Five-Act Structure, Part Two

Act IV, Falling Action, shows the consequences of the knowledge gained during the Climax. It is the point where all of the protagonist’s choices come back to haunt him, and the enemies close in for the kill. In the Three-Act Structure, it is the second half of Act II; in the Story Circle, it is the “Take” step. Screenwriter Blake Synder has yet another term for it: the All-is-Lost Moment. Whatever you call it, this is the place where things go from bad to worse. John Yorke goes so far as to frame it as backwards progression, labeling it the transition through ‘doubt, growing reluctance, and regression.’¹ In his eyes, the end of Act IV leaves the protagonist in such dire circumstances that they have regressed to who they were at the start.

In Silent Hill 2, James experiences his own regression during Act IV as his sanity crumbles away. He repeatedly finds Maria, who he believed was killed by Pyramid Head, only to see her die again in increasingly bizarre ways. He also reunites with Eddie and Angela, whose psychological troubles spill out to reform the parallel world. Although he is able to help Angela, he is forced to kill Eddie to survive, and the murder throws everything he believed about himself into question. When James seeks comfort in Mary’s letter and finds it blank, he realizes it was only a figment of his imagination. His regression culminates with a realization: he was the one who killed her. This is James’s darkest moment, but it is also another turning point. From here, he has nowhere to go but up, bringing his story to its final act: Resolution.