before actually going anywhere. Still a lot of fun, tho.
Man this series was great! I hope this ain't over and we will see for example some general lore facts for multiple characters!
I learned so much more about Franklin here than after multiple playyhroughs of the story.
Finally, thank you Matto for this video. I know you read many comments and if you read this just know that I've been watching you for years and I profoundly admire your dedication to this game (series). Cheers!
You're right with that ending point, I had no idea who tf Tanisha when she finally showed up despite all the supposed importance she had to Franklin, and for the most part I had forgotten mostly about the stuff with Stretch so when he showed up in the final mission I was confused about why we were killing this guy lol
To me it seemed like Stretch saw Lamar as the main reason the gang war started and therefore he was the one who needed to be killed, while Franklin just looks like some kid from the hood Stretch has some arguments with.
So Lamar was Stretch's target and Franklin just happened to be an annoying inconvenience that came with trying to kill Lamar
I mean Lamar WAS the cause kidnapping D just out of the blue. As far as I can tell there was no beef at all until Lamar created one himself
I never noticed most of the points you made about Stretch, truly an amazing video! With that in mind, what do you think about covering the rest of the antagonists in the next GTA V story video?
Tanisha is like the only normal and well-adjusted person in the entire story of GTA V, especially going by her final scene begging Franklin to save Lamar and by the social media posts. Even that janitor seemed to not even be scared of Michael threatening him. Tanisha is the last sane person left in Los Santos.
This is the first time that I ever heard that Franklin had an off shoot of the CGF under his belt, no wonder he was really all against the entitlement of the OGs.
Its like how muhammad’s army worked
The muslims had to give him a cut of the loot they took during jihad
Muhammad the Stretch of Arabia
Lol
FGF forum gangsta families
You were right about the censoring making it worse. That swearing sound affect more than a hundred times is jarring
overcensorship has made modern UA-cam basically unwatchable unless you get some lobotomy done.
nah, it didn't bother, I could still hear those words lmao
You've not played San Andreas enough if that menu sound wasn't already set to auto filter in your mind...
Videos like this make me appreciate this games story even more than I already do, I love this game so much.
I can understand why Franklin hate Stretch so much now.
It's so good when someone explains the lore behind a certain story, and in this case, a certain character. I didn't pay much attention to the story of this game, but now that you have these videos abt the lore behind the 3 protagonists I can see that the story in GTA 5 goes deeper in many ways that as you said, most player might just go by. Thank you, and keep up the good work, wish you all the best :DD
When you're playing, it can be hard to fully absorb the story, and very easy to miss the missable scenes that occur in random encounters or when you do missions in non-obvious ways.
@@tin2001 yeah it's true, but it depends on the player too, like I wasn't paying much attention to what was happening, or why was something happening even if was watching the cutscenes, more or less paying attention.
Banger of a video as always
Although I must say, some cutscenes would benefit from not having a background music, it can be quite distracting
Matt, I have a idea, you could do the lore for some of the side characters like Stretch, Steve Haines, Dave Norton, and all of the other characters that are relevant to the story. Or you could do a video explaining all of the strangers and freaks
Can't wait for the "You Don't Understand Gta 5's Story - I Spent 10000 Hours Discovering Chop's Secret Lore"
chop is in witness protection
This video finally made me understand what Stretch's deal was, I did not get his motivations before this. And honestly, he's... weirdly justifiable. At least in comparison to most GTA antagonists.
Been waiting for this to come out man! Great video, love the content matto ❤
Another question that would've been interesting to answer is "Why doesn't the drug that Barry gives to Michael and Trevor not have any effects on Franklin?" And what do you believe his fear would be?
Because during the whole game Franklin was living his fear of doing petty crime grunt work to scape up a living
It’s probably just because Franklin is already a pothead. I agree that it’s a bit silly because if anyone would have a drug resistance it would be Trevor, but that’s clearly what the game is trying to say with that
As far as Lamar being a potential gunman for heists, I'd love to see what kind of idle conversation would go on with Lamar and Chef in the car on the way to the heist.
I think the sacrafice for peace is a great point. You see the same thing in Sons of Anarchy. The Mayans failed a hit on the SOA President, and to preserve peace, the Mayan president offered his own son's life to the SOA
I feel like Lamar not being a gun man for a heist is still a missed opportunity considering that inexperienced crew get better after every heist
He is one of the most used side characters next to Lester i don’t Think he needed to be in the heists But some ekstra Franklin missions to flesh out their past with Stretch and the GSF
It was such a bad move to hide important pieces of lore in optional dialogue such as the one in hangouts and the optional phone calls, It's a shame R* choose that path for storytelling in GTA V cuz most people don't get to hear about those details that ad so much to the characters. I think they did it better in GTA IV where you would hear interesting things (such as the fate of Roman's mother or what Packie's father did to him) but that were non-essential for the story and you could understand it perfectly without them. I hope R* learns from this for GTA VI. Great video as always Matto! Definitely the best out there in lore videos
Can't wait to hear darkvipers reaction believing that there are no cougars in online to finding out (preferably the hard way by being mauled to death and eaten by one but unlikely since he's on PC) that there are in fact now cougars in online.
Literally 5 minutes after I wrote that message I just got mauled to death and eaten by a cougar in online. 🤣
So there are cougars, but no sharks?
@@nathanmarshall745There are sharks in gta online, learned the hard way after trying to swim to my Kosotka
This video finally made me understand the whole character of Stretch... I really wish the Franklin storyline woulda been more fleshed out, but I guess Rockstar were trying to do too many things at once.
I'd actually love to see You make Lore videos about GTA overall. Not just V
Lamar is not Franklin friend. He’s lowkey an opportunist.
I wish the whole Franklin's story arc was fleshed out more in the main game. I feel like 10 years after playing the game it was always weird what the whole Stretch beef was. After the "Long Stretch mission there was only Hood Safari and Lamar down that were focused on Franklin. I wish there were more missions in between to solidify why we wanted to kill Stretch
I agree
Franklin has always come across as underdeveloped to me compared to Michael and Trevor and needed some ekstra missions
What Franklin was meant to do was start a click for the Families hood. But what the result was Franklin trying to make a whole new hood but still claiming Families. That’s a big no no in hood politics
23:57
it's crazy that Michael and Franklin didn't remember each other, while Trevor (kinda) recognized Dave 10 years after the first heist.
because franklin was one of a thousand faces michael saw that day, Dave was the face trevor saw for weeks in newspapers and news as ''the man who killed my best friend''
another reason that franklin knows who martin madrazo is, is pretty simple. he’s a gangster. it’s very likely that one of madrazo’s top men is a supplier (whether for weapons or illicit substances) for someone in CGF.
I can't believe how much of this game's story/lore i've missed, so I find these videos interesting.
For the reason Stretch didn't really seem to care much about Franklin, I'd suggest something The Professional pointed out in his video about Tommy Vercetti's lore in Vice City: just because the leader of a gang doesn't like someone lower down the pecking order doesn't mean he can have them killed on a whim, there needs to be a solid reason. Since Lamar was supposed to take the fall for D's death, Franklin was in the clear. Plus, it seems reasonable to assume that the setup on Grove Street was there to give the Ballas both Lamar and the cash as apology money, since Stretch brokered that deal, because he did get one the Ballas' higher-ups killed.
19:09 Nah nah nah , Lamar does not seriously say “meow”😂😂😂
I just realized Franklin's description about Martin Madrazo is a reference to GTA Online where our player character carries out a series of assasinations against people who were snitching on him.
Another reference would be Franklin telling off Lamar when he sold oil tankers. Lamar got the tankers after hiring the GTA Online Protagonist to steal them in a Contact Mission. I always like the connection between GTA Online and Story Mode.
this video turned out a lot better than I thought.
here is my small bit of "theory" about how Franklin knows Martin. its probably through our legitimate business man. I mean if he made deals with Rubio of all people (evidenced from his photo with Rubio) then he probably made some deals with MZ.
A "You Don't Understand The Wildlife Of GTA V" video would be awesome. It wouldn't take as much effort and it's not something I've ever seen covered in detail (as much detail as there is). Things like where they roam, behaviors, population numbers, spawn locations, interactions with the story, etc..
Stretch might have been a bit pragmatic, but facts is facts... You can't bring 2 rival families from the hood together, ain't no playing both sides. A stalemate works better than brokering a peace. It's just the pride of growing up in the hood; you're either with your homies or a rat
Stretch knew Franklin was realistic and Lamar was idealistic about hood life. Stretch took advantage of Lamar’s idealism. He just saw Lamar and Franklin as chumps who he can sacrifice for his power grab.
35:20 This happened with me,when I first played I didn't know Tanisha could appear in other cutscenes other than the final one, so I was very confused when a character that only mentioned in dialogue, emails and Life invader appeared on Franklin's house.
"Man no disrespect homie but the worst thing your father ever did was not buy you a convertable"
FRANKLIN DEMOLISHED JIMMY THERE
Just because Stretch keeps talking about the OG life doesn't mean he didn't switch out in prison. He very well could be what's known as a false flagger. These are gang members who still represent their set while actively working with the enemy.
Tanisha wanted franklin to leave the gang. He does. Then she tells him to get back in the life because he won't change. She's confusing
Women.
What an amazing video! I genuinely did not know most of this stuff.
The three character dynamic really became too much to handle because all of this information is left unknown on the first play-through.
More GTA lore in general would be great! I always enjoy these videos
Amazing work on the video brother. Love and Respect 🩷
i actually never realised that franklin was a gang leader
I don’t think he’s a leader. I won’t pretend to know anything about GTA 5 but my impression was that “Forum gangsters” consisted of literally just Lamar and Franklin
15:02 this line is absolute gold and I’m not really sure why. Franklins movement when he says it and his lips not matching up to the words at all makes it funny
If only the whole Stretch side plot was actually well explained. Guess that's the result of Rockstar having to cut much of the Lamar plot, maybe originally Stretch would've been more succesful at poisoning him against Franklin.
"Ian got no beef wit CGF..."
"Cuz maybe we doin our own thang."
makes so much more sense now.
Franklin really got the short stick of the writting, to the point all the people around him are better developed than him, its sad becasue based in the trailers its implied he was gonna have his own storyline
I think stretch placed more of a focus on Lamar because Lamar was actually CGF and Franklin had clearly been distant from the gang for a while, so Franklin does not cause friction between the gangs cuz they see him as just some knobhead that isn’t connected
Since lamar is a 'low skilled' gunman if he was ever a possible heist member. He will be one of the characters that would die in the heist like norm or daryl and that would mess up the plot if he dies.