User blog comment:Newgirl101/Ashley and Miranda/@comment-41.135.161.16-20111221210409

I don't really have anything to add to the topic which hasn't already been said, so I'll offer some thoughts about the criticism of Ashley's perceived lack of gratitude for the rescue and indifference at seeing Shepard alive and well again after believing he/she was dead for 2 years. Firstly, I don't think Shepard actually did rescue her at all, she saved herself somehow. For some inexplicable reason she was not taken aboard the Collector ship along with those who got paralyzed with her. Then, presumably after she'd recovered enough feeling to move somewhat, she must have dragged herself to a hiding place behind the building from where she later emerged to greet Shepard and co. Did Shepard take care of the problem for her? Yes, absolutely. Did Shepard prevent the Collectors from finding her hiding spot? That's anybody's guess, but highly unlikely. As an elite soldier she would have hidden herself so well it would have taken a sniffer dog to find her. It's not like they were even looking for her in the first place. If they were incompetent enough for her to miraculously slip through their fingers they would surely not have known she was hiding somewhere and even if they did, they would have been too busy collecting people in plain view to waste time playing hide and seek with 1 person. So for all intents and purposes Ashley saved herself and had nothing to thank Shepard for.

As far as why she wasn't more excited to see Shepard again, only Bioware knows the answer to that and it would be interesting to see if they've explained it anywhere. Maybe it was an oversight cause they were too focused on the argument side of the conversation or something. Or because she was on duty and was trying to maintain decorum, especially with that obnoxious engineer/construction worker or whatever he was standing right there. Now it was that guy who really should have said thank you, to both Ash and Shepard lol. The reason why she laid into Shepard like she did was cause she holds him/her in such high regard, so it was actually a compliment. And obviously with her black and white way of thinking all she could see was "Cerberus is wrong, if you're with them that makes you wrong too. I don't want to hear anything you've got to say about it, I'll have nothing to do with you as long as you're with them, thank you and goodbye."