This story will contain all the spoilers for The Walking Dead Episode 5. You’ve been warned.
It’s just a video game. They’re just polygons. These are the rationales we use to ignore a game that expects you to have an emotional response to its characters. Most games ask for more than they’ve earned. For them, it’s nothing more than a bullet point, and for you, it’s an alienating scene you’d rather skip.
It was 9:30 pm on a Wednesday night as I reached for a napkin to wipe away the tears on my cheek, and I refused to accept those rationales. They’re not just video games. They’re not just polygons.
Telltale’s The Walking Dead makes you responsible for its characters. Episode 5 exploits that relationship, taking away everything you have, and ending the season with a subtle bang.
The Walking Dead would be no different than the comics or the television show without player choice. Based on your input, things can go multiple ways. But what would a Walking Dead story be without a grey area? The choices you’re presented with are rarely good or bad, but usually bad or worse. You’ll do your best to save the people you care for, but Telltale doesn’t always reward you with the expected result. Sometimes you have no choice. Sometimes things happen regardless of your actions. When Lee was bitten at the end of the fourth episode, his fate was sealed, and you couldn’t do anything about it. It was a sign of things to come in Episode 5.
Lee is dying. He’s losing control, and can’t go long without passing out. He struggles to accept his slow transformation into a monster. The other survivors do too. They know that soon the man holding them together will be gone. It’s not if, it’s when. But Lee keeps pushing because he has one, final responsibility left.
Whereas past episodes built to a crescendo, Lee and crew’s mission to rescue Clementine churns to a halt. Lee begins the episode leading the group forward, and finishes it barely hanging on. As the episode progresses, Lee’s ability to make decisions drains away.
If the periodic blackouts weren’t enough, Telltale plants the seeds of Lee’s decline throughout the episode. During an argument between Ben and Kenny, you are presented with a dialogue choice to intervene. But you don’t have a choice, because Christa stops you before you can say anything. When Ben falls off the roof, and lands impaled onto a metal railing, you can’t help him. He’s going to die, and you can’t change that. It’s even more blatant when Kenny refuses to leave him, and locks you away to watch as they both get eaten alive. You can click the “open door” prompt, but nothing happens. Later on, during a conversation with the man who owned the supplies in Episode 2, Clementine calls out. You try to tell her it’s okay, but he threatens to shoot you before you speak. And during the final scene, you’re reduced to only your voice. The only option left is to accept your restraints and make the best of it.
In The Walking Dead there is no way to stop terrible things from happening. But there’s always a way to make the whole journey worth it. Lee’s final scene, as he walks Clementine through her escape, cements a relationship that’s been growing for five episodes. Instead of dying powerless, Lee becomes the father he could never be, and passes on his wisdom to Clementine. He loses his agency in the world, and entrusts it to her. The ending had a lot of impact for a series that is all about having an influence on the world.
The Walking Dead: Episode 5 ends with a victory only a game that stacks the weight of every decision on you can pull off. It’s not a physical reward, but a profound reminder that good still exists in a world taken over by evil. Clementine’s journey is like teaching a child to ride a bike. At the end, Lee can finally trust she’ll be safe, and let go. There’s no rationale to stop me from shedding a tear over that.
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