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Caught is the 23rd scene in Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number and the third-to-last level in the game. In this scene, the player takes control of Manny Pardo. It is the third and final scene to feature Manny Pardo as a playable character, as well as the conclusion to his storyline. The date in which this level takes place is unknown, but appears to be set somewhere between December 20th, 1991 and December 28th, 1991, making it the final playable level in the series chronologically.

Scene[]

Blood Money Outro[]

The outro of the previous scene, Blood Money, leaves the Son in a bank vault and transitions to Pardo visiting another investigation of a recent brutal murder perpetrated by the Miami Mutilator. Johnson explains to Pardo that the Miami Mutilator has yet again left another message saying "You have to stop them! I don't want to take anymore innocent lives!" and that the killer has left behind a shell casing and some minor finger prints. For the first time, Johnson is seriously offput by the scene, commenting that the Mutilator is completely insane. The limbless body is mutilated beyond recognition (unlike the throat slashing and strangling with post mortem evisceration seen in other scenes). Forensics is taking pictures of garbage bags, presumably full of the victim's missing parts. The balcony features several cigarette buds, mirroring the ending of Showdown (after which Jacket got caught). Pardo emphasizes that the Chief will be riding him with all the press coverage the case will get, and that his job is on the line. Tired, he lets Johnson carry on with his work and proceeds to go back to his apartment and rest.

Pardo's apartment contains only a potted plant, a stand with magazines on it, a punching bag, a bench press, two dumbbells, a couch facing a TV, and a bed. On the counter top by the kitchen sink, a newspaper is open to an article on the Russian president's request for tightened security at the upcoming RAC conference. The RAC conference is apparently the biggest news story as the Son's drug war is over and the Fans are all dead. Pardo taking note of the tightened security could hint at a desire to attack the conference for notoriety.

Caught Intro[]

A flash of static occurs as Pardo goes to sleep and cuts to a very stormy night. An extremely paranoid and sweat-covered Pardo is shown to have relentlessly searched for something throughout his apartment, stating that he "can't find it". Panicking, he leaves his apartment and finds that all his neighbors are recipients of 50 Blessings mask packages. He drives back to the crime scene's apartment building, and again a 50 Blessings mask package is at every doorstep.

Once Pardo returns to the scene, he comes across Phantom, who appears to have Pardo's revolver. Pardo asks what he's doing at the crime scene, to which Phantom responds "Well, you know what they say... Murderers always return to the scene of the crime." Pardo asks who Phantom is, and Phantom responds that he is his son and tries to "hug" Pardo by strangling him. Pardo retaliates by pushing the Phantom off him, shattering his ventriloquist-dummy head as it hits the floor. The screen flashes to show that the building has changed to a movie set piece. A man in a golf cart waiting for Pardo claims that his "next scene is up". Pardo steps into the golf cart and it drives off.

The golf cart arrives at a mock-up police station (similar to the one in Final Cut) with a film crew surrounding the Police Chief (the same one that appears in First Trial) in his "office". The Police Chief, angry and disgusted with Pardo, states that Pardo can choose either to turn himself in for his crimes or to be arrested by several police officers. Confused, Pardo asks what crimes he has committed. The Police Chief then reveals that Pardo is in fact the Miami Mutilator according to concrete evidence. Pardo insists that he can only be taken by force and runs into the "police station".

Level[]

The level is split into two areas filled with several police officers, inspectors and dogs, who Pardo must kill to finish the level. The first screen depicts Evan alone in a locked interrogation room which cannot be entered.

Outro[]

Upon killing everyone in the police station, Pardo comes across several armed cops pointing their guns at him and ordering him to surrender and lay on the ground, mirroring the ending of Homicide. Pardo desperately flashes his badge and tries to say he's a police officer, but is riddled with bullets.

After this the screen cuts to static and then back to Pardo's apartment. The detective wakes up, revealing the whole police station massacre and his encounter with the Ventriloquist as a nightmare. He gets a call from the police, declaring that they have a situation and that Pardo needs to get to the station immediately. However, Pardo dismisses the call and hangs up on the cops.

Detective Pardo, now revealed to be the Miami Mutilator, observes his gun that he thought he had left behind at the crime scene (the same gun he used to kill Tony and possibly his third-known victim).

Presumably after the end of the scene, Pardo barricades himself inside his apartment where he stays there until his death.

Music[]

"Guided Meditation" by the Old Future Fox Gang plays during the crime investigation in the outro to Blood Money.

"Interlude" by Chromacle plays during the beginning of Pardo's nightmare in the intro.

"Richard" by Life Companions plays during Pardo's encounter with the Ventriloquist Doll.

"Slum Lord" by Mega Drive plays during the level.

Trivia[]

  • Evan can be seen in the locked interrogation room of the police station during Pardo's nightmare. This could indicate Pardo believes Evan has damning information of his misconduct or murders that Evan is sitting on.
  • Notably, Pardo doesn't kill Evan or the Chief in this scene, and spends the level running away from them.
  • If the intro is played, the title card will appear before the Phantom meeting. If the intro is skipped the title card will lead into the golf cart ride to the Chief's office.
  • Talking to the Chief and being accused as the Mutilator is completely optional.
  • The film crew sprites are identical to the ones in Midnight Animal and Final Cut. The unique sprite of Rouven Blankenfeld is not present at all.
  • This scene can be taken as an indication that the main levels of Homicide and Dead Ahead are also dreams or power fantasies while Pardo is in actuality sleeping or performing a Mutilation.
  • The golf cart Pardo uses in this scene is the Pig Butcher's vehicle in the Level Editor.
  • It is most likely that the call Pardo receives at the end of the level is to warn him about the nuclear bomb about to be dropped as a result of the attacked RAC meeting, which we (the player) hear about in the outro to Apocalypse.
  • This level is notably one of the shorter levels in the game, even though it's the penultimate level in the game besides Apocalypse.
  • This scene is, chronologically, the last playable scene in the Hotline Miami series, not counting the outro to Apocalypse with Richter.
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