So, as I’ve started playing Portal 2 again, something occurred to me: Why didn’t Chell try to escape?

Let me explain.

Think about what (admittedly little) we know about Chell. She’s tenacious as hell. She hates GLaDOS and Aperture Science with a passion (so much so that Word of God says this is, at least partly, why she doesn’t talk). And she wants to escape. The last thing she knew, she had almost succeeded, only to be dragged back into Aperture against her will. Naturally, one would assume she wouldn’t be too happy with this turn of events and would want to resume her trying to get the hell out of there. But once she’s woken up for her mandatory Physical and Mental Wellness Exercise, she proceeds to… do exactly as she’s told. And then go back to sleep.

Uhm… Did I miss something?

Why doesn’t she try to escape once she wakes up? We’re not even given the option of trying. I mean, obviously she couldn’t escape, because otherwise the game’s story couldn’t happen as it did, but you’d think they’d do something. Like let us try to open the door, only to find it locked. Or to open the door and start to leave, only to have someone (Wheatley? The Party Escort Bot? I don’t think Atlas and P-body were up and running at this point yet) shove us back inside. I mean, heck, they don’t even allow us to check the bathroom door. Surely Chell had to go pretty bad after 9-9-9-9-9-9 years.

I’m not saying she should’ve escaped. But it seems to me like they could’ve given us a reason as to why she didn’t try.

Maybe she really is brain-damaged.