Last of Us on HBO

[Maestro 216]

Something that's been bothering me about the discourse of this show is how many people clearly don't know what filler is. All the small and day to day moments are necessary. If we are expect to care about this characters and what happens to them then we need to see them. Bill and Frank story which I see often called filler is important to the overall story as we need to understand how the people in this world operate. Seeing their story makes me understand why Joel is more worried about encountering other survivors than the injected. How scarce resources actually are that something as simple as a strawberry is precious. I doubt any of the major dramatic moments will we get later will have the same effect if those moments and stories didn't exist

Sadly "certain" people saw Bill's story as a blight on the show simply for even having their relationship be gay. You should know who I mean by that...

[Immortal Weapon]

Oh yeah. It could be.

spoilers:

I don't know the game, so Oh **** the creatures who came up from the ground!

end of spoilers

Also

spoilers:

I don't know the game, so I thought they were setting her up to be a major villain. They dispatch characters pretty quickly in this.

end of spoilers

spoilers:

In the game all those creatures were the ones you fight when going through the tunnels. They definitely weren't empty in the game. The huge one is a bloater. It's among the oldest of the infected and the fungus covering it acts as body armor. As you saw they are absolute brutes.

end of spoilers

While it was brief I'm glad that ish underground city made it into the show. I'm hoping Ish would get a Bill and Frank type episode as his story is amazing.

spoilers:

The show managed to make Henry and Sam story when more tragic. In the game, the characters discover Sam bite sooner after arriving at the hotel and Joel needed to convince Henry that his brother is beyond saving. Henry kills him before Sam can turn and then kills himself. Ellie trying to save Sam with her blood and having still turn and forcing Henry's hand was better imo. Ellie's part in particular.

end of spoilers

[OpaqueGiraffe17]

Bella Ramsay killed it this episode, that little screen at the end when it all went down, damn! Never played the games but the zombies in this show are terrifying! it helps that they aren't used much and are way harder to kill than those in Walking dead. Actually weird that TLOU still has an infrastructure and a government with their terrifying fungus zombies. But in TWD, with their slow weak zombies theres just scraps left of civilization.

[ChrisIII]

The Walking Dead zombies can multiply much faster. Everybody is infected in that universe-if they die but most of the brain is intact they will become a zombie no matter what. The bites simply accelerate the process as they're poisonous (although as we see with some characters they can be saved if it's on a limb that can be quickly amputated). TLOU ones are a bit more old fashioned with bites although the game ones used airborne spores.

[ChrisIII]

BTW Kathleen's faction here is somewhat similar to the WLF from the second game although without the war with a cult. Maybe foreshadowing a bit?

[Immortal Weapon]

Kansas City is a ways off from Washington. I think the show should have kept Kathleen's faction raiders. I guess that won't gel with the backstory given for Henry.

[ChrisIII]

The similarity is that both kicked FEDRA out of their cities, although Kathleen is coup seemed to be more swift and bloody while TLOU 2's seemed more gradual (with several defectors). I kind of wonder if Jeffrey Wright might be available should WLF come in season 2. Worked with the Marlene actress...

[j9ac9k]

Watching this again, I think Ellie's final message to Sam, "I'm sorry" is a callback to Ellie refusing to apologize to Joel the previous episode. She said then she felt no need to apologize for something that wasn't her fault. But changing Sam from the game to be younger, and throughout the episode we see Ellie take on the "protector" role akin to Joel and Bill, but she failed. So now she's on a road to becoming as closed off as Joel.(ironically, just as he's starting to open up)

Also, let's acknowledge that the "grizzled, violent older man positioned to mentoring a teenage girl" thing has been Wolverine's schtick since he met Kitty Pryde ... what, 40 years ago?

[ChrisIII]

Logan did get a lot of comparisons to TLOU-the game, naturally- when it came out. Fans even wanted Jackman to play Joel.As for game Joel Troy Baker, the man has been in a ton of Marvel and DC animated and video game projects...but never played Wolverine.

[Immortal Weapon]

The chemistry between the cast is insane. I notice so many small things like how happy Ellie got when Joel told her to draw her gun when entering the tunnels (I'm disappointed he didn't say anything when Ellie pull the gun out of her pocket instead of pack like he instructed her to do). Ellie understands Joel so well she can tell Henry exactly how he will react. Joel talk with Henry in the daycare.

[Amadeus Arkham]

This show is definitely up there with Arcane as far as being the best adaption of a game ever but at the same time I think while it’s a good show I do wonder if I would enjoy it infinitely more if I wasn’t familiar with the games and didn’t know what was coming. There’s still some surprises for game fans like me, of course, but I still do think the experience would be more exhilarating if I was coming into this blind.

[Robotman]

They said they got Terry Notary, the movement coach who worked on Planet of the Apes, to work with the zombie actors in this episode and it really shows. The frantic almost insect-like movements when poring out of the tunnel was super creepy. And of course the little contortionist kid, yeesh.

Sadly "certain" people saw Bill's story as a blight on the show simply for even having their relationship be gay. You should know who I mean by that...

Certain people are offended by animated M&Ms and just need something to be pissed off/outraged about.

[j9ac9k]

This show is definitely up there with Arcane as far as being the best adaption of a game ever but at the same time I think while it’s a good show I do wonder if I would enjoy it infinitely more if I wasn’t familiar with the games and didn’t know what was coming. There’s still some surprises for game fans like me, of course, but I still do think the experience would be more exhilarating if I was coming into this blind.

I don't doubt that it's a give and take - some moments won't come as a surprise, but then others are a shock because they departed from the game, or they intentionally played with gamers' expectations. Then there's also the excitement of seeing something from the game make it into the show, like when they speak the exact lines or flesh out characters you're already familiar with, etc.

[Amadeus Arkham]

I don't doubt that it's a give and take - some moments won't come as a surprise, but then others are a shock because they departed from the game, or they intentionally played with gamers' expectations. Then there's also the excitement of seeing something from the game make it into the show, like when they speak the exact lines or flesh out characters you're already familiar with, etc.

I can see where you’re coming from but that isn’t me. I feel real no excitement when they recreate something from the game in live action. I at most get a, “ah! I understood that reference!” feeling. It’s a well made show, no question, but I do think the show would land a little better for me if I was coming into the property fresh no prior knowledge of the events it’s adapting.

[Bunch of Coconuts]

I intentionally read spoilers for shows, games, movies, etc. and don't feel that I've ever been disappointed having that info beforehand. To me, it helps enhance the experience.

One's mileage may vary, though.