The Walking Dead: Season Two Episode 5 - No Going Back Reviews
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.
Clementine's group is pushed to breaking point in 'The Walking Dead' season 2 finale, 'No Going Back.' (Spoilers in this review)
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
This finale gets you reflecting about who Clementine really is and how you've shaped her. The narrative is intense and heartbreaking
The first Telltale finale where your choices carry true weight, but the inconsistent and contrived characterisation means it comes at considerable cost.
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.