Immediate Thoughts on Ep 4, Luke, Kenny, Etc.
I loved the new episode. I'm still processing it, but I have a few things I have to say right now.
The good stuff - It was intense, and it was longer, there were hubs, and lots of choices that led to completely different scenes. I was completely twisted up inside over the ending, and several points before that. The episode got quite an emotional rise out of me.
The okay stuff - A lot of people died this episode, and I felt like it affected me to the appropriate emotional level. I was sad and horrified for Sarah and Sarita, and I even felt a little bad for Nick and Rebecca. I was satisfied with how their deaths were handled, but in full disclosure, it's probably because I never cared much about those characters. Even as I watched their death scenes, I knew that those scenes would be unsatisfactory to the fans who really loved those characters. But even so, I think I understand why TellTale did it that way. It's realistic. In a real life apocalypse, the vast majority of any group would die, and the vast majority of deaths WOULD be completely unceremonious. But, okay, yeah. In a fictional zombie apocalypse, maybe the deaths should be a bit more heroic or meaningful. I dunno.
Luke - Wow. What an idiot. I called him a bunch of names this episode in my mind. Idiot. Moron. Stupid. Nimrod. Imbecile. Horny little boy. And it's kinda sad because up till now, he's been my favorite season 2 supporting character (besides Kenny, after what he did for Clem in ep 3). But overall, I'm very much relieved, because I realized exactly what he is. A stupid little boy. He's a child. And a child doesn't really know his own heart yet, and that's why Luke does so many things that aren't consistent with his character, or what his character appeared to be in episode 2.
In episode 2, I thought he was a genuinely good person, and I completely disagree that that made him boring. I don't know what planet many of you are living on, but where I am, it's actually pretty rare (and therefore interesting) to find a genuinely good person, and it would be a million times more rare in the ZA. (And that's really the main reason I loved Lee, too. He was a genuinely good person, taking care of someone else's kid without a second thought.) But then, in episode 3, when Luke suggested leaving Kenny...Well, I just stopped trusting Luke. I hoped this episode would explain and redeem Luke, but it only did the former. Still, I'll take it. I feel a lot better just for understanding Luke now. 'Cause, man, he was a headscratcher.
Kenny - I don't know where all the shock over Kenny's treatment of Clem is coming from. I seem to recall him being just as despicable and petty to Lee in season 1, and that's actually why I liked the whole "Kenny blames Clem" thing. It showed that he's not a completely different, perfect person all the sudden. He's just a better version of himself. He forgave Clem a lot quicker than he ever forgave Lee, and he stepped up to the plate to help Rebecca. This shows GROWTH, not complete rewriting of his character. I like it a lot. And yeah, maybe he's latched onto the baby as his "replacement goldfish" for Duck, just like Sarita was for Katjaa, but I also like that he did that. After all, it's not human to be able to push onward immediately (and it was almost immediate) from loss and tragedy without any sort of illusions or flaws in the method.
The not so good stuff - I definitely do feel like my choices haven't mattered THAT much this season. In season 1, probably the biggest effect of any choice was what version of Kenny you got stuck with. You make one choice in the meat locker and you end up with one of two Kennys for the rest of the season, mean Kenny or nice Kenny. TellTale really put in the work there to write two totally different versions of him. This time around, there hasn't been two different versions of any character, and seeing as it's season 2, I expected it to be bigger and better than season 1 in that regard. I expected several choices to matter as much as or more than the meat locker choice, but I would have at least settled for one choice mattering that much. But none of them have.
Oh well, I really did like this episode. Looking forward to the next one.
Comments
He was playing devils advocate. He actually suggested staying behind so that Kenny could heal up, he could rest, and Sarita could pull herself together. The rest of the group, however, kept arguing that they should leave immediately. Luke got annoyed and basically said, "Fine, we can leave now, but you have to remember that could mean leaving behind people who can't leave right away". Kenny, at that point, was not looking good at all and nobody knew if he was going to survive or not. Carrying him was not an option. Luke didn't want to leave Kenny, he even says this himself.
As much as I've always wanted to write it off like that, I can't. Carrying Kenny was an option, just not the safest one for Luke. Luke, Nick, and Mike would prolly be the ones doing the heavy lifting. And Luke himself said leaving that night wasn't "terrible, just not great."
Nobody else said anything about leaving Kenny. Rebecca even said it was bullshit. So I take it from that that no one else had even considered leaving Kenny (except maybe Carlos), and I take it from THAT that everyone else was willing to do whatever it took to take Kenny with them, meaning waiting till the last minute to see if he woke up and then carrying him if they had to. Luke was the only one heartless enough to suggest leaving Kenny, and that says something about Luke.
And here's something I wrote about him on another thread:
Now, I know that Luke is a child and unsure of himself; he doesn't know his own mind most of the time. It explains a lot: why he's wishy washy about putting Clementine in the shed, leaving Kenny, killing Carver, and many other things.
The others didn't realize what (or who) they were risking by wanting to leave as soon as possible. The cabin group has been shown to work as a democracy when it comes to issues involving everyone. Pete and Luke believed her story about the dog more than the others did, and they couldn't keep her from being locked in the shed because they were outvoted. If you agree with Kenny's idea of leaving in the morning, Luke will disagree up until Rebecca says that she will be okay and it will be worth it (to which Luke will ease up and say, "if that's what you want"). Luke doesn't want to leave anybody behind but again, he's clearly being overruled, and since people look to him as a leader, he's taking the time to warn them of the risks before they spring into action.
I do agree that it would be easier for him to leave Kenny than it would be for him to leave anyone from the cabin group behind (and vice versa for Kenny), but both Luke and Kenny had valid criticisms about the other this episode. Kenny is broken from all the death he's experienced, and the baby was probably what pulled him back from the edge. Kenny is broken, and broken people can get reckless with not only their lives, but others.
I don't think Luke is a sociopath. While he doesn't trust Kenny and does not like the idea of him leading the group, he has shown moments of empathizing with him depending on how you talk about him. Luke looks extremely guilty if you confide that Duck was his son, and understands that death can "hit a guy pretty hard" (as he has also lost family).
Actually, I think Luke has a few lines indicating that he does understand their relationship in episode four. "I know you've got a history with him.. Look, I think he's a good guy. At least started out as a good guy" and "I know he's your friend and all, but what he did to Carver..".
I always took Luke's character as someone who is struggling between survival and doing what's morally correct. Survival said he shouldn't let Clem into the group with a bite on her arm, but morals say that he should give her a chance. He says in episode four, if you leave Sarah behind, that he will never get over how he was the first one up the skylight. The majority of his dialogue during the walk back is him feeling upset and guilty that he didn't do more, and how he won't just move on from it.
Ok. I'm saying that ep 4 seems to confirm that Luke is less of a sociopath than a stupid kid because he's less deceitful and selfish than he is unsure of his own heart and mind. You're saying he struggles between morals and survival. I feel like we're kind of saying the same thing. For anything else, agree to disagree I guess.
I actually agree with the Kenny thing. Maybe it's because my opinion of S1 Kenny was already pretty low, but none of the negative things Kenny did in this episode really surprised me.
Blaming a person for his family's death when they were only tangentially involved? Ben. Refusing to face when his family member is dead and letting them suffer or zombify? Duck. Lashing out in anger at people who had nothing to do with the situation? Lee.
The only thing he did that did surprise me was that he recovered from his stupor, came back, and immediately found something new to live for. And that's commendable to me. It still doesn't make him great, but it makes him a better person than I thought he'd be.