Ok so I've been watching a streamer I like play TWDG Season one for the first time in like 2 years or so and I really remember disliking Larry and Lilly a lot more than I do now. And I'm watching the stream after it was edited down so maybe I missed some context but I don't think Larry's AS bad as I remembered him and I genuinely kinda feel for Lilly rn.
Like I remember thinking Larry was just some racist asshat (and again maybe he is, I don't remember much and I might be missing out on some clips that give more credence to that) and like it's not cool that he punched us and tried to leave us for dead in the pharmacy after we went through all that trouble to save him and get him his meds, but the reason he GIVES us for not trusting us and wanting us to stay away from Lilly is that he knows what we did before the walkers invaded and honestly?? If I found out this person everyone else was kinda getting along with during a really vulnerable time was the same guy I saw in the news for killing his wife and a senator, I would be pretty distrustful as well. And genuinely, even though I still didn't like him, I always thought helping him was the right thing to do as far back as my first playthrough because I sympathized with him. Being seen as a liability during a time where you're especially susceptible to just dropping dead at any moment because of a disability or medical problem you can't control has gotta be really scary and I really don't think anyone deserves to be treated like that.
As for Lilly, she's really not that bad in season 1. I'm only partway through episode 2 right now but she was just looking out for her dad in episode one and in episode 2, she's just really stressed with having to feed a whole compound of people. The argument with her and Kenny I really could go either way, because yeah. They did put her in charge of the food. They were fine with her distributing it. It's not a matter of power tripping with her, it's that for the past 3 months, she's had this one specific responsibility. She's not "in charge" of the group, but she does take initiative a lot and is kind of assertive about her opinions on how things should go. And she was right to be mad about bringing in more mouths to feed unprompted! Do I think she could've handled it better? Yeah. Do I think that it was reasonable to have that visceral of a reaction after they brought in more people when she was already stressed about food? Yeah. Do I think that they probably should have assured her more that they weren't there to stay and they were just gonna patch the guy up and go from there? Yeah. Do I think they had TIME to do that? Do I think that would've been realistic? Absolutely the fuck not! I also agree with Larry, that she shouldn't just run the place, but she doesn't?? She really doesn't. Again, she might be more assertive about her opinions, but there's nothing to show us that she WAS acting like a dictator. And she gives away what little "power" she has VERY willingly and without prompting to Lee just to try to put the player in her shoes. That was honestly just Kenny being stressed too and it kinda warping his perspective of the situation, which I can respect, he's only looking out for his family after all.
Really I've only seen this sorta outright hate for them both in fandom spaces, and I think it's mostly to do with the fact Larry's an old white guy from the south (which it might be reasonable to assume he's racist at first because of the way he acts towards us but y'know. Like I said earlier.) and Lilly's just as grumpy and aggressive as Larry is and directly opposes Kenny several times (most people's favorite character) so I think a lot of people who outright despise them just miss a lot of subtext. Lilly was never meant to be hated, she was just kind of rude and stressed, and Larry is. Well, Larry. To be fair, he IS really annoying and definitely a fucking conservative. And ultimately, I will always side with Kenny and the rest of the group, but I really think the hate they both get is just a LITTLE overblown.
