Christa & Season 2's Original Plot
DrHabitualRealist
Banned
After replaying the collection, like many, I still have plenty unaddressed questions & what if's on my mind. I don't expect these to be addressed in TFS, but at the same time, I'm not going to pretend like I know everything Telltale because I wasn't around on these forums when the previous seasons released.
Let's start with the forgotten elephant in the room, Christa. Many of us suspect Lilly will get to return in TFS, but as for Christa...isn't it most likely she's dead? I mean, she never reached Wellington and even with the info we were provided by Mike's voice actor for the Ralph theory about the original plot involving Christa, makes me assume she WAS that corpse we saw with Pete and Nick.
The guy next to her looked fresh, so he was certainly a human that didn't turn, however Christa's body is kind of pale looking like Lee and Rebecca later would look, indicating she turned. I know if you don't throw the rock to distract the scavengers, Christa is stabbed in what looks like her kidney. Even if she got away, she would've eventually lost too much blood and turned. Same applies for if she survived the gunshot we heard if the rock was thrown.
My only problem is that Telltale didn't openly confirm this in an AMA or public blog since they failed to provide Christa the proper closure in-game. Regardless, how did the scavenger that requested water end up with Clementine's backpack if they didn't finish off Christa? Sure, the campfire wasn't far away from the hostile dispute, but it explains that he and Ralph escaped that situation and had enough time afterwards to raid their camp. It's even possible the situation was de-escalated and Christa joined those two that led her to the scene where we found her and Roman. Perhaps they tried to get her some help?
It's never explained and only ominously alluded to, but much like Pete, it's pretty obvious to me that Carver & co found them and shot them to pieces. Considering Bonnie was with Carver while tracking the Cabin group, it makes sense that she would instantly recognize Roman as it was Stephanie & him chasing her in the corn field in 400 days. Carver wasn't going to let Roman kill Bonnie who I'm also sure was aware he was still hunting Shel & Becca, so Carver took initiative to solve the problem for his people once and for all. Christa or whoever that person was wearing her jacket and pony tail was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Season 2 Original Plot
I recall hearing that Kenny was suppose to be the Carver for S2. I'm not familiar with the extensive details of the original plot & would like it if Telltale would eventually spill the beans, but something tells me that Rebecca was given the story meant for Christa. Both of their pregnant models look similar & so do the sweaters they're wearing. Not to mention, they both end up losing the father of their child that would eventually be named a Jr of the respective father. Makes a lot more sense story-wise how Clementine would've organically felt an obligation to care for Christa and Omid's child rather than the forced circumstantial last wishes of Alvin and Rebecca, right?
The only issue I have making sense of the original plot is not being able to see Kenny justifying the slow death Alvin received for Omid and trying to keep Clementine & Christa imprisoned at Howe's. Could this be why the original plot was scrapped? Even if so, they could've kept Carver, scrapped Rebecca & Alvin for Christa & Omid and instead of trying to escape Howe's, kill Carver & have Kenny & the cabin group take over that community settlement. This way, Kenny could cave in under the pressures of trying to run a big community and could've slowly transitioned into a new Carver of sorts.
Instead, they opted to have Jane foreshadow him cracking thanks to her manipulation & putting a newborn's life at risk. I mean, he could've easily cried in that car and became Zombie chow due to her bad prank of trying to make a point.
Overall, the biggest gripe I have about S2 is as soon as they escape, everything falls apart and Carver's last words about how they don't know how good they have it there, instantly becomes true at their historic little meetup spot. As much as I'm not a fan of Jane, this is probably why she tells them they should just return to Howe's and only makes me wonder if they should've just tried overthrowing Carver, Tavia, & Troy even more. It really wouldn't have taken much effort for them to change public opinion there, the 400 days characters could've easily helped make this possible.
I strongly feel like Vince, Wyatt, Russell, Shel & Becca would've listened to and supported Bonnie, Jane, Mike, and the rest of the Cabin group with the plan to overthrow Carver. I doubt they would've wanted to lose that community, because it could've been a great place it was just under the wrong leadership.
Comments
She was stabbed in the leg, making it possible that she survived both "Distract scavengers" and "Sneak away" options. And the gunshot that is heard after that was supposed to hit Ralph/Mike while Christa was struggling with the gun/running away, thus Mike having a scar on his face. So her fate is unknown, it is entirely possible that she survived, but I doubt she will appear again. She did not leave as much impact as Lilly did and I doubt regular players even remember her.
I thought it was confirmed that Ralph and Mike were separate characters by Dan White? Ralph was originally going to be Mike, but technically isn't. On my recent S2 play through I could've swore I clearly saw Christa stabbed in her torso area that looks like the kidney region to me, but IDK happened pretty fast & the eyes see what they want to see I guess.
I agree she didn't leave as big of an impact, but if they kept with the original S2 plot and some of the things I've previously mentioned in my OP, it's likely she would've had one. I mean, I don't even expect Rebecca & Alvin to even get mentioned to their own son, lol. This thread really isn't about TFS though.
Yeah, I meant in the original plot Mike was supposed to be Ralph. Technically of course he isn`t, but I still doubt Christa is dead. And yeah, from the footage I am seeing - she is stabbed in the leg. Maybe I am seeing it wrong too though.
Outside of Christa's unknown status, what are your thoughts about everything else mentioned?
I think it's highly plausible my suspicions about S2 were what was originally planned for Kenny as well as the 'coincidental' overlapping similarities between Christa/Omid and Rebecca/Alvin.
Much like Omid, Clem instantly adopts a liking toward Alvin like she did Omid. Rebecca was kind of cold, distant, and suspicious toward Clem initially much like Christa was after the death of Omid. Sure, it's passed off as her being a stranger, but it really seems kind of a stretch to expect Carver to send a kid to track down their group. As Alvin humorously asked Carlos at the Ski Lodge, "Who do you think these people are, Ninjas?"
Of course all this is writing room speculation, we do know rewrites happen. Story wise, if they wanted to keep Kenny as the original S2 villain, it would've only made sense to give more thought to the only other remaining S1 characters, Christa and Omid. I suspect that since Clem is given the dialogue option to mention to Kenny that Christa said he died is an attempt to makeup for Christa being unable to do so during the initial ORIGINAL planned reunion.
This isn't an attempt at fanon but speculation for the original S2 plot which to my knowledge, script details were never fully released.
It`s a nice theory, but I doubt that was the original story line. I mean, Christa was already pregnant in season 1. If the story you mentioned has to work, they could not have done a time skip, as they did. If they wanted to make Clementine a playable character they needed that time skip, remember all those stupid instances when adults dont know what to do and Clementine has to take charge, and now imagine that being a 9 year old girl, instead of 11. Its getting much worse. Am I making any sense?
Time window in which the events of the season has to happen then is too small, since Christa has to give birth to the baby in the game and not off-screen. They changed Kenny from being Carver because they did not feel like they are doing justice to the character the way he was established.
if Christa is not wrote into this,TT are forgetting or changing there own story arc, Christa was always the goal to get to,it would be super great to see Lilly again but Clem was always trying to find Christa!
You go on for quite a while, my thoroughly expository friend, so I'll just give my two cents on what broad topics I see:
It's technically possible, but probably not.
She was intended to have her whereabouts discussed in either Amid the Ruins or Never Turn Back, according to a comment about what a developer said, but the closest we ultimately got is Edith mentioning that there's no one named Christa there, citing a same named niece as a memory jog.
No and yes.
No, it's not Christa, it's Anna Correa from Around Every Corner and No Time Left reused for the scene alongside her(?) tall husband.
Yes, Anna Correa had an edited model and [I think] the same voice actress as Christa herself.
Assuming Mike would've had more or less the same characterization as he does in the game proper, it's slimly possible.
However, considering how violent Winston was, Roman's previous policy about strangers, and Mike's own friendly fire courtesy of Victor, the chances of such mercy at the time isn't very high.
Eeeh, I wouldn't put too much stock in the notion.
More likely, he saw them as a threat to his Search and decided to wipe them out.
Eh, I personally don't place much value in that train of thought.
Barring the protracted "They were in Season 1" and "Clementine has history with them" justifications, having Alvin and Rebecca be the one's having a baby of dubious fatherhood after Christa and Omid failed to have theirs could've provided had they actually taken the time to build their connections to Clementine on various levels and/or had Christa herself join the group to later help deliver AJ as well.
Well that and "Chromid" being from California rather than Tennessee, not to mention the drama with Carver's affair.
Not very likely. For as hostile and assholish as Kenny was in the second half of Season 1, I don't recall there ever being much of any with Omid.
Most likely not.
From what I've been led to understand, Kenny having become "Carver" was the story concept Sean Vanaman came up with when he left Kenny's intended death in Season 1 ambiguous and it lasted just long enough for Gavin Hammond to be contacted about returning with that general idea in mind.
Whether it was before or after he draw up a Season outline and a first draft of All That Remains is unclear; the point is, they talked about it for a while and then decided to rework it in favor of having Carver be an original character.
Objectively, that's an extremely uncertain call to make, as Episode 3 was seemingly always the point where the story being open ended and/or rewritten several times due to the Chase and buildup to "Carver's" reveal always being the focal premise of the Season.
I seriously doubt it, though.
Eh.
Eh, not really?
Like, she can definitely make an appeal to the gentle person he is at heart, was intended to have some moments with him while gone fishing, and is definitely touched when he stays behind to buy her time to escape, telling her to take care of his "girls," but their relationship from the start was not really set in stone to be an easy one and can in fact have moments of disapproving and even bribing words.
In fact, the Cabin Group in general were initially designed around the idea of Clementine having to learn to deal with other survivors and being an eclectic group of notably flawed and complicated people compared to the Season 1 cast.
The idea was that Carver was supposed to be rather underhanded, cunning, and even corrupting.
To be fair, Lee didn't really get a chance to tell her and Christa is determinately responsible for it.
They could've just as easily had Omid tell her, but probably didn't because Christa is the closest to a proper character.
I literally do not care about Christa, like at all.