Getting disturbing
** Contains spoilers for Season 1 Episode 5 and Season 2 Episode 1 **
Don't get me wrong people, i'm all for brutality, bad endings and stuff but when you spend hours in front of a single game, you get invested to the characters, you start to care about them. And Clementine is one of my most favourite video game characters now. She's right up there along the likes of Commander Shepherd (Mass Effect), The Nameless One (Planescape Torment) and Morrigan (Dragon Age Origins).
The things that she has to endure in these series starting to be disturbing. Think about it: At the end of Season 1, she had to go through a traumatizing day in which she got kidnapped by a sadistic maniac, saw her mother in zombie form and had to kill the only person she can really depend on.
Now i can imagine worse things happening to a little girl in a world like that. Hell, those kind of things happen in our civilised world already but this fact doesn't make the game less disturbing.
And Season 2 got off to a very rough start. WTF was that stitching scene? That was maybe the single most disturbing scene i've ever seen in a video game. And this is coming from a guy who enjoyed Postal series. But the most disturbing thing was the treatment she got from the new group. They treated her like an animal! It's been more than year since zombies invaded the world, and those guys were acting like they've never seen a bitten person before. Even if she had bitten by a zombie, how much of a threat could she possibly pose? You treat her wound, give her some food and lock her in a clean room for the night. And if she turns into a zombie in the morning, you put a bullet in her head. Problem solved. Instead, they treated her like an animal and debated the issue for hours. Really?
And what about the choice that we had to make in the end? I wasn't thinking about saving anyone there. I made that choice thinking about whom am i gonna stick with. I chose Nick because Pete was already bitten and his situation looked more desperate than Nick's. But than this Nick guy yelled at me with a horrified face saying that I could've saved Pete. Are you fucking kidding me?? I'm not the one with a fully loaded rifle you asshole! What kind of retard are you to expect a nine year old girl without any weapons to save a guy who is surrounded by zombies?? WTF is wrong with these people?
And the thing that gets me is the fact that she can't say "FUCK YOU, I'M OUTTA HERE!" to their faces because she can't survive long out there on her own. She needs people whom she can depend on. But i really hated this group. I hope all of them die a horrible death in Episode 2.
You know what, I literally cried at the end of Season 1. I can't take another bad ending. I'm telling you, Telltale. Go easy on her, OK?
Comments
It's walking dead... the #1 goal of the original writer of the series was to make the reader depressed. The game accomplishes that with flying colors. The original writer purposely kills off favorite characters in the comic, in the meanest possible ways. It also includes murdering/decapitating children (including non-zombie children), rape, and a whole bunch more.
The game is suppose to make you cry - make you question human behavior. There won't be a happy ending, it's not in the nature of Kirk's writing, and Telltale has been very faithful to that so far. Personally, I think the game gets it pretty damn close to how it'd be in real life if this ever happened. The cold hard truth is: Most people care about themselves more than others - and will do anything to survive even a few days longer.
I don't think Telltale are going to go easy on her but I really connect with Clem and it does break my heart when bad things happen to her.
''But i really hated this group. I hope all of them die a horrible death in Episode 2.''
Ok, ok just...Calm down a little JESUS!
Think about it like this. You are leading a group, you barely have any food or meds for yourself, let alone for a whole group, and you are being chased by a guy who kill's people and leave them for dead (Carver). Then a random little girl show's up, she aparently is bitten, and there is a huge chance she might be working for Carver. Would you REALLY be so sure to feed and spare meds to an infected person that you don't even know?
.
There really wasn't a need to get all the hate from the new survivors. "Hey, I found this eleven year old girl in the woods who obviously needs medical attention. Lets harass her and bring out a 'doctor' who's not going to do shit for her"
When did they harass her?
Well, no, if they'd never seen a bitten person before, they wouldn't have been nearly as hesitant to help her. The problem is that they have seen a bitten person before. And that person ended up turning and killing Nick's mother. I forget if it's stated how long ago that happened, but something like that's going to make you pretty wary of bite victims for a while, not to mention strangers in general because of the whole thing with "Carver."
Look, these are a group of people who've manage to carve out a relatively comfortable existence 2 years into an apocalypse. You don't get that far without being cautious as fuck. Admittedly, they did kind of go overboard by not at least treating her wounds before locking her up, but I can't really fault them too much for not wanting to let in a stranger and potentially jeopardize the good thing they have going for them.
I agree that they should space out the trauma a bit more and insert more lightness into things, but they can't take it too easy on her. Narratively speaking, the more shit she goes through now, the more it justifies her survival at the end (which better fucking happen).
I guarantee if you've been living in a zombie world for (1-2 years at that point?) you'd have a totally different opinion. They've already learned the hard way not to trust anyone. Their response to Clem was exactly what I would expect from a group living in this situation. Infact, I feel many groups would of just outright killed Clem. Death is very common to people that are still surviving, and anyone who has been around a lot of death (war, etc) can tell you that it numbs your emotions and can make you do very bad things. It completely changes people. For them, family comes first, same as most people. Not some little girl that may or may not have already been bitten.
Even today, in the real world, you can see cases like this. There's still tribes deep in jungles that kill outsiders on sight, and have no clue on society/the rest of the world. They protect their family first and foremost, and ask questions later.
TL:TR - Their actions were perfectly reasonable and realistic given the situation.
Kirkman's Philosophy
Hey, you see that guy? He's cool. Got a wife and three kids. Likes all the same things you do. He's totally a bro. Please get attached to him for the next 50 issues.
Oops, he's dead now, because fuck you.
Telltale takes a similar philosophy I think.
Regarding the group's actual effectiveness, the general consensus is that unlike Lee's group who survived due to leadership, determination, and quick thinking (not to mention Lee and Clementine's wits), Luke's group has survived more or less entirely due to luck. They are all really poorly skiled at the art of survival. I.E 'I only bring 3 bullets and no backup weapon' Pete, 'I keep my finger tensed on the trigger at all times and point it at people' Nick, 'I'm a pregnant woman with no concern for orphaned children in the apocalypse' Rebecca, 'I have no spine' Alvin, 'I am a sheltered child' Sarah, 'You don't kill dogs no matter what but if outvoted its fine to lock little girls in sheds to die' Luke, and last but not least 'I am not a real doctor' Carlos.
Seriously though, Carlos is not a real doctor. He must have been involved somehow in medical work, but there is no way he is a real doctor. I wouldn't be surpised if he lied to the group about his level of medical competence in order to secure his daughters safety by increasing his own value to the group.
Hell, a vet (Katjaa) has out medic'd and out compassion'd him so far, and she also had an 8 year old to look after. (Sarah is about the same level).
Honestly if I was ever to write for something like The Walking Dead, I would do the chances of characters surviving or getting crippled/badly injured with dice rolls. And tell the readers straight up that is how I do it. Cruelty of chance, just like a real life walker apocalypse.
Makes it pretty tense when you know that every issue/episode could be the last for that character you like.
That was a good post.
Conspiracy Keanu: Maybe that is how he does it!
Kirkman totally has a dice based writing philosophy.
I don't care the conditions. I would never point a gun at an eleven year old and treat her as harshly as they did.
She is 10 years old. Yes. Some things are worth protecting in the apocalypse.
And the kid is Possibly infected. OP said: "You treat her wound, give her some food and lock her in a clean room for the night. And if she turns into a zombie in the morning, you put a bullet in her head. Problem solved. Instead, they treated her like an animal and debated the issue for hours."
Op has a good fucking point. It can't take a lot of supplies to give preliminary treatment to a child. Two points here: If they were that low on supplies, and the threat of Carver was that pressing, why the hell are they dicking around in the Cabin all day instead of moving on to escape Carver's group and look for more meds? Either their group is going to die to attrition from sickness and injuries, followed by reanimating walkers, or they are going to be gunned down in the cabin by Carver's goons as soon as they arrive.
Even if I knew a child was working for a dictator that was hunting me (Carver) I wouldn't have locked her in that shed to die like an animal. There are ways of getting through to people, a child working for that kind of person would be doing so out of fear. Besides that, how much of their medical supplies would it take to treat a child's arm wound? I wouldn't say a lot.
The logic I cannot see. "We're on the run from this nutjob Carver! He hunts down and slaughters people who disagree with him, people like us! Lets faf about in a cabin all day instead of trying to move out of his territory! That's a great plan! By the way, We're out of meds at this place! It's fine! We'll just ration our meds so hard to the point where meds at all is useless!" "A little girl! Clearly she must be working for Carver! It makes no sense that she might be a survivor of one of the many, many other groups that roam around that you saw Carver kill on a regular basis!
TL:DR: Cabin group acted stupid and amorally and stupidly amorally. They should be damn well ashamed and guilt ridden by what they did to Clementine, and what they forced her to do to save herself.
On a less RIGHTEOUS FURY!ous note, is it impossible to believe that the Cabin group might just be a little more stupid and self centered than Lee's group?
I thought it was obvious, in their fear and short shortsightedness, they made a terrible mistake, and nearly cost a little girl her life. Half of the group still thinks what they did was right. Am I wrong in being angry at the half as a result of this?
Not to mention the post-trauma bullying by both Carlos and Rebecca, one whom has a daughter not much older than Clem, and the other who is literally about to have a baby.
Where the fuck did their sympathy go? Luke, Pete, Alvin (sort of anyway, the coward), and potentially EVEN NICK can treat Clementine way better then they did.
Carlos and Rebecca are both terrible people. Maybe they will redeem themselves, but they are terrible people.
After they let her inside, Carlos (before the Nick/Luke scene ) and Rebecca (after the Nick and Luke scene) both wait until Clem is by herself to go and threaten/bully her.
How the hell is commander shepard one of your favourite characters? That dude is the most uptight non-emotional boring character of all time.
SO CUTE
rebecca is a bitch but carlos its just looking out for his daughter i guess
Telltale once said, that although Clementine is still a kid, the world won't treat her as one.
if you dont fight the bandits in the woods will kill you with no remorse
That's what The Walking Dead is all about. It's realistic and gritty, and Clementine has to be strong for her own sake. It will probably just get harder from here, and I know that's painful to think about, considering Clem is still a little girl. But I believe, after everything she went through in season 1, she'll be able to soldier through.
tl;dr =[
The Ashford's dragonfly home movie from Code Veronica will probably always be the most disturbing thing I've ever seen in a game.
I see you're point, at least they could have a little bed, carpet or something for her to sleep in that shed.
Rebecca is a bitch, so nothing to say there. But Carlos is just looking after his daughter, he politely asks you to stay away from his daughter, and only get's angry if you say ''She need's to grow up sometime''. If instead you say ''I'm sorry i didn't know'' he just says ''You're forgiven, just don't do it again'' and leaves. It's actually pretty Ati-climatic
His reasons are understandable, but his actions are still no less terrible.
As a parent, he should have been more inclined to help Clem, not less.
They are seriously one fucked up family.
This shit right here, it's accurate. Well done.
"This is the walking dead. No one is safe"
One thing I wouldn't do is lock an 11 year old 75 pound girl in a shed because I was afraid for MY safety. WTF?!? No, what they did was straight up mean. No justification. They could have brought her in the house and tied her to a radiator if they were that paranoid.
It's Clementine for fucks sake, not Larry. How dangerous do they think a little walkerized girl could be if she's got people guarding her in shifts.
Those people are dicks. Carlos violated his Hippocratic oath. Fuck that guy.
Carlos is an idiot who's overprotective attitude has left his daughter little better than walker bait.
Also he has no compassion and he's lying about being a doctor. A first year medical student would tell a dog bite from a humans by circumference alone. People don't have elongated jaws, not even walkers.
A doctor takes an oath to do no harm. Locking a kid up to die of blood loss, hypothermia or infection is not what doctors do.
You obviously don't play renegade shep
You've never played Outlast then.....
The "supplies" she took could have been minimized if they helped. The fishing line was left so its doubtful theyd have bothered/knew about it, the needle can be cleaned, she used what looked like torn clothes (gasp cant find that shit anywhere these days), and really only wasted the peroxide which fell. 2 things that i wonder about is if clem's stitching would have worked (crude doesn't mean ineffective) and wouldnt a normal infection cause a fever AND require antibiotics? A bottlecap or 2 of peroxide now, or more of that plus actual medicine if it turns out theyre being a bunch of pricks... im with ya in that carlos probly isnt a doctor. I might give him a med school dropout, since he obviosly has some medical skills, but damn... he certainly leaves alot to be desired. I, myself, picked to save pete if only for the irony of bringing a bitten man they know and trust back to them. Along with the "Still. Not. Bitten." Comment from the shed, im hoping for a nice laugh.
The stitching scene is indeed disturbing it's up there with the eye needle from Dead Space 2 and The Lizard in Heavy Rain. It might have made me really uncomfortable to play through it and for that reason I applaud Telltale for managing to achieve that result.
Aaaaaand they're gone.