So I'm glad that the leave the baby behind or not option I was dreading ends up being largely inconsequential outside of serving as character development for Clem and basically done right out of the gate. I'm also glad Luke and Kenny both simmered down some from their earlier antics this time around, Luke in particular as I was expecting him to hold a grudge against Kenny for Rebecca not making it, it was refreshing to just see him let go right off the bat.
So Arvo still doesn't strike me as a particularly bad person, just someone who's angry and lost a lot. He was honest about the food at his place and about having a sister. Though he does seem to have something against Clem for shooting walkerfied Natasha, which I'm guessing is why he shot her when she was confronting him Bonnie and Mike by the car. He's also obviously not fond of Kenny and I can't say I blame him on that account. Tried to stick up for him and smooth things over as much as possible but he's clearly not having any of it. So while my Clem's not holding much of a grudge she'll be very likely to shoot first if she runs into him again, on account of him clearly having made up his mind already.
Luke seemed to have gotten his head on straight this episode and struck me as one of the people keeping the group together. The joking around the campfire with him and everyone else really did help set give the group some hope and was a nice reprieve from all the drama we've all been through. Tried to help him by puling him out of the ice and was pretty devastated when he ended up getting pulled down under by the walker. I feel his death was largely the catalyst for the events that followed and the group going to sh*t. It also went against my expectations to have the finial confrontation be between him and Kenny, making it Kenny and Jane was a nice mix up especially when I felt things would have gone the way of Molly and Jane just not showing up again.
I'm honestly disappointed in Bonnie and Mike as human beings. Yeah we lost Luke and Kenny's still loosing his sh*t periodically, but really trying to screw over Jane AJ and Clem along with him? Not cool, if they decided to head out on their own fine, but trying to stealing all of the groups supplies and transportation was below the belt. My Clem was never one to steal supplies, she did support mugging Arvo or taking the supplies from the station wagon, so she clearly didn't take a liking to this. So despite the various bonding sessions with Bonnie and Mike she opted to not try and go with them, didn't opt to hand over her gun either. Not sure how I'll react if I run into them again, they certainly lost a fair amount of trust points though. GreyLycanTrope will remember that.
Not that much to say about Jane surprisingly enough. Like I said I was surprised to see her back but glad she was. Really like the sisterly bond between her and Clem, and she was largely echoing my own thoughts on Kenny throughout the whole thing(the Carver comparison in particular), so the "test" she had set up at the end seemed like a bit of unnecessary convincing to a certain extent but then again as much as Clem was willing to see that Kenny was on the edge of despair she was still trying to bring him back. I guess this is what it took to finally make her let go of Kenny. Also even if Clem didn't figure it out the way she was talking initially made it pretty clear she didn't hurt AJ and was just trying to poke Kenny for a reaction. Granted I don't think the death match was exactly what she had in mind when she hatched her plan so boy did that end up blowing up in her face.
This season was very much Kenny's character arc as much as it was Clem's. What we see throughout is a man struggling very hard against the darker aspects of his own nature but ultimately failing to overcome it. Clem tried her hardest to bring him back from the brink of his despair. It was sometimes a little hilarious how reversed the child and adult roles were at time. Like changing his bandage was very much Clem just telling him she was going to, not asking, telling very pointedly in a very "no arguments from you mister" fashion. You can also see Kenny want to be better when Clem admonishes him for beating on Arvo, than he is when he promised an incident like Arvo wouldn't happen again, only for him to break that promise when he was with Jane. Kenny's character arc went basically in the direction I was hoping for, to the point where even after you shoot him he doesn't really blame you for it, and Clem's chance to comfort him in his last moments is touching. On a personally level I never really liked Kenny that much, but his character arc is among the best written in the series I think, and in this case if he goes out it's on a strong note.
Unexpected Lee moment! Oh man, did it feel great to just have that talk, reflecting on leaving Lily behind felt like it reinforced Clem's ultimate decision to let go of what attachment she had for Kenny. At the same time her wish to not hurt anyone I felt helped reinforce her idealistic stance, and god damn was it good just to have a chance for Clem and Lee to talk just one more time.
So my Clem has been through the wringer these last few hours, but she's ultimately decided not to follow Carver and Kenny down the path of despair and harsh pragmatism. She'll try and keep hope alive as much as possible, but has also come to realize that sometimes as much as you might not want to harm others there are times when you have to be able to let go, you just can't ever get used to it.
So choice made:
-Rescued AJ during the fire fight
-Tried to get Luke to help but he just ended up getting hit in the leg
-Gave Luke and Kenny a bit of a pep-talk, helped Kenny with his bandage
-Told Jane I was glad she came back, teased her about "making it" with Luke
-Didn't drink
-Accepted Kenny's apology
-Got everyone around the campfire, the moment was nice while it lasted
-Was nice to Arvo
-Went on the ice to help pull Luke out
-Got accidentally smacked by Kenny when I tried to pull him off Arvo
-Bonded with Jane before helping Kenny with the Truck
-Talked to Bonnie, didn't smoke
-Got Jane to hold the kid, she was right he puked.
-Sided with Kenny about heading to Wellington, voted for letting Arvo decide if he wanted to come with us
-Said Lee would try and keep the group together
-Tried to talk Bonnie and Mike from taking our stuff
-Tried to keep Kenny and Jane from fighting
-Shot Kenny, comforted him while he was dying, forgave Jane
-Said the place was mine and let the family in, gonna try to build a better safe heaven than Carver did. With blackjack and hookers.
All in all it was a great episode since we finally got a chance to stop running and largely focus on the group dynamic. Character wise I felt Jane Clem and Kenny all had a great wrap up. The unexpected moment with Lee was probably my favorite moment, hit me in the feels the most, though I didn't end up crying this time around oddly enough.
My one worry is that with Jane and Kenny both being able to die this time around even if either of them does make it to the end there's a good chance we'll end up with them being dead at the start of next season largely to carry on TellTales lame tradition of killing of everyone who could potentially die eventually anyways. Still looking forward to what they have set up for next time.