[Spoilers] Is Crawford that bad ?

[Cheo]

I recently completed the first season of The Walking Dead on PC after playing it several times on console, and I would like to discuss a specific part of the fourth episode which really bugs me.

Before I start, I want to make it very clear that I am a huge fan of this game, which is even my biggest inspiration as a wannabe game developer. Nevertheless, no game is perfect, and I must admit that the fourth episode is my least favourite of all.

So, the part that I don't really like is the entire Crawford section. Before we actually get to visit the place, we already know what to expect : Crawford is ruled by ruthless and selfish survivors who did not hesitate to get rid of the old, the kids and the sick and lock up their own place with a fence made of walkers in order to create some kind of "elite" survivors society.

At first, that definitely sounds crazy, but I progressively changed my mind from the scene where Lee, Vernon and Christa watch a video tape in the infirmary. You probably remember what they see : a doctor informs a woman named Anna that she is pregnant, and that she will have to choose between having an abortion, or leaving Crawford, which would lead her unborn child and herself to a certain death. And then, when the tape is over, Christa asks : "What the hell kind of place was this ?", and Lee answers : "Like Molly said. The worst kind."

It was at this precise moment that I heard some record scratch sound in my head.

Before someone asks me, yes, I am definitely pro-choice and I despise the pro-life movement. Still, it's not exactly a matter of being pro-choice here ; in fact, the Crawford survivors are more "anti-birth". And to be honest, I'm not sure if I can really blame them. Having a baby during a zombie apocalypse is just a stupid idea : the mother could put herself in danger, the child would probably grow up in a disturbing environment, and worst of all, supplementary supplies would be required ; speaking of which, do you have any idea how much food and medicine the Crawford community had ? Well, me neither, and that's actually what prevents me from hating Crawford.

As a narrative game, The Walking Dead does not ask you to keep an eye out on some supplies count like Resident Evil and The Last of Us do. In fact, we almost never see the characters eating any food or counting their ammo precisely ! It would be really easier for me to judge Crawford if Telltale had included some kind of supplies management system and if we knew how much supplies were left in Savannah : if there was enough food for everyone, then yes, Crawford would be a horrible place ; but on the other hand, if the survivors had already tightened their belts and almost every place had been looted, then the issue would become extremely complex.

It is also worth mentioning that we don't know much about the Crawford survivors themselves : even Oberson, their "supreme leader", remains a mystery. There are no personal diaries or recordings which would tell us more about the survivors ; for all we know, most of them were perhaps ashamed of what they had done and hoping for things to change. Even if harsh rules were displayed on the walls and the ambience was unsettling, and despite all the bad stuff that Vernon and Molly said about the place, the lack of information prevents me once again to despise the Crawford survivors.

In fact, the doctor, Logan, is actually the only one of them we get to see alive, and I don't see him as a bad guy, but more as a gray character : so yes, he did make Molly prostitute herself, but he took a risk by giving her medicine in exchange ; and during his consultations with Anna, he seems neither sympathetic nor cruel towards her ; furthermore, during the second tape, he tells her : "Maybe one day, when things are different, you can try again. But for now, today, we have to do this.". And I definitely agree with him : it would be wiser to wait for several years, and to have a baby only if the world is no longer so threatening. (By the way, I haven't played season three yet, but I still don't understand how Alvin Junior has been kept alive)

And finally, the Crawford sequence creates some contradictions with the rest of the game : The Walking Dead is a morally complex game that goes beyond the simple notions of good and evil, so why would the writers give us some hard and terrifying choices such as killing or sparing the St John brothers, or stealing or leaving the stranger's supplies, and then tell us that having an abortion during the apocalypse is bad ? Personally, the only explanation I can come up with is that the fourth episode was written by Gary Whitta, whose writing doesn't seem as good as Mark Darin's and Sean Vanaman's.

Anyway, I'd be really curious to know what other TWD players thought about the Crawford arc ; wether you agree or disagree with me, I'd really like to know your opinion and discuss about it !

PS : I know, that was a long text, I'll try to make it shorter next time !

[sasha]

i played the first season of The Walking Dead three times on console and everytime I thought Crawford was an utterly terrible place because, well, the characters explained it that way. while playing, I never thought anything more of Crawford then that, but you make a good point. surely the citizens of Crawford were acting out of fear when they banished the sick and the old, and either had a mother abort her child or kick her out of the community. I only thought of it was cruel, not really thinking that it was a smart option if they wanted to create a society that had a chance of surviving.

okay, i'm not saying I would totally do this if such a thing happened, or really think it's okay to do, just that it was smart. the same goes for the doctor too, mostly with the tapes Lee finds. to me at the time i didn't get why he wouln't let her have her child, but after season 2 with Aj, i think it might of gone the same, ya know? the mother tragically dies, maybe even turned, which if they didn't know would happen, or didn't notice it in time, would've been bad. yet even if that didn't happen, what if the baby didn't survive? or what if they didn't have the resources for the child? too many things could've happened, i think, and now from your point, it makes sense why the doctor said what he did, even if it does sound cruel, eh it's the apocolypse what do we know.

also from your points, I really think Crawford wasn't explained enough, it could be because the story needed to progress and the creators didn't think of dwelling much on it, but they did add enough for the audience to at least want more information. really it was just a place that they all ended up, had terrible events occur that the group soon discovered, provided some good characters that helped in one way but either died or diappeared and not seen again. really, no matter whether you think the things they did were smart or terrible, Crawford was a missed oppritunity in my eyes, but I haven't played the game in a while and information is kinda rusty to me.

Anyway that's just what I thought after reading this, kinda strange i didn't think deeper into it, hmm