The Serpent and The Woman: Snake Eater part 1

   We return to the story in which the world is on the brink of widespread turmoil.  Major Tom gives a briefing of the situation as Snake, patched up after a week in the best ICU the West could muster, flies inside a sort of shuttle pod (a D-21 to spy plane fanatics) attached to a Lockheed M-21 (precursor to the SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance jet and variant of the A-12. for those who don't know planes, it's the thing that the X-men get around in).  Basically, FOX unit looks awful because the mission that should've been a quick easy in n' out has brought the Cold War closer to eruption into World War III.  The events that occurred were unforeseeable and as a result Snake and the FOX unit are given a second chance. Operation Snake Eater.

Cold War had awesome planes, that's for sure.

    A phone call between Khrushchev and President Lyndon B. Johnson involves the two world leaders piecing together what all has occurred on this mission.  The issue of The Boss' defection to Volgin's side has frightened the Soviet establishment and as such they need Snake to assassinate Volgin, The Cobra Unit, The Boss, and destroy the Shagohod.  Since the nuclear assault has been interpreted as American aggression, Snake will not be welcome in Russia, and he will still be hunted by Russian soldiers. Not leaving Snake completely helpless, the Reds agree to send in two former NSA operatives who defected to the Soviets and have infiltrated Volgin's ranks.  These operatives are under the codenames ADAM and EVA.  Also, Snake has the support team of Major Tom (now called Major Zero because he mistakenly chose the first one after one of the discovered tunnels in the movie The Great Escape), Para Medic (who is about to lose her medical license if Snake Eater fails, she also really likes movies), and Sigint (the new guy, a black man who specializes in R&D of weapons and equipment).

Zero and Paramedic.
They must live in a movie theater or something.

   The D-21 detaches from really high up in the atmosphere as it passes Soviet air patrols undetected.  Snake deploys into just about the same clearing he landed in for the Virtuous Mission.  After sneaking around some, he hears a horse in the jungle.  After approaching the horse, The Boss comes out.  She is displeased with Snake and the fact he holds onto the past (as represented by the bandanna he wears that he took from her after he plummeted off the bridge).  She shoots the D-21 that landed nearby enough times that it explodes.  After disassembling Snake's gun (seeing how Snake is an amazing soldier and how this is the second time The Boss has destroyed his gun, it says something about how unstoppable she is), she rides off on her horse, but not without stomping on Snake's hand.  She vows that she will kill Snake the next time they meet.

Anyone who can wear a white combat uniform at night
is inviting you to get destroyed.  

  Snake is pretty upset about this, but he continues with the mission because that's the only thing that makes sense (spoiler:  not for long).  Arriving at the place he found Sokolov the first time, he encounters an individual on a motorcycle.  Having been told this was where he would meet ADAM, he requests the password.  The person on the motorcycle doesn't give a password, nor does this individual turn off the light or motor of the bike.  It draws a lot of attention as you could imagine.  As Russian soldiers come out to get them, the person on the motorcycle pulls out a Chinese pistol and kills all of the Russians.  After this madness, the person is revealed to be a woman as she removes her helmet and for good measure unzips her combat uniform down to her navel.  I know that sounds incredibly unprofessional and probably gets at the claim that video games have sexist elements, and it might be just a little, but I swear if you haven't caught on already the developers going for something here.  Her name is EVA by the way.

  She asks Jack whats his code name, to which he says Snake.  She then follows up with "So have you come to tempt me?" You see, the grand irony of it all is that although she is supposed to be on his side, she is doing pretty much everything in her power to get his attention away from the mission.  There is also the Biblical irony that it is the woman that is tempting the snake in the garden.  It presents this idea that all conventional wisdom has been turned on its head.  It should also be noted that Snake is incredibly meek for someone who is supposed to be crawling on his stomach, sneaking around, and killing some crazy terrorists.  It almost gives a sense that an angel fell (HALO jump) to become a Snake (Naked Snake) to set straight a Garden (the jungle) seized by pandemonium (the mission).  At least the Snake encountered the woman first, that lines up (spoiler:  not really)

  In the face of such temptation, Snake manages to resist.  He just ran into The Boss, whom he worshiped, and she pretty much gave him the shaft.  However, EVA does give Snake something that would help with the mission, a gun.  It's pretty much a case of love at first sight when Snake beholds the gun.  He praises all of its qualities as though it was handcrafted for him.  He accepts the gun and consequentially accepts EVA as well (I could write pages about the character of EVA. There's a lot of to be said for and against her characterization with regards to feminism, misogyny, and the video game industry.  Maybe I will later.  If Anita Sarkeesian should stumble upon this, I'd be more than willing to share all my thoughts on this matter, though I bet she could say it a lot better than I can.)

  By way of Para-Medic's request, Snake decides to get some sleep (by saving the game).  EVA wanders off to do something that we will address next time.