Mike Appreciation

Everywhere I look now, I see people hating on Mike. Yet so many people still love Kenny. I understand what Mike did.

I just have a question for Mike haters. Do you hate/blame Clem and her group for escaping Howe's Hardware and causing it's downfall with their escape plan? I'm going to assume no. But by your logic, you should. The situation is not that different after all. Why did the group escape? Because Carver was crazy and dangerous. Why did Mike (and Bonnie, if alive) escaped? Because Kenny was crazy and dangerous. Clem wasn't like that, Jane wasn't like that, I know. But guess what? Not everyone in Carver's community was like that, too. We know that Vince, Wyatt, Russell, Shel and Becca weren't evil, yet they decided to stay at Howe's, if Tavia brought them along. I'm sure there were tons of other good folks over there, as well. The group caused possible death of every one of those people. We'll never know how many children died because of the group.

Now, let's look at what Mike was doing in episodes 3 and 4. We don't get to know him on the first day. Kenny is probably the first person to interact with Mike, during work. And Kenny what Kenny did? He attacked Mike, even though he was only trying to help Ken. Not a good first impression. But after that, we see Mike helping the group out. He didn't owe them anything, he just decided to escape with them and help however he can. Without him, there would be problems with even lifting Clem up. Then, Mike offers to risk his skin to deliver the radio. And Kenny just says he doesn't trust him with it and gives it to Clem. Yeah, Mike's confidence was surely boosted by learning they still don't trust him.

Even after all his bad experiences with Kenny, he seems glad to see Ken getting up after being beaten by Carver (You are one tough bastard") He boosts Clem again and escapes with the group. Then, in the herd, while Kenny is broken up over Sarita's body, Mike covers him from the walkers all the time. If Clem doesn't manage to convince Kenny to leave, Mike possibly saves Kenny's life by getting Ken to run away with him.

After Clem reaches Parker's run, we see him being worried about everyone else. And again, we learn that he tried to talked to Kenny, calm him down. And all Kenny did was fucking threaten Mike, to the point he made Mike think he was going to shot him. Seriously, Kenny treated Mike like shit for most of the game. Mike then is worried about the group's situation and wants to figure out a plan. After Clem and Jane get back with Luke and (possibly)Sarah, Mike is happy to see them. Let's say we go to the museum first. Mike is talking all the time that he wants to help out and doesn't want to go back empty handed. (Let's ignore the part of him not noticing the water, it's just how things work in this game. Same, with for example, Carlos and Sarita leaving turning the turbine off to Clem.) He also saves, Bonnie or Clem's life and takes both bottle's of water himself.

Later, at Parker's run, we see that he was exhausted by caring those water bottles. But he did it, because he wanted to help out. Before leaving for observation deck, we might talk to Luke about Mike. Clem says "He thinks we don't like him." No shit, the group doesn't treat him too well since he joined. Mostly Kenny, that is. And what does Luke say? That Mike wants acceptance too soon and that he hasn't earned it yet. Yeah, the same Luke that was protecting Jane in arguments all the time, even though she joind at the same time Mike did.  Yeah, Jane really "helped" Luke, that was enough. Later, Mike can help Kenny out with fighting the walkers, and even pulls him back, once he sees the walkers are too close.


Now, episode 5, the part that made people hate Mike, who was basically flawless up to that point (Unless you count being a dick, while he's tired as a big flaw. But that can be said about most people.) He protects Arvo from Kenny all the time, and sees that Kenny is losing it. I can't blame him for trying to keep humanity. Kenny doesn't get any nicer to Mike, in return. They both are at odds throughout the episode.  After Luke's death (RIP, Luke), he possibly stops Ken from beating up a defensless man. Where do I remeber that from? Carver in episode 3, maybe? At this point, it's clear that Mike has enough of Kenny's bullshit.

And there is that scene. Mike, Arvo and determinantly Bonnie decide to escape. I'm going to go back to what I said at the beggining of this post. They wanted to escape from kenny, who, as Jane said in the truck, was a ticking bomb. At any moment, he could just snap and become completely like Carver. As I said, ken treated Mike like shit ever since they met, anyway. They also leave Clem, Jane and AJ, that's true. But they know damn well that Jane is a loner that can take of herself very well. The baby was probably with Kenny during the night, they couldn't just take it. Even if they did, so what? They didn't steal the baby formula. AJ has as big chances with Kenny, as he did with them.

I can understand why people cna be upset about them wanting to leave Clem. I mean, if Clem asks to go with them, Mike says that she can. Arvo is a fucker that messes everything up, but that's another story. Why didn't they ask Clem earlier? I think I know why. The entire season, we don't have to agree with Kenny, but there are many occasions where, no matter what, Clem is acting very firendly towards Ken. Like, when he gets up after being beaten up, Clem is always very happy to see he's alright. She always tried to talk to him after Sarita's death. And I'm pretty sure Mike knew the two of them knew each other for a very long time know. I think he jsut figured that Clem wouldn't want to leave Ken. And they would be busted, if she informed him about their plan.

After Clem got shot, Mike runs away. While it's not nice of him, we know what Kenny would do if they stayed. He would kill both Mike and Arvo. Maybe even Bonnie, if she was alive at this point. And you know what? They were right about leaving. Kenny snapped. If we won't stop him, he murdereds Jane for making a MISTAKE. Yeah, it turns out it wasn't an accident, but Kenny didn't know that. For all he knew, Jane was just attacked by walkers, fell and lost the baby. And Ken kills her for that. Again, who was the last person mudering others for such mistakes? CARVER. Mike and the others run, because they realised what would happen if they wouldn't.

By that you mean, not asking her to come with them, or leaving her after she gets shot? If the latter, you know damn well what Kenny would do to them if they stayed. Two or three more dead people wouldn't help Clem. If you're talking about leaving Kenny without Clem. I said it already, they realized she most likely wouldn't want to come. And guess what? 75% of people didn't want to. Imagine them talking to Clem bout it a few hours earlier and Clem disagreeing. If she knew they were going to leave them with supplies, she would tell Kenny about it. Then, Kenny'd get in his rage state, kill or beat them up, preventing them from escaping.