Carver should have had a bigger part
Although I loved the first season of the Walking Dead, one of my main complaints was the lack of any REAL evil characters. The St. Johns were sick and messed up, but they would never be villains that could last for more than one episode- they were an immediate danger, but the greatest villains are those that pose a constant threat, even when you don't know it.
The Stranger that the group steals from is a more interesting villain, but once again he has flaws, the main problem being that he actually has the moral high ground- the group stole from him, leading to his families death, and so he wants revenge (a bit like Lee, who wanted revenge when his wife cheated on him with the senator- we can understand Lee for being mad, so we should be able to sympathise with the Stranger too). Also, until the last episode he poses zero threat; we never see him, there's never a single hint of his existence. I'm not saying there should have been a full blown confrontation between the Stranger and the group before Episode 5, but I would have liked it if there were little hints or warnings that there was someone after them/waiting for them in Savannah (maybe they could find the car, or catch a glimpse of someone watching them (before Episode 5)?). He would have been more of a menace had we had at least some idea of an existing threat.
That's why I liked Carver as a villain so much: right from the first episode of Season 2 we hear his name mentioned, and we get the distinct feeling that he's a danger- though we haven't even seen him and we don't know his name, we know he's going to play a big part in the series. In our first encounter with him, we immediately guess what a danger he actually is, and after the scene at the end of Episode 2 of the second season we see just how brutal he is. He's clever, calculating, cold and ruthless, something which none of the other villains in Season 2 had- the Stranger was driven by sentimental feelings similar to Lee's when he killed the Senator, and the St. Johns aren't exactly calculating or clever, just sick.
I was then disappointed by how little time we had with him- after our first encounter in the second episode his threat is temporarily extinguished by meeting Kenny and for a time he is forgotten till he reappears. It is only in the third episode that we really see him, when we can truly class him as a proper villain. His death is, although satisfying, very abrupt, and personally I would've prefer Season 2 if his threat would have lingered on- maybe he could survive the herd attacking Howe's (somehow) and he could set off after them again with some of those who survived the Herd. In fact, my ideal scenario would be if we all thought he died in the herd attack but, as a sort of teaser for Season 3, he made an appearance at the end of Season 5 after you'd made you final choice with Clementine. He'd such a great villain, I would've loved it if he had survived and would make another appearance in Season 3.
For me, he was TWD's first real villain, and killing him off so soon was a waste in my opinion. Also, not only could he have been a threat, he could've had more interaction with Clementine. The end of Season 2 seems to build up to making a choice about Clem's character- will she be more like Carver or the reverse, but in the end it becomes about saving Kenny or Jane and has very little to do with deciding Clem's character (the ending was a bit unsatisfying to me as Clem's character is left unresolved for Season 3). It would have been good if Carver and Clem had interacted more- I could imagine Carver, who sees Clem as a strong potential future leader, trying to make her more like him and turning her against Kenny and the group. It would be more interesting, and certainly would give the player more choice.
I just feel that Carver was wasted as a villain, and that he could have had a lot more influence on Clementine and the plot in general. Anyone agree/disagree?
Comments
Looks at OP's name...Looks at thread...
K.
I agree with you here. I believe a lot of people had wasted potential. Sarah, Carlos, Carver, Bonnie, Arvo, Michelle, pretty much everyone except Kenny, Clementine and Jane. I just tend to forget S2, like it never happened.
They should of kept Carver alive as he would have been a great villian, unlike the russians who have bad gun accuracy.
Telltale in general lacks a concrete villain, someone who is malice,someone that abuses his/her power, a person that is like the Governor or like Negan.
Yes, Telltale has the St.John Bros and Carver, but Saint John were killed in one episode and Carver the same.
Telltale needs better villains, not these jokes of antagonist. If the Governor went to Howes to take over, he would take over Howes easily and back slap Carver.
Thanks for the response, btw.
Crazygeorge, I must admit that I was glad that they killed off a lot of those characters. If they'd to keep them all alive and give each of them a big influence on the story then it might lose some of its realism, and it would stretch out the plot way too much. Luke, Carver and maybe Nick should have lived, but otherwise the rest had run out of road- Rebecca's story had gone far enough, Carlos was never that much of an interesting character, Sarah was incredibly annoying and keeping her alive in the state she was in would've have been impossible, and frankly I would have prefered the series if you could have left Howe's with another of the 400 Days characters other than Bonny, eg; Vince.