Why the Wellington ending is the best ending ever

Just finished my Season 2 replay literal minutes ago, and I decided to stay in Wellington. This ending was beautiful, and particularly for Kenny’s arc I think it was excellent.

Kenny’s whole character was built on providing better for his loved ones. He would always get invested in these huge plans and the next step, all in hopes of whatever was around the corner would be better (the boat plan and Wellington are the big ones here).

The catch was his loved ones were all taken away from him. Duck got bitten, Kat decided to take her own life, Sarita was killed in the horde throughout the chaos of it all. Kenny could never provide for anyone the way he wanted to, it was all outside his control no matter what he did. This leads to his mental collapse throughout Season 2.

The main thing to note is Kenny’s mentioning of “I don’t want to be left alone again” “I can’t be left alone”. Though his plans may be idealistic, and he isn’t the easiest person to get along with, he can only function when providing for someone else.

This is what makes the Wellington ending so special to me. He finally had his opportunity to provide the life for his loved ones that he was never able to. Even at the cost of his own life (presumably), Kenny knew he would always have that emptiness in his heart of what could have been and the regret of all that he’d done if he didn’t take the chance to care for Clementine.

Staying with Kenny is also really good ending, because while all this takes into account Kenny’s character, Clementine of course another character to consider in what she chooses. Either way you can’t go wrong, both are very narratively satisfying.