The Last of Us

[Sharkonabicycle]

lol

Not sure I've ever seen a serious show based on existing and established IP devolve into 14 year old autistic fan fiction as fast as this one.

You could legit just skip this episode and miss nothing. Guess they gotta make the 20 year old female demographic happy though.

Yah it was a little weird. Like, I don't mind a little backstory but Jesus at some point I was getting lost in the timeline. I thought it was 20 years since the infection but they only fast forwarded 10 years in the relationship between these guys? I was confused once Joel/Ellie showed up, the food not being completely rotten, etc. Like, "Hasn't it been 10 years since they died?" No apparently it was convenient that they died just days prior... I dunno...

Show went WAAAAAAAAAAAY over complicated with this one, and I fear it's in an effort to stretch the series out for monetary purposes. I mean there were numerous parts where it was like, "OKAY SERIOUSLY, WE GET IT, THEY'RE GAY - I have no problem with that and understand companionship in an apocalypse is important! Could you please just bone him and fast forward to the main part of the story?!" The train kind of de-railed with this episode. Really hoping they get back on track with episode 4 because this was a failure IMO.

This was the first episode with just Ellie and Joel together.. it should've been focused on that dynamic and developing those characters and their interaction together... not 75% of the episode devoted to two characters I really don't give a fuck about. This was really your episode to hook viewers in with the Joel/Ellie dynamic that the game did so well... and IMO they fucked it up. I'm not sure if this is Hollyweird with their LGBTQ movement bullshit or something else, but woof.

 

[Sparhawk]

Poignant episode.

As smart as Bill was with the setup and the traps, why in the wide, wide, world of sports did he take a position of no cover when shooting at the raiders? Should have had a snipers nest with heavy protection around him.

Other than that, the connections and continuity were strong.

 

[Cave_Johnson]

Poignant episode.

As smart as Bill was with the setup and the traps, why in the wide, wide, world of sports did he take a position of no cover when shooting at the raiders? Should have had a snipers nest with heavy protection around him.

Other than that, the connections and continuity were strong.

This was the other issue I had with this episode. It's one thing to have 90% of the episode be bad fan fiction that can be completely skipped over without missing anything. It's quite another for it to be bad fan fiction that makes no sense.

Dude runs out in the middle of the street with a rifle. That's a bad way to stabilize your aim and a good way to get shot. And man, even him getting shot there was pointless. He got shot, they bandaged him up, and then fast forward to years later. No consequence.

The goofiest shit was how Frank went out.

"Listen Bill, I'm gonna die today. And I need you to kill me, but I want to have a really good day first. So I'm going to need you to wheel me around all day and then cook me a full steak dinner. Afterward you're going to poison me and then I'm going to fall asleep and die on top of you. Hopefully you have time to move my corpse before I void my bowels all over you and the bed. I will have, after all, just consumed a full steak dinner."

I would have just taken him out to that hole that I found him in and blasted away at the back of his head. Waaaaay easier. And at least that's closer to the actual Bill and Frank story which was that Frank started hating Bill, ran away, got infected, and then hung himself.

I'll say this, at least they actually made those two old gays look like they had aged 20 years. They didn't do shit to change Joel.

 

[Cave_Johnson]

Yah it was a little weird. Like, I don't mind a little backstory but Jesus at some point I was getting lost in the timeline. I thought it was 20 years since the infection but they only fast forwarded 10 years in the relationship between these guys? I was confused once Joel/Ellie showed up, the food not being completely rotten, etc. Like, "Hasn't it been 10 years since they died?" No apparently it was convenient that they died just days prior... I dunno...

Show went WAAAAAAAAAAAY over complicated with this one, and I fear it's in an effort to stretch the series out for monetary purposes. I mean there were numerous parts where it was like, "OKAY SERIOUSLY, WE GET IT, THEY'RE GAY - I have no problem with that and understand companionship in an apocalypse is important! Could you please just bone him and fast forward to the main part of the story?!" The train kind of de-railed with this episode. Really hoping they get back on track with episode 4 because this was a failure IMO.

This was the first episode with just Ellie and Joel together.. it should've been focused on that dynamic and developing those characters and their interaction together... not 75% of the episode devoted to two characters I really don't give a fuck about. This was really your episode to hook viewers in with the Joel/Ellie dynamic that the game did so well... and IMO they fucked it up. I'm not sure if this is Hollyweird with their LGBTQ movement bullshit or something else, but woof.

The timeline of things just brings up more questions.

I'm not sure how they powering everything out there, but it had to be gasoline or natural gas or something that was feeding Bill's generator.

He left the note in late August but when Joel and Ellie get there the trees all have orange and yellow leaves, implying it's the start of Fall. So most likely it's late September or early October. They've been dead for a solid month minimum and they've had all the computer and surveillance systems running that whole time. I don't think the generator would still have had any juice left.

 

[Comeds]

That will probably be the best episode of the season. Just a brilliantly done episode.

 

[Payton]

The timeline of things just brings up more questions.

I'm not sure how they powering everything out there, but it had to be gasoline or natural gas or something that was feeding Bill's generator.

He left the note in late August but when Joel and Ellie get there the trees all have orange and yellow leaves, implying it's the start of Fall. So most likely it's late September or early October. They've been dead for a solid month minimum and they've had all the computer and surveillance systems running that whole time. I don't think the generator would still have had any juice left.

I assume natural gas. At the beginning of the episode they show Bill breaking into the facility and turning the gas (to the town, I assume?) back on after everyone was gone.

How he knew how to do that? Phhhhht, hell if I know.

I watched the episode back and got it better the 2nd time around. And the “About the episode” at the end did a good job of explaining the purpose. I’m good with it.

 

[Sharkonabicycle]

The timeline of things just brings up more questions.

I'm not sure how they powering everything out there, but it had to be gasoline or natural gas or something that was feeding Bill's generator.

He left the note in late August but when Joel and Ellie get there the trees all have orange and yellow leaves, implying it's the start of Fall. So most likely it's late September or early October. They've been dead for a solid month minimum and they've had all the computer and surveillance systems running that whole time. I don't think the generator would still have had any juice left.

I mean all fair points... I just thought the episode was a bit out of left field...

 

[Cave_Johnson]

I mean all fair points... I just thought the episode was a bit out of left field...

For sure. That episode was what I'd expect to read on a Tumblr Last of Us fan fiction page.

 

[Clayton]

The problem is that where I am in the story I know so little about him that those questions don't mean much. He's basically just a single dad who works construction and seems nice enough, and I've only spent a few minutes with him most of which were focused on how his daughter was responding to things.

I wouldn't have thrown down the controller, because it's a game. Games catch all kinds of breaks for loose narrative. You play the next level.

Well, I mean I have issues with how Naughty Dog does narratives in their games. I would compare the opening of TLOU to Scream. It works in the video game because you have expectations of controlling one character and then there is a twist. That said, there is an important difference in the video game. Its a little strange because gameplay shifts from the girl to being a panned out cutscene then to Joel IIRC. Thats not really an organic way to move between characters with gameplay unless you assume your audience relates to Joel immediately. With video games, thats a fairly safe assumption because of how many men game. That said, the experience you play in a game should matter. Its not just characters that you're viewing through a lens. You're controlling them until the game takes away control. The opening to TLOU is great cinema and bad video game design imo.

 

[Mebert]

Well, I mean I have issues with how Naughty Dog does narratives in their games. I would compare the opening of TLOU to Scream. It works in the video game because you have expectations of controlling one character and then there is a twist. That said, there is an important difference in the video game. Its a little strange because gameplay shifts from the girl to being a panned out cutscene then to Joel IIRC. Thats not really an organic way to move between characters with gameplay unless you assume your audience relates to Joel immediately. With video games, thats a fairly safe assumption because of how many men game. That said, the experience you play in a game should matter. Its not just characters that you're viewing through a lens. You're controlling them until the game takes away control. The opening to TLOU is great cinema and bad video game design imo.

Naughty Dog forgets that in a video game you still need to be able to make choices. They get so wrapped up in telling the story the eliminate even the illusion that you control the character.

They double down in the second game and force you to play shitty characters you have no emotional ties to.

1st one was still a good game though.

 

[Maximus Rex]

There was an awful lot of time in the last episode spent on developing the backgrounds of 2 people with minor connections to the overall story arch (if they indeed are both dead and don't return, which I don't have a clue about having not seen the game, but it seems pretty clear). Seemed sort of like a waste of time, since the background devoted to those 2 guys to the overall timeline seemed minimal and it just wasn't doing much to move the main plot forward. If this is the pace the show maintains where they are devoting large backstory time to quite minor players in the grand scheme of things, I'm worried it will be a very long show with only a minimal amount of interesting progression. Just my opinion on the pacing, as others may enjoy large amounts of stuff like that. I'd personally probably get bored and stop watching if there are too many "backstory" episodes which do little to provide much background or explains stuff from the past which moves the plot forward. To each their own I guess, but I love me some post-apocalyptic shit and would be sad if this is the pace which keeps up.

 

[Mebert]

There was an awful lot of time in the last episode spent on developing the backgrounds of 2 people with minor connections to the overall story arch (if they indeed are both dead and don't return, which I don't have a clue about having not seen the game, but it seems pretty clear). Seemed sort of like a waste of time, since the background devoted to those 2 guys to the overall timeline seemed minimal and it just wasn't doing much to move the main plot forward. If this is the pace the show maintains where they are devoting large backstory time to quite minor players in the grand scheme of things, I'm worried it will be a very long show with only a minimal amount of interesting progression. Just my opinion on the pacing, as others may enjoy large amounts of stuff like that. I'd personally probably get bored and stop watching if there are too many "backstory" episodes which do little to provide much background or explains stuff from the past which moves the plot forward. To each their own I guess, but I love me some post-apocalyptic shit and would be sad if this is the pace which keeps up.

That meeting could have been an email.

 

[R.J. MacReady]

Loves stories are not my cup of tea. Gay love stories are not my cup of tea.

I had a feeling it was only a matter of time before HBO would take a Zombie Apocalypses series
and use an entire episode to make it about something else.

If they keep that up it will be the last of me.
.

 

[ill]

you guys are not disappointing me with your responses to that episode. Keep up the good work being closeminded and shitty

it was a good episode, IMO. It told a good story, albeit not so much about the main characters. I thought they did a really good job with it.

 

[Payton]

Looks like Pittsburgh next week?

 

[Mebert]

you guys are not disappointing me with your responses to that episode. Keep up the good work being closeminded and shitty

it was a good episode, IMO. It told a good story, albeit not so much about the main characters. I thought they did a really good job with it.

No question that it was a well done episode. In so many other shows it would have been a solid addition, but what did it add to this show? It was ultimately a pointless entry for something that could have been 5 minutes. If this was a story about all survivors and how they are surviving this it would have been an absolutely elite episode. This story is about Joel getting Ellie to Salt Lake City, focusing an entire episode on those characters did not do the show justice.

This episode is the clearest example we have that Druckman is running things, because fuck the story I am making my point is his specialty, and it ruined TLOU2.

 

[ill]

No question that it was a well done episode. In so many other shows it would have been a solid addition, but what did it add to this show? It was ultimately a pointless entry for something that could have been 5 minutes. If this was a story about all survivors and how they are surviving this it would have been an absolutely elite episode. This story is about Joel getting Ellie to Salt Lake City, focusing an entire episode on those characters did not do the show justice.

This episode is the clearest example we have that Druckman is running things, because fuck the story I am making my point is his specialty, and it ruined TLOU2.

why does every episode need to move the story forward?

I don't think this was a filler episode, but if they have it planned out right they can still get to where they need to be at the end of the season without pissing off the fanboys.

but really, fuck the fanboys. Let them make the show they want to make.

 

[Mebert]

why does every episode need to move the story forward?

I don't think this was a filler episode, but if they have it planned out right they can still get to where they need to be at the end of the season without pissing off the fanboys.

but really, fuck the fanboys. Let them make the show they want to make.

While normally I fall hard in the camp of movies should not use established characters and stories to draw people in only to butcher the story, it does not really fit here. TLOU story is Druckmans, and as he is running it he can have at it. He is not piggybacking on more talented peoples work to tell a shitty story. He is making changes to his own work.

That being said, we can disagree on whether this episode was just filler, I am not sure how you reached the conclusion that is isn't though. If this is a one off then fine, it can just be an episode I don't care about. If it becomes an ongoing theme then I wont watch the show, which ultimately means nothing to anyone but me.

 

[ill]

While normally I fall hard in the camp of movies should not use established characters and stories to draw people in only to butcher the story, it does not really fit here. TLOU story is Druckmans, and as he is running it he can have at it. He is not piggybacking on more talented peoples work to tell a shitty story. He is making changes to his own work.

That being said, we can disagree on whether this episode was just filler, I am not sure how you reached the conclusion that is isn't though. If this is a one off then fine, it can just be an episode I don't care about. If it becomes an ongoing theme then I wont watch the show, which ultimately means nothing to anyone but me.

it sets up who Bill is and does some solid world building, IMO. You know Joel is walking to "10 miles west of Boston" (LOL) and going to find a "friend"...why not give a background on Bill and his story?

I think there is more to the show than just Joel and Ellie. I think there is a dystopian world that is also a character in the show and not everyone experienced it all in the same way.

 

[Mebert]

it sets up who Bill is and does some solid world building, IMO. You know Joel is walking to "10 miles west of Boston" (LOL) and going to find a "friend"...why not give a background on Bill and his story?

I think there is more to the show than just Joel and Ellie. I think there is a dystopian world that is also a character in the show and not everyone experienced it all in the same way.

You can do that without spending the entire episode on it. We agree the story was well made, we just don't agree on if it had any value to the show. I don't think either of us is going to change our view on it.