Episode 4 highlights previous flaws...
First off, as a stand-alone episode, this is arguably the best episode of the season so far, loved it. The length of this episode has helped to significantly strengthened the development of the existing characters, which I am all for.
But when you look at it as an addition to the season, you start to realize that things that made season 1 so strong (Great character development, clear story directive etc.) are limited in this episode because of the complete lack of these components in previous episodes of season 2. It's not as if it's making the season a complete disaster by any stretch of the imagination, but the balance between development and story has been weighted more towards story ever since episode 1. It feels like we're being rushed from one point to the next without even stopping to breathe, or think... and more importantly, FEEL!
Nick: What can I say? devastated. In the middle of episode 2 I thought his ceiling for development was limitless. Mother died, Uncle just died, now, with only his best friend to rely on. I felt sympathetic because I was controlling a character who was in a similar situation. Before I know it, the story takes precedent and demands he gets killed... by moralist Walter who meets the same fate not 10 minutes later. So there you go, two characters with unlimited potential wasted, sacrificed for story purposes. To make it worse, if you saved him, the role he plays in future events is just so disappointingly non-existent and his sad story ends with a whimper (To make it worse, Telltale dragged the 'put him out of his misery' stage out so far I just wanted him gone completely, like Telltale themselves probably)
Sarah: Another character with huge, HUGE potential, but the story demands that she must die, no matter what decision you choose to make, similar to Nick. It's like i'm still making the decisions, but the person that writes the story is holding my hand as I do it and guiding me ever so quickly to the outcome that he/she has set in stone. In other words, i'm just going through the motions with these characters rather than thinking about them subjectively and FEELING like my decisions are having an effect. That's what season 1 accomplished so elegantly, whilst leading the player to the same eventual outcome.
Rebecca: I actually believe her story was one of the strongest. As we know, Clem must have been with Christa during most of her pregnancy and birth and is highlighted during most of their interactions. I found myself caring for the outcome... and braced myself for the worst possibility. More importantly, I found myself FEELING for these characters and their interactions because of the clear and concise development it had. But this is only because it suited the story directive, so development was necessary.
As for the others, I couldn't attach myself to their stories, not even Kenny, because it just felt like I was being guided through the interactions instead of directly influencing them. No matter what decision you make with Sarita, Kenny ends up blaming you anyway, so instead of FEELING for the characters and their situation, I felt like an outsider looking in.
This was definitely the episode where everything should have come together. I don't doubt that if certain characters had been given more specific direction and attention, every crucial scene and death would have had the biggest impact. I believe that was the purpose of this episode, strong emotional impact! But because of little development, they have not had the impact that they should have done. I feel sorry for the writers coming off the back of these episodes and looking at the character descriptions of determinant characters (I imagine Nick and Sarah's having a couple of words apiece on their characteristics).
To round it all up, I loved the episode and all episodes of this season. But when you look at them all collectively, they could have been so, so much better.