The Last of Us: The Show!

[Uncle Nasty]

Man I could taste that wine and food. Very clever and unexpected how they developed Bill's character. Really classy writing and acting.

 

Feels like they're going to follow this episode with absolute savagery next week, though. After showing us how there are pockets of happiness, tenderness and connection even amongst post-pandemic obliteration, surely the hammer is going to come down and everything will go to hell next.

 

 

[LeighCb]

Frank's letter in the game cracks me up with the new context we are given in the show

 

Spoiler

 

[Mogster]

2 hours ago, Popo said:

A particularly nice touch that only really dawned on me this morning:

 

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The final moment where the camera pans backwards through the bedroom window, settling on an iconic image for anyone who has played the game:

 

 

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They talk about this in the podcast:

 

Spoiler

The original idea was to start and finish every episode with a window shot, and even hold it there on streaming services with a "Press Play" button to start the episode.

 

They abandoned this as being a bit impractical and restrictive, but the last shot of the episode was a holdover from that.

 

[Chadruharazzeb]

Is it safe to assume we'll be getting a Sam and Henry episode in the same vein? 

[Gabzy]

A small moment I thought about today is how cool it was to see Ellie find a box of tampons, and to show Joel the “find”. Not hiding it away from him like a shameful secret. It was fucking cool.

[Stevie]

I’ve seen episode 3 three times now and I just can’t see how anyone can be critical of it. The opinion piece posted earlier in this thread really pisses me off. 

[Majora]

1 hour ago, Chadruharazzeb said:

Is it safe to assume we'll be getting a Sam and Henry episode in the same vein? 

 

I don't think it's impossible but 6 episodes left and there's a lot of ground left to cover. I'd predict it will very very roughly be this

 

 

Spoiler

Episode 4 - Based on the trailer this seems to be focused on journeying through the city and dealing with hunters. 

 

Episode 5 - Focus on journey with Sam and Henry. Probably a bit of backstory.

 

Episode 6 - Autumn. Reach the dam. Heavy Tommy focus. Perhaps they'll include the university in this episode but I wouldn't be surprised if they cut it entirely. It's very expendable in terms of narrative, existing mainly just to get Joel injured for Winter. I like the university level as it's pretty chill but it's mostly just trotting around on horseback, exploring and then realising the Fireflies are in another castle. You can get Joel injured some other way that doesn't require a whole new location.

 

Episode 7 - Winter. Ellie looking after Joel. Left Behind DLC.

 

Episode 8 - Cannibals

 

Episode 9 - Spring, giraffes, hospital, Ellie is not fooled. 

 

 

[SpagMasterSwift]

1 hour ago, Gabzy said:

A small moment I thought about today is how cool it was to see Ellie find a box of tampons, and to show Joel the “find”. Not hiding it away from him like a shameful secret. It was fucking cool.

Oh, I thought she was grabbing ammo - I’m such a boy!

[jonamok]

Wonder if Linda Ronstadt will get the Kate Bush Stranger Things bounce. 😄

[JohnC]

She is.

[Pob]

18 minutes ago, SpagMasterSwift said:

Oh, I thought she was grabbing ammo - I’m such a boy!

 

The fact there was one colourful box in amongst the brown backdrop was so gamey. Loved it.

[macosx]

What a great episode. Lot of dust in the house tonight ….

[Uncle Nasty]

1 hour ago, Stevie said:

I’ve seen episode 3 three times now and I just can’t see how anyone can be critical of it. The opinion piece posted earlier in this thread really pisses me off. 

 

 "Deliberately courting praise" was a stupid accusation from that article, especially as the episode could have easily backfired and landed completely off. I think people enjoyed it for what it was, the orientation of the characters involved wasn't really the point - it was about finding beauty and warmth in an upended world, the oasis of compassion and understanding when everything around you is raw and hostile. Being cynical about that is just…cold.

[Chadruharazzeb]

2 hours ago, Gabzy said:

A small moment I thought about today is how cool it was to see Ellie find a box of tampons, and to show Joel the “find”. Not hiding it away from him like a shameful secret. It was fucking cool.

 

I don't think it's a world in which people have the luxury of being bothered about stolen toiletries. 

[pledge]

…

[Stig]

24 minutes ago, Chadruharazzeb said:

 

I don't think it's a world in which people have the luxury of being bothered about stolen toiletries. 

 

I really don't think that's what Gabzy was getting at. Of course Ellie isn't going to care about taking toiletries but as a teenager girl she might be embarrassed about being on her period in front of a guy she barley knows and him knowing about it. But instead she just owned it.

 

[Gabzy]

13 minutes ago, Stigweard said:

 

I really don't think that's what Gabzy was getting at. Of course Ellie isn't going to care about taking toiletries but as a teenager girl she might be embarrassed about being on her period in front of a guy she barley knows and him knowing about it. But instead she just owned it.

 

Yep. Thanks 😊 

In a world where periods and sanitary products are so rarely mentioned or even visible in shows like this (and often leave me questioning how I would deal with it in an apocalyptic scenario), it was empowering to see.

[Jamie John]

Man, that was brilliant. I don't know what it is about this particular franchise, but 

Spoiler

it makes me well up all the time - this episode, episode one, both games. And I don't normally get weepy about anything.

 

I think that was possibly the tenderest and most romantic portrayal of a gay relationship I've ever seen on screen, to boot.

 

I'm so fucking glad this is so fucking good.

[mexos]

That was bloody excellent. Thank goodness. What a breath of fresh air.
 

Acting and story was to notch all the way. More like this please, deviate from the game if it makes a better story. Lovely.

[SuperCapes]

Spoiler

Honestly, if you stitched that part in Jakarta from episode 2 onto the front of the shot of Bill watching FEDRA take the people to them going to bed at the end, it would have stood on its own. 

 

Truly fantastic. I also probably cried more as it was Ron Swanson. 

[MidWalian]

What a wonderful episode. 

[Robsk1]

[Stig]

17 minutes ago, Robsk1 said:

 

*giggles in school girl*

[jonamok]

I honestly think that was one of the best love stories TV has had. And it was done in about 60 minutes, on a show about mushroom-zombies. Mazin.

[Popo]

5 hours ago, jonamok said:

I honestly think that was one of the best love stories TV has had. And it was done in about 60 minutes, on a show about mushroom-zombies. Mazin.

Craig Mazin. 

[jonamok]

He sure is.

[Mike S]

18 hours ago, Popo said:

A particularly nice touch that only really dawned on me this morning:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

The final moment where the camera pans backwards through the bedroom window, settling on an iconic image for anyone who has played the game:

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

 

They used an even more similar shot to that in the first episode and very nice it was too.

 

Episode 3 is going to be hard to follow. Tender, beautiful, and then desperately sad. I cried quite hard. 

 

I had been quite enjoying the show so far, although  can’t work out if having played the game is better or worse with respect to that enjoyment, but they have upped the ante with this latest episode by an extraordinary amount. All the characters have been brilliantly cast and played but Bill and Frank deserve awards for this…

 

Incredible.
 

 

 

 

[makkuwata]

The show has now established that Joel and Tess have been together for 13+ years, I expect that means it isn’t the last we’ll see of Anna Torv.

 

They’re bound to do a flashback episode with Tommy to fill in how they got to Boston and cover their falling out. She’d have to be in the picture by then.

[Pob]

The flashbacks are a great choice for this show - the events following the outbreak are just as interesting as the present day and it's new stuff we've not seen in the games at all. There's so much they could do with showing character histories, which extends to TLOU pt2 as well.

[Fry Crayola]

The flashbacks aren't filler or thoughtless either. In lesser hands, an episode about Bill could have had a half hour flashback of

 

Spoiler

him setting up a bunch of traps because in the game there are a bunch of traps, but oh my god - how could they have got there? Better show the viewer that they're traps Bill set up, including the very trap that catches Joel and leaves him hanging. You've always wondered why that was there, haven't you? Now you'll know!