Episode 4 – Who Needs You ended with one of the most shameless, manipulative plot developments I’ve ever seen from Telltale -- and I’ve seen quite a few of them. Regardless of how you approached the "big choice" near the end, most of the Guardians of the Galaxy have abandoned Star-Lord. Narratively speaking, their reasons for doing so are either complete and utter nonsense or due to some whiplash-inducing breaking of character. But the real reason for this predicament is that, for some reason, the writers felt like they needed to hit this plot point. It’s obvious and unnatural; just incredibly poor storytelling from every angle.
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series: Episode 5 – Don’t Stop Believin’ sees all of this stupidity conveniently resolved in its opening chapters, rendering
Episode 4 a pointless, time-wasting moneysink for all involved parties. Part of me is still marveling at just how bad it makes the game look, but the rest of me is just relieved that the writers didn’t actually try to run with it.
So getting the Guardians back together is of paramount importance, and doing so is a two-part mission. First, Peter has to find them, and with the help of Mantis (of course, she wasn’t gone for long), he does exactly that. You’d think the second part -- actually convincing them to return -- would be a bit trickier; but thanks to some mnemonic intervention from Groot (unquestionably the heart of this dysfunctional family), they all get a reminder of exactly why they need each other. Perhaps it would be too much to expect a more character-focused flashback from the Milano’s resident Flora Colossus, but it features a couple of solid gags, some obvious, others not so much.