The Last of Us

[Cave_Johnson]

I guess I'm not surprised to see that some folks didn't like this episode. I thought it is an early entry of best episode of TV of the year.

If the show is always just a series of "crisis of the week" then it is just the Walking Dead with better production values. If the show is going to reach a broader audience it needs to pull us into the world. Given that the game itself is basically 2 characters and their travails, there aren't many ways to do that without creating secondary stories like this.

I think it's pretty clear right now that this is all they're going for.

And I guess who can blame them because the Walking Dead hasn't been good since like season 3 and it still went on for years.

 

[Sharkonabicycle]

I'm not one to site here and tell you the story from the video game was some masterpiece like some will.

However, Bill's backstory from the game was MUCH more in tune with the universe and actually made sense.

He was still gay, but his boyfriend/husband or whatever was only in the story as a corpse. They lived together for 20 years and eventually got fed up with each other to the point that Frank left, got infected, and then killed himself. This all unfolds to the player as they actually meet Bill and then find Frank's corpse which is right next to a note from Frank basically saying how much he grew to hates Bill's guts. I think the player can choose whether or not to give the letter to Bill.

Either way, that story has some bite to it. It's realistic that two people living together for 20 years with minimal other human interaction would end up like that. THAT story was actually sad.

What we got though? That was some Hallmark channel, easy to digest, autistic Tumblr fan fiction story for teenage girls that made zero sense and could have been skipped entirely.

@Sharkonabicycle nailed it. This was the first episode with Joel and Ellie. This was the time to really establish this relationship and move that part of the story forward. But nah, of course not.

K, I'm dying... lmao.

 

[Cave_Johnson]

K, I'm dying... lmao.

Dude trust me, I know autistic fan fiction when I see it.

You should see all my Full House stuff. I wrote a waaaaay better gay love story than whatever 50 cent garage sale romance novel the Last of Us crew pulled this shit from.

 

[flyerhawk]

I think it's pretty clear right now that this is all they're going for.

And I guess who can blame them because the Walking Dead hasn't been good since like season 3 and it still went on for years.

I think you are just looking for reasons to criticize the show at this point. Which is fine. To each their own.

 

[flyerhawk]

Dude trust me, I know autistic fan fiction when I see it.

You should see all my Full House stuff. I wrote a waaaaay better gay love story than whatever 50 cent garage sale romance novel the Last of Us crew pulled this shit from.

Autistic fan fiction doesn't even make sense.

 

[Sharkonabicycle]

Dude trust me, I know autistic fan fiction when I see it.

You should see all my Full House stuff. I wrote a waaaaay better gay love story than whatever 50 cent garage sale romance novel the Last of Us crew pulled this shit from.

Whatever happened to predictability?
The cave_man, the paperboy, the evening tv?
How did I get delivered here? Somebody tell me please
Cause this old world is just really confusing me

Caves as mean as you've ever seen
Ain't a rat that knows your tune
Then a little voice inside of you whispers
"Johnson, don't sell your dreams so soon!"

Everywhere you look, everywhere you go
There's a cave (there's a cave), a cave to hold onto
Everywhere you look, everywhere you go
There's a hole (there's a hole) for someone to get lost to!

 

[Cave_Johnson]

Autistic fan fiction doesn't even make sense.

I know. Like I said, I watched that last episode of The Last of Us.

 

[Cave_Johnson]

There's a hole (there's a hole) for someone to get lost to!

Now you're getting it!

 

[Mebert]

I think for those that watch the series and not play the game losing out on the interactions between Ellie and Bill won't matter, it would have made for fun TV. Fans of the game know what was lost. They could have kept that entire episode and not have the dual suicide so we get those interactions and I think the episode would have gotten WAY less push back from fans of the game. I have seen some people with the dumb "but woke" takes. The majority seems to be fans of Bill missing some of the highlight moments of the game.

Ultimately if the show maintains the quality of that episode while sticking to the story the show will end strong.

 

[DarthVedder]

@Sharkonabicycle nailed it. This was the first episode with Joel and Ellie. This was the time to really establish this relationship and move that part of the story forward. But nah, of course not.

Why does it have to be this episode? Joel and Ellie are the main characters, they have 7 other episodes to create and build their relationship.

While IMO some people are overrating this last episode since it was mostly filler, it was great filler. It's good to see more human stories while building this world.

 

[Yo Tee]

This show just keeps getting better, IMO. That 3rd episode had me in tears.

 

[Stakesarehigh]

Thought the 3rd episode was very good.

 

[Cave_Johnson]

Why does it have to be this episode? Joel and Ellie are the main characters, they have 7 other episodes to create and build their relationship.

While IMO some people are overrating this last episode since it was mostly filler, it was great filler. It's good to see more human stories while building this world.

Uh.......it was the first episode we were going to see with the two main characters together. This is a new show for most people. If you want to draw them into the story I'd think you'd want to do get things going, not distract everyone with goofy fan fiction.

I'm not sure what human story you're seeing here either. This was Nicholas Sparks, Lifetime Channel Original movie level stuff. It was as cliché as it gets. The story the game presented was human. It was kinda sad and tragic (and again, I'm not claiming the game was some masterpiece).

This episode was not. It was engineered to take any dark edge at all out the story and instead make women on their periods cry.

 

[Cave_Johnson]

Yeah, this. There ya go.

 

[DarthVedder]

Yeah, this. There ya go.

Well, despite the review bombing, the last episode still has an 8 score. It seems like the majority of people liked it.

 

[Stakesarehigh]

Uh.......it was the first episode we were going to see with the two main characters together. This is a new show for most people. If you want to draw them into the story I'd think you'd want to do get things going, not distract everyone with goofy fan fiction.

I'm not sure what human story you're seeing here either. This was Nicholas Sparks, Lifetime Channel Original movie level stuff. It was as cliché as it gets. The story the game presented was human. It was kinda sad and tragic (and again, I'm not claiming the game was some masterpiece).

This episode was not. It was engineered to take any dark edge at all out the story and instead make women on their periods cry.

I'm a gamer and yet I still think it's incredibly dumb to think an HBO or Netflix series is going to depict the story entirely as the game intended...because video game writers are hardly Shakespeare.

I'm not sure what you mean about this version being less human than the game one. There was a clear point where Frank gave Bill an ultimatum to change and he did. Whereas in the game he didn't. Both are human choices.

But your best point is probably "woman on their periods"...while the gaming population is definitely growing among women HBO kinda needs their buy in moreso than the gaming industry did.

But yea...just as with the issues gamers had with diversity on Witcher (you can't have an all white ensemble cast that just isn't going to happen) I find this to be over the top

Except the criticism about Tess not having red hair. At least they fixed that.

 

[ill]

Yeah, this. There ya go.

you approve of review bombing the episode because butthurt gamers can't get over a little storytelling?

 

[R.J. MacReady]

you approve of review bombing the episode because butthurt gamers can't get over a little storytelling?

Why is it unacceptable that some don't like the episode? Why don't we have a choice?
I'm glad for anyone who loved the episode.

It was full episode love story with 2 one off characters. It's Zombie series so some people are not expecting an episode of Bridgerton.
It's not going to be everyone's cup of Tea. And there is nothing wrong with that.


.

 

[ill]

Why is it unacceptable that some don't like the episode? Why don't we have a choice?
I'm glad for anyone who loved the episode.

It was full episode love story with 2 one off characters. It's Zombie series so some people are not expecting an episode of Bridgerton.
It's not going to be everyone's cup of Tea. And there is nothing wrong with that.


.

I think review bombing something like that is childish.

if you don't like it, that's fine...but to go on IMDB with posting multiple 1 star reviews to bring down the overall rating is lame.

looks like it is mostly non-US users who did it too..unless they just claim to be non-US

 

[Payton]

So… If you care enough to do so, the official podcast addresses almost every question that has been asked in this thread so far.

Keep in mind, anyone wondering why the show deviates from the game at any point, that the writer of the game story is also pretty much the writer for the show, so he most certainly has reasons…