The Last of Us **SPOILERS**

[Lint]

If Pedro and Bella don't get an Emmy nom after this episode, then no one deserves one

[Dang117]

Yeah both Pedro and Bella have absolutely smashed this out the park. They both should absolutely be nominated for as many awards as possible 

[Benji]

I'm enjoying the show, but man am I missing so many set pieces involving the infected. They just feel like an utter afterthought and whenever they are around so far they've never really felt like the true horror threat they should be, more just an existential threat of infection. It's a minor gripe, but it's also a big part of why I think as good as this is, I still prefer the games. Different takes though, I'm sure plenty of people will prefer this.

[Your Mom]

No I agree with you. In the games even a single clicker was to be deathly feared and here they kinda seem like the walkers in The Walking Dead. Like they are more a minor annoyance unless there are dozens of them

[Baddar]

I'm sure they'll be shown as more of a threat and we'll get a higher amount of scenes with clickers etc. in season two. It's a valid point though. In the clicker scene early on I felt like I had to be silent too. More of that, please.

[Lint]

Sometimes I can't suspend my disbelief...

Spoiler

When they powered up the mall, my first thought was "All that stuff needs regular maintenance to keep working.  No way it'd still be good 20 years into the Apocalypse".  Hell, my local mall is just dying (it only has 3 open businesses) and all the seals around the skylight are shot with leaks everywhere

 

[tristy]

bruh it's a show about zombies 🤣

[Lint]

58 minutes ago, tristy said:

bruh it's a show about zombies 🤣

Yea, but I have this thing where, sometimes, that " suspension of disbelief" switch never flips in my brain, so I notice that shit

[RPS]

Me and the hubby are almost caught up. We just finished episode 5. 

I think the show is fine. My hubby thinks it's great. I feel a bit like the show is being treated with kids gloves because it's a video game show that is good. 

I think the acting has been hit or miss outside of Joel and Ellie. I also think the script is unnatural and bad at times. I also think that it's being told in very bizarre ways - the whole FEDRA/Henry/Sam plot fell very flat for me. It felt very half baked, which works as a video game but not as a TV show. At times, I feel like the show is leaning into tropes rather than bucking them. Also, maybe it was just me, but I felt like the special effects/green screens were flat out bad 

It is an enjoyable TV show. I think there is a lot interesting experiments with the cinematography.  I think they are playing with perspective and camera angles that I think were heavily borrowed from the game. The performances of Ellie and Joel are extraordinary. I buy into the relationship between the two, even when the dialogue is not great. 

[Baddar]

Another great episode. I remember disliking that mission sequence near the end though. 🤣

[Benji]

Never thought I'd be let down by a bunny not being killed. Such an iconic shot.

[Tigerstyle]

We started watching last night and just watched episode 3 and my fucking god it was beautiful and tragic and wow

[Hellraiser]

What a great adaptation of that section from the game.

Spoiler

I particularly liked that they made it more obvious what David's intentions toward Ellie really were. I thought it was already really obvious in the game that he was a predator, but there are actually people (including Nolan North who voiced David) that are defending him and arguing that him and Joel aren't all that different.

And now we're off to the finale. I'm curious to see how that will play out differently compared to the game. (spoilers for the end of the first game)

Spoiler

Seeing as how they made Joel more vulnerable compared to his game counterpart (and I don't see that as a bad thing) and how they've been condensing the combat sequences of the game for the series, It is very likely that they won't have him take out like 50 heavily armed Firefly soldiers on his way to the operating room.

 

[tristy]

I'm really fine with them removing most of the action that the games had. It's a reverse Walking Dead situation, in that when Joel & Ellie encounter anything or anyone, be it clickers, infected, humans, whatever, it actually FEELS like a potential threat because we haven't spent 8 episodes seeing them absolutely mow down anyone they come into contact with. This show works a whole lot more as a drama instead of an action show first, drama second type thing.

As for Joel in the TV series being more vulnerable... eh, the end destination is still the same, regardless. And we're better for it, because Season 2 is going to be amazing if they can keep this kind of quality up and only change minor things.

But they're approaching an average of 30mil viewers across the season thus far, making it more watched than S7 of GoT and House of the Dragon, and it'll probably skyrocket for the finale, so I'm kind of worried that the success is going to go to someone's head sooner or later and they're going to question the narrative of the games from here on because, y'know, cash cow. 

I hope not, though. Part 2 deserves to be told, in full, the way it was written originally (maybe with minor things changed, but largely untouched IE major plot points).

12 hours ago, Benji said:

Never thought I'd be let down by a bunny not being killed. Such an iconic shot.

Along the same lines - I'm not upset that they didn't do the video game's version of Joel & Ellie in the burning building, but I think it would have been better than what we got. Either way though, we got what we needed I guess.

[Baddar]

I was expecting a 60-80min blowoff to the season but I've just read that episode 9 will be the shortest of the lot at 46mins. 

[tristy]

27 minutes ago, Baddar said:

I was expecting a 60-80min blowoff to the season but I've just read that episode 9 will be the shortest of the lot at 46mins. 

That’s including the recap, intro, advertising for HBO shows and the end credits too. Probably a season wide BTS afterwards, too.

You’re probably looking at like 37 minutes of actual show.

Edited March 9, 2023 by tristy

[fourstarfizzle]

Spoiler

With a runtime that short, I have a feeling the finale will end with Joel discovering what the Fireflies plan to do to Ellie and then the first episode of season 2 will be Joel fighting his way to the surgery. Cliffhanger ending for S1 and all that.

 

[Hellraiser]

That would be bullshit. I hope they don't do that.

[Benji]

Pretty sure that won't happen as they want to end it at the exact same point as the games.

Regards to runtime, what is there to show?

Spoiler

That section of the game minus Joel massacring the Fireflies is very short. You have the giraffe, Ellie knocked out, some chat with Marlene, mass genocide of fireflies, then Joel saving Ellie and the closing scenes. It doesn't take that much time.

My one concern is another spoiler I read that they confirm 100% that the cure will work. For me that takes away a lot of nuance over Joel's decision and makes it a much less interesting dilemma and leaves too little down to the viewer/player to decide if what he did is right or wrong.

 

[tristy]

3 hours ago, Benji said:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

That section of the game minus Joel massacring the Fireflies is very short. You have the giraffe, Ellie knocked out, some chat with Marlene, mass genocide of fireflies, then Joel saving Ellie and the closing scenes. It doesn't take that much time.

My one concern is another spoiler I read that they confirm 100% that the cure will work. For me that takes away a lot of nuance over Joel's decision and makes it a much less interesting dilemma and leaves too little down to the viewer/player to decide if what he did is right or wrong.

 

Spoiler

I think the game's ending is a cop out, personally. It leaves doubt about the cure, so players can justify Joel's actions by pointing at the fact that it might not have worked.

I've heard this rumor too, and I'm good with it. It gets right to the central question, and puts the cure reasoning to the side. It's a sure thing, they can make it (but let's not talk about distribution...), but the real question was always "would you sacrifice someone you care about to save everyone else?".

As long as they have Joel lie to Ellie after all of it and tell her they couldn't do it, we're good IMO. That's a key piece of Part 2. The doctors never got Ellie's consent, sure, but neither did Joel, and Part 2 shows she wanted to sacrifice herself because she's of the opinion that it would have made her life matter. And Joel took that away, because he doesn't want to lose someone else.

Goddamnit Part 2 is so fucking good.