Why I think Kate is a good character
I've seen people really throw the hate towards Kate, so I thought I'd try to make a post from my point of view.
I really like Kate. I think she’s a great character with depth that you don’t see too often in games. Now, I’m sure people will disagree with that, so I’ll try and break it down a bit. You can understand from the conversations with her in the flashbacks that she’s unhappy with her marriage. This is partly because of David’s way of acting towards her, but it’s also because of the fact that she runs away from responsibility. It’s a character flaw (and flaws are needed in a great character) that shows up every so often, even at the end of episode 3. That doesn’t mean she’s a bad person. She’s afraid of loss and pain. Her way of avoiding that is not shutting down emotionally or punching things, but to just run away from it all and pretend it’s not her problem. I get that people dislike the love triangle, but I don’t think it’s just there for the sake of drama. It shows things about all of the characters. When it comes to Kate it’s just another confirmation that she doesn’t really ”deal” with issues, she tries to run away from them. She at least in part sees Javier as someone disconnected from the life she hates, but doesn’t feel she can leave. You can also see her good sides in that even though she complains about the children, she does really care for them so much and tries her best to look after them in her own way.
My point in all of this is that she’s not a good or bad person based on a few specific circumstances. We have people killing each other and the world ending. If you consider that Kate’s flaws is that she’s a fairly normal human being that has issues, but still tries to do good. Sometimes she fails at that, but I do think TTG deserves some credit in making a character that’s just normal.
Comments
I really like her too. I think Kate is great.
She smokes weed and hates kids.
My kind of woman.
She is fine, I guess. But she really annoys me that she doesn't want to be around her husband anymore and wants me to replace him, even after you choose to tell David off.
I think that right there probably implies that Kate wasn't really happy in the relationship. I mean, hell, she started flirting with Javier before the walkers even showed up. It was implied that David was sort of abusive (implied mind you) and maybe she just wanted a way out?
Now that David is back in their lives, this bothers her and in Above the Law she gave off that vibe like she wanted to get away from him.
Oh wait, no. She just straight up wanted to leave The New Frontier anyways. So I think she totally did want a way out.
She is a well written character, but I still dislike her much.
Especially since she is able to leave her 13 year old son behind in a very dangerous situation just to be with her prince, but will stay when her prince refuse to leave. Wtf?? If you ask me not a caring person at all.
She is a bad and selfish mother figure.
I understand what her character is supposed to represent, but it's done so cheesy, predictable and boring that all her potential depth has lost its importance. Now Kate seems to be no more than a bunny hopping from one relationship to another.
Most stuff related to her doesn't make much sense. Why is she still afraid of David after years of living in the apocalypse? She is a survivor, militant, preventive and strict. All of those combined with Mari's death should be enough for Kate to stand up to David. I also like how NF thugs aren't fit enough to catch up with wounded, barely alive woman but are perfectly fine with kicking down a pro baseball player.
She is in love with Javier and spent about 4 years with him on the road. She is really done with David and afraid losing Javier.
And not to forget about she was almost killed by David's men and she lost her daughter who was killed by David's men. Plenties of reasons to wish to be far away from the New Frontier.
Another reason fo Kate to ditch David.
Yes. And memories of a bad marriage before the ZA.
She really spent a very long time with Javier and the kids. Probably much longer than with David before the ZA.
This guy is really close! Yeah, Kate was always my second favorite ANF character since she was the only one who felt like they had any inherent depth right off the bat.
To be fair, she literally got on her knees trying to convince him to come with them and is still torn up about it when they've almost reached the perimeter. Unfortunately, the kid was always gonna want to be with his real family no matter how close he felt to his new one--Clementine knows all about that.
To be fair, they were specifically after Javier on Joan/Clint's orders, while Kate and Gabe weren't targeted or at the very least not as important.
TEAM KATE
I just realised, there is a name for.... the forbidden ship (you know what I mean. The reason why Mods betrayed us). But what is the name for Javi and Kate? Jate? Kavier? Ugh. They sound awful.
The fact that she mentions her "fucked up" marriage is all the information I need to understand her motivation to leave David.
The more I go into ANF, the more I start appreciating Kate's character.
She's not an overtly abusive asshole, peice of shit liar, or a clueless cunt... She may not be well written, but Kate is becoming the only character even slightly resembling an interesting personality among an entire collection of shit stains and poorly written props.
It's weird seeing a lone character exhibit fears, temptations, reluctance, doubts, desires, and things most humans feel on a daily basis rather than only running around and screaming at everything.
She's a good character with flaws but not flawed herself, quite realistic if you ask me, despite that I do dislike her personality while appreciating the work that went in it.
I've definetly come around on her a bit. The way you talked about her running drom her problems is correct and I think is what makes her attracted to Javi who is a runner himself.
I've seen people hating her mostly on tumblr and I don't get it all. Like what's wrong with her wanting to get out of a marriage she's unhappy with. You can't exactly divorce people like you use too. She probably assumed David was dead as well. I know some people don't like Javier/Kate, and how telltale is pushing it, but I personally believe they are doing that because they don't want another cluke situation, people shipping Clem with an adult man again.
I like Kate's character. I think she's brave and pretty self sufficient. I like that she's laid-back, but she's also the disciplinarian when the situation calls for it.
I like her, but I just don't like the forced love triangle we're put in. To me it should be up to the player rather than a forced part of the story.