Makarov's words, "Do not bury your enemies alive," carry significant meaning. Price regrets not preventing Soap from killing Makarov in the past and realizes that allowing enemies to be captured and imprisoned will not bring an end to the conflict. This is why Price decided to eliminate Shepherd, as he remembered the general warning him that he would regret keeping him alive. Consequently, Price eliminated Shepherd to eliminate a threat to both himself and Task Force 141. I believe Price plans to continue executing their most dangerous enemies going forward, similar to how the original Price dealt with his adversaries after interrogating them.

having Price not be able to save Soap a second time is just a stab in the heart for MW fans..

What really breaks my heart is seeing Ghost and Soaps relationship go from annoying little brother to best bros, even adding the iconic “fist bump” before a mission and now Ghost is left all alone 😢

I actually believe Graves was telling the truth. Shepherd ordered Graves to use lethal force against 141, but Graves instead gave them a chance to run away. The resulting consequences was more self defense. I see Graves becoming a better ally down the road.

Literally just finished it. At the end when I seen them spread soaps ashes I thought "right shits about to go down it's about to get fun now" then I seen the achievement for completing the game. I was fuming

one thing i'll add about Price's character change and development is that it was interesting to see Gaz be Price's voice of reason in this campaign. Felt like they completely switched personalities from mw2019

I like Price’s dark transformation. Even though he is an experienced, well respected captain he still makes mistakes. Mistakes he made could be justified but the sparing Makarov was his worst one even though they already had him detained and he was expected to suffer in the gulag. He thought that the rational move was to let him suffer when they should of put him out of his misery. He learnt that the hard way and inadvertently got Soap killed so he made sure to not make the same mistake with Shepard. He took care of that loose end.

It made me cry when Ghost stared at soap unlike price and gaz trying to defuse bomb

" Do not Bury your enemies alive" - Vladimir Makarov. That quote just hits hard. Its supports Soap's Death and why Price killed Shepard as pointed out in the video. The realisation hits deep. RIP John "Soap" MacTavish, you will be missed.

This campaign genuinely feels like it was supposed to be twice as long. Soap just kicks it and suddenly boom it’s over. Feel like 2-3 missions were supposed to follow. I think dev cycle really hurt the story mode here, and they’re hoping to fill it in via seasons content, which I feel will fall flat.

For those that have played the old MW series games, you know that after General Shepherd is killed TF-141 is disavowed and price is considered a war criminal. And CIA operative Joseph Allen is framed by Makarov on the mission "No-Russian", resulting in war between the East and the West. It sure does look like we are going to see a similar chain of events and I cannot wait to see how the next part of the story unfolds. HOPEFULLY the next campaign isn't rushed and doesn't feel like 14 different dmz or warzone exfils in the span of 3 hours LMAO!! Cod needs to take 2 years to make a good game not rush one out every year. As Makarov says and repeatedly reminds us, "Time is everything"

No matter what I can't be convinced the choice to kill Soap here isn't a bad one. He's been with us for 2 games and him being the reason Price breaks bad doesn't feel as right as it did in the OG trilogy because this time around Soap is Ghosts protégé, that's how it comes across. IMHO it would have made more sense for Gaz to go as we played as him through the first game and he's been in all 3, it would have given the death way more tension and meaning the way OG Soaps death did with Price. They didn't know how to end it and just decided to kill a fan favorite (not that Gaz isn't beloved) instead of someone who to me would have made more sense if they wanted to make us feel gutted for the right reasons. Johnny's death was pointless, the story ends exactly where it starts minus 1 good guy.

In the cutscene before the mission where Ivan Nolan is captured he and Makarov have a conversation. Makarov says, "Lets find out if the intel from our shadow friend is accurate." Ivan asks, "And if it's not?" Makarov answers, "We'll kill him." The next thing you know Konni is transferring a prisoner that is revealed to be Shephard. It sounded like Shephard was working both sides.

I’m willing to bet that the writers and devs were under the impression that they were gonna have that 2 year gap they were originally promised to write the campaign but when Activision wanted more money and stayed with the 1 year releases they had to try and pump the campaign out through the raids and the Shadow Siege event along with the Open Combat Missions and that the “final level” we got in the release where Soap died was really supposed to be a midpoint or a penultimate level instead of an end, I feel MW3 was supposed to be longer but had to cut a lot of content due to time constraints which all in all is disappointing, I still enjoyed it but there was still just so much missed opportunities that hopefully will be fulfilled in future seasons or maybe a SpeCops/DMZ type mode they can release post-launch and not us having to wait all the way to MW4

I like this summary, Ink. Surprisingly they left us on a cliffhanger which may lead to TF141 getting disavowed and maybe hunted down by no other than Delta Force. They might change the story of OG MW3 a bit for the next IW game.

Upon seeing Price kill Shepherd, all I could think was "Good. That's one less loose end."

You know since MW:2019 there is one change in Price that I think many people overlooks quite often: *devs made him more human.* In OG MW series Captain Price was this omnipotent, all-know badass that could take on the entire world and don't break a sweat & shirt. But here and now, even after all those (in-game) years of service, even as he is the leader that everybody looks up to; HE MAKES MISTAKES AND GROWS AS A PERSON. We saw this back in MW2 (2022) when Kate was captured by AQ, and when the crew rescued her, Price was all sorry, apologizing he should've never allowed her be there in the first place. Then Verdansk Stadium; he followed orders to take Makarov in, even though he was too dangerous to be kept alive, Gulag or not. Then "rescuing" Shepherd, when he was visibly starting to lose his shite. And finally the last nail in the coffin, Soap's death. Price snapped and realized that he must change his MO, because his current way of doing things is not working anymore. War has sent him to hell, but Makarov pushed him even deeper. Let's just hope the next time he and Vladimir see each other, it won't be like looking in the mirror. But phrases like "No loose ends" or "Do not bury your enemies alive" become new ROE from now on. *_No turning back now._*

Soap's death hurts. Less tragically brought and more realistic and in the middle of the action with proper mourning afterwards. It confirms either MW IV or the end of the story with Warzone and raids. Yuri is back. Sheperd is dead. Graves is back on the team's side (although things can still go to shit). Since the very last mission could have impacted France maybe we'll get the GIGN involved (Bring back Sabre pls). OG Ghost was bestie with Roach, maybe he'll introduce him now that TF141 is one soldier short. Since Price's attempt to kill Zakhaev in Prypyat is canon in this timeline too maybe we'll get MacMillan back as well. Many, many options, can't wait to see how things go!

Thank you! I was so confused with the story, this clears up so much. Great as always!

Honesty controversial opinion soap death was done perfectly cause it showed how powerful Markova was and how easy he could kill the main character and how the characters we know aren’t superheroes like we know them to be and it proves how good Markova is at being a bad guy and being a force to be reckoned with

this is the first time I was surprised when the credits started rolling. Thought it was going to be longer

That last scene where price shoots shepherd with no remorse what so ever was like a Jack Bauer moment from 24! Soap dying really brought my thoughts on the campaign down, and I’ll always be mad about that story writing decision. I just hope the rest of this story knocks it out the park.. Great explanation video!

Hot take: I enjoyed the campaign the quick missions and the cut scenes kinda displayed this urgency of Makraov being back. It could’ve been longer yes but I still was impressed with it. Wish soap would’ve just got wounded and not died I loved him in this series.

The number of opportunities that they missed with this Campaign will forever be my biggest problem with it. I swear I sat there waiting for some OG MW levels of chaos and it just fell flat. Its like they wanted to go there but would just pull back right at the last second. Makarov felt like your run of the mill terrorists instead of the absolute force of chaos he was in the OG trilogy. I was just waiting for Shepherd to betray us again, which should have happened to stay in line with his character. They could have played it out perfectly with the AC-130 mission. I thought for sure Shepard and Graves where gonna pull a "Looses Ends" on the whole crew in that mission just as Shepherd threatened to do. It would have made way more sense to have Soap and maybe even a few others die from that then how they killed him in the tunnel. From there you have Makarov set up the attacks that send the world into chaos while everybody thinks 141 are dead and boom you have a world that starts spinning out of control setting up MW4.

I can completely see price becoming more and more like his original version in regards to how he gets shit done. Like I think we’ll see a scene equivalent to when og Price tossed a nuke at America.

Thanks for sharing your perspectives. Much appreciated.

Thanks for this vid! Very helpful

If you ask me, Price killing Shepherd is like the opening to Casino Royale

7:22 That "F*ck...is there a single sh*t show that you're not apart of" part always have me in tears laughing 😂💀

I hope we see Laswell taking over Shepherd's position in Shadow Company. I feel like it makes more sense for the CIA to have a PMC under their payroll rather than an army general. I would love to play as Graves in the campaign. Also, Would love to see a situation where they have to tolerate each other. Graves seems like he actually considers Soap as a brothers in arms back in MW2.

I think something to mention also is when they went to push the air base hanger , Shepard said that Makarov was in the helicopter but Price responded with no POSITIVE PID. Shepard then replied with Makarov is DEAD, leave it Price. This is also something that pushed Price to kill Shepard

Soap's death could mean that Roach will be introduced in MW4.

Funny how everyone dies from one shot in cutscenes, but as soon as you start to play, everyone is bulletproof 😂

Price killing shepherd felt great

you can see just how stoic price is at the end but deep down you can tell he wanted to do more to the general poor price hopefully he doesnt end the series alone like he was in the OG MW3 and i hope Gaze stays you can tell he helps price stay in check but in a good way they are a perfect duo

Soap's death would've been fine if we had gotten to kill Makarov right after instead of Shepherd. Instead his death was basically meaningless and only serves to fill the void of an otherwise nonexistent ending.

While it isn’t as dark as mw19, it is a massive turn around from mw22. It’s just unfortunate how short it is and how noticeable it is that the whole game was an after thought and never meant to be a full campaign.

Shepherd's assassination likely sets up Task Force 141 as a disavowed unit similiar to the original trilogy, with them unofficially working with Laswell as they try to stop whatever Makarov is planning in the MW 2026-27 titles. Maybe Black Ops 2024-25 introduces a re-imagined Menendez that ends up working with Makarov too.

Thanks for sharing

I knew that someone in TF 141 would die, but I expected it to be like a very emotional impactful moment. I hope MW4 lead to ww3 tho

There's really nothing wierd about this. For those who played the game, its two phrases that stand out thay made Price ultimately make the choice that he did. The first was from Shephard, "If you let me live I promise you'll regret it. And the other is from Makarov, "Never bury your enemies alive" Price saw the consequences of taking Makarov alive the first time. He wasn't about to make the same mistake with Shepard and have 141 be tormented by Shepard while still under his command. What Price really did was eliminate what would have been a huge threat to 141 as they pursue Makarov. They can't afford any more distractions going forward.

You always do a very in-depth review, and I always appreciate it because it helps relieve the fact that soap died. Thanks for filling in the blanks. It also helps knowing that I gotta wait two years for modern warfare 4 LMAO.

Thank you for this video

I wish with these campaigns we get to choose to play from the protagonist perspective or antagonist perspective. I enjoyed the first mission when we was on makarov’s side

I like how when you play a mission and you need to blend in and ask Gaz for a light, you can pet a German Shepherd named Riley, maybe an Easter Egg for CoD Ghosts in the timeline?

Inkslasher best video yet, best explained

I played the game and still watched cause Ink and Cod campaign go well. He’s a good narrator and has great theories that cod could chase

Great video! Those words from Makarov were very consequential & I believe Price learned a very valuable lesson. The story in this campaign was great but the gameplay was lacking.

No other cod game left ya hanging like cod ghosts.. still waiting on the rest of that tale

You missed the most important part. It was a trade off by General Shepard. 7:56 When they found him in the as prisoner, price asked, "What you traded for your life?". It turned out he traded "Soap" for his life. This idea is confirmed in the last 11:42, Shepard " This job is about making sacrifices for the greater good.". And that's why Price killed him.

A REALLY GOOD VIDEO! Loved it!

I ain’t going to lie that ending felt quick but damn rip Soap 😭

I wonder if MW4 will have 141 become disavowed or maybe just Price. Would be cool to have 141 going after Makarov with no rules of engagement or limitations. Maybe could do a hunt like story with us playing 141 hunting makarov and maybe Steel team as they hunt 141

See you folks in a year when inkslasher explains MW4 ending 😅 Thank you Inkslaher for clearing things up i was genuinely confused.

You also have to remember Price's line to Gaz in MW2019. "You draw the line wherever you need it drawn sergeant. We get dirty and the world stays clean."

fantastic video !

Instead of killing our boy i wish they just had him get shot around his eye, giving us his scar that he had in the OG MW games

The helicopter scene is easily the best cutscene by far

Idk if u answered it or not i skipped some of the video but so is there gonna be a part 2 to the campaign like months from now or are we gonna have to wait for a new game?

Great vid

I don’t know if anyone has noticed yet but the dog that you pet while following the hacker at the end missions is Riley. I have a screenshot with the fella

It was sad af

A video about Graves would be cool, always great at every scene that guy😂

You the best bro 💪🏾💪🏾💪🏾

Graves better number his days then cuz Captain Price is coming

Looks like they are going with at least a duo-trilogy. And I'm happy with that. Seeing Makarov back in action was nice. Can't wait to see how he drags the world into a world war, hopefully like I mentioned once, we'll see more antagonist and protagonist nations. RIP Soap.

@inkslasher bro, am I crazy or has everyone missed the fact the very first mission where you break Makarov out of prison - they all have American & British accents, even over comms. Huge insight for whats about to come

Inkslasher playing the 2009 MW2 Ghost and Roach death scene music at 12:35, really hit man🥺😭

Again. This campaign should have been a DLC since it was short

I think people fail to realize that Soap's death was not overlooked. Idk if you expect Price, Ghost, and Gaz to cry or something, but that wouldn't happen. You can tell Price, Ghost, and Gaz are all dealing with shock, sadness, and slight anger (More so for Price). The way Price brings himself to say "One KIA" shows it was something he wished he never had to say especially for Soap. They also are trying to keep a sense of professionalism in the state of everything going down. They gave Soap a send-off and paid a tribute to him with a few words before releasing his ashes. The characters are all devastated and for the story's sake, it is going to fuel them and give them even more eagerness to find and kill Makarov for good. It'll all be revenge for Makarov killing soap. I am not sure why everyone is so mad. I kind of wish it was Gaz who died, but it is what it is. It is in a new timeline where Soap's death isn't as crucial as it would be if Price or Ghosts died since they have more importance. They had to kill the character who wouldn't affect the storyline too much. It makes no sense to kill Price or Ghost. We have to stop comparing this game to the old game with how important characters are.

Price killing Shepherd also takes it back to MWII where he says he'll go after Shepherd because of the betrayal

thanks it helped

I think I would be ok with the campaign if the enemies in the open combat mission had a better detection system to feel like u get spotted immediately and it’s almost impossible to go completely stealthy, if that was fixed and maybe there was more variety kind of like the original spec ops mission from mw2 where u had to hold out with equipment and kill streaks at the sub base. Just seems like there’s no variety to how to play those missions, also killing shepherd in a end credits scene sucks, should have been part of a mission, and I was hoping for a ww3 to start like mw2 2009, this game seems like nothing happened, really been disappointed in the past two games mw2019 was so good and this campaign actually made the campaign last year look good, it’s hard to argue this wasn’t dlc

Watching the live reaction 😮.. I'm like how did Ink miss that.. But this follow up explanation works.. IMO the setup for the next game is worth the Price of admission. Maybe price goes to far & they emotionally kill him off(or cliffhanger).. Mak on the run how does plan the next move.. It all makes sense!!!!!

Will you do a CoD lore playlist?

If they do an MW4, I hope they introduce Sandman, Grinch, Trucker, Ramirez, and Frost from the US forces

One thing that shook me was how sudden soaps death was… even gaz’s death in cod 4 mw was cinematic in a type of way.. hell even Yuris death in mw3 was somewhat cinematic… but soap was just in a instant.. poof just like that… so much shock in the background along with the fact that they still have to defuse the bomb… No cinematics no nothing one second he’s here next he’s gone just like that… idk it kinda rubs me the wrong way… this is supposed to be a pillar of the game and it seemed like he was just put down like a dog. Maybe that shows makarov’s ruthlessness but that’s what it is ig… in my opinion this was the absolute worst way they could continue the series. If anything it would have made more sense for price to die and to continue the campaign with “Captain MacTavish” and introducing roach and yuri… and ect… I hope they reintroduce the whole disavowed TF141 * in soaps journal in mw3 he describes how they were able to do security missions and contracting to gain money to buy equipment… hopefully we can see that spin where prince ghost and gaz are all wanted and have to resort to doing work with Nikolai who gets them work in order to buy equipment. Stuff like buying intel and special mission equipment. Hopefully we won’t have to buy a whole new mw game just to see the ending

What I like about this death for Soap is he got a hero’s funeral that he didn’t get originally. As for Shepherd’s death I kinda wish they got Price to say good that’s one loose end. It would have been poetic but it’s good as is.

Im super into these stories, such a cliffhanger now have to wait an eternity

If MW4 sees Price on the run for what he did and TF 141 have to capture him, that would be tragic

The biggest problem with this series is the over convoluted nature of the story now. Mw2019 had one of the strongest campaigns in the series, but framing and narrative is everything with these titles. Choosing to make Zombies canon, and make the spec ops and raids necessary to understand what’s going just dilutes the narrative impact of the campaigns themselves.

When the beta released with the Nemesis Operator packs I figured those skins would be relevant to the campaign in some kind of stealth mission based around the clothes all four characters wore, those clothes looked like they could’ve became camouflaged

Thank goodness for channels like these. I’ll never give that franchise another dime of my money, but this way I get to see what happens.😂

Good explanation Ink Slasher, makes perfect sense, very perfect sense. With that COD Ghost emblem in the picture of that mysterious operator, hopefully we'll get a COD Ghost reboot in the soon near future. Keep up the good work.

If you replay the entire Reboot Saga now from MW2019 to MWIII, u will realize how awesome this campaign is

My man inkslasher look extra zooted today 😂🔥

my theory is in game time; TA-141 is now disavowed, laswell is in a bunch, makaravo’s commits more crimes, sandman, roach, mac, and frost will be introduced, farah finds out about graves, yuri and Nikolai helps out price and the boys

The ending was so mid I wish they kept it going fr

It's hard to imagine life without soap, he came so far and now he's gone. All I want to do now is find makarov and make him pay and send him to whatever part of the pit he crawled out of

Anyone know the name of the song at the end? Great video by the way!

Rest In Peace Jown "Soap" MacTavish, you will always be in our hearts 😭😭🕊🕊🕊🕊🪦🪦

I have a feeling they’re gonna continue on the storyline either via Spec Ops, Warzone or the Battle Pass post-launch seasons. We either see a continuation of Makarov’s arc or it’ll probably have to wait a few more years for the next installment of MW4

Thank god someone explained that

I also think that the part of the story sets up the idea of Task Force 141 being disavowed and wanted from the government just like the original modern warfare games were after 141 kills Shepard the become wanted by the government while at the same time going after Makarov.

Just one question....are we finaly gona get an mw4?

I will like your honest opinion about the campaign, I follow your story videos because I’m a huge fan of the campaigns and story lines. Please review this story

Soaps death definitely hit hard. I understand price's dark turn. Somethings just require a but more heat in life.

Sad story, the music playing in the cut scene when there spreading soaps ashes, it's the same or very similar to the music played in the movie USS INDIANAPOLIS Men of courage.

I hope there’s some explanation and evidence coming that explains how & what point Shepard was captured by Makarov and why Graves was in the blind since Shepard was his contractor/employer. There is also “The Inner Circle” mentioned a few times, was Makarov the final member ? Sidenote: I don’t think the court scene was a betrayl..both having contradictory claims as who’s to blame they both got off free.

Maybe roach will replace soap 🤷🏾‍♂️