(These are going to be short notes mainly for myself and not a full analysis.)
2:24
Ashe: …Jesse McCree. Been awhile. You promised you’d write.
McCree: Well, Ashe…I’ve been kinda busy.
Ashe: We’re pretty busy ourselves, so it’s awful convenient you showin’ up today.
McCree: …Yeah, you’ve never been one to shy away from a good tip.
Ashe: Hey! We worked hard for this score! You best move on now.
McCree: Hmmph. All I want is (gestures) that crate. Everything else is yours.
Ashe: This crate? (taps Echo’s case with her rifle) Huh… B.O.B.
(B.O.B. opens the crate. Ashe sees “what’s inside”.)
Ashe: …Well, well. Now you got my attention. What is it.
McCree, making a face: That’s none of your business.
Ashe: Well as I see it…Now it’s very much our business.
McCree, sighing: It doesn’t always have to be this way, Ashe.
Ashe: Apparently, it does.
—
7:03
McCree: Well, that’s a story for another time, but I got a call. They want me, but really, they need you.
(McCree starts to walk away.)
Echo: Jesse, wait! What are you going to do?
McCree: I’ve got some business to attend to.
(McCree takes Ashe’s bike.)
McCree: Say hi to the monkey for me.
Echo: Monkey?
McCree, laughing:Scientist. Whatever.
———
Alright, I want to highlight two key moments in these sections.
A good tip
Ashe: We’re pretty busy ourselves, so it’s awful convenient you showin’ up today.
McCree: …Yeah, you’ve never been one to shy away from a good tip.
Ashe: Hey! We worked hard for this score! You best move on now.
McCree: Hmmph. All I want is (gestures) that crate. Everything else is yours.
—
So here are the two golden questions we need to be asking:
What was this “good tip” that Deadlock got about this military train passing through their gorge?
And how exactly did McCree learn about it too?
There’s actually a surprising amount of “stuff” going on in this scene – McCree knows that Deadlock was informed about this particular train but not specifically its particular cargo (because Ashe doesn’t know what/“who” Echo is).
However, McCree himself knows about the train’s particular cargo, and specifically wants it.
In fact, he has “the key” for it.
Implied in this scene is that McCree was: 1) aware that Deadlock knew about the train and was going to attempt this heist, 2) knew in advance this train was going to be transporting Echo somewhere, and most importantly 3) was able to get the key to awaken Echo before this actual train/heist/moment.
It is implied that McCree “let” Ashe and Deadlock blow up the bridge in order to get access to Echo’s case without having to “do the dirty work” himself.
And quite frankly, there is one answer that really stands out to both of these questions:
Sombra.
Sombra is easily the most “plot-convenient character” because it’s easy to let her “super amazing hacking” fill in the gaps in the plot points. Military train transporting a special AI/robot unit that is somehow important to Overwatch? Don’t worry – she’s already inside the system (or whatever).
Need someone to retrieve said special AI/Robot unit?
In fact, the Reflections comic – which would take place after “Reunion” – implies they have had contact with each other.
Sombra also very conveniently has direct ties to Talon and a “brand new Talon leader” (Reaper) making it very easy to pass information to Ashe and Deadlock and “inform them” about a military train carrying some “good stuff” through their area. It’s been heavily implied throughout the game that Deadlock trades with Los Muertos, and both groups trade with Talon.
Sombra being an information go-between for all of these groups is super plot convenient, but it does bridge a lot of gaps.
Which of course, brings me back to my favorite subject:
McCree does not leave after Retribution. In fact, he appears to stay with Overwatch for at least another year (up through Uprising). McCree’s present-day interactions with Moira certainly imply that he doesn’t trust her, and appears to have been convinced that she was “the mistake” in Blackwatch during Retribution:
McCree: Always thought hiring you was a mistake. Moira: The best mistake one could ever make.
—
Moira: Our courageous cowboy. The years haven’t changed you much, have they, Jesse? McCree: They certainly haven’t changed my feelings about working with you.
—
This is notably different from how McCree deals with Ashe – another former “ally” from Deadlock – during the short. McCree seems to see Ashe as little more than a rival or minor problem, whereas he outright treats Moira with a good deal of hostility.
McCree finds Ashe’s (and Deadlock’s) attempts to stop him relatively easy to deal with.
On the other hand, McCree finds Moira a very real and still very dangerous threat, even though Blackwatch and Overwatch “are gone.”
Why?
Again, based on the above section, McCree is likely getting “good tips” and intel from Sombra –
Who is likely still working with “the man under Reaper’s mask.”
Blackwatch likely did not fully “disperse.”
It retreated “into the shadows” (again, Blizzard isn’t terribly clever with Sombra’s “codename”).
In fact, Retribution actually hints at this a few times:
Reyes: Trust me, Jesse, you should know by now! I won’t lead you wrong.
Reyes: I’m never gonna hear the end of this, am I?
McCree: I’m sure I’ll get over it…eventually.
Reyes: Good. Because I’m gonna need you, Jesse.
—
McCree is still attempting to help the newly recalled Overwatch “from the fringes”.
Admittedly, the “flaw” in this is that McCree supposedly “hasn’t met Reaper” in the present day (Recall era). Which means either Reyes is 110% “in too deep” and refuses to actually “meet” with any of his agents outside of Sombra (and possibly Soldier: 76) –
Or Sombra is really doing a lot of this without Reyes’ awareness (entirely plausible, though personally, given their interactions, I don’t think so).
Or alternately, even though McCree is willing to coordinate intel with Sombra, he’s not actually interested in consistently meeting up with his old commander.
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