The Walking Dead: Season Two Episode 5 - No Going Back Reviews
The Walking Dead Season 2 finale is an impressive and intelligent episode, and among @telltalegames' finest stories.
It remains a shame that Clementine never quite became the truly different kind of lead that the first episode promised, but in the final analysis, what The Walking Dead offers still more than makes up for its occasional stumbles. It's definitely a road trip worth taking - as long as you don't mind its highs being its most devastating lows, its good endings being little but the trap where optimism goes to die.
The first Telltale finale where your choices carry true weight, but the inconsistent and contrived characterisation means it comes at considerable cost.
This finale gets you reflecting about who Clementine really is and how you've shaped her. The narrative is intense and heartbreaking
The Walking Dead Season 2 Finale is never quite as meaningful or powerful as the first season
A brutal showdown and zombies on ice mark the final, oddly slow-paced, episode of season two of The Walking Dead.
I really enjoyed Season 2 of The Walking Dead overall, even if its finale lacks bite. It was original, compelling, and managed to deliver yet another interesting cast of characters to romp through the countryside with. I can safely say that Telltale hasn't run out of ideas yet, and I'd still love to see a Season 3 someday.
It's one culminating scene in an episode that should have been filled with a lot more of them. There's a part in the episode when Clementine is dreaming that she's with Lee as her younger self. She's wondering why things have to be the way they are and you can clearly see he's just as confused as she is. Within a few minutes, it's obvious that they need each other. The most condemning thing we can say is the dream reminded us of everything missing in the episode; if only we cared as much as Lee and Clementine used to care about each other.
If you have already been bitten, hopefully metaphorically, this season is unlikely to disappoint. Although the rushed, relentlessly downbeat ending of "No Going Back" may feel like a somewhat necessary clearing of the board for a new cast and new dilemmas in the third season.
The Walking Dead: Season Two Episode 5 - No Going Back tugs at the heartstrings more than ever and brings another superb season of The Walking Dead to a close.
It started nervously, almost scared of what it was, but at the end of season two, you'll go to whomever you hold dear, and you'll squeeze them just that little bit harder than usual. They'll ask you why, and you won't answer. There's a little girl to be saved.
Episode five, thankfully, gives you the room to decide where Clementine ends up and suggests that your decisions are going to have a permanent effect on her future.
No Going Back is a quality episode, yet it fails to be as memorable as Season One's ending, despite some intense and heartbreaking moments.
Clem's coming-of-age story remains compelling, but it's final act isn't as emotional or narratively satisfying as Lee's unforgettable tale of redemption
Clementine's group is pushed to breaking point in 'The Walking Dead' season 2 finale, 'No Going Back.' (Spoilers in this review)
If you've played the previous episodes in this season, yes, you really should buy this final episode. If you're still holding out for season two, do yourself a favor and pick it up. It's a tragic, surprising and entertaining ride.
No Going Back provides not one, but three fitting ends to The Walking Dead's second season, each one satisfactory - and saddening - in its own right.
As Clem, we survived from one day to the next, fighting against the futility of it all, trying to find our own way absent a clear objective. Where Season One was the story of a man becoming an adoptive father, learning that he would do anything to keep his ward safe, Season Two is more personal. It's about growing up, deciding who Clem is. But no matter who that turns out to be, one thing is consistent: she's still a survivor.
While Season Two did its best to present the story of a little girl growing up into a seasoned survivor in a shattered world full of death, it fell short of capturing the magic that Season One held.
Telltale completes this season on an incredibly strong note which demonstrates just how impressive they are as storytellers; Clementine is allowed to have a brief moment of peace and a shred of hope that maybe things can get better. One final decision made right at the end lets all the doubt and worry creep back in just as the season fades out.