Let's talk, forumites.
I've been reading these forums for a while now and really been wanting to comment on some stuff but I couldn't because the verification email was being weird SO this post will be a splurge weighing in on everything that comes to mind from characters all the way to survivor ideologies. Where to start...
Okay we'll start with Kenny. Everyone's favourite. Now I'm an outlier in that I was never particularly fond of Kenneth, I never bore him any antipathy but he didn't mean much to me either. So maybe that played a role in the fact that his reappearance in Ep 2 made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Something was off was the vibe I got from him. The way he could go from totally mellow to lashing out at Sarita and calling Clementine Duck didn't help. Then there's his crazy impulsivity. "I'm going to punch the first son of a bitch I see, take his gun and then shoot the next son of a bitch I see!" Uhm. What? Does he even think at all or does he just act? If he hadn't bumped his head did he consider the price of his failure? Would Carver have let the others in if Kenny killed more of his people? Or just killed Kenny and everyone else he didn't care about right there? Then I killed Sarita. My reasoning was thus - Sarita is bit. From experience I know amputation will not work if much time is allowed to pass. She will most certainly die if the arm does not come off. So I chopped it. She screams, understandable but it didn't help her situation much. Kenny comes crashing in like seconds too late and Sarita's been bit like 5 times more and so that backfired. But I would still make that decision each time, a infinitesimal chance is better than no chance.
And now Kenny is cuddling what is soon to be Zombierita and she is going to eat him and he's not doing anything so I axe her and he freaks out, also understandable. My version of Clem can handle it so she scolded him about sulking and feeling sorry for himself in the tent and it was true. If Kenny was the thinking type he'd realize that Clem had done the only thing[s] that could've been done and actually lead to a happy ending. But whatever, this is all lead up. The important bit is his fixation on Rebecca's baby, and yes I do think it was a fixation, and if Rebecca wasn't dead there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that he would have taken that baby eventually. Kenny's a family guy (~snrk~) that familial love and bonds and his role as protector and provider give him reason to exist. He's had that ripped away twice. First with Duck and Katjaa and then in a worse way when his new family was torn apart when Clem (who I think he was eyeing as a replacement to Duck, a more competent replacement but you get the idea) killed her. He lost them both, Sarita to violence and Clem because he destroyed his image of who she was, or who she was supposed to be.
So I'm with Luke on this one, Kenny's broken. In my game I think he's irrevocably broken. I don't hold it against him because I'm sure if I had to lose my raison d'etre twice I wouldn't be doing any better. But facts are facts and while I think Kenny will still function as long as he's in the dad/husband dynamic it will be erratic and there is no way he's coming back to this side of sanity if he loses this baby. So if there's a choice between Luke and Kenny it's Luke all the way man.
Now to Sarah. Before ep 4 came out I already knew I was going to leave her to die. So luckily I didn't get shafted when saving her was pointless anyway, made her death much more poignant lemme tell yah. I also had Lee drop that useless guy from Season 1 whose name currently escapes me. Now why would I do this? Am I a heartless monster? I dunno, maybe? I don't like to think so because in both cases it sucked. Like I said I was committed to letting Sarah die but when the opportunity to convince her came up I just couldn't give up on her, not yet. Even though her inability to take action, to make decisions, to function had already indirectly lead to the death of two people [Reggie & Nick]. And despite my logical mind shrieking at me to just forget her and move on I couldn't. And I thought it worked. And then it didn't. She just sat there. Putting three other people in very real danger. Again. So I left her. And it tore the heart out of my chest the way she just looked up and called Clementine but Jesus, Mary & Joseph... It sucked but there is no way I'd take that decision back either.
Now before people get on my case about anxiety disorders and etc, I'm studying psych and I'm very much aware of the debilitating effects of the disorder. And it doesn't change anything. It breeds sympathy and understanding, it makes you WANT to take care of her but she'll continue to be a dead weight. She'll continue to be a danger via her inability to everyone around her. And if we assume every human life is of equal value losing two to save one is already a shitty deal.
Who next? Let's go with Luke. My opinion of Luke has stayed consistent throughout the series. Well meaning and loyal but not to the point where his compassion clouds his judgement. This immediately endears me to him, naturally. As I've already said he'll be the choice if it's between him and Kenny. He's not too afraid to get attached emotionally, like Jane, he lacks Kenny's impulsivity, he doesn't underestimate Clem and he's a thinker. Awesome choice for partner as far as I'm concerned. A bit reckless sometimes but nobody's perfect. As for him and Jane choosing to shag instead of their respective responsibilities - I'm not gonna try and defend that. It was a lapse in judgement and it could have gotten people killed [it didn't in my game but yeah]. What I don't think it was was terribly OOC. It's not that unusual for people to find solace in meaningless sex. Luke had just lost his best friend of 20 years and [in my game] had to abandon a young girl to be ripped apart and Jane was clearly reliving memories of her sister via Clementine. It was I-want-to-forget-about-the-world-for-a-while sex and not I'm-horny-lets-fuck sex.
On to Jane. I like Jane. She's competent. She's also a coward. She doesn't want to join a group because she's afraid they'll drag her down, she's afraid she'll form attachments and then they'll wind up dead. Groups are safer in a lot of ways, small groups of between 2-3 individuals would be ideal but she won't/can't because she's too afraid to care. She's almost one of those people that are TOO good and so they kinda have to shut down a lot of their feeling departments.
Clementine. I see the opinion often that because she's a child she shouldn't have to deal with these things, that she's still too young and etc. She is a child. And that is exactly why she's more suited to dealing with the apocalypse than most of the adults around her. Not physically obviously, not yet. But mentally. Children's brain plasticity is very high, environments, situations and etc play a role in shaping them. They're extremely adaptable. Clementine's world for the last two years has been little more than horror, misery, death and betrayal. Awful that anyone has to grow up in something like that ofc but this is the world she knows, this is the world she functions in while the adults play a continuing game of trying to catch up. Constantly looking back at the old world and being reminded of all the ways this new one is not the same, applying old standards, old ways of being. Trying to shove a square peg in a round hole. Clem approaches it with new eyes, relatively anyway. So I have hopes for her. My version of Clem won't be a "good" person, not in the traditional sense, she'll be able to make difficult decisions when there's no alternatives [or really shitty ones]. At the same time she'll still be the kind of person who doesn't steal a lying Russian's drugs for his ailing sister. Able to do what's necessary but not what's easy.
I realize this post is a bit rambly and doesn't really go anywhere but I had to splurge somewhere so... yeah.
tl;dr:
Haha. No. If you can't read a page or two (possibly three maaaaaybe four) you're not gonna be worth talking to anyway.
Comments
I agree with your opinion on Kenny and Luke.
I never really understood why he didn't untie any of our hands? It would be hard to fight if we had our hands tied behind our backs.
Too long, didn't read, lol.
No, in fact, I've read it all and I must say; it was interesting. I totally agree with your opinion on Kenny, as long as he has someone of his "family" to protect, he'll be okay but if he looses the baby, I think there will be no going back this time.
Luke really disapointed me, even he needed a bit of love, it doesn't justify putting the group in danger. In the end, I would choose him if a Kenny vs Luke happens but I really hope he'll grow up a little and realize that the apocalypse is not rainbows and unicorns, you have to do things you're not proud of if you want to survive (kill the dog, steal the pills, he blamed me each time).
I saved Sarah because I can't bring myself to let her die if I had a slight chance to save her even if she becomes a burden after. I hoped that Clem would teach Sarah how to survive and all but unfortunately the determinant rule took her.
And for Clementine, I think the adults are not treating her like a child because it's just like Chuck said, she's not a child, she's alive, she's a survivor and that's all it matter (and also, her size is an advantage). We can't afford to treat people differently in the apocalypse, and that is why Sarah died, Carlos sheltered her instead of letting her be a survivor.
A little bump
People are writing books here on the Forum, my eyes are getting tired. =P
Welcome to the Forum dude/dudette.
Did you forget Kenny took the radio from Clementine in Season 3 that saved her from losing her eye? I don't get the Kenny hate, a guy takes a beating and loses his eye and you don't like him for it. Kenny is a great character, i love him sometimes, i hate him other times.
Very nice. Good summary of how I feel about the characters too mostly, except for your decision for Sarah. I really had more hope for her character and wanted her to stay alive both times, but alas.
I didn't think about how Kenny didn't just lose Sarita, but he also lost his vision of Clem being his new Duck, like you said. That adds even more credence to how upset he was. I certainly wasn't thinking of how Kenny would perceive Clem as a possible daughter-figure murdering Clem's (in Kenny's eye maybe) possibly future-mother-figure-for-Clem during that decision. That image must be haunting him even more.
Also interesting how you mention that Clementine is at an advantage mentally because she's a child and can adapt to this new world more easily than the adults. Clem's just kinda taking this all in stride while the adults can't quite follow as fast, and that's what's scary about her situation. She's not reacting to things as much as she should be, or as 11-year-old-Clem-if-she'd-never-encountered-the-ZA would be. She takes the ZA as being, or becoming the norm. And in the long run, it's not gonna be good for her to think that violence and death and grief is the norm--that'll push her somewhere even worse.
The tragedy is of course that Clem was forced to grow up abruptly the day Lee died, leaving any chance of a carefree normal life behind. When growing up, Clem won't even get a chance to make mistakes as a normal kid would pre-ZA; she's having to make mistakes and grow in the much more unforgiving ZA world where mistakes can end her or the ones around her, physically and mentally (e.g. getting Omid shot, chopping Sarita's arm).
Anyway, nice post. Made me think.
Kenny hate just come from people's previous choices in the game and how Kenny reacted towards them. To me, the good things Kenny has done don't outweigh the bad things. In my book, he's still not good... I don't hate him and don't wish he would die or anything but I wouldn't back him up either. Because on Season 1, he was a dick to Lee A LOT OF TIMES when I was always being nice to him, just because I disagreed with him on some stuff.
On Season 1 Episode 3, for instance, he was being a major douchebag to Lee because I refused to help him kill Larry; even though I had saved his son and given him food plenty of times before. And even then, I was still being nice to him. I talked him down on the train and I shot his son for him. But then, because I refused to drop a scared teenager to his death, he didn't want to help me look for Clem on Episode 5. That's no good for me - that guy is definitely someone I'd call a friend.
And sure, he took a beating for Clem on Episode 3 - and then on Episode 4 proceeded to be extremely rude and hurtful towards an 11-year-old girl because she tried to save his girlfriend and it didn't go well. So no, I don't like Kenny. I don't wish anything bad would happen to him, but he's not my friend, just an old acquaintance.
As lee said when Kenny "died." in season 1. Kenny is what passes for a friend, nowadays. Kenny isn't the most easy person to get along with, but we been through a lot together, and that makes Clem/Kenny close.