Feedback on A New Frontier Episode Three.
I thought I would get one one of these threads started and get something dedicated solely for everyone to post their feedback and opinions on the latest episode.
Opening Flashback
I quite enjoyed the further insight we got with the Garcia family, great use of music and scene work when they were leaving the house. Not much else to say here, a few nods and hints as to how things would eventually turn out in the future. Curious to see how these flashbacks will play a role, even if they do serve as mostly insight and character building.
Opening Present Scene and first half
Here we pick up where we left off, I feel like there was a curveball thrown at me here, the antagonistic role that I figured David would fall into actually wasn't the case, generally he seemed to be an alright, all be it flawed individual, but not the antagonist I was previously expecting him to be. I questioned my previous choice of kissing Kate, Javier was there to take care of everyone in his absence but sometimes I figured that maybe it was time to back off. Kate and Gabe are David's wife and son, not Javier's.
Kate wanting to leave behind David's back was a recipe for disaster and I can already see it turning David against us as he would just think we were the brother that took everything away from him, even before the apocalypse it was implied that Javier was the golden child in the family, not to mention there were problems of pent up jealousy between David and Javier, so If Javier were to try and leave with Kate and Gabe, it would certainly push David over the edge, which is mainly why I stuck to his plan and remained fairly loyal to him this episode, playing the "I'm your brother and i got your back card' with him usually works at keeping him calm. As far as Im concerned, Kate should sort out if she wants to officially break up with David instead of just trying to run off with Javier and Gabe without a second thought since it will look a lot worse on us from David's perspective.
Davids character was one of the things that was intriguing this episode, a connection to Javier's past self and a family member, but not knowing whether to confide in family or your gut feeling was what made it tense. David seems alright for now and relatively an alright guy, but I get a feeling that sense of jealousy from their childhood will resurface in later episodes, hopefully they can work together to take down the corrupted members of TNF, although I wouldn't rule out one of the brothers trying to kill each other, but hopefully its something thats avoidable, maybe the flashbacks with David and Kate will play a factor in that in future episodes. He seems to know whats up between Javier and Kate, but is trying to put it at the back of his head because maybe he doesn't want to believe it.
There was a good sense of getting to know and explore a community, seeing how far things have come since the days of season 1, there are now solid settlements around with many like minded individuals, but with that returns some corrupt politics and intentions of humans from the old times, people turning against people. It's still about survival, but I still think its more about community and world building.
The Motor Inn days where things were a lot less established and a lot more solitary seem to be a thing of the past, things have evolved over the years. I do kind of miss how desperate and how high the stakes seemed back in the season 1 and 2 days however.
In regards to Tripp, I'm wondering what his reaction would be if/when he finds out what I did to Conrad, hopefully he doesn't find out because I personally think the guy is pretty likeable, he has a temper, but he's a good guy at heart, cant necessarily disagree at the fact that he reminds me of a younger and more level headed Kenny, especially when he got knocked on his ass. Although Im quite pleased with how Conrad gets treated this episode if you keep him alive, he can live or die in this episode and he has a good moment with Badger if you let Conrad kill him, good move there Telltale. Didn't see too much of Eleanor this episode, I like her, but not much more to say about her, my opinion is still the same from ties that bind part 1 and 2, still wondering if she will be a potential partner for Javi, but for me that seems unlikely, maybe for other players its a possibility. Feels like if you end up with either there will be ramifications for both, Go with Kate and David will obviously want to hate your guts, Go with Eleanor and that stirs things up with Tripp especially since he wanted to tell Eleanor his true feelings for her, I could also see Kate feeling abandoned and pissed off.
The scene with TNF leaders was particularly well done, biting my tongue on Marianna's death was hard, but I tried to not screw things up with David and play along.
Second half of the episode, Clementine's Flashback
Being forced back out on to the road I finally felt like the stakes were higher for survival, not being able to depend on the walls of the community had me a little more on edge, we get to see how Javier behaves on his own two feet without his family around, which was good.
Then the part I was particularly anticipating arrived, Clementine's entry into the episode. Her flashback scene with AJ was particularly well done, her goodbye to him had me a little misty eyed, mostly because I remembered the promises I made to the season 2 characters to take care of him. Hearing him speak his first word was really crushing as you were forced to leave your only connection to Clem's attachment to all the characters in Season 2 behind.
Then 'Goodbye' from Season 1 started to play as she then said that she thought AJ would finally be the one who didn't die.. It kind of hit home for me since to me the only person she could have been thinking of in that moment was Lee. Instinctively the Inner Lee in me re emerged from Season One, without haste I chose the [Hug Clem] option, this was the highlight of the episode for me, something Im wanting to see more out of ANF and Clem's development. It's great to see Clementine slowly open up more and more each episode, sadly it does still feel like her role is very minimal at the moment, I'm hoping her quest to find AJ plays a larger role in future episodes.
I'd still like to see some more Javier and Clementine teamwork/ moments, even a chilled scene where they just talk around a campfire, maybe share a few laughs, focus a little more on the smaller things, even if its just for a brief few moments, it makes those kind of scenes feel extra special. When the characters can just forget about the matter at hand and just be themselves, even if it is short lived, its great to see play out. Hopefully this gets touched on in future episodes.
The whole scuffle that ensued with Badger and Max, particularly the scene where we get the choice what to do with Badger, there wasn't really a grey area with it, Badger was the lowest of the low, a scumbag, couldn't say the same for Max, he had some redeemable qualities, so I kept him around, later on I was glad to see he assisted in telling the truth, wondering what his role in episode 4 will be.
Overall near the end I was glad there were more opportunities to branch out the story with the multiple different styled endings, the ending of the episode where Javier and David get locked up didn't particularly leave my jaw dropping and felt like a rather straightforward ending compared to previous season cliffhangers, but the rest of the episode made up for it, a good step in the right direction for Telltale.