Season 4 Speculation, and the Series as a Whole
I'm curious as to whether or not any old characters from Seasons 1 or 2 will make an appearance in the final season: Lily, Christa, Molly, Vernon, Mike, Arvo, Bonnie (if she survived), Kenny or Jane (if you left them alive but then went on alone); it's possible that they won't appear, and their story threads will just be left unsolved, and open for interpretation (Gary Whitta talked about that when he made his blog post years ago about the Mass Effect 3 ending), but in hindsight, that does leave certain choices from prior seasons to be inconsequential (like, if you brought Lily along in Episode 3, then told you that you'd go with her (as Lee); or, if you tried to save Christa from the scavengers; whether or not you saved Molly (as Lee) at Crawford, or cause her to have to run off, etc.). Overall, it would be nice to see at least some closure as to what happens to these characters.
As for the series as a whole, it seems that Gary Whitta's return as story consultant for the final season may bring back the quality of Season 1 that was lost in later seasons; then again, it is also possible that Sean Vanaman's departure from the series contributed to the drop in the quality of the series. Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see how the final season concludes everything; hopefully, we won't have another Mass Effect 3 scenario.
What do all the rest of you think?
Comments
I just wanted to say i totally agree with what Gary Whitta said about the Mass effect 3 ending years ago,
"You have to trust your instincts and tell the story you believe in; to do otherwise will only lead to even more homogenous, formulaic storytelling."
Anyway,like you said i'd like some closure to some characters at least.
I think we're gonna see Christa or Lilly,that'd be nice
and i'm in the minority here,i said it before i'd like to see after the end of the season,a dlc for the 400 days characters.
Like the Citadel DLC from Mass effect 3 to say "goodbye" to all these characters because we won't see them again.
But only if this season is good,i know it's too early but i just needed to say that.
The only issue in bringing in these older characters this much later is that it will feel way more like fan service than an actual important part of the season. Kenny's return was already far fetched, but atleast we found him again in like a year and a half. Now we are what, almost 5 or 6 years in now? The chances of us meeting up with any Season 1 characters or Christa is is really just unrealistic, and like I said, if it were to happen would feel more like fan service and a "sorry anf sucked so much" type of apology.
Basically I dont think I want old characters to return unless their character is actually vital to the story, instead of just "haha hey guys Christa is back! haha we really listen to fans hahah!!!"
Man, i said it before but Walking Dead stopped being realistic a long time ago (or never really was lmao) so who cares at this point as long as they give us a good explanation of how Christa or Lilly is alive.
But i get what you mean i don't want it to feel like "fan service" too.
This. The Walking Dead is really unrealistic when dealing with returning characters, every medium of TWD is a victim to this, even the comics. Having Lily or Christa return in a way that adds to the story is perfectly fine.
Overall I've liked the direction of the story in all 3 seasons leading up to TFS, I feel the main story elements feel natural enough for me to be satisfied if I truly think about it in this way;
S1 Cronicles the outburst of the zombie-apocalypse, showing groups of people trying to survive within its first year. Lee does all he can to protect Clementine from the dangers of this time, while also teaching her how the ways in which to survive. The season ends with her knowing that her way of life will never be the same as before.
S2 The story ccontinues with Clementine, who is now getting to better grips with the apocalypse. Meeting more groups she discovers that her way of surviving is what has kept her living longer than her elders. The only other kid she sees in this time dies because she had not been adapted from others on how to live in this new world.
S3 Clem now hardened by the walkers, discovers a family still relatively functioning this far. Clementine eventually finds a bond with someone her age, being niave to survival Clem teaches him how to better deal with the walkers, as this is now a regular occurance for her. She later has to leave to find AJ.
TFS seems to show kids Clem's age being akin to Carver's vison of a new world for a new group of people. I believe this is what TT is trying to demonstrate, how Clem is ultimately in the 'New generation of survivors' and that is how they finish the series.
The correlation makes sense and I'm satisfied with it.
I think a dlc with either Lilly or Christa as the protagonist would be better tbh. Having Clem meet either of them again would feel forced.
Reluctantly, I must admit, that's a great point. Mass Effect 3's Citadel DLC was also "fan service", but it at least brought some closure to the characters. Nevertheless, I agree that if it wouldn't fit organically into the story, in the long run it's probably for the best to not include them, and just leave their respective "endings" as they are. At the very least, there could be some kind of information as to what happened to them; one example (and this is really reaching, I admit), is the newspaper in the "epilogue" for Red Dead Redemption, which should the final fates of people like Bonnie McFarlane, Landon Ricketts, Abraham Reyes, etc.
But I digress... we'll just have to wait and see.