Just a thought about Luke.
I couldn't fall asleep and I started mulling over Luke's reaction to Jane leaving compared to him learning about Nick's death. It took a couple of minutes of just circling through a bunch of things that I'd seen before, before I started comparing his reaction to some of my own personal experiences.
Perhaps Luke's reaction to Nick is more "calm" (for a lack of a better word) than when Jane leaves is because he didn't see it. It's registering, but, at the same time, it's not registering at all. I guess like Sarah in a way? A little? Years ago, I came down to the kitchen and my mom was crying and I asked what was wrong. She told me our dog that we'd let live at our grandma's had passed away from a seizure. My reaction wasn't tears, if I remember right, it was just a blank "oh". I was upset, yes, but it didn't really hit because I wasn't there and didn't see. The same thing happened when my Grandpa died. When my dad told me, it was blank "ohs" and a tearless hug while he cried. Even at the funeral, I was the only tear-free one until my mom convinced me to go say goodbye. I only saw him through the door; I didn't even go into the room with the casket and I was bawling and had to go back to the other room. And when I was with my Grandma and she had to get her dog put down earlier this year, I was a crying mess in my room because I knew what was happening and it was happening right upstairs.
In Episode 2 if you went with Nick at the end of 1, when you go back to the shed and find Nick on the floor, Luke looks visibly terrified and upset at the fact his friend might be a walker. And when you go with Pete, he's still visibly upset when you find the body, but he has to keep Nick focused on moving. There's no time to grieve.
The same thing happens in the trailer when you tell him about Nick. Maybe it's not quite hitting where it needs to be because he hasn't seen Nick yet, and then there's still the matter of getting out of the trailer alive with Sarah and Clem and Jane, and when they do get it, he tries to push his grief down and keep it hidden. Then later, maybe Jane up and leaving was just the last straw that broke the camel's back. I was thinking he might have wanted them to atone for their fuck-up by scouting for supplies, and everything just finally hit and he's letting his grief turn to anger, making him lash out at Kenny. (I know I'm still upset about friends just leaving me without word)
And, this doesn't have much to do with anything but, I've heard people are angry because Luke also seems more upset when Clem says she had to kill Sam, yet my parents both had the same reaction when I told them I had to kill Sam. I think it's just... a thing about dogs.
But, yeah! That's... really it. It was just a thought, but I'd love to hear what you guys think! c:
Comments
I think you hit the nail on the head with this one.
Yeah I think the most annoying thing is he just seems to forget about it after 10 seconds.
I think you're on to something. It's true, when you don't see it, it doesn't really affect you as hard as when you do see it. But still, it's kind of upsetting that his reaction was what it was- but there might be more to it then what we can see right now of Luke.
I want him to break down and finally have people's deaths take a toll on him.
In fact, I want all of them to have a nice chat by a campfire at night , remembering the people they've lost in the apocalypse. I wanna feel those feels,damnit.
Luke says Kenny is broken, but he is breaking just as much as him. Luke back in EP1 would never have lost his composture like he did in EP4. I remember we all saw Luke as the guy who could stay calm and think things through, despite the circumstances.
He's just better at hiding it than Kenny, who lets it all out. Or maybe, he really doesn't realize it, or is in denial that things are getting to him.
Thank you! Even if it's never explicitly shown how Luke deals with his grief, or if we never see him actually break down, I'm sticking with this as the reason. ;P
I think it's greatly explained, it makes a lot of sense.
Well, I don't think he forgets, he just... doesn't want to talk about it, or doesn't know how to go about it. Again, I'm just pulling from personal experiences, but I never knew how to tackle or talk about these things when they happened.
Yeah! I hope we get to see more of how he feels in No Going Back, but I'm glad I thought of this to fall back on if Luke never opens up.
Oh gosh, I would adore having a campfire scene or something. But Luke is definitely breaking, yes!
I'll agree with you that he's in denial, because he so is.
That's a writing problem due to nick dying at determinantly different times, not an intended character flaw.
Everybody has different ways with coping with death. Like my gran's funeral last year, I didn't cry through it at all, but it was only months later that I would think of her and break down when i was alone. For me that's just the way I am, it's hard for me to openly cry in front of people or in public or express my emotions like that.
All the characters in the game have different ways of reacting to death of friends or loved ones too. Nick loses the will to live, Sarah shuts down and Kenny struggles to keep it together. I think it's very much like you said, there's no time for Luke to grieve Nick then. Walkers are pounding at the door and Sarah won't budge and it's later that he's starting to crack. You can even assume that too if Nick died in Episode 2, his friends are in trouble and he has to focus on saving them.
It's sort of what a friend messaging me has been saying, that Luke bottles things up [remember Nick envying Luke's way to 'keep moving all the time' and it's mentioned Luke has lost his folks yet he's still been able to keep going despite that.] She also mentioned that already at the end of Episode 4 Luke's snapping a lot more at Kenny, where as if you compare Luke to how he was in Episode 2 at times when he raised his voice to Carlos or to Nick, he'd always able to get a grip of his anger.
So Episode 5, I wouldn't be surprised if that bottle tips, because remember over the course of a few weeks he's lost all his friends, along with Nick and Pete that he grew up with, and then to have Jane run off who he might've had some mutual understanding with [aside from pork chops] and thought would stick around too, it'll be interesting to see if he does eventually crack.
But like I said, people have different ways of coping. Some can grieve openly, some can't.
Yes!! I find it disappointing that a lot of people on here forget that people cope differently (it even made me forget!). Kudos to you and your friend, you both make a lot of good points!
Luke's definitely reaching his tipping point, and he's gonna be falling off his perch next episode, I can feel it in my bones. (and I will never be prepared for when it happens)
I don't want to sound hateful, and I'm sorry if I do, but this thread represents exactly my problem with this season (please hear me out, it's nothing personal, really).
More often than not, we aren't given much insight on why a character is changing their attitude: why they're acting that way instead of what we would expect. The most notable examples in my list are Luke and Jane, although there are many others. We are forced to accept the most plausible theory on why they did what they did: was it pity on Jane's part? Is Luke really so depressed he would ditch his duty just to have a few moments of happiness? Maybe.
These theories aren't just complementing the story or trying to unravel some purposely hidden detail, they are our attempts to make the story VIABLE, otherwise many things simply don't make sense according to what we've seen in the past.
Usually these assumptions make perfect sense: e.g. Rebecca's 180 from ep1 to ep2: it was most likely just the hormones. Still, the lack of official word about the reasons why the characters suddenly have a change of heart just bugs the hell out of me.
As you well said. there was not much time for Luke to be sad about Nick's death. they were in a situation of extreme urgency, and had to convince Sarah to move. But have no doubt that it affected him. Like Kenny, Luke is broken as well. But he can hide it better, or simply don't want to accept that.
About the situation between him and Jane. I think it was a continuation of that conversation they had shortly after Sarah's rescue. I can imagine Jane talking about her sister, Luke talking about Nick, and talking about how things are slowly starting to crumble.. the two begin to feel a certain connection at some point in the conversation and they are all alone and relaxed. Jane then makes the "offer" and the two drown theirs sorrows in a wild way.