Writing Process for Larry
I was just recently playing through Season 1 again, and I had just finished Starved For Help. What struck out for me is how well thought out that moment in the meat-locker must have been for the writers. It questions whether Larry's heart condition was a guaranteed foreshadowing from the beginning that he would die in that sort of environment - even before Ep1 was released/written (setting up his imminent death being a threat to the rest of the characters, forcing a important choice for the player). If so in theory, Starved For Help must have been written backwards. Possibly with the reveal of the St. Johns being cannibals, and keeping Lee's group captive written first, to the very beginning with the group still staying in the motel written last. If this wasn't the case, the idea that the writers who at the time might've just wrote Larry's heart attacks to create sympathy for him, who would then come Ep2 (by individual creativity) think of a moment to happen after already writing Ep1, all that whilst being done in the current order of the events of the episode baffle me. If that meat-locker scene was almost a clever thought idea from someone on the writing team, going through the straight sequence of events is miraculous to say the least, because that moment turned out to be one of the most profound in all of S1. Maybe I'm far behind all of those who joined since 2012, and this would of already been addressed here or on the wiki, but I would still like to know what you guys think about this.
Comments
The entire game was written backwards pretty much. The final scene with Clementine shooting Lee was one of the first ideas the writers came up with.
The level of effort here has to be recognised for the smaller details that make the game what it is.
I heard the writers wrote/planned Lee's death during the writing of Episode 3 but i guess they could have thought it up earlier I don't know?
Its evident they wanted to make The Stranger a big foreshadowed character since Ep2, however the construction of the episode he first was mentioned in was more genius to me. Its these reasons why Starved For Help is as high regarded in my opinion.
I've just realised that the line in the drug store 'we should smash his head in' in regards to Duck, could of been a possible foreshadowing from that very moment.
Clementine came late in the writing process from what I have read.
Interesting. I heard on some wiki that they were considering of almost ditching her character. I forgot the source but I think it also mentioned something like how she was one of the first concept characters, before the game was in full production. I can't confirm however, I couldn't imagine how the games would've been without her.
I think the problem was they originally had an idea for a kid...did not know what they wanted with her...had tossed around ideas like Lee had a daughter...but Clem as we know her was a late development...one of those you are in a shower and suddenly...BINGO!!. And lets be honest...kids are hard to write, Gabe anyone?
Oh, don't get anyone started on him, as I think he'd be easier to write than every youth besides Duck. I'll talk about my deeper issues with the story when Episode 5 is out next week. Or leaked--whichever comes first.
credit @Dont_Look_Back
This one's also quite obvious but some of the lines said by Mark in the first scene of Ep2 foreshadow a lot of the ultimate finale of the episode, which also goes with the whole 'backwards written episode' argument; The lines 'I'd probably BE food by now' as well as (in regards to Larry) 'I'd hate to be stuck in a room with him'.