Antagonist

Isiah Friedlander

Voiced by Bryan Scott Johnson

Alive6 missions

Isiah Friedlander turns up in 6 of the 77 story missions, first in Franklin and Lamar and last in Reuniting the Family.

Standing in the way of at least one of the three.

Role: Antagonists
Voice actor: Bryan Scott Johnson
Status: Alive
Occupation: Psychologist, Author, Radio host
Affiliations: Michael De Santa (Formerly), Isiah Friedlander's Goons (Leader)

Player notes

Dr. Isiah Friedlander is a Los Santos psychologist, author and radio host voiced by Bryan Scott Johnson. He treats celebrities and criminals, building a reputation as an authority on sociopathic personality disorder before opening a clinic on the Pacific Bluffs coast. Former bank robber Michael De Santa has been his patient for years. Friedlander's earlier prescriptions leave Michael crying, sleeping at the dinner table, wetting himself and howling at night, until Friedlander takes him off the drugs.

When Michael first appears after the Ludendorff prologue, he is speaking with Friedlander about his anger and dissatisfaction with his family life. Michael continues to see him at the Pacific Bluffs clinic. Friedlander hears Michael and Amanda De Santa argue about their marriage but does not intervene. He remains in Michael's orbit through the events surrounding the family, listening to Michael's complaints while offering little beyond detached therapeutic language.

During a later optional session, Friedlander tells Michael that he is leaving Los Santos for a television show and that Michael must find another therapist. He suggests that Michael's case will be used for the programme, prompting Michael to pursue him as Friedlander drives away. Michael can let him escape or kill him. Friedlander survives into the later story, and a published account of Michael's treatment uses the name "Marky De Santos" for its subject.

By 2023, Friedlander has turned his celebrity into FriedMind Pharmaceutical Corporation and enters the drug trade. His mercenaries abduct Labrat from the Fooliganz' Freakshop in East Vinewood. At FriedMind HQ in Eclipse Medical Tower, he explains that he wants Labrat's psychedelic expertise and his precursor stockpile for a powerful drug marketed through psychedelic therapy, then escapes the rescue. He later traps the GTA Online Protagonist, Dax and Luchadora in drug trials at Parsons Rehabilitation Center, and flees again. Intercepted on a Cargo Plane leaving Los Santos International Airport, he emerges from a crate and parachutes away.

Trivia

◆An after-credits scene shows his Psychiatric Evaluation which notes the player's behavior. This includes, but is not limited to, the way the player makes friends, laziness, addiction to chaos, whether he thinks Michael justifies his actions, how often he partakes in hobbies like Yoga, and how he handles women.
◆Dr. Friedlander owns a red Comet, which can be seen parked outside his office at the beginning of each therapy session.
◆If the player accesses the Affordable Healthcare section of the GTA V website and opens the photo of him and his name in green in a new tab, they can see that Rockstar Games have labelled him "World Champ" in the URL.
◆Michael will sometimes reference Dr. Friedlander when attacking pedestrians saying, "Come on kill me, I need something to talk to my shrink about", even after the events of the mission Abandonment Issues. This is an oversight.
◆If Michael goes near Ron, he will sometimes remind Michael to call his therapist.