Being a DIK: The Hypocrisy of Sage Morgan-Burke

With Jill, we looked at the Episode 12 breakup event due to her repeated affirmation to the MC that past relationships were fine, when they end up breaking up as a result of said past.

In this case, Sage's hypocrisy is noticed throughout the entire story, and not just about breakups.

1. The Moral High Ground on Cheating

Sage's entire story is about her relationship with Chad

And how she rewards the player for figuring out who Chad is cheating with.

Sage's core dynamic kicks off with her outrage over Chad's suspected infidelity to her. She recruits the MC to spy on Chad and frames dishonesty and cheating as absolute, unforgivable betrayals. And how is this all started? As a canon ultimatum that he promises to spy on Chad, and in turn the MC gets his clothes, money, ID and guitar back from Sage, which was wrongfully taken from him.

While actively investigating Chad and condemning his dishonesty, Sage routinely engages in heavy emotional dependency, intimate encounters, drunkenness, and multi-partner sexual activities with the MC. This is an emotional & physical double standard, all based on a belief that Chad is cheating on her. Therefore, it's ok if she does it too, right?

She holds Chad to an unforgiving, zero-tolerance standard of fidelity, while simultaneously using the MC as a romantic and physical substitute before her relationship with Chad is cleanly or officially terminated. She condemns the act of cheating in public while actively engaging in it in private. If she actually believed cheating was inherently bad, she could have broken off the relationship and continued trying to figure out Chad's behavior.

Even with video evidence of his infidelity, Sage won't abandon Chad? What?

Her cheating on Chard is out of revenge, and her strong belief that Chad is cheating on her (which turns out to be correct); but it still makes her a cheater in the process, and no better than him. When having video proof provided by the MC from the gym, instead of Sage breaking it off with Chad, she immediately makes advances on the MC. But that's not enough for Sage; now, she needs to know who the "bitch" is...

The Episode 4 Jade factor

Her double standard reaches its peak at the end of Episode 12 from (the optional) Jade event that occurs in Episode 4. When Sage emotionally and physically stepped out on Chad with the MC, she expected total understanding for her complicated grief and bad relationship state. But when the MC has a sexual encounter with Jade, which could simply be a hand job, Sage drops the hammer with zero-tolerance fury. This proves she demands a complete emotional pass for her own boundary-crossing, while offering zero grace when the shoe is on the other foot. This is all before Sage and the MC became a couple, while Sage was fooling around with the MC behind Chad's back, and doing so in a non-committed manner; the Jade encounter was consensual and hurt nobody, while the MC had no idea she was Sage's stepmother.

What exactly is Sage angry over having the MC fool around with her stepmother?

2. The Zoey Non-Ultimatum Ultimatum

Sage explicitly acknowledges the MC's complete fidelity since Episode 11, yet she enforces a strict relationship-ending ultimatum regarding Zoey. If a partner is 100% confident in the MC's loyalty, third-party advances or feelings are entirely irrelevant to the security of the relationship. But Sage doesn't care.

Zoey was the MC's sole emotional anchor alongside his father during years of severe high school bullying. Sage -- whom the MC has known for only a few months -- demands he discard his foundational support system simply because Zoey expressed unrequited feelings that the MC already rejected.

The MC can enter Episode 8 with a dense romantic and sexual history involving Maya, Josy, Jill, Isabella, and others. Sage turns a blind eye to these past entanglements because those Main Girls and Others belong to her existing social circles, even one circle the MC created for Sage. She makes zero effort to integrate or befriend Zoey, treating her as a threat while giving her new friends a complete pass for the exact same past romantic involvement with the MC.

Sage's illogical explanation, where she clarifies that what she said about Zoey wasn't an ultimatum on choosing Zoey's friendship over her own relationship with the MC; yet, that's exactly what it became at the end of the episode, directly contradicting herself. Sage is egocentric, irrational and jealous whenever it comes to her own relationships.

And finally, most players like being nice to everyone. Being friends with Zoey while not engaging in her romance seems a natural thing to do. The MC can be friendly with just about everyone in the story, including Tybalt. It would make sense to be as nice as possible to the MC's oldest friend; yet this is too much for Sage to accept, and she breaks off her relationship with the MC.

3. Contradictory Views on Family Influence

Sage constantly preaches self-reliance, expressing shame and contempt toward her father, Professor Burke. She publicly disowns his corrupt financial practices, his corporate "ass-licking," and the high-society status her last name carries, claiming she wants to stand on her own two feet. Though she has a wild and outgoing independent persona, there's no evidence she leads that kind of life.

Whether it involves trying to secure protection/resources around Maya's crisis, or using administrative leverage to navigate school drama (such as reinstating Chad's status to solve HOT party time allotment dispute between the Tri-Alphas and the DIKs), she takes advantage of that privilege she claims to despise. She condemns her father's ethics until those same unethical channels offer her a convenient escape valve.