If It Were To Happen, How Would You Handle Christa's Return In The Final Season?
Well, we still have a few more weeks to go in TWD: The Final Season news purgatory. I'd figure we could have some fun as we await for PAX East. The fan theories and speculations on this forum can really be creative and interesting. We've sort of talked about this in other threads but have never gone into any real detail. Allow me to set the stage for you:
You are in charge of the final season of TTG's TWD. It has been agreed upon the team that Christa will be returning and at McCarrol Ranch. What will her personality be? How will you handle her interactions with Clementine? What will be her back story as to how she got to the ranch? What will be her purpose within the season's story? You know what fans want. You also know TTG wants to still be able to reach new people despite the preexisting relationship. There will only be five episodes this final season.
Sound off. Let's see what fans have up their heads. If a good number of comments pop up, I'll add my take on this prompt.
Comments
Kill her off in the first five minutes of her showing up. We need to think about the newcomers guys! Also we need to revoke having Clementine as the lead and instead have a new random main character who has all of these preestablished relationships with other characteres fans don't give a shit about. Despite this lack of character development we're going to jump right into choices fans will be making as if they have been with these characters since the beginnning of the apocalypse! It's the final season after all and it is obvious that fans prefer the main focus away from Clementine. Also, Clementine will have a new hip personaily as a gothic, emo teen with drug addictions as well as the burning urge to cut herself 24/7! Clementine will bleed to death in episode 5 after she cuts one of her own major arteries as she fulfils her new urges from her new emo personality. And that will be the end of TWD. The End!
inb4 Christa appears but her model looks completely different and unrecognizable so the player feels disconnected at the reveal.
I’m not saying it would be good or bad if she came back but it would almost be like repeating season 2 with kenny to me.
One, Christa needs to be louder, angrier, and have access to a time machine. Two, whenever Christa's not on screen, all the other characters should be asking "Where's Christa"?
I hate to cop out here, but I honestly couldn't tell you.
All I can say is that Christa is not the most interesting returning character they could pull, but she does make a lot of sense thematically speaking. So whatever they do is probably fine enough.
I also don't really care enough about the Final Season itself either.
These comments are not what I had in mind... I guess this isn't the forum I need but the forum I deserve.
Except with a more thoughtful character.
...Is that a specific reference?
I'll do my best to make an in-depth suggestion of how I would like to have Christa and Clementine's relationship handled should Christa return:
Make the disconnection between Clementine and Christa the main focus of their relationship, and show the struggle of rebuilding their relationship due to past experiences. This is basically the polar opposite of how Clementine and Kenny interacted during their reunion in Season 2.
Clementine had basically forgotten about Christa, and didn't appear to have a good relationship with her surrogate mother after the death of Omid and the unborn child.
The time they have spent together being unexplored would also be an indication that Clementine wasn't all that attached to Christa, in spite of her best efforts to raise her on her own. With these in mind, Christa can call Clementine out on her apparent lack of gratitude towards her.
Show the player the aftermath of the bandit attack that had separated Clementine from Christa, as I feel that this the perfect chance to give Christa some depth as a character.
Perhaps Christa's own mother had treat young Christa the same way long before the apocalypse, which hints on why Christa behaves the way she does to Clementine and everyone else she meets, because she had learned these traits from her own mother and how it had cost relationships of her friends, and how Omid was the only person in her life to appreciate Christa for who she was and was tolerant of her flaws.
In the years without Clementine, Christa is living in a community learning how to cope with the loss of her children among other parents without their children. Having bonded with these people she now considers her family, Christa has mellowed out quite reasonably, she is learning to cope, and most importantly, is learning to trust other people again.
...And then she stumbles across Clementine in the present time during a scavenge hunt, and suddenly Christa finds herself being forced to confront the demons of her past, and Christa's worst traits starts to slowly resurface once again, especially when she realizes that Clementine does not share the same feelings Christa had during their reunion.
...And obviously I would not kill off Christa in the first five minutes of her return, or even consider killing her off in the final Season either.
Yes it is
I would be happy....for her 5 min of existence...........
Yeah, I am kinda surprised that many of the few comments have been negative, given that Christa has consistently been a topic since her disappearance.
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I think it's because so many people who were open for Christa's return since 2013/2014 had long grown tired of Telltale's TWD and left.
True.
I originally had a different possible explanation, but I decided it wouldn't work out.
Ah well, like I said, I wouldn't mind her appearance since it'd at least tie in thematically with Clementine's objective(unlike in Season 2). She just wasn't one of the more interesting of the potential returnees.
Hopefully
I like what you wrote. It's similar to what I would have shared. I especially like the distant relationship aspect.
I feel like if they were to do a Clem-Christa reunion for the final season, their past relationship would be perfect to put a twist on the "scumbag" playthroughs some players do. If you were to be a jerk to Christa, it would almost be justified.
I would say that the backstory only be awarded to players who are able to develop closeness to Christa. I like it when TTG awards players who make certain choices with extra bits of dialogue. It makes you want to play again.
It would also be cool to see AJ being a major factor in that. AJ was given to the ranch. Christa grew attached to AJ and vise versa. Now you have people struggling to be the mother figure of a child that has been a source of light in a dark place for them. At the end of it all, Clem cannot stay at the ranch for their is not enough resources and resentment between Clem and some group members. Does she take AJ or leave him. I've done this scenario a million times on this forum, but I'll do it again with a Christa twist:
So what do you do: sacrifice yourself so that someone else can benefit their people or create a potential enemy so that you can be better suited to help your people?
In replay to @eRock92 :
I just have a problem with if you left AJ. If AJ is being taken care of by someone Clem can trust, I wouldn't think it would completely destroy her. And with Christa having the same thoughts, She would let her visit him from time to time. (it's only a few miles from Richmond) If AJ lives to grow up, AJ could make the decision of who he wants to stay with. By then, I think Chista will have healed enough to let him make this decision. It's not the perfect ending for Clem, but Clem could still keep her hopes for the future, and Christa can still be the mother she always wanted to be.
Everyone expects their reunion to be a happy moment, right?
WRONG!
This is The Walking Dead, after all. Its not going to be happy.
Clementine has finally gotten some footing at the end of ANF. She has a makeshift family, she is happy with herself, the community and the her friends. She has a new life.
But then Christa returns, shattering Clem's life. Retraumastizing her with all the painful memories of their loss and pain... And maybe even something's we didn't know about.
I think we really need Christa to return for the final season. To bring Clementine's past back into the present as she's forced to deal with a figure from her past.
They had both wronged eachother. Clem indirectly caused Omid's death, maybe even the baby's, and Christa had failed to look after her.
Maybe Christa is even spiteful towards Clem, vengeful. She's been through hell with the bandits. They didn't kill her. Maybe they've tortured her, raped her. And she's pissed Clem never came back for her.
I dunno. Just spitballing here.
Here is a detail I would add if Christa returns that would make a season 2 choice have an effect on the final season.
If Clementine didn't distract the scavengers: In season 2 if Clementine doesn't choose to distract the scavengers, Christa gets stabbed in the leg with a spear. Christa managed to escape the encounter but also put a lot of strain on her leg in doing so. She cleaned it herself but due to her lack of medical knowledge it never healed back to its former state and Christa developed a permanent limp. So this would affect the way Christa is animated and a few lines of dialogue here and there. Christa can walk around fine but has a limp. She can run when she has to, but it is painful for her to do so and obviously her limp causes her to be a slower runner. For the most part Christa can still hold her own in a fight but her limp does restrict her capabilities a little. Perhaps there could be an instance where a character is dangling from a high ledge and is attempting to pull themself up. While this is happening there is a walker approaching them. Everyone is out of bullets so they can't save the person by simply shooting the walker. Clementine is far away fighting off walkers with her knife. Christa makes a run for it to kill the walker approaching the guy who is dangling from the ledge but because of her limp she is unable to get to the walker in time. The walker bites the guy's arm causing him to lose grip and fall to his death. Perhaps a positive impact this scenario could possibly have would be sometime after the previous event I described. After the death of the one character, Christa wises up and decides to stock up on extra ammo to compensate for her limp. The extra bullets make some of the future fights go smoother.
If Clementine did distract the scavengers: In season 2 if Clementine did distract the scavengers Christa never gets stabbed in the leg so she never developed a permanent limp. This allows her to be a faster runner and she is much more useful in a fight. When the event where one of the new characters is dangling from the ledge happens, Christa is able to catch up to the walker, kill it, and pull the character up from the ledge. However, because of how smoothly this event happens in comparison to the other scenario; Christa doesn't feel the need to stock up on extra ammo than usual after that event. So, some of the struggles in the future don't go as smoothly due to the lack of extra bullets.
Posts like this are appreciate-able.
YESS!! Yes to this. And maybe because she has less bullets, there would be more QTEs to do for you to pick up the slack
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Clementine tries to convince the guards in front of the Mc Carroll Ranch to let her inside. She tells them about AJ. One of the Guards Contacts the head of security. Turns out that the head of security knows Clementine. The guard escorts Clem to the main building. Christa greets Clem. Cut to Black. Opening Title Sequence.
I was waiting now for someone to mention that.
I didn't feel like editing my comment after posting it.
My idea behind that would be that bridge we see Clem cross at the end of ANF would become structurally deficient due to a storm (like a 100-year storm or even the remnants of a hurricane since it looks like it is early fall). The storm would happen maybe midway through the game during episode 3. Hunkering down during the storm could also be used a setting for Clem and Christa to have a major heart-to-heart that would shape the future of the relationship. Anyway, for reasons ranging from Clem participating in a post-storm survey to her attempting a quick run back to Richmond, she find that bridge impassible. The next closest pass over the river that does not include a 40-foot drop down is almost a day's journey away and involves going near territory of a not so friendly community. Now the whole I-can-always-visit-AJ idea is gone. This time at McCarroll may be the last. Not only does time with AJ mean more, but previous and future choices start to hold more weight.
And the whole trusting Christa thing should be determinant. Lee determinately tells Christa and Omid to watch over Clem for him. What Christa did between Omid's death and the scavengers in the woods can be argued for and against her upholding Lee's request. Also, as I put before, Clem stated that people change. That can used for and against both Clem and Christa. I can reunite with people I haven't seen in years and have a nice conversation with. That doesn't mean I trust them to watch my niece and nephew. One life event on one day can quickly turn people dark or light.
The whole point with the final choice would be to create as dark of a ending as possible without killing Clem. Allow Clem to live on but let her final moment with us as the player be one that's impactful. The darkest thing I can conjure up is having to live with your heart completely gone and longing for the day to die. Something that would make ANF Clem prior to knowing AJ is alive look like a contestant that won both showcases on the Showcase Showdown on The Price Is Right. It's not that I want a dark ending or for Clem to spend the rest of her life suffering. I was just trying to make another option since everyone thinks the only two possible ending for the final season are Clem in Richmond dancing in bubbles and sunshine or her being served to a room full of walkers with a side salad.
But again, I'll put it out there that I'm not really a fan of bringing Christa back. It would be a hard sell to make her story weave in with Clem and AJ's and have an appropriate amount of weight for both current fans and new comers. It also make it hard to build a polarizing ending like I'm trying to do (then again, I'm not a professional writer or story creator). I've used this leave-vs-keep scenario before for a completely new cast, and it seemed easier to make look feasible as previous relationships besides AJ's wouldn't be a factor.
And before anyone says it, no... I haven't thought of a reason why Clem can't take a boat up the river. Just throw it under the rug like all the other plot holes throughout the series...
Yeah, that's the idea.
100% They'll kill her in the second episode in the game like any character.. It's just better off without her, or this will be another ruined character .