My Review of 'No going back' Ep5
After being overly critical of Episode 4 and i still am,i wasn't looking forward to finishing Season 2 with much enthusiam...what Season 1 had done and most of season 2 up to that point was build marvelous characters and enviroments,wonderfully drawn landscapes,emotional investment etc etc etc i thought episode 4 had destroyed everything but i was wrong,Telltale saved the best till last..
The shootout looked to have been rewritten but it worked,even if the odds of that happening was slim the group all survived,My Clem was always with Kenny no matter what and it didn't change there,I turned a blind eye xD to Kenny beating Arvo and told Mike to back off. im sure im gonna miss some of these cuteness moments because there was so many,but they were all welcomed ,the line from Clem about 'what do you want? a cookie?' was very funny and summed up her growing into a teenager. and the 'Made it with Luke' line was priceless,both Clems facial expressions and Janes responses were great.these little touches of fun and humour added so much that other episodes could have had.
Luke was never my favourite i was always a Kenny fan from the start of meeting him and his family,so my Clem was sometimes cold and distant to Luke even though he was trying his best,sometimes you don't know a character has grown on you before it's too late..i welcomed the option of the line of 'I'd save you' from Clementine to Luke at the campfire,it just felt right that she had a little crush on him and then got all akward about revealing her feelings,it was supreme writing,that didn't require a horde of zombies or action just storytelling ,the pace was perfect.Lukes death was sad but also beautiful,he didn't just get shot but got dragged down into the abyss,he looked perfect in death,and i felt afterwards real loss that he was gone,and that all his cabin crew were now gone,Luke and Kenny eased their differences and was nice to see they smiling and joking with each other before Lukes death.
Although Jane was constantly trying to change my opinion on Kenny,i never budged and stayed Loyal to the end,Kenny is the true succesor to Lee,he would do anything for her,when he was sat on his own with the baby talking about Duck i felt his pain,in the past he would of reached for the bottle but not now,Jane said Kenny was beyond changing and was getting worse,she couldn't of been more wrong.Kenny was reborn this episode and when it came time to reach Wellington with Kenny,Clems speech about not leaving him behind really hit me,it was remeniscent of what Clem said about Ben,even though Kenny wanted to leave him behind at every oppurtunity in the end Kenny was in the Ben position of having to lose everything he ever cared about,so when Clem turned round and said no to Wellington My Kenny finally understood in the very end,'we don't leave friends behind'...it was extrodinary beautiful and moving....these 2 characters who have come together and are totally different yet you could not get a tighter bond.
This felt like the end of Clementines and Kenny's story,they have lived so much ,we have seen every change in character in every situation,they have both lost everything yet both survived to have the happy ending,even if there are 6 different ending,it doesn't matter,My Clem went off with the baby and Kenny,hopefully to maybe be let in Wellington after a few months together,or just to ride out the Z.A. together and then try to live normal lives,for Clem to go back to school and build friendships ,for Kenny to recover and be Clems protector just like he was in the Z.A., for the baby to have a life,a normal life,it really felt like a sunset ending and i was glad telltale didn't try to rubbish it if it felt right.
the story and pacing of episode 5 was amazing,everyone and everything was given time to tell there story,there were lots of things to click on and examine,little stories i missed first playhrough like Bonnies,Clem trying smoking etc etc it felt like a season one episode,so big congrats to the writers of this,it was brilliant,action was not required for much of it because the story was so rich.
im not sure if i will get season 3,maybe if it was a new group or Lilly returned in a new group but i just think Clems story has been played,and the requirement of making different games based on the fact that Kenny or Jane is dead in some wouldn't make sense,it was a fitting ending to Clems story. 10/10
p.s. the slides,the slide music,the credits,sound effects,were awesome too,great work Telltale.