Second episode blew the first one out of the water. SO GOOD.
Kinda wasn't wild about the idea of a time skip when I finished the first episode, but I've read the first compendium of the comics since then, and I was glad to see them keeping pace (plus, it's better to get a change in scenery/setting some).
I started out pretty poorly, but it helped get me into the swing of things. I spent too much time trying to avoid flat-out cutting the guy's leg off, and (before I could throw the final swing), everyone told me we had to leave. I'm part of that tiny, tiny percentage of people that didn't cut his leg off. Ended up having to leave him to die. Made me want to restart so badly, but I decided to go with it, because it's more fun living with the consequences.
The other teen coming to life scared the crap out of me, since I was not expecting any kind of interruption in the conversation. Luckily, I had given Mark the axe, and he tried helping out. Tried being the key word. Excellent stuff. I really love when things like that happen. : )
When it came to handing out food, I chose Clementine, Larry, Mark, and Lily. Clem, well, because she's awesome and I've gotta watch out for her. Larry and Mark I gave food to because they were working/doing all sorts of stuff to watch the group with the fence and hunting. I tried giving food to Carley, but she told me she would go without, so I gave food to Lily, since she was spending so much time looking out (and she looked kinda haggard).
I made sure to avoid giving too specific of information to the brothers on the way there. I didn't really trust them (glad now), and I figured it would be best to play it as vague as possible. Fixed the swing, and had one heck of a time trying to avoid getting arrowed. That was pretty unexpected, and it took me a moment to get my bearings when things hit the fan. Poor Mark. : (
The campsite scene was pretty sad, since it was obvious something had happened to the kid, and that mother was only trying to protect her kid. Danny just had to be a jerk and kill her. I was honestly surprised at the video on the camera at the end, since Danny acted so relieved to know the batteries were dead. I figured it would play more into the Dairy Farm stuff, but whatever.
I'd been trying my best to not get on a side up to this point, but Kenny just seemed to be losing his cool too often. Lily, while still hard on others, at least seemed to be thinking more rationally. I'd been kind of edging my way towards her and Larry, despite my prior conversations. Regardless, Kenny was still willing to help me out in distracting Andy (well, in suggestions at least), and the moment I got caught opening the back room... yeah. I tried to play dumb and blamed it on his brother.
OH MAN, EVERYTHING GOT SO CRAZY AFTER THAT.
I knew something was up, but I wasn't exactly sure what it was going to be. I couldn't recall anybody eating another human in the comics at where I had read to, so I was rather surprised it was possible. Managed to get downstairs in time to keep Clem from ever eating any of it, and it was agonizing how long they let the brothers just continue on like everything was okay.
I tried calming Larry down, but there was no option. With him yelling, I figured he'd be in a really prime position for a heart attack (surprise). I tried my best to help Lily out, but Kenny saw to stopping that as soon as he could. What the heck, Kenny? You could have trusted me a little, geez. Sending Clementine through the vent was probably one of the most stressful things I'd done up to that point, since I had no idea what was on the other side. Glad it worked out, haha.
Oh, look, Kenny acting stupid again. Why did I side with you back in episode one? Man, dude, calm down or everything is screwed. I ended up taking the taser, and DANG WAS THE BARN TENSE. I died, unfortunately, since I didn't know how to react before Danny pulled the trigger on me. I didn't kill him, but Kenny didn't help me. Thank God, I'd been getting on better terms with Lily, since she saved my bacon. Carley and Ben showed up afterwards, and I told them we needed their help.
I was sad that there wasn't any (apparent) way to stop Brenda without her dying, but I'm glad I managed to rescue Katja. I figured that'd get me some points with Kenny, but I GUESS NOT. The fight against Andy was pretty intense, but I kind of ruined the part where he was trying to shove my face up to the fence. I was too good at pressing the Q button, and I kept it going for what must have been nearly a minute and a half. I figured I must have missed a prompt before, and I was just going to let myself die. Then Lily saved the day. THANKS AGAIN, LILY.
Didn't kill Andy. Just walked away. That music accompanied with the scene as we walked away was really sad. I know they were awful people, but it was still sad to know what would probably happen to them all.
Kenny is still mad at me, and Clem and I didn't agree with taking the supplies. I was a little disappointed that the hook for episode 3 wasn't nearly as strong as 1->2, but 2 was so good that I don't really care. I can't wait to see what all is in store for episode 3. : )
edit: I'm definitely agreeing with some of the GOTY sentiment in here. Assuming they can get it all done within 2012, haha
I'm really, really enjoying the story, setting, characters, and the great stuff to the gameplay that TellTale has going here. Just fantastic all around.
edit2: *sigh* freaking pc problems.
I have all of my saves still, but the game is acting as though I've still not played episode 2 yet. I was going to go grab a picture of my stats, but OH WELL.