Anyway, my main problem with Season 2 is that it feels very choppy, almost like the writers are just making things up as they go along. In Season 1, things were properly set up (like Larry's heart condition) and then used later. I don't even know what to think with Season 2. The cabin group really contributed nothing to the overall story besides acting as fodder. Sarah was completely useless. The story of Season 2 would be exactly the same if she wasn't in it. I feel like the writers thought, "Let's write a character with anxiety issues who's been coddled too much and see how that works out" instead of actually planning on how Sarah would ultimately feed into the story. It's just lost potential. The only cabin group members who have contributed to the plot or Clementine as a character have been Luke and Rebecca. Maybe you could argue Alvin
I mean, in Season 1, we had a plotline; find a boat. Throw in storylines of trying to live at the motel and the mysterious stranger, and that was enough for the Season. As someone else put, Season 2 feels like a string of random occurrences and shock deaths that amount to nothing in the end. There were shock deaths in Season 1, but the happened so the deaths had purpose and the story transpired at a logical pace. Now, shit happens because it happens
I remember people complained that nobody mentioned Carley in Episode 4 of last season and her death felt meaningless as a result. Now, that seems like a godsend. Hell, people complained the Carley/Doug decision was meaningless because they died in episode 3 anyway, but at least they stuck around for two more episodes, talked to Lee quite a bit, and helped him out. I wish we got a Carley/Doug scenario instead of Nick turning mute, Alvin getting kidnapped, and Sarah turning catatonic
A lot of Season 2 just feels like I'm meeting new characters (who die) in new environments (that we leave). Decisions don't contribute anything at all. They barely change dialogue. Hell, I'd even say that the 11 year old Clementine from Episode 1 is the same Clementine I have now. She hasn't developed as a character. Nobody has, except Kenny, Bonnie, maybe Jane, and Christa (I don't even know if I should count her)
Plus, there's no suspense anymore. Episode 2 of Season 1 built up the suspense so much until you find Mark, then it just goes through the roof. Then, you're in the meat locker and the suspense gets even higher. Then, Larry almost turns and you realize that humans can be monsters, too. THEN, the suspense drops, and you're still stuck in a cannibal's freezer. I could say the same about Episode 3. The suspense only dropped after the RV argument and when Duck died, but after that, you just felt like you've been beaten into emotional ruin. Season 2 just throws in a conflict (stealing the walkie-talkie), briefly builds up suspense (Carver looking for it), and then just drops it. It's just a bunch of sporadic little moments instead of long, looming, underlying tension
I still like Season 2 and I know it had a tough act to follow, but I really needed to vent
Imagine a group of a hundred motorcycles driving down a freeway. Eventually, they hit a junction. One road goes northwest and the other goes northeast. So one guy, we'll call him S, says, "Let's go northwest!" A mile past the intersection, a semi careens into the group and kills ninety of them. Ten are wounded, but they survive and keep going. Eventually, they hit 10,000 miles. S suddenly has his consciousness thrown into his past body right before the junction. Now, he says, "Let's go northeast!" All 100 bikers survive. Happily ever after, right? But what about the ten, no nine, who went northwest and survived? What happens to the reality they were living? Does it just disappear now that S has changed the past? It's not like only bad things happened on that 10,000 mile journey. Maybe one of them fell in love with a gas station attendant and got her pregnant or maybe one adopted a homeless kid that joined the adventure. That 10,000 mile journey would be full of stories. Romances, farewells, friendships...the loss of those ninety lives is horrible and unfortunate, but what would rewriting their history mean? The nine who survived lived full lives and did the best they could with the hand they were dealt. How could it be right to just erase all that? Isn't that worth something? Is there a point to a world where everything is happy? Are people who struggle for a better life just idiots? Being human is about fighting even when it seems hopeless and finding happiness in a world that hates it. Are you saying that's worthless?