Last of Us on HBO

[Kirby101]

First episode was tonight. I thought the first half was intense and excellent. The second half was very grim, maybe too much so. But it looks like it's as good as the reviews say.
There is a strong Walking Dead vibe.

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[Kirby101]

BTW. 21 pages of discussing Velma, and I couldn't find a thread for this. Sometimes CBR is strange

[inisideguy]

LOL that's the truth.

[Anthony W]

BTW. 21 pages of discussing Velma, and I couldn't find a thread for this. Sometimes CBR is strange

The problem is no matter how well done TLOU is it's still....just another zombie show. Pop culture has always been awash in zombies but the last twenty years have been especially intense. So much so that it dwarfed vampire and werewolf stuff. Everything from our movies to our shows to our videogames (where TLOU came from) have been suffering from zombie overload.

Yes, the zombies are slightly different and are called something else....but let's be real they are zombies. It also has a sassy kid in it and you know how much viewers love sassy kids in a post apocalyptic environment (THEY DON'T) where they need an adult to look out for them. So even if the show manages to climb that mountain of apathy it runs right smack dab into season two like a golf club slamming upside someone's head.

[Robotman]

I really enjoyed the first episode. Pedro Pascal was great as usual.

I love the parts in zombie movies/tv shows where people are going about their daily lives and you can see hints of the world starting to collapse around them.

The scene with the old lady zombie was pretty creepy but it also had a zombie trope that bugs me. Zombies seemingly getting super strength. yeah she’s now controlled by the fungus and is attacking everyone around her but she still has the atrophied weak old lady body. She shouldn’t be able to overpower anyone. Unless the fungus builds up the hosts muscles when it infects them.

The Walking Dead was guilty of this on a few occasions. The zombie that killed Dale was a withered husk but was somehow able to gut him/tear him apart with its bare hands.

Besides that nitpick it was a really great start for the series and I’m looking forward to what’s in store.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

To discuss a few things ...


SPOILERS....

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- HBO Max as an app was a complete mess. Minutes before the show began I'd click the Last of Us to watch. At least the trailer perhaps to air. Instead the app sent me twice to Velma's 1st episode. Like some desperate crazy attempt to direct people to it.

Then once the show began at 9pm the app went stupid. It froze on my Roku in a loading screen. Then I got it on my PS5 and would suddenly freeze within minutes. I constantly in that hour and 20 minutes had to exit out and restart the scene it froze on. Least it didn't direct me to Velma again lol.


- In the Last of Us game we really don't see much of Sarah (Joel's daughter). In the opening she wakes up in her home and discovers her dad returning with them having to run with Tommy etc. In this we get a bit of a nice lead in as we see how much Joel loved his daughter and how she loved him to get his watch fixed. We see...warning signs. Like glimpses of signs ala Fear the Walking Dead things aren't right which is a nice touch.

Unlike Fear that bores you with a slow....slow opening episode with really it only picking up at the end ; in 25-30 minutes ...ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE. Like the game you see the same exact moments with Tommy , Joel and Sarah in the pickup truck and the moment poor Joel's heart breaks.



- An interesting side note , unlike in the game where it takes place in 2013 during the Barack Obama Presidency , Last of Us takes place in 2003 to start. We see George W Bush's picture in school. It flashes forward 20 years later.


- There are some differences in this one as we see more people involved. In the game Joel and Tommy aren't as close even as brothers. In the series Joel is worried about not hearing from his brother and was getting things ready to go look for him in Wyoming. Its just he's saddled with Ellie and takes this as a chance to go look for Tommy.


- The clickers (or infected) aren't as explored yet in Episode 1. We only see the 1st of the infected acting like Zombies. But we get a glimpse of the END STAGE. But the fungus , once it takes hold turns the people into something...NOT HUMAN.


- Pascal's weary face and more makes the show. Its very wild he has 2 hot streaming shows right now. And both are radically different but this one has his face shown fully.


- HBO missed out back 15 years ago on the Walking Dead when Kirkman went to AMC. The channel lost out on the millions of dollars in revenue that made AMC. With this , they may have their shot now at that series that can run for a number of years and do spin-offs in this world of Last of Us. That 1st episode was really darn good.

[Beantownbrown]

BTW. 21 pages of discussing Velma, and I couldn't find a thread for this. Sometimes CBR is strange

It's here

https://community.cbr.com/showthread...t-of-Us-on-HBO

[Anthony W]

- HBO missed out back 15 years ago on the Walking Dead when Kirkman went to AMC. The channel lost out on the millions of dollars in revenue that made AMC. With this , they may have their shot now at that series that can run for a number of years and do spin-offs in this world of Last of Us. That 1st episode was really darn good.

Provided that the potential audience doesn't need a break and still has an appetite for stuff focusing on zombie outbreaks in a post apocalyptic world. That could be a big ask.

[Frobisher]

I love the games but not really interested in zombie TV. The genre was massively over-saturated, and I'd rather play the game (unless it gets amazing reviews).

[The Cool Thatguy]

The problem is no matter how well done TLOU is it's still....just another zombie show. Pop culture has always been awash in zombies but the last twenty years have been especially intense. So much so that it dwarfed vampire and werewolf stuff. Everything from our movies to our shows to our videogames (where TLOU came from) have been suffering from zombie overload.

Yes, the zombies are slightly different and are called something else....but let's be real they are zombies. It also has a sassy kid in it and you know how much viewers love sassy kids in a post apocalyptic environment (THEY DON'T) where they need an adult to look out for them. So even if the show manages to climb that mountain of apathy it runs right smack dab into season two like a golf club slamming upside someone's head.

Outside of the AMC Walking Dead shows, how many serious zombie shows are there? Resident Evil was the only one I remember recently, and it went the way of the Dodo

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Due to the demand of the show HBO Max servers had issues...

https://www.google.com/amp/s/comicbo...ax-down-error/

[Kirby101]

It's here

https://community.cbr.com/showthread...t-of-Us-on-HBO

Thanks, the CBR Search box sucks eggs.
The Mods can combine if they want.

And I see people were to busy complaining about Velma to respond.

[Kirby101]

The girl
spoilers:

We are they so coy about why she is special? The resistance leader tells her off camera, she doesn't tell Joel. It is more than obvious that she is immune to the fungus and the hope of humanity.

end of spoilers

[Frobisher]

Thanks, the CBR Search box sucks eggs.
The Mods can combine if they want.

And I see people were to busy complaining about Velma to respond.

Honestly would never have called that anyone cared that much about Scooby Doo. Where's the love for Captain Caveman?

[Moon Ronin]

After the last video game to film adaptation "cough, cough" HALO, I really went in to this with low expiations and was totally surprised. The first episode was great and it seemed that the show runners really had an interest in the source material. Great cast and and the acting (it was good to see that they brought in some of the voice actors from the game) along with the writing and used the same composer for the music. I see this as a show that I look forward to each week.