SJ Longthorne

It bothers me so much that AJ, a SIX YEAR OLD, is more mature than nine year old Daniel. Could just be the fact that AJ was born in the apocalypse tho.

If anything it just makes me like AJ and dislike Daniel. But I think you’re right re: apocalypse, and they do address that fact and talk about how he’s not had a childhood. You see his age come through in smaller beats, like his unwillingness to share toys (when he has them).

Whereas Daniel has been able to be a kid, and as Sean notes, he’s kind of spoiled (completely opposite to AJ). AJ has it rough from the start, but Daniel had it thrust upon him suddenly, and he’s struggling to cope. He’s rankled by Sean’s wariness and distrust, too.

Whereas Clem trusts AJ, at least up until the end of episode one, and a key theme seems to be that trust is empowering and can bring out positive change in people. Sean denying Daniel his trust is having the opposite effect.

That is true. And as seen at the start of Eps. 1 and 3, Sean is actually unreasonably mean to Daniel that makes me sympathize with his outbursts towards Sean. I am fond of Daniel's character development so far, but I'm waiting until ends to see if he's more fleshed out than AJ.

I’ve actually found it pretty frustrating that my only options are overwhelmingly to be a dick to Daniel. It makes a lot of the choices feel pointless, though I guess in TWD the distrust is more external, and Clem can be a source of refuge, if the player wishes.