The Luke Defense Masterpost.
So I've been on the tumblr walking dead fandom a lot lately, and I've seen a lot of hate for Luke after epiosde four. I got sick of it, and I kinda wrote an essay.
There are spoilers for episode 4 in this essay
Fair warning, this thing is LONG. Like, it took me three days to write the thing long.
Here's a link to it: The Luke Defense Masterpost
I'm not sure how the people here have reacted to Luke, so a lot of this might not apply to you guys. Still worth a read in my oppinion.
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Comments
Thank you so much for writing and putting that much thought into it. I didn't think it was a big deal that they did the dirty and everything because like you said, why would you turn down that at that time? But then you mentioned how she took advantage of him in the state that he was in and then left him. I shouldn't be upset with Luke, but with Jane. Now my thoughts and feelings are changed about her. I like Luke even more than I did before now, and this episode really showed his emotions. He's only human. Thank you!
So much for mine we're in Ohio theory T_T
Just curious, how'd you get to the conclusion the group was in Ohio?
I didnt know he drove all the way over there
Well I completely neglected the part that Carver took the group off route so I pretty much thought they're still on their way to the north from South Carolina and since most time passed with Christa and Omid I figured they should be pretty close at this point. (The destination is Michigan or near Michigan as Kenny mentioned)
Yea I really Don't get the Luke hate.. he fucked up.. but hasn't everyone by now?
Yeah it's overreaction, this post is a bit overprotective for my taste, but it makes its point. I'm pretty much against Clem going with anyone but Mike and Bonnie (even though Mike dropped her from the rope and broke her back in alternative dimension T_T)
Luke is cool, Kenny is cool, the baby is cool, but they are liabilities. My goal is to protect Clem and that's it.
To be fair, some people blame him for the death of Sarah (In the deck) because he was the one that caused the walkers to get so close in the first place.
I forgive Luke because i understand what he did. But they have a point, if he was looking out, maybe even Rebecca could've gotten a proper labor too.
Mike had to drop the rope. Not his fault.
Still reading but something sticks out at me. You may not be doing Luke any favors by bringing up negative examples of other characters. It will likely get viewed as you tearing down others to build up him up.
I'm not angry with him because he decided to go have fun with Jane, to me that is okay, I'm angry because he cared more about Jane leaving the group than his best friend dying that he knew for at least 20 years, I don't hate him, but this was really something that I didn't like...
He wasn't thinking rationally, just as Kenny after Sarita died. I'm pretty much leaving my judging of the whole season 2 and all its characters after the finale. Though there are some irreversible mistakes already.
Where do you draw that from? He may just be very closed with his feelings at the moment, there's signs it's "eating away at him" throughout the episode, and how it's slowly depressing him. Maybe he appeared to care more for Jane because she gave him something to be happy about for a bit and started to develop feelings to "hold him off" from the sadness.. like a drug.
This was very well written, man. I'm glad you put your time into this.
And no one died due to Luke's negligence. Kenny "saved the day" by killing ONE walker that he just couldn't stop hitting.
How many people have died because of Kenny's repeated failures to keep his head in the game? A lot more than zero, that's for damn sure.
Thanks man!
Wow,that was really good.
Sarah's corpse begs to differ.
What would have happened differently?
Determinate, but do you honestly believe she wasn't going to die within a week at the very most?
That's everyone's negligence not just him
Finished reading it and yeah my initial warning still stands. I would definitely remove that other person's tumblr post about Jane. That just feels like a possible minefield. Remember Jane left the group to scout out the observatory before Luke says he'll watch the perimeter. I'm pretty sure she would've told him to get his ass back out there if she knew (considering how she wanted to handle Arvo for being near the group).
I think what's working against Luke is the fact that he seemed so well adjusted in the beginning (a fandom perception I've always disagreed with). I remember all the "he seems too perfect" posts we had back when episode one first came out. So when he did make decisions that didn't end well for the group or others, people kind of blew them out of proportion, IMO.
Not too sure on the map thing, tbh. I'm a little skeptical about using a license plate as a point of reference for example. And Luke finding a vehicle with fuel out in the woods like that, this far into the apocalypse, seems pretty implausible. My guess is that Howe's really was just up the river like Carver said and Luke just made his way there from the moment he realized Carver found them.
I'm not sure if this will work towards changing people's view of Luke (at this point, folks perceptions are likely set) but it was certainly a great effort.
If Luke could have warned the group to retreat up the observation deck as soon as he saw the walkers, they would have had far more time to guard themselves against the hoard, rather than be panicked and pressed for time. The hoard might have not even followed them up if Luke saw them early enough.
Highly doubtful.
Even then that takes days considering the 5 day skip from the cabin to the ski lodge and then we don't know hiw far the cabin was from howe
That isn't the point. It doesn't matter how long someone would have survived after you caused their death. It matters that you caused their death. You don't get a reduced sentence running over terminally ill cancer patients as opposed to spry young adults.
Now, I wouldn't blame Luke for Sarah's death. Just like I don't blame Ben for Duck's death or Clem for Lee's death. Events outside of their control that they could not have predicted contributed to the other person's death. But Luke's negligence made his group unprepared to deal with the situation and someone died because of it. That's what happened.
Nah jk I did read. Solid points.
I'll grant you that. But honestly, don't you think someone should have told Sarah to stay in the gift shop, not just stay on the balcony.
Which part? Him being able to spot the walkers earlier if he were actually patrolling the perimeter? How is that doubtful? The group didn't notice the walkers until they were just a couple dozen yards away from them and by that point, they were surrounded. Unless Luke would have walked around the perimeter with his eyes closed, he would have spotted the walkers.
The second part is just speculation, but the fact is that the hoard followed the group directly up the stairs because they were right behind them. If the group had gone onto the observation deck before the walkers noticed them, they would not have been able to follow them up. They would have probably still gone up the stairs anyway when Rebecca started screaming but again, the group would have at least had time to prepare and not be so panicked and disorganized.
5 minutes is actually quite much in a ZA.
Yes, but everyone was panicked and focused on the walkers or Rebecca's pregnancy at that point. They didn't have time to think about positioning Sarah in the most strategically secure position in case something bad happened. That's why I think that if the group had had more time to prepare for the attack, Sarah would have had a better chance because then there would be time to think about her. Again, I think blaming Luke for her death would be going to far, but he was a major contributing factor to it.
There could've been some back-tracking along their route from Howe's (they wanted to get to the mountains but there was a river to cross). Also travel time would've been inflated by needing to stop to eat and sleep. Not to mention the stops they'd have to make for Rebecca. Them being so close to winter also means they have less hours overall to be on the move during any given day (shorter periods of daylight). In other words, I really don't think we can use time to gauge how far they traveled one way or the other.
Wow you made me feel like an asshole now for hating on Luke so much xD
Really changed my view on him, and Jane, the most. Great read, dude, excellent work!
It's doubtful any of them would have anticipated the whole deck falling, and the strategically placing Sarah wouldn't likely have saved her from the deck falling.
It's really speculative to say things would have been different at all once everyone was on the deck.
No problem!
To be honest, if Luke went for that long of a time on foot without sleep, the distance becomes irrelevant. I said he found a car because
a) based on my guesswork, it makes the most sense
b) if anything, him finding a car diminishes Luke's accomplishment. It's still pretty damn impressive.
Regardless, him sneaking into Carvers camp is still pretty damn ballsy.
I think it would give them time to account for everybody if the walkers weren't nipping at their heels. Moving the cannon to block the door was a panicked, last-ditch attempt to prevent the walkers from getting in because there were so manhy of them piling up so fast. And I don't think the situation would have been the same if the group had been able to relocate to the observation deck ahead of time. Because the stimuli that triggered the event that lead to Sarah's death (the walkers) wouldn't have been as urgent a threat. Luke couldn't have known that his decision would lead to the deck falling and pining Sarah. But it did. He did the wrong thing and someone got killed as a result.
This was awesome! Couldn't be better!
You're welcome.
Alot of your points were Reaching at best. Luke was a solid character before Episode 4, and but Episode 4's writing ruined his character's actions completely. The actions themselves were reasonable but like i said. bad writing.
and bad writing made him choppy/ Dismissive/ and generally unlikeable where you can easily fit pity in.
No remorse for nick his friend for 20 years?
Cries over not having more sex with Jane who wasn't interested in a relationship?
No remorse that Sarah's death was basically the result of his negligence?
Makes judgmental remarks at Mike despite not even knowing him yet sleeps with Jane who they met at the same time as Mike? (f he was feeling insecure, we sure saw NONE of that before he dropped his suspicion bomb outta the blue)
Ben who was the biggest fuck up in S1 had more consistent writing and build up than Luke did.