Waking up to reality is often an ugly beauty deal. Its scent is rich, like broth burnished long on a stove. Or rancid, like a corpse left out in the steaming glare of the sun. Only when you release the butterflies in your head and adjust to reality, however, can you move forward. A House Divided is testament to this. For the shambling reality is a world filled with the perpetuity of stressful decisions and violent consequences. Simply put, it's the strongest Telltale episode of The Walking Dead franchise. Scaling heights of frenzy, dead bodies and nailbiting interpersonal drama, it ultimately crashes into a chaotic comedown.
As Clementine returns to the cabin in the aftermath of being overcome by walkers at the conclusion of the first episode, a mysterious visitor by the name of Carver pays a visit while she is left alone to care for Carlos' daughter Sarah. His verbal to-and-fro with Clem leaves an intimidating impression of having unfinished business with the group, who, after learning of his re-emergence, decide to go on the run for safety. From there Clementine joins her tenuous friends in a five day trek into the mountains, where new and old familiar faces abound.
If All That Remains (over) consciously focused on Clementine's character arc than plot advancement, the second hurtles her hardening survivor outlook into a brutal direction. The moment Carver enters the story, his presence permeates the episode with panic; played to menacing perfection by Michael Madsen, the story ratchets up a boilerplate of violent drama with a terrifying - and lengthy - climax.
A House Divided is helmed by wonderful writing and humanised characters. Dimensions are added to the new faces we met in All That Remains: Sarah's childlike disposition provides vulnerable moments akin to those of which Lee guided Clementine, while the slowburning tragedy renders the angsty Nick into an unpredictable wreck. A hinted homosexual relationship between two characters culminates in loss and a disastrous backlash dependent on Clementine's influence. We've seen these type of seeds sprout before, but Clementine being weighed upon with the tempest of trust is a new level of gravity.
Then there's Carver, a man whose intentions seem geared towards the greater good but uses malevolent behaviour to supplement those goals. Multi-faceted and subtly terrifying, he strikes as the villain the rest of the season will inevitably structure around. However, at the forefront of all this gory mess is the provocative character examintion of Clementine, a protagonist the player is given full command of moulding. Clementine is engaging and fully realised: she can temper her action-heroine sequences with a gamut of sass or believable earnesty. As her survival skills become increasingly reliable, Clementine soon becomes the heart of the new group, forming bonds with those who initially distrusted her. Whether Luke is bounding between acting like an elder sibling or treating her as the right wing buddy, there's the hot tempered pregnant Rebecca revealing her soft side and seeking out emotional support from her.
While the gameplay is light on adventuring elements outside of the story driven dialogue, the action sequences are among the series' most refined. Only a couple of times does it broach the ridiculous to see Clementine nimbly stave off walkers with any weapon available to her; thankfully, the execution of her self-defense is measured out by inner expressions of loneliness. Indeed, when there is an option to appear externally moodier, it's laced with an innate sorrow of sensing doom always lies ahead. Optimism and pessimism is the perennial choice you are asked to make of the young girl.
Small details and trivia from the first season are indelibly peppered throughout the episode, and once again when Clementine opens up about her past it feels like a heartwrenching recollection for all those who remember. And for those who invested in the narratively intriguing 400 Days last summer, there's a delicious twist for everyone who wondered what became of the characters that chose to leave with Tavia.
What prevents The Walking Dead from achieving perfection? A lack of elaborate gameplay content could just as imaginatively convey Clementine's ongoing development as a dialogue sequence could. A puzzle or two or a segment that focused on logical thinking would stretch out the length of gameplay nicely. Conversely, Clementine can suffer from a graphical lack vivid facial emotion, while other characters sometimes display exaggerated expressions.
These are minor gripes, though. By the time A House Divided closes, the effect splinters like a forceful swift of a baseball bat and the sheer empathy Clementine inspires gains more steam. So for those disappointed with the slow premiere episode, rest assured that the reality of Season Two sets in - and the proverbial shit hits the pan.