Plot Holes And Unaddressed Issues In Season One
Just for the record, no. I'm not doing this to shit on Season One. To this day it's still one of my favourite games of all time (right there with Season Two). Speaking of Season Two, a lot of people dislike it because of certain "plot holes" in it. Mainly, the 400 Days characters not interacting with Clementine...ok? To make things even, I will do the exact same thing with Season Two. But that's for another day.
But instead of demonstrating some from other movies, I figured it'd be much more amusing to point out ACTUAL plot holes in the game you all put on a damn pedestal. If you don't want this to potentially ruin the game for you, maybe click away and move on to something else. If you can find a way to counter against any plot hole or issue I bring up, great. But four things:
- I'm politely asking you not to be a dick about it.
- I warned you not to read if you were gonna be upset.
- Understand that if you can't laugh at the things you like, you're not allowed to laugh at the things you hate.
- I'm doing this for fun.
And just to be clear, I am ripping the writing style straight from movieplotholes.com. I thought they were funny, so I wanted to give my take on this on a video game. If you want a good laugh, you should check it out. It's some good stuff.
Minor Plot Hole
Now we all know that when a walker sees food, it goes apeshit, stops at nothing to get what it wants, and more importantly, sounds like it's choking on his own nastiness. Loudly too.
Now if you were about 7 feet away from it you'd hear him. If you still can't hear him even as you get closer and closer to him, you must be deaf. So with that notion in mind, Brenda St. John must have selective hearing. She can hear every word a man 15 feet away from her is saying, but can't hear the sounds of our buddy Mark trying to chomp her ass.
Minor Plot Hole
I'm sure Carley only had one bullet in her pistol of absolute shit, otherwise she would've shot Andy dead instead of standing there watching him stand up, kick Lee in the face, walk over to the generator, turn it on, walk back over to Lee, and drag him to the fence since, last I heard, he likes his dark meat extra crispy.
Major Plot Hole
So you know that clever Lee finds in the kitchen drawer in Episode Five and then kicks some serious, fucking ass with it in later on? You all know how sharp that thing is, right? I wonder if Lee ever thought to himself,
"Holy Shit! This thing is awesome! It can slice through anything as thick as this guy's skull! And it was in the kitchen the whole time? This would've been useful if I had this with me in Crawford...or after I got bit...shit."
That's right. Lee's life could have been spared if he and everyone in the group had not been lazy idiots and actually searched the ENTIRE HOUSE. Maybe Kenny should've told Lee to look through more than just a few doors, or maybe Kenny should've told Christa to do something other than just standing over Omid. Hell, even Clementine points out to Lee,
"Hey! Remember me? The one kid character you actual give two shits about who's also useful? Maybe I can look around and find something that, oh I don't know, let's say, can turn walkers into chop suey?"
And Lee says pretty much something like this.
"Nah, you go and sit. Even though one person actually has an excuse to not walk since his leg is on the verge of turning to shit, you don't need to be useful right now. Now pardon me, Clem. I gotta go take 2 minutes to look through a grand total of three doors."
What about right after he gets bit? How come the only time someone suggests cutting the arm off is after Lee passes it out, and not as soon as they found out? Sure, you could say they were too concerned about Clementine to think straight. But here's the catch: They had multiple chances to stumble across that clever:
- When they got into the house.
- When Kenny and Clementine got back with Molly (who was also scavenging the house)
- After Kenny finds and makes sweet, forbidden love to his precious boat.
- After Vernon leaves and they get ready for Crawford.
- After coming back from Crawford.
If the rule is to search everywhere EVERYWHERE inside a house during a zombie apocalypse, there's no excuse that clever wasn't found sooner nor was there an excuse to not amputate Lee as quickly as possible.
Unaddressed Issues
If my little girl sees some walking fridge Lilly calls her father punching me in the face and leave me for dead, I'd think she'd have a serious problem with it and tell everyone about it. Yet for some reason, only one other person knows about it and it doesn't matter, because he's turned into Georgian barbecue later on in Episode Two.
The St Johns. and Jolene have established that the bandits are savages who get what they want and don't care who they hurt. While trying to clear the fence, they attack you and claim you broke some sort of deal. What deal? Fuck me if I know. But if they were so hell bent on getting revenge, why didn't they go after Lee and Mark? It's not like the electric fence stopped them. They left the gates open. Why not chase them?
Lee must be psychic. Neither Clementine nor the Stranger gave him any tips or notes about what room they were in yet somehow, he found them like it was nothing.
If Kenny hated Lilly so much, what was stopping him from taking off without her during the motor inn raid? Seriously, after Lee and Carley/Doug get into the RV, Kenny's still taking his sweet ass time.
There's a reason why they're called walkers and not runners. They walk. No shit. So if Clementine and Lee can run away from the walkers, how come Chuck couldn't?
Remember when Lee points out that noise attracts walkers? He must've completely blown that logic out the window when he shot that one walker point blank after coming back from not finding Vernon. Now that mansion and everyone inside it is screwed. Good job, Lee. Good fucking job.
Chuck tells Clementine that she's going to die. Ouch; however, it's only when Lee confronts him about it that he decides to elaborate and explain why he said what he said. Seriously Chuck, what the fuck? Why didn't you just tell Clementine upfront to be strong and to learn how to use a gun instead of scaring her shitless?
So Kenny brings a rifle with him to Crawford. The only time we actually see him holding it is once, when him and Lee go to incapacitate what they think is a live guard. After that, nothing. He doesn't bring it out. Not to kill the walkers that got into the school, not when going with Brie to get the gas, and not to shoot Ben for killing his family. Bringing his rifle was pointless.
Nine people at the motor inn. NINE. You seriously mean to tell me not one fucking person spotted some crazy woman sneaking in and stealing a hat?
Clementine's a fucking beast. A 4 foot tall, 70 pound scrawny little girl is able to drag a 200 pound, 6 foot black man into a jewelry store. I'm about the same size as Lee and I have a tougher time dragging my ass out of bed to get to school in the morning.
So that concludes my list of plot holes and unaddressed issues in this game. Like I said, I plan on doing one for Season Two as well. If you feel I missed anything else, let me know.
Comments
Well done.
Also a plothole/unaddressed issue:
Brenda St. John asks Danny to help her in the kitchen with Dinner, BEFORE Mark and Lee went to check the perimeter. Like, what was she going to cook before Mark got Daryl'd in the shoulder? Was she planning on the bandits to get one of them? If so, that was some pretty good luck that was on her side.
Well there was a thunder storm and Lee was practically shouting, the noise of a Walker isn't always loud either and she could've been a little deaf.
Carley could've have one bullet left in her gun or she could've been sparing ammunition knowing that Lee could handle it on his own, at least she was helping.
Not everything is going to be useful, they might've thought they didn't need it considering the fact that it wouldn't actually have helped them otherwise. They already had weapons but at the time they didn't need a choppy weapon they didn't currently need.
How exactly were the group to know that they could've saved Lee? They never heard that chopping someone's arm off would prevent them from turning, they were in a moment of tensions as someone the group sees as their leader was bit, someone they would call a good friend, you can't seriously expect them to know that they could've chopped Lee's arm off, it wasn't until Season 2 that Clementine and Kenny found out that chopping someone's arm off can work.
For all we know that Clever may have not been a good tool to use, some weapons can easily get stuck into a Walker and if that doesn't kill the Walker than the one handling the weapon is at risk.
If you hadn't noticed, Larry waited until everyone else left before punching Lee, yet conveniently Kenny came back to his aid.
Are you saying you would chase someone through one of the only entrances that lead into an area of open space where you can easily be seen and shot down from afar? Why would the bandits risk their lives just to pursue individuals? The bandits may not have seen Lee and Mark even.
It's called instinct, allot of people have it and allot of the times they're right about what their instincts tells them or which door their instinct tells them to open or Lee could've guessed or felt like it was that specific door, it's not uncommon for people to only want to check a specific thing before the rest.
Kenny wasn't taking his time... he practically drove off and Lilly just managed to run into the R.V., he drove backwards and then instantly drove forwards, it was clear that Lilly would've been left behind if she had been seconds slower. He was the only one saying "Leave her!".
I don't know, maybe since Chuck was surrounded by Walkers? He was seen in the sewer, he could've been bit, we don't know how many Walkers he fought and he ended his pain, so that's pretty clear that he probably got bit, Walkers may not run, but that doesn't mean people can't be threatened by them. Also Clementine and Lee ran away while Chuck was distracting the Walkers.
Could you really blame him for that? He was worried about Clementine, Vernon was gone and he was acting irrational because of the emotions he felt, you can't expect people to be solid as a rock knowing that a daughter figure is nowhere to be found.
Because Clementine could've stopped listening to Chuck or maybe Chuck knew that Lee would talk to him, people say things without explaining their words, it happens all the time, because of what Chuck said, Lee finally decided Clementine should learn how to fend for herself, it was clear that Clementine wasn't too keen on wielding a gun or cutting her hair off.
Kenny probably knew that using a gun would attract Walkers to them, why use a gun when you have a melee weapon you can use that doesn't require ammunition or make a loud noise? Besides, there was really little need for him to use his rifle.
Nine people who were starving with only one person taking watch, who knows, that one person may have dozed off long enough for Jolene to steal Clementine's hat or maybe Clementine lost her hat before Jolene took it.
You're comparing a little girl dragging a man into a store, not knowing how long it took her, to you trying to drag yourself out of bed? I've seen littler girls drag heavier and bigger things on their own, it's not exactly impossible.
Here's my favourite plot hole:
How did the stranger get to Savannah? His car was out of gas, so I'm assuming he siphoned it from other cars, but then how did he arrive nearly at the same time as Lee, when Clem only knew they were on their way to Savannah when they were already on the train? How did the stranger find Lee at the mansion, and how far did he park the car for Lee not to hear it? Did Molly steal from the car while he was off being all spooky? That'll be funny!
Brenda was super nervous so she got tunnel vision
You forgot Lee's ginormous back pockets that can fit blowtorches, car batteries, and other assorted objects.
In defense of the stranger one: you can actually hear very very faint sounds of footsteps and things moving around. They're super low, but they're there. That's why Lee walks around, randomly pauses, then decides to go down a hallway, and also why he specifically goes to that one door.
Better point is how, coincidentally, the stranger happens to be on the same floor as Lee decided to check, and happens to make some noise at just the right moment to get Lee's attention.
When Clem said she's missing school and it was easy. I accept walking corpses but this?
Okay, and what about the times the thunder wasn't clapping? Also, Mark should've been making a lot of noise enough for Brenda to notice. Every walker we see in this game trying to eat someone has always been making noise. The only reason we didn't hear him is because the volume was intentionally lowered down for the sake of dramatic effect. It's cool, but it still didn't make sense for Brenda to not notice.
Knowing that Lee can handle it on his own? You mean while Andy was trying to fry him? You mean to tell me that the next time Carley sees a walker trying to kill Lee, she should just stand there and let him handle it? Oh wait. That's right. The motor inn.
How many melee weapons did they bring with them? A hatchet from the shed, Molly's climbing pick, and...that's it? So if they did find the clever, they would think they wouldn't need it? For a really dangerous mission where Lee even said, "Don't shoot unless you have to?" I really hope they didn't find it before hand and thought that to themselves, because that's a really stupid reason to not bring it.
Because they think of chopp- no sawing his arm off AFTER he passes out. This must've came across their minds one time or another, and to not bring it up right after finding out about Lee's bite really screwed him over.
Hatchet. Just like the clever, only shittier. Lee knew, and that's why he left it's miserable ass in Crawford. And we know this clever was in fact a fantastic tool to use, as demonstrated when Lee wrecks shit on the way to the hotel.
If you hadn't noticed, Clementine screams, "NO!" right after Larry decks Lee. If this piece of dialogue didn't appear at all, I could let it slide. But we're left to assume that Clementine somehow witnessed it and decided not to tell anyone about it.
Only by some friggin unbelievable coincidence does he find the two in the first room he searches. Every door in the hotel looks the same. It's not like the Stranger painted a red dot and the words, "WE ARE HERE" on it.
Except when Lee was cornered at the staircase. It's a good thing Christa was there to shit on the oncoming walkers trying to kill him.
Yes, because I thought it was funny. I know how strong little girls can be.
Nah. A lot of games are guilty of this; besides, it's not really a plot hole.
He had 2 weeks to get gas for his car, so we can assume he was fully stocked before the group left the motor inn
If there was a highway that went parallel to the train tracks, then he could have easily outran them to Savannah
He clearly knew where they were at the beginning of Ch.4, as he told them to get off the street when Molly rang the bells and they didnt travel very far to get the mansion
Mark probably could have been louder, but there was the thunderclaps, Lee talking to her, a howling wind (if you remember walking up the house) and her trying not to trip as she walked up the stairs backwards while trying to drag someone
Youre probably right about Carley, though its possible Carley didnt yet understand how involved Andy was in everything at the farm and might not have wanted to gun someone down with the knowledge she had. Also, keep in mind she had never shot a person at that point yet as well.
I think youre seriously overrating how useful that Clever was. They all had weapons at that point, would a Clever have been a bit better? Maybe, but its not a big concern. As for cutting off his arm, they didnt know that cutting off his arm would work at all at that point.
Lee probably talked to Clementine about Larry punching him, its not like she would have brought it up in conversation with anyone else. Lee wanted to keep it quiet because he didnt want people knowing his criminal record
The St. Johns made a deal with the bandits to give them food. Apparently they were hungry, so they decided to harass the St.Johns, seeing that Lee and Mark were repairing the fence, they decided to harass them. They didnt crash into the farm because they just wanted to threaten them into supplying them with more food, similarly to how the bandits harassed the motor inn later on by firing massive amounts of arrows into their fence and then holding them at gun point when they missed a drop.
Lee was seemingly wandering aimlessly in the hotel when he heard that thud, which is where he went. A very convenient coincidence.
Lee held back a moment to wait for Lilly, while Kenny yells to just leave her. I actually think he intended to leave her, as you can see she only barely hops in when Kenny takes off.
Omid was hampering their ability to get away quickly, Chuck was volunteering to stay behind and attract the zombies, by himself, he was overrun
heh, I never thought that that gunshot is what caused the mansion to get overrun, good catch
Maybe the hobo doesnt have great people skills... surprise?
We really dont know the circumstances that led Jolene to taking that hat, it could have happened at any time.
Nobody really knows how Clem got Lee into that jewelery store, generally a point of controversy
Oh, it's the infamous S2 fan who constantly needs to keep reminding S1 fans that S1 wasn't perfect, even though the S1 fans know that it wasn't perfect, but still think it did a much better job in its choice making, story line, and writing of it's characters compared to S2.
Why can't I be a fan of both games and acknowledge both of their flaws? Seriously, did you read only the title, got pissed, found out I wrote it and commented without even reading it?
I'm not anti S1 nor am I anti S2. Hell, I even made an entire thread based on my frustrations with Season Two, and I didn't get the kind of response that you just gave me.
Like I said, Brenda could've been deaf, also if you hadn't noticed she was trying to get away from Lee, it was tension that could've prevented her from hearing faint moans of a Walker.
Well, Carley could've only had one bullet or maybe the fact that Andy and Lee were right next to each other and that there was a strong chance that Carley, from her angle could've shot Lee, so she chose not to take a risky shot.
The clever could've been useless, for all we know it could've been some plastic toy clever that runners decided to leave behind.
Still, how were they even supposed to know that chopping off someone's arm would do them any good, how where they to think that it wouldn't just speed things up? Lee passed out and they had enough time to think about trying to prevent him from turning because they have otherwise been worried about Clementine or running from a horde of Walkers.
I haven't seen a survivor use a clever to fight Walkers, probably because of the fact that a clever could easily get stuck in a Walker's head.
Even so, Lee made it out alive, do you really see Clementine talking to people about how Larry punched Lee to the floor, with her screaming "NO!" but not even going back to help him or to tell him to get up?
You can actually hear subtle sounds coming from that specific door.
Yeah but by using that weapon, she called more Walkers into the room and there was a good chance of shooting Lee if she wasn't a good or lucky shot.
Kids have more energy to drag adult-sized bodies around.
The Mark one can kind of be called an inconsistency because he's not as loud as he probably should be, but the purpose of the much louder storm is meant to conceal it. It's not just the thunder, it's the incredibly loud wind and rain. The Carley one could possibly be explained by Carley only having one bullet, but really, it's also a bit of an inconsistency for the sake of gameplay. Doug's involvement makes more sense.
The "major plot hole", on the other hand, is not a plot hole at all. They simply didn't find the cleaver because they didn't go searching through the cupboards. You can argue that they "should have", but the story is full of "should haves". That doesn't make it a plot hole, especially because they didn't have the materials on hand to help an amputation, which is the big reason why the "plot hole" accusation falls flat. The morgue area had something Lee could use as a tourniquet, and bandages. They didn't have those materials at the house, and while they could probably fasten something together by... I don't know, unlacing their shoes or something, that's when the whole deal with Clementine comes into play. I certainly wouldn't know where the hell to start with handling an amputation without the basic materials already on hand besides using anything and everything to stop the blood flow, which still isn't a guarantee that it wouldn't kill the person from shock.
It's not at all surprising to me that the characters don't just jump into "let's cut off his arm!!!" mode, especially since they don't even know if it works. Cutting off Lee's arm was never a guarantee, just a shot in the dark from pure desperation.
If Lee spreads the word, then Larry spreads the word about why he did it, that Lee was a convicted murderer. You'll notice Mark mentions that Lee got punched by Larry, but never mentions the details, so I doubt even Mark knew that Larry actually tried to kill him. It's not inconceivable that Lee told Clem not to say anything about it for that reason, but it doesn't really matter because Clementine's never portrayed as someone who tries to spread word of something that'll cause unrest. That's why she hides her talks with the Stranger, even though she really believes he's a good guy.
I think the bigger issue would be getting shot by the St. Johns if they pursued them right into their property. I'm pretty sure the bandits know the St. Johns are well armed if they'd had altercations before the deal was set up. The deal, by the way, was getting regular shipments of food which the St. Johns either stopped, or the bandits wanted more than they were getting.
Honestly, there's a lot that doesn't make sense with that entire tractor scene that I've brought up before. Like, why did Andy set off the fence at all? We know he lied about hearing Mark yell, but why try to kill Lee and Mark? It can't be for food because they don't eat the dead. To thin out the group? If that's the case, why didn't Danny shoot Lee in the head when they were alone the woods? There's no way they were secretly in league with the bandits at that point in time because then why the hell even bother with the reconnaissance mission and go to an unrelated camp? There are other issues, but I'll stop there.
The only thing I can think of is that Andy saw the bandits mobilizing in the trees and decided to see if they could get one of them injured enough to be at the family's mercy, which is what happened. But that's asking for quite a bit of luck right there, although I suppose it could have always been meant to be a gamble. If they really wanted to, they could just hold up the group like they did later, I guess... but then why even feed the group at all rather than just hold them up once they've got them in their trap and- head explodes
He heard a sound and footsteps. That's why you have the option to put your ear to the door.
Not an "unaddressed issue", just a question of how the scene was directed. The time between Lee getting into the RV after telling Lilly it's her last chance and Kenny finally starting the RV up is only a few seconds. He's already starting to move when Lilly makes it through the open door.
He was surrounded. Lee and Clem also cut it pretty close if you watch them run through that gap with the walkers inches away from them, and at that point, a crowd has been attracted to Chuck. It's not inconceivable to be trapped by a sizable crowd of slow walkers.
That said, I do have issues with the scene's direction where it seems like Chuck stays behind as if to buy them time, but they clearly don't need it. Were I directing it, I would have had Chuck attempt to escape but get grabbed by a surprise walker through the bars of the fence behind him. He fights it off, and by the time he's free, the walkers have surrounded him. It then plays out the way we see it.
Well, the plan was to get in and get out fast, but the revelation of the boat being gone screwed up all their plans and they just hung around, lost and desperate. That said, it was without a doubt a stupid move logically, a moment created solely to look totally badass to see Lee waste a walker without a fuck to be given... which it was, but still. Just another in a fair few silly scenes that make up the largely very weak episode "No Time Left".
I see the logic being that she needs to be scared in order to take to defending herself more seriously. But really, the answer is that Chuck is kind of a deadpan weirdo; a pragmatic dude to be sure, but pragmatic to the point of speaking his mind a little too easily.
Not really an issue of the plot, just a weird artistic choice they went with. Episode 4 and onwards, the rifles are pretty much forgotten about, and handguns are mostly used. I guess if I had to make up some reason why he didn't use it later is that he lost it during his run with Brie when they started getting chased. Only way to explain why he whipped it out when they got there, but then never again after his unseen run with Brie. Also not sure why Lee gave Kenny his awesome hatchet when he brought the rifle in the first place. I'm always like, "Damn it, Lee, you just gave it to him without consulting me!"
Depends entirely on how it happened, and we don't know how it happened. As we see from some of Jolene's video, the group have all moved around before, getting stuff for the wall, moving cars, and just generally being preoccupied. Plus, sometimes at least three of them went out to hunt, leaving six around the camp who could have been busy with other matters. Also depends on where Clem left her hat, since she doesn't even seem to remember where she had it last, just that she had it "a few days ago". She could have left it around the corner of the motor inn while drawing things on the sidewalk with Duck and Jolene hopped the fence, grabbed it, and hopped back over. It's left up to our imaginations really.
Quite true. Yet another easily fixable odd bit of writing in "No Time Left".
I don't think the car was out of gas I think it was running
Chuck is an old hobo, he moves considerably slower then clem or lee
I hope you mean cleaver
clem just told lee what chuck said she didn't give him a transcript, and lee took off before asking any other questions of her
Nine people at the motor inn and no one saw Ben take the drugs or the people come pick them up on a regular basis, drugs everyone uses not a little girls baseball hat
Its zombies I don't think they could pinpoint the location of a single shot inside a city echoes and other interference
the bandits clearly think you are with the st johns the people they did have a deal with because you are with them afterall