Spoiler alert, last warning:
For me it was after finishing the Voodo boys questline and one of my favorite parts in the game, when V just collapsed, Johnny took care of it saving our ass and then gave V his dog tag saying he will go down if the situation ever calls for it.
After saving me, I even told him I would take a bullet for him.
But seeing this scene again in a youtube video made me realize maybe I was a bit naive back then. When V wakes up and the pills are in his hand, I thought the 1st time playing the game “yeah its normal, Johnny took them to bring me to a safe place”. The 2nd time watching the video, I thought “wait a minute… maybe he was trying to continue taking them to stay in control forever?”.
This is why I love this game…
I’m convinced that the chip isn’t fatal after all. There are at least 2 endings where V goes months without meaningful treatment and doesn’t deteriorate further. I’d be willing to bet That Vs brain and the chip have reached an equilibrium where the chip can’t overwrite V faster than Vs neurons are rearanging themselves into their original configuration through the simple act of being V (which isn’t a magical willpower thing its just the way your brain makes connections)
that would honestly make more sense. Then the occasional episode might be when the two are rewriting the same resource or such.