Has Clem shown any feelings for Gabe? Why freak out over Gabentine?
I feel like I'm missing something with everyone thinking Gabentine will happen. To me, I don't really see Clem and Gabe as equals and they aren't really portrayed that way. In E4 Clem:
- Says she doesn't need Gabe's gun, but doesn't want to make him sad so takes it anyway with a look of pity/concern
- Calms him down at the truck stealing scene by saying "Hey, come on" in a way that you would to a kid or someone not equal to you
It's always been to me like Clem treats Gabe as a kid way younger than her. She never thinks of him or asks for him in the same way Gabe does for her. He's not really important to her at all. Of course they talk a lot but when you find someone your own age, you generally would like to chat with a peer.
This isn't meant to criticize or anything, I just wanna know if I'm missing out on something that would make it obvious that Gabentine (yuck) is happening.
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I doubt it'll happen after thinking about it. She's just being nice to Gabe to keep him calm from doing anything rational. Someone on Reddit pointed it out best If you talk to Clem in the hub she says she's just trying to help as much as she can, so yeah she's just keeping him at bay.
It wasn't like she was saying "Yeah, he's cool to be around with." There's a difference between that and helping him out.
Plus, if Clem really did like Gabe, wouldn't she want Javi to bring him along when getting the truck?
If you're saying that there's no evidence NOW, then consider this. Some people pointed out that there was no evidence that Gabe liked Clem before Episode 3 came out, but AFTERWARDS that all changed. Just putting that out there.
I didn't know that about the hub, but that makes me feel even more that Clem is indifferent to Gabe and is just putting up with him.
And yes, Clem doesn't really strike me as caring for Gabe's feelings that much. If she had a crush on him or anything, she definitely would have convinced Javier to let him have his way and get on his good side. But as of now, Clem doesn't really care about Gabe's good side.
I actually saw this too and to be honest, from what I got off of that and the way she said it, I feel like it doesn't really PROVE anything. It could go either way. MY question is...Is she ACTUALLY trying to help "WITH GABE" as Javi said, or she just trying to "HELP GABE HIMSELF?"
She's trying to help with Gabe. She knows how he acts and she uses his crush on her as an advantage to calm him down.
I've actually heard the full audio of the first conversation between Clem and Gabe from Episode 2 from somewhere on YouTube. It's legit. From what I got off of that conversation it sorta felt like she was doing MORE than just trying to calm him down at THAT point. I feel like she was ALSO trying to brighten his day up a little. Think about that. Why would Clementine go beyond that if she was just trying to calm him down?
She can just be doing that as a friend, not anything further than that. I don't think these two will become a thing after telling Kate if they should be a pair. Crucial decisions usually have (?) Will remember that, but it doesn't pop up when telling Kate.
I agree with you. The first time she ever spoke with him was in ep2 and it was after he pulled a gun on Conrad. She clearly approached him just to calm him. Every other time she approached him throughout the season was to calm him or to get him to work with the group. There is a clear mental age gap between the two, that's why it would really be forced if they did end up together.
"Why freak out over Gabentine?"
Because it started as a joke, then it seemed like more people just wanted Clem to get a boyfriend. And to them, Gabe being of similar age is justification enough for them to end up together. Again, when I see Clem speaking to Gabe, I see a grown mature woman speaking to a child. But, some people are afraid that Telltale will go crazy and make them a couple.
I feel from the car scene, she genuinely gets along with Gabe, but I don't expect any actual romance from Clem's side.
I completely agree. It's nice to see Clem getting along with someone her own age, but not romantically. I'd rather not have her fall for someone who's written poorly and who she only met for like 2 days.
I think one of the reasons a lot of people are freaking out over "Gabentine" is because it's a possibility not only rooted for by some circles in the fanbase, but also seemingly perpetuated by characters in the game itself. It's clear that a lot of the people in Javier's group recognize Gabe's interest in Clementine, and it seems they also want her to reciprocate those feelings. This was most apparent in episode 4, where Javier and Kate have that conversation about the possibility of "Gabentine" in the truck before the gallows scene. Kate says something about how normal it is for two kids to "fall for each other." She then goes on to get Javier's (the player's) opinion on the matter before discussing it further. From a writing standpoint, it seems weird to have a character address this as strongly as Kate did if there isn't any kind of possibility of it happening. And by "it happening," I mean the success of "Gabentine" in general, which could take different forms. The most obvious is that Gabe and Clementine actually do get together. It could also take the form of the two of them not getting together but Clem implying that she is interested in Gabe but just not ready for a relationship yet. Or it could take the form of Gabe dying or Clem leaving the group and Clem saying that if things were different she WOULD want to be with Gabe. So the idea of "Gabentine" can succeed even if they aren't necessarily together by the end of the season. If none of these things happen, and Clem just clearly has no romantic interest in Gabe at all through the end of the game, then it just seems weird from a writing standpoint to have other characters put so much emphasis on something that ended up being unfruitful.
For the record, I myself am against "Gabentine," so I obviously hope nothing comes of it, even if that makes the writing seem off in retrospect. Personally, I think there were some other writing mistakes in this season besides this (if nothing comes of it), so it wouldn't necessarily be that surprising. The conflicting thing for me here is that I want to like the game since I loved the first two seasons, but now I'm left with two options: 1. "Gabentine" happens and I dislike the game for what I consider to be a poorly written romance story, or 2. "Gabentine" doesn't happen and all that talk from other characters about the prospect of "Gabentine" in retrospect would seem frivolous, which also seems like poor writing. I think there might be something to the point that even if "Gabentine" doesn't happen, it gives the fans something to think about and discuss (and boy have we been), which gives validation to the characters talking about it so much, but I don't know, it seems weird to me to spend so much time in a piece of writing on something that ends up being nothing.
Also, another sort of related thing (I'll explain how it's sort of related later on) is that I really don't care for how this season has been trying to frame Clem as a mother figure. (If you'd rather just skip to how this is related to the "Gabentine" debacle, just skip this paragraph and continue to the next.) In Season Two, she was referred to by other characters as like a big sister to AJ. That is MUCH more appropriate. The girl is fucking thirteen. When AJ was born she was eleven. What was wrong with keeping her as a big sister figure? Why'd they change it to try to make her seem like a mother figure? It makes me very uncomfortable and I don't like it. And I get that my discomfort is just my own opinion and I'm sure that there are people who love the idea of Clem as a mother; obviously I'm biased. But fuck, SHE'S THIRTEEN. And I know the argument is that she's mature for her age, but a couple of things about that: 1. I don't think she's as mature for her age as a lot of people make her out to be. Yes, she is MORE mature than many at her age, because she's had to be in this world, but we've seen in this season that she can be a stubborn teenager as much as any other stubborn teenager. Honestly, if I didn't already love Clem from the first two seasons and A New Frontier was the first game in the series I played, I don't think I would care for Clem NEARLY as much as I do currently; I would probably think she's just another shitty teenager who, sure, has gone through some shit, but still acts like she knows everything and thinks her problems are the most important, the way any other shitty teenager does. Now it probably seems like I dislike Clem more than I actually do, but I think I got my point across; sure, Clem is mature for her age, but still not mature enough to be a parent. 2. Just because she's mature doesn't mean she should be a parent. This is another example of how Season One managed a similar situation much better. Lee was more or less forced into taking care of Clementine (what was he gonna do, just abandon a little girl in the middle of a zombie apocalypse?). Even then, Lee was reluctant to take on a parenting role, even though he was a relatively mature (in most aspects; let's not forget that he killed a guy for sleeping with his wife), thirty-seven-year-old man. I guess a lot of his reluctance was determinant on the player's choices, but here are some examples: He is often upfront about not being Clem's father, and when he does lie about this it's mostly because he doesn't want shit from other people about taking care of a kid that isn't his. In fact, he was (at least in my playthrough) often quick to tell people that she lost her real parents and that he's just doing the best he can with her despite the fact that he doesn't know what he's doing. He'll ask people like Kenny and Katjaa, who are actual parents, for advice on taking care of a kid. As time goes on, he makes it clear that he cares about Clem and will do anything to keep her safe, but he still refrains from calling himself an actual parent of her, even though by the end of the game he has pretty much earned the right to do so if he wanted to. With Clem in A New Frontier, granted there's been about two years between the present and the events of Season Two, but it seems that Clem is, or more accurately the writers are VERY determined to let people know that Clem is a parent figure to AJ, rather than just the big sister figure she was made out to be in Season Two. In episode 2, in the flashback where Clem meets Ava, you have the option to make Clem say that she could be AJ's mom. In episode 3, if you make Javier let David in when zombies are attacking, he attempts to calm down Clem by saying that David cares about his son the way Clem cares about her son. Yeah, Javier actually referred to AJ as Clem's son in that scene. In episode 4, when Javier and Clem discuss her period and Javier says it means she could be a mom if she wanted, Clem says she felt like she already was a mom. Then Kenny wasn't helping in the flashback, saying things like when he first saw Clem holding AJ (she was eleven at the time, remember) it looked so natural. Then he went on to say that Clem was the closest thing to a mother AJ had. The writers just REALLY drive home the point that Clem is basically AJ's mother. In Season One, there was little to none of this. As Lee, you proved you cared about Clem with your ACTIONS, not just running around telling everyone that you're basically her father the way Clem is pretty much doing in A New Frontier. 3. SHE'S FUCKING THIRTEEN. I know I keep bringing this one up, but fuck. This would be a much different situation if the time jump between seasons was greater and Clem was now like twenty or something. This is completely my opinion, but I feel like even most twenty-year-olds are too young and immature (not to mention lack resources) to have kids, but at least then Clem would be an adult. And the fact that Clem is taking care of the kid is one thing; it's not her fault she was in a group with a pregnant women and then everyone else ended up dying except her and the baby, leaving her to take care of him. It's the fact that, at thirteen, she feels so strongly that she is not just forced to be this kid's caretaker, but that she is actually his PARENT, and also that everyone around her also accepts this thirteen-year-old as a parent. Again, this is obviously all just my opinion, but this whole framing Clem to be a mother thing is definitely the thing I dislike most about this season.
Anyway, the way this relates to "Gabentine" is this: I really, REALLY hope, given the relationships that it seems Telltale is setting up, that the way the season ends is NOT this: the only surviving members of the group are Clem, Gabe and AJ, and they end up forming a makeshift family unit in which Clem and Gabe are a couple and parents to AJ. If that happens, I will probably be more disappointed in this game than I have ever been in anything in my life. I usually try to not have high expectations for almost anything, but I adored the first two seasons of Telltale's Walking Dead series, so if it went from that greatness to an ending like this... that would be some major disappointment for me.
Can....we...shut.....the...fuck......up.......about....this.....topic..........allready.....and......especially.....gabe.....please..
This whole Gabentine thing is Annoying...
It'll be bad writing regardless of the outcome. The relationship between Javier and Kate have been going on for YEARS and just now they decided whether to date or not. It won't make sense to suddenly have Clem date Gabe, whom she only knew for TWO DAYS and have no chemistry together.
Honestly the fact people care about this so much is weird. Gabe is terrible but him having a crush on clem isnt why.
And the insane shippers have come!
If you hate Gabentine but like Clem then you are a hypo- ah forget it
Like I've said before, I asked my wife to marry me the same day I met her and we're still together six years later. It's completely possible for people to get together quickly.
So are people who won't accept that other people are fine with it.
I'm just voicing my opinion, no need to get hostile. I'm just annoyed there's no valid reason to ship them besides "they're the same age"
Exactly.
To be fair, it makes the most sense for Kate to be the one talking in depth about it given her own issues with David and Javier, as well as the fact that she's apparently been trying to get Gabe to accept her as a parent for years.
Though I suppose they could've had Tripp do it instead and make him a bit of a Love Freak.
This.
I think they could've if Clementine and to a lesser extent Gabe got a lot more development, but I don't see that happening anyway with or without Thicker than Water.
Good, if weird point.
I dont think Gabe, Clem, and AJ are gonna be all that's left. However, what I COULD see happening, if Javi survives, is Gabe deciding to go off on his own (Possibly with Clem so he can learn some responsibility with AJ as well as some Pro Tips on Survival) and learn how to survive without Javi's protection.
With all due respect to Javi, the reason Gabe never really learned how to survive on his own was because he had his uncle's protection. Javi did such a good job protecting his family up until A New Frontier started, that Gabe and Mariana never really NEEDED to defend themselves all that much.
Alright well i did some over-analysing the armoured van night scene, i have noticed a lot. First and foremost, there are two versions on how Clem will respond to Gabe. The first response happens when Gabe protests and says he is going for the truck (you get a dialogue option here: Grow up, Dont make me beg and Weve all got jobs to do).
Once you pick the dialogue, Clementine will say: "Hey, Gabe. Come on. I need you to watch my back on this one." This scene is a bit smiley but its not as bad as the second.
The second response occurs when Gabe is not mad at you (Im assuming this happens if you kept conrad alive) and you are in agreement with the plan. Gabe says he thinks he should go with you. Clementine then interrupts Javi and says: "Actually... I was kind of hoping you'd be willing to watch my back on this one. Don't wanna get surprised while im out there."
This response comes across with more emotion. Theres alot more smiling from clem and both remain in eye contact unlike the previous scene where gabe breaks it for a moment (i may be making it sound more serious than it is).
However i don't think thats the most significant part. The scene where you tell clementine thanks is the same in both scenarios. Its the part when you are pushing the truck that is important.
When you are pushing the truck you have four dialogue choices. The first being silence and a second basically telling gabe to shut up and keep pushing. The other two responses are "Im glad you are here" and "Im doing this to keep you safe".
If you choose the "Glad you are here" response, Javi says "turns out you're pretty useful when you follow directions". It then shows clementine smiling in response as though shes finding something in gabe.
Alternatively though, if you choose the 'protect you' option, Javi tells Gabe that if he wants to keep doing this, he's "got to learn how to dollow directions". It then shows clementine with a different look on her face. Instead of smiling she looks like as though she is doubting gabe. Maybe she is, maybe she isnt but they wouldnt show her face for no reason.
I may be interpreting her facial expressions wrong. Maybe she just smiles because what Javi says is funny. I know i went pointlessly all out here but i just thought it was worth knowing for all us gabentine haters out there.
Incidentally, I love that exchange.
Honestly who cares? We have one episode left and (hopefully) the end of the series. All this is going to do is create teenage love drama for however long telltale drags this out for with Gabe being an awkward caretaker for AJ.
Interesting points here. You make a pretty good case here actually. Though I would argue that it COULD just be that Clem smiles because she AGREES with Javi about Gabe being useful, and that Clem doesn't smile because she thinks that Javi isn't giving Gabe enough CREDIT. It could be any ONE of these things or NONE of them.
AH. Now you got ME overdoing it.
That's my thought as well.
Exactly. Its just one way of interpreting it. Personally i want how i interpret it to be true so that clementine avoids him but who knows. We dont know whats going through her head but i have a feeling that maybe our choices with gabe will effect clementines view on him.
I think it's because of what Javi says is funny.
Clementine needs friends, not love.