The Walking Dead Season 2: Episode 5 - No Going Back Review

Okay, strap yourself in for this. It's another Walking Dead season finale, which means waterworks. This season's been almost as emotionally-draining and hope-squandering as the last, so to think it'd end happily or even only slightly soul-destroyingly is asking for a bit much. And after the way the last episode ended? My god we're in for a barrel of laughs. C'mon, let's get through this and I'll buy you a drink afterwards.

Normally I'd give a recap of events but at this point I think everyone will want me to avoid spoilers entirely, so I'll do just that. Keeping things oblique, after escaping from Carver's mall things have got steadily worse for Clementine and her ever-changing group. With a baby on the way, depression setting in and snow beginning to fall the last thing they needed to do was to meet and piss off a heavily armed group of Russians. Erm, no spoilers. Suffice to say, if Episode 4 was the leg exercises Episode 5 is the powerful kick in the groin. Do not expect things to go well, especially if you remember the cliffhanger of Episode 4 (which No Going Back helpfully reminds us of).

Clementine cradling a baby while shooting zombies? BADASS

The story is of course the central part of The Walking Dead and you'll be glad to hear that, whether as a single episode or finale, No Going Back delivers. There are a lot of events you'll never see coming and a lot of very human moments that impressed me, both bad and good. I don't personally believe that Bonnie could've got that far with a bottle of rum without breaking it after everything that's happened, but that's a minor point. And there's at least one utterly fantastic scene that calls back to a decision I made in Season One which will go down as one of the best bits in the whole series.



Unfortunately (doubly so for me because I can't get into specifics) things don't quite reach the heights of Walking Dead Season One's final episode. There are a few beats I didn't like and both the beginning and end of the episode are weak. The beginning is weak because (if I can spoil it very slightly) after the shocking end of Episode 4 there is no way everyone walked away from that alive. And the end? Well, it's sad of course, but it leaves far too much open for Season Three. Yes, there's definitely going to be one and sooner rather than later probably, but it doesn't make for a very satisfying season climax. Oh well, at least the rest was satisfying.

Bad to worse

One thing that does feel like it took a back seat though is the much-vaunted choice and consequence system that usually makes up the actual gameplay, but as usual with Telltale the season finale prioritises telling a good story instead. There are a couple of massive life-or-death choices as well as plenty of cool dialogue options and various miscellaneous bits, also several times a single action or inaction can make various people who previously trusted you hate your guts, which is really upsetting but very impressive too. But I still felt there were plenty of times where I could have done something but wasn't given the option to even try. Episode 4 made me feel in control of the story a lot more for better or worse, whereas a lot of the time here I felt more at the mercy of a scriptwriter. Still that call-back to a Season One choice is awesome.

The voice acting remains very strong, in fact I'd go out on a limb to say that Episode 5 has some of the best acting in the series thus far. Melissa Hutchison's Clementine is forced to go through things no child should experience and I totally buy her performance, particularly in that call-back scene I've been hyping. However the rest of the cast do an equally superb job with difficult scenes, especially the actors playing Luke, Bonnie, Jane and (am I allowed to spoil him now? It's been four episodes!) Kenny. Even poor troubled Russian teenager Arvo whose life has basically been destroyed puts in a great showing for a brief but memorable appearance. It's better than the TV show for sure, and I actually like the show.

And just when things couldn't get any worse, Clementine decides to take a detour through Silent Hill

No Going Back is a strong final episode, but not quite as good as it could have been. The story has some really powerful moments, remembering to include lighter sections to balance the absolute darkness, but there are a couple of bits I didn't buy; the beginning doesn't gel with the previous episode's cliffhanger and the ending is too much of a setup for the next season. Similarly while there are some powerful choices to make (including one that seriously affects that ending) there just aren't enough of them, which made me feel that I was beholden more to a writer than my own actions. Nevertheless a fine ending episode that I'm happy to recommend anyone play.