A little musing on Kenny...
Let me start by saying Kenny is by far one of the most interestingly written characters in the two Walking Dead seasons. I'm not surprised to see his reception has created a sizeable fanbase. Or that he has vocal detractors as well. In a way, he epitomises the best kind of characterisation: a flawed but nonetheless passionate person.
Something that does surprise me, however, is the lack of this wee musing amidst all the debate: how long would it have been before Kenny turned on Clementine?
In Season 1 Lee has the opportunity to commit two essential acts of loyalty towards Kenny: save Duck at Herschel's farm and then defend Kenny's family in the drugstore when Larry accuses Duck of being bitten. But, if you do not side with him over murdering Larry in the meat packer (or even choose no side at all) his feelings towards Lee transition into unrelenting snide and aggression. Lee can remain supportive through dialogue options and offer to euthanise his sick son, but it does nothing to remedy their disagreement in making a moral choice. Kenny stays with Lee for Clementine, but in spite of everything can't find it in his heart to accept Lee's friendship. Can you guess the point I'm about to make?
In a world where even the most minor mistakes or lapses in judgement calls result in colossal consequences, how long would Kenny do right by Clementine? In Season 2 all he did was devolve into cattiness when things did not go his way, even blame Clementine for the inevitable death of Sarita. So imagine the future Clementine would have endured with Kenny: constantly on the crest of approval and rejection depending on whether she bent to his decisions. What if Clementine did something understandable or unavoidable or really beyond her control and cost AJ his life? Before Jane could even explain where AJ was, Kenny's first instinct was to kill. (Bear in mind Jane saved Kenny's life in the beginning of the last episode.) Could we count on an emotionally damaged Kenny to really understand and treat Clementine well in a similar circumstance? In time, I don't think so. There was enough left in Kenny to acknowledge what he was turning into, but not enough to change it.
Purely because he loved her and that she symbolised the light in a time before everything was taken away from him, I believe Kenny heartbreakingly admitted the truth himself: when she shot him dead, Clementine did the right thing. I don't know if anyone has interpreted it in the same way, but Kenny's ending is, ironically, similar to Lee's. Clementine was once again forced into ending the life of someone she loved, or watch him become a monster.
Only this time just a different kind.
Comments
Awesome analysis, I read it all.
Thank you. I found Season 2's conclusion to be utterly agonising. In the end the Clementine I had hoped to mould had deviated into someone else, and purely because of the decisions thrown at her. My aim here was to offer a mature and in-depth perspective on Kenny.
I agree. That was really hard I didn't want to shoot but he couldn't control his rage and it had to be done. Kenny was good deep down and when he died he had a smile on his face it felt good to see him finely have some peace.
I like the analysis, but I think they're no easy answers as far as whither or not Kenny would have ever hurt/killed Clementine. When my Clem killed Kenny to save Jane, I thought that Kenny would have been speaking curses to the grave at Clem and Jane which would have proved it was right to put him down like that, but he just told Clem "You made the right choice".
The vibe that I received from that, was that Kenny trusted Clementine enough to know if he was too far gone. It really made me see that Kenny would never have hurt Clem willingly...but I think even Kenny was afraid of what he might do and that's why he was at peace with Clem's decision in the end.
All I can say is that it would have been 10 times easier, if he was the rabid monster everyone in the group claimed he was....but he was just a flawed man who gave everything, good and bad to see what he cared about safe and sound.
What Jane did, while handled by her badly, did show that Clem could well be at risk with Kenny.
Like, what if Clem ACTUALLY accidentally lost the baby? What would Kenny do to her?
Very interesting read. Thank you for posting it for us.
And we well never know....because even in both of Kenny's endings he gives up AJ either way, and if you shot him...
It's why I believe the ending where Clem is alone with Kenny, despite its upbeat presentation, is actually rather unsettling - I don't believe he would kill Clementine in the event that the baby were to die, but he'd definitely hurt her worse than he had when his girlfriend died.
I do agree that he was fundamentally a good man - the guy we met back on Hershel's farm was a charming fellow and a protective father - but those traits of his were twisted by the way he reacted to his trauma. At least I can sort of see where Larry was coming from...
The strain of Season 2 was that each character largely depended on Clementine to the point every decision she made bore stressful consequences. I think Jane, of them all, was able to give a little back to Clementine and that is why their relationship blossomed over the last two episodes. With Kenny, however, I feel Clementine's future would have been more bleak: his sanity would have inevitably hinged on her ability to keep him grounded. More often than not Kenny exasperated situations as opposed to resolving them. And as much as I was fond of him, the stress of his temper was just too much to take. The truth of the matter is that he had accumulated too much loss and pain in a short period of time to cope with it all. Unlike Katjaa, he had too much pride and determination to give in to the despair.
I would not say Clementine did him a favour by shooting him, but I do think she put him at peace.
Essentially, I saw Clementine's future being assuredly more calm with Jane than with Kenny. For in the end I think Jane was right: sooner or later he would have dragged her down with him. I saw a mutuality between Clementine and Jane that forced my hand against someone I had previously been staunchly loyal to. But loyalty, as I learned through Lee's experience with Kenny, just wasn't enough.
I agree, had Kenny been the one dimensional monster that was Carver, his end would have been an easy one to execute.