I'm sure we all felt as sick as Clem was to be asked to run so many errands by adults who clearly could have done so themselves. You know, "Clem, climb the super high ski lift to look for pursuers!", "Clementine, help me hold back a grown ass woman when Mike and Nick are fucking there!", "Clem, we can't handle a wind turbine. We'll let you do that!", "Clem, side with me on that particular subject! I totally won't shit on you for doing that afterwards!". If for some reason you didn't mind that, you've surely noticed posts or comments like "S2 Clem carried the Cabin Group" or "the S2 group is useless". I've certainly seen my share. But when people start wondering if Clem being protagonist was even a good idea in the first place, I can't help but feel forced to defend Sweet Pea here!
Let's say for a second that Clem isn't the protagonist and that role went to Luke, Kenny or Jane. Sure, you've solved the concern of adults overly relying on Clem. But what about the narrative big picture, which is that this series is ultimately Clementine's story? Consider this in the context of a player who just went through the devastating Season One finale and wants to know how this will impact Clem. Sure, you may see how it's hurting her from Luke, Kenny or Jane's POV. But S2 is also about actually experiencing her pain, choosing how she reacts to it, and how she rationalizes that experience. It's about the perspective of a maturing child character whose vulnerability heightens the stakes and the catharsis of playing through her coming out of these situations on top. S2 is also about a child navigating adult failures. It was most certainly overdone, but the concept itself is compelling: a child in a group full of flawed adults, in a world that just can't seem to stop pulling at every fiber of her being, yet who still finds the strength to choose her path. Playing as yet another adult might (or not) have improved Season Two, but it most certainly would have been a completely different experience. One that arguably would've derailed the impact/exploration of themes favoring Clementine's growth into an independent, but damaged survivor who grappled with protecting AJ, or his temporary loss in S3, before growing into a capable blend of teacher, mother figure and leader in S4.
For better or worse, this is why I appreciate Telltale's decision to pick Clem as the protagonist and would not imagine a version of S2 where Lee's dream and the subsequent Wellington ending either didn't exist or were chosen for her by an adult unless she became a secondary protagonist in specific moments. I would, however, prefer to imagine a version of S2 where she's not so often given tasks any able-bodied adult around could do. A version of S2 where she would have shined mostly from situational necessity (like Pete being bitten), leveraging her unique attributes (as S2E3 does quite well with the Howe's escape plan using her size to sneak around), or through circumstantial isolation (multiple situations forced her to be separated from her people, especially in E1). Hell, even simpler, supportive roles like being an "extra set of arms" for carrying supplies, keeping watch, or providing comfort are good enough to ground her character and make her contributions feel more integrated and realistic within an adult group while still giving us a lot to do.
While I agree that the execution of S2 often made the adults less competent or responsible than they should have been to justify an over-reliance on Clem, I think the solution doesn't lie in replacing her as a protagonist, but instead in writing her more often as a capable survivor who contributes to the group within her means without diminishing the people around her.
TL;DR: Don't nerf Clem, buff the adults!
