Re-evaluating Sarah
I won't deny I felt a little antagonistic to Sarah when we first met her. The "pinkie swear" scene was a lot creepier than Telltale probably intended, and at the time, I was worried they were going to kill Clem halfway through the season in a move inspired by "Psycho" and promote Sarah to the role of protagonist.
But looking back, I'd say Sarah is the most tragic character of the entire series, IMO. Her dependence on her father is all too understandable considering the circumstances, even though Carlos made the mistake of sheltering her a little too much. My version of Lee did his best to be tender and practical to Clem at the same time, so it's all too easy for me to see how another parent could be overprotective in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. Speaking as someone who's struggled to be independent myself for a long time, I identify with Sarah's plight a lot more now than I did when the game was first released. Her relationship with Clementine is actually quite touching, and very sad, especially if you allow Clem and Sarah to bond. When Carlos bites the dust, Clem takes on the role of Sarah's guardian, and her scenes in "Amid the Ruins" are downright heartbreaking when you realize her number's basically up regardless of what Clem does.
And her death...DAMN. I've been desensitized to zombie carnage in movies, television, and video games, but Sarah's demise STILL devastates the hell out of me. I really think it's the most awful death in the three seasons we've had so far, bar none. Having to listen to Sarah scream for her father as she's eaten alive in both scenarios was absolutely sadistic.
Admittedly Telltale dropped the ball in the second scenario by switching the focus from Sarah's death to AJ's birth far too abruptly. Allowing the characters at least a minute to come to grips with Sarah's horrifying end would have been appreciated.
I don't think there's any other character in the Telltale series who summons as much pathos as Sarah. I know my version of Clem is still haunted by her passing.
Comments
Agreed. What they did to her at the end just screams of an afterthought motivated by spiteful bias.
I almost want to write out a story of how things should have worked out with Sarah...such a travesty how she was cast off by the writers.
Unfortunately I think a lot of the players found her annoying at the time so the writers had little incentive from the fanbase to do something meaningful with her. I've heard Luke was written out because there was too much anticipation of his probable conflict with Kenny. Funny how when Telltale claims to pander to the fans its to come up with bs like Sarah's deaths and Kenny vs Jane.
Misaimed pandering, my friend. Though Sarah was also a case of internal bias from the opposite end of the spectrum, which really shows sadly.
The fact that Jane herself more or less replaced both further shows what a Creator's Pet she was. And I suspect Nick Breckon just had to roll with it by the time he got back because, honestly speaking here, the fact that Jane gets practically nothing in the way of meaningful development(or overt relevance to anything really) kinda shows in hindsight.
Sarah was a perfect angel of god too precious for this world may the fanfics avenge her death
Sarah could have been Clem's best partner in the apocalypse and Telltale forced our poor Clem to fall in love (I know it's optional) with that stupid shitcock, Gabe who did nothing but cause trouble. Hell, Marianna's death was stupid too and could have been Clem's friend as well.