Character Development in Season 2 (SPOILERS for season 1 and 2)
So, I know this is going to be a controversial post, I'm just going to come right out and say it. And I'd also like to point out that this is from the perspective of somebody who has only played Season 1 and Season 2, so my knowledge is limited to the fact that "Kenny can be in season 3." Also, spoilers for season 1 and 2.
So, I'm pretty sure every single character in Season 2 was just a throwaway action figure to remind us about how Lee died and how sad we are that Lee died. Season 1 was excellent, it told an amazing story with several characters who had wonderful arcs throughout the season. I'm going to use Kenny as an example.
Kenny was kind of a coward at the beginning of Season 1. He really was. It isn't often discussed but any time he is faced with adversity he turns and runs the other direction. Whether its not bothering to help Shawn after his own son was saved, requiring encouragement from Lee to protect his own son from Larry. Or crushing Larry's head in the freezer as soon as an imminent threat to his life was present.
He is also pretty blind to a lot of the perils of other people around him. If Lee goes against his opinion in any was he snaps, and essentially calls Lee a backstabber, then throws shade for the rest of the Season.
Then, slowly over the course of Season 1 he is forced to face adversity that forces him to change his ways. He learns to trust other people, and he eventually forgives Lee, and comes to actually understand Ben, who is RESPONSIBLE in part for the death of his son and wife. And then (no matter what ending you get) he swallows his fear, leaps into peril, and stares death in the eyes to save somebody as a final act of heroism. Intentionally sacrificing himself for the greater good. Something episode 1 Kenny wouldn't have done.
Also, Ben is kind of a sissy pushover little bitch too and he eventually stands up for himself when Kenny is trying to murder him.
There isn't really anything like this in Season 2. Every character in season 2 (including Kenny) acts as a sort of vessel to either remind Clementine of how awesome Lee was, or are just there to move Clementine to the next setpiece before they are ceremoniously (at best) killed off like Pete, or unceremoniously offed and tossed in the trash like Nick is in every single possible death as far as I remember. He lived being a dumb piece of shit, and he died being a dumb piece of shit.
Just like Luke lived being pretty cool, and died being pretty cool. Yeah, he jumped into frozen water to save Clementine, but it isn't as effective because you have no reason to doubt that he'll do it. For the entire season he cares about Clementine, and being a pretty cool dude, and then he dies caring about Clementine, and being a pretty cool dude. There are no "Kenny arcs" or any character arcs at all.
And speaking of Kenny, yeah, Kenny is pretty much just there to start shit and cause hollow drama that will have no weight on any of the remaining characters because they all die anyway with no character development. He's just there to be sad, and broken, and accomplish nothing but sitting there and either killing Jane or getting killed by Jane. And Jane's purpose is pretty much the same.
I don't know if things as far as "character development" and "character arcs" got any better as far as Season 3 goes, but from what I hear people are pretty disappointed with it, so I'm going to assume not. Either way, I hope they take a look at what they did right in season 1 (aside from Lee, because that dead horse is a thin red mist with how much they beat it in Season 2) and try to do the cool character arcs they accomplished in Season 1, that made the characters seem like real, malleable people instead of two dimensional tools used to push the story forwards.
Comments
Why does everybody have to have an arc? Some people are just shit heads. Some people are weak. Some people are genuinely good. You can't have everyone start out chicken shit and then become fearless at the end. Life isn't like that. People don't change 90% of the time.
I love the depth of Jane and Bonnie in S2 even if I dislike them as people. Both weak people who try to do good but in the end revert to their old ways and bail when things hit the fan. Alternatively Alvin grows some balls when he saves Clementine as she escapes after always relying on her to do shit for Rebecca.
Nick was an idiot and idiots don't suddenly become smart. He was an adult version of Sarah essentially. Just thick as hell and he was not going to survive. He died when he was separated from the group. They were keeping his dumb ass safe.
I think S2 had good characterisation. It just wasn't in your face like S1 was.
Okay, let's go ahead and address this.
Development has also been used to describe how much you learn about a character through their actions and interactions, but that's clearly not what you mean, nor the traditional meaning. Technically speaking, Character development is defined by how a character changes throughout the story.
And technically speaking, most of the characters who appear in more than one episode undergo some amount of character development, positive, substantial, minute, negative, or otherwise.
It's not that most of the characters received no development. It's just some characters are more predisposed--and in this case, were simply allotted more opportunities--to undergo considerable development compared to others.
I wouldnt say every character in Season 2 was completely archness, however they definitely weren't as developed as season 1, that being said though, Season 2's characters look godly compared to ANF/Season 3. Characters die in Season 3 and you dont care at all, I found myself laughing at how ridiculous some of the deaths were. In season 2, when a character died I still liked them enough to feel bad that they died. It wasnt as much as a season 1 death, but enough for me to feel bad a character had died, but like I said, in Season 3, characters die and you just dont care at all.
No one stays exactly the same, everyone goes though changes even if they are minimal. Yes some people are good some are bad and some wont change, not EVERY character needs it, but there needs to be a well-balanced amount of characters who's character changes over time. Without it you just have a super boring story. Think of S2 if it had none at all. After we meet the Cabin group, we'd only like Pete, Luke, and Alvin. because they were nice to us. Be mixed about Carlos, and hate Nick and Rebecca. Now if they never have any development the entire game would just be like this still (although tbh this kinda stays the same through out the game except Rebecca who does change)
Also mentioning Alvin's character changes. It doesnt really. He dies right after it happens. Its disappointing, its "oh Alvin is changing and o whoops rip" and Jane didnt have that much depth. She just liked Clem because she reminded her of her sister. That was kinda it. Season 3 could have given Jane a real arch with real change but Telltale took a real easy way out on that one.
I have the complete opposite of your opinion I loved season 2. Season 2 had good characters. It didn't have the hubs that season 1 had so you didn't get to know them as well but they still had arcs and changed a little over time. Not all of the characters had huge arcs where they completely changed but people don't always completely change for the better, sometimes people just stay the same. I loved how season 2 explored how different people evolve to the apocalypse. There are people like Clementine and Jane where their losses hurt them but ultimately the pain hardens them and they become stronger. And there are people like Kenny where he was strongest when he had people to protect and all of the losses he endures really begins to way on him. Kenny had an amazing arc where we see how he becomes more and more emotionaly unstable as he looses those who he cares about. In the end he either is dead, left alone in a bad place, or Clementine sticks with him and helps hip pick up the pieces and heal. So season 2 had some good writing in it. Everybody goes on and on about how season 2 was the first game where the choices don't matter where the season 1 choices didn't really have much of an effect either. The stranger still goes after Lee even if you choose to make Lee a perfect saint who always made the right choices and said the right thing at the right time. Determinant characters get killed off. I actualy beg to differ that season 2 actually had more choices that mattered. In season 2 there are multiple endings as opposed to the one seen in season 1. Yeah they blew those endings in ANF but they were good choices when they were originally implemented into season 2. But everybody is entitled to their own opinion. If you didn't find enjoyment in season 2 I wouldn't even reccomend trying season 3 at all because you would find absolutley no enjoyment in it if you that that season 2 was that bad.
I agree, although I love Season Two, it's Telltale's most heavily flawed game. I mean, if we look at it from the lens of character arcs and development, it's almost nonexistant as only a small amount of characters change and often times the changes were either incoherent (Jane and Kenny suddenly having a rivalry and slightly differing personalities) otherwise unbelievable (Bonnie's attitude towards Clementine based on how she tries to help save Luke).
At the end of the day, the characters just didn't get enough spotlight and I blame that on the shorter run-time and Kenny's unnecessary return - they made a great character a terrible one, in my opinion at least. I wanted to know more about the Cabin group before Clementine met up with them. Why did Alvin kill a guy? What happened to Sarah's mom? How did Jane learn about the gore trick?
Also, the Season suffered heavily from being the most lackluster Telltale game in regards to choices. Save Christa or not? Doesn't lead to anything. Kill Sam or not? Doesn't lead to anything. Save Nick? Congrats, you he has 2 minutes worth of lines and an off-screen death. Save Sarah? Congrats, she's the first Telltale character to die in the same episode she becomes determinant in. Teach Sarah how to shoot a gun? Doesn't come up again. Saved Alvin? He dies, although in a pretty badass way. Not to mention threatening Rebecca over her 'who is the baby daddy' quarrel has no effect on Clementine's relationship with her. The only choices that really had much of an effect were going with Nick or Pete, trying to save Luke or covering him, shooting Kenny or letting him kill Jane and whether or not you want to stay or leave with Kenny/Jane.
I MISS MY COOL DUDE! T_T
The only reason why I liked season 2 more than season 1 was because I wasn't spoiled on anything. What I mean is that originally, I had no intention of getting season 1 in the first place, so I spoiled myself on a lot of stuff, including Lee's death, so I wasn't that emotional to the ending. Then my mom got me the game for christmas in 2012, I played it and liked it, though I wish now that I didn't spoil myself. When season 2 came out, I wasn't spoiled on anything and I had to wait for the episodes to come out. It was in season 2 where I felt the emotion.