Will the Series' Loose Ends EVER be Wrapped Up? (Spoilers, all)
Spoiler warning Nothing major for From The Gallows, other than 1 character vanishing off the of face of the earth.
Basically what the title says.
After finishing From the Gallows I felt rather... unsatisfied. The episode was... fine, but I was hoping for some closure on a lot of things and got none of it. The Garcia family's story got finished, sure, but a cliff-hanger/sequel bait? No resolution for any unknowns? With 3 seasons, a miniseries and some DLC all of the loose ends/"missing" characters are piling up, and now another season has come and gone, either concluding a past character's fate poorly or not at all. After all of it I can't help but wonder if we'll ever find out what has happened to some of the missing characters. It's been nearly 2 seasons since we last saw Christa and there's no relief in sight (Honestly, it's become an all-too-real running joke on my episode bingo cards). Pile on basically the entire 400 Days cast (more on Bonnie later), Mike, Arvo, Christa, Vernon, Lilly (kinda sotra due to the whole novel-game thing), and slew of determent characters (again: more on them later) and it's getting ridiculous.
It gets worse once you add in the determent statuses of rather large characters such as Kenny (stay in Wellington), Bonnie, or Joan (excluding the Garcia's since that storyline's probably done one way or another). Determent characters have generally been given the short end of the stick with minimal involvement in anything and then just die soon after (cough cough Sarah cough cough), so any chance of their return is depressingly minimal.
And even if past characters are picked back up, I'm still worried due to how they've been treated in the past. So far the record for returning character life-span (not counting Clem) is Kenny (season 2) with 4 episodes, followed by Bonnie with 4. Since then Kenny has since been infamously screwed out of the plot and Bonnie is god knows where or dead. And those are the good ones! Third place is Christa with about 15 minutes and a dozen lines before vanishing to character limbo too. Edith, Omid, Jane and even the fan-favorite Boatmaster Kenny (season 3) were brought back just to be offed. Hell, Roman had the middle-man cut out and was already offed when you see him! The way they're swept under the rug or pushed into the background (cough cough 400 Days in season 2 cough cough) makes me legitimately wonder if their stories not only will, but can ever be satisfyingly concluded. I'm not saying we need an entire season dedicated to Officer Mitchel, but something! Even a simple after-credit scene would be fine if done right and the characters are given the respect that they deserve (i.e. not killed after 2 minutes in car crash! I didn't even choose that ending and I'm mad about it!).
What do you guys think? Does TellTale have the decency to wrap up the fates of their missing characters or should we keep printing their faces onto milk cartons?
Comments
No, Telltale didn't have the decency of being honest with their fans.
How so?
I know the 400 Days "butterfly effect" on season 2 was complete B.S., but other than that I can't think of them ever outright lying.
They claimed that ANF Ep.1 and Ep.2 are separate episodes even though they're really just separated hour run times for one episode and it's blantantly obvious.
Don't get your hopes up. The only loose end that will potentially be resolved is Clem reuniting with AJ. I'm with you, the entire ending felt completely unsatisfying and disappointed me greatly. One of the worst Telltale episodes I've played and definitely the worst TWD episode Telltale has made.
Okay then.
I don't really see how that relates to the topic at hand...
"Oh you're just a silly drama queen. ANF was amazing! Thanks Telltale for making a great series with little to no real flaws! I loved it so much!! AAAAGH!!!!!Gabentine is so sweet and cute!!! AAAAAGGH!!!!OMG!!!Clem is so badass!!!AAAAAGH!!!!!!!"
-ANF fans
While that was said, all critically acclaimed authors, writers, and directors rolled in their graves and vomited in their hands.
The whole thing is a mess, I also wouldnt expect to find any returning characters, and thats what the problem is with Telltale.
Everything is just ACTION ACTION ACTION there is no breaks or real character development. The flashback with David and Rafa in ep 5 was the best part because it felt like real character building, instead of OH SHIT WE CLIMBING HELICOPTERS AND SHIT OH FUCK AVA FELL DOWN BOOM WHOOSH. Telltale clearly forgot what made Season 1 so good, and the other problem is the returning characters. Imagine if in season two, Christa and Omid were still part of the major cast, even replacing Rebecca and Alvin. So now we have Kenny, Christa, and Omid, characters we have history with, not to mention a better incentive to care about the baby.
Basically Telltale completely forgot why people liked their games, now just spitting out IPs with almost no effort. If Telltale really did care about fans they would actually start making games fans have been asking for COUGH wolf among us season 2 COUGH
It is true that TellTale is spending less time on character development, which could encourage returning characters as you already have a connection with those characters. Now wether TellTale is competent enough to realize this I don't know. But they don't seem competent enough to realize that slow-paced character development is better, which is not implying good things.
Making Kate become unknown instead of just showing her as a walker felt really strange and unnecessary. The way I see it, Telltale deliberately did that to either a) fuck with us or b) because they'll make her reappear in Clementines adventures.
I actually think we'll see some of the earliest unknowns in the near future, like Lilly or Christa. And after all of these years that have passed, I think now would actually be a good time for Clem to reunite with them in Season Four.
It wouldn't make any sense for Clementine to meet any of these people again. The chance would be so minute. Like, the chances of her meeting someone she once knew is on top of all of the other coincidences such as meeting Kenny again, finding Christa and Omid again, meeting with numerous amounts of people linked to Rick's group like Hershel, Glenn, Jesus etc.
However, Kenny in Season Two is probably the only thing that stopped it from becoming like ANF. He was the only well written character in the entire game, whereas everyone else was just competent or plain bad (Sarita). For this reason, I would not be against an old character coming back, because ANF and S2 has proven that Telltale cant catch lightening in a bottle again like they did in Season One in terms of original, fleshed out characters.
Honestly, I'm at a point where I just about don't care anymore. I used to be very open to seeing the likes Lilly or Arvo return in a major role and wouldn't mind seeing that happen if it's actually somehow done well, but after ANF, especially with what it did with Gabe, they can stay missing.
Well, ANF has shown us: Yes, loose ends can be resolved.
"How?" you may ask...
They Die. They all die.