The Last of Us: The Show!

[cubik]

Just now, Stigweard said:

 

I can see that, but I also thought the music and final shot closed it out beautifully too. 

That is true. My criticism was nit-picking to be honest.

[Alan Stock]

Started listening to the official Last of Us podcast, definitely recommend it. They release a podcast after each TV episode where none other than Troy Baker asks Neil Drukkmann and Craig Mazin about the creation of that episode, and their decision making. I've listened to two so far and it's really interesting, and what's also great is Mazin is a massive fan of the game and it shows (hears?). The two of them really put a lot of thought into every aspect of the story and how and where it should deviate from the game, and it gives me high hopes for the show going forwards. I just wish the podcasts were longer!

 

As for the show, I'm loving it and am completely fine with all of the deviations from the game so far (episode 3 spoiler:)

Spoiler

I was a bit bummed at not getting to meet Bill in the present interacting with Joel and Ellie, but considering what a good character story we got instead, I don't mind - and in the context of the rewrite it would have been even more depressing if he was still around being grumpy and having lost everything!

 

Still not completely sold on Ellie/Ramsey yet (no shade on the actress, she seems pretty great) but she hasn't had much screen time to develop so far, and I have faith considering how well its been going.

 

Also loving the flashbacks, I wonder if they will continue throughout. As long as it doesn't turn into The Lost of Us I'm all for them! 

[drmick]

I'm not sure what purpose that episode served to the overall arc? I was mistakenly under the impression Bill and/or Frank were going to be main characters in the show. But they have no interaction in the present with Joel and Ellie.

 

Is the rest of the season going to be like this? Characters of the week- like Knight Rider, the Incredible Hulk TV show, Nowhere Man, A-Team, Murder She Wrote etc

 

 

[Capwn]

1 hour ago, drmick said:

I'm not sure what purpose that episode served to the overall arc? I was mistakenly under the impression Bill and/or Frank were going to be main characters in the show. But they have no interaction in the present with Joel and Ellie.

Yeah I thought the same but when I listen to the official podcast it made more sense. They talk about how Bill/Frank shadow Joel/Ellie’s relationship, where one person is light and the other is darkness. One is willing to open themselves up to being vulnerable to share whilst the other builds walls around them to avoid being hurt.

 

I’m sure a lot of people get these kind of connections without listening to the podcast but I find that I need them to get the most out of the show.

 

Theres also other stuff right? Like the explanation of the radio music in episode 1. The letter that ties directly into Joel’s insecurities. The episode even ties a bow in Joel’s determination not to give Ellie a gun by being in a room with a million guns. The episode says so much about their relationship in hindsight. Ironically I actually think this is the episode where the Joel/Ellie conversations we all know and love  finally start to begin.
 

 

[Chadruharazzeb]

14 hours ago, drmick said:

I'm not sure what purpose that episode served to the overall arc?

 

Joel got a car. Jeez, what else do you want, an episode when he applies for finance on it? 

[LeighCb]

Things we learn. 

 

Ellie is a bit of a sadist and comes face to face with the infected. 

 

Joel and Tess were together for ages even more trusted and respected than we discover in the first two episodes

 

What it was like to live as a prepper, survive and then find love in this new world. Possibly one of the best love stories ever presented on television. 

 

The terrible government response and origin of the pandemic

 

Frank is lovely

 

Joel's entire motivation and also repetitive failure to protect the people he loves. 

 

Nothing else happens though so might as well skip this episode because Joel has found a battery. 

[Broker]

I find the “how does it fit into the plot” stuff baffling. Like, surely you’re watching TV because you were hoping to be shown a good story. That episode had a good story. This “but how does it serve the central protagonists arc” stuff is so mechanical, and to me such an odd response to what was clearly a really beautiful, heartfelt piece of writing.
 

Questioning the point of it seems like such a strange response, like rather than sitting down to be engaged by the show you’re watching it as an academic exercise in writing analysis. And I fucking love a plot structure deep dive or writing analysis. But emotional connection always comes first for me, if it’s beautiful and heartfelt it can break all the narrative conventions and rules it wants to. 

[macosx]

I liked the way Bill and Franks relationship sort of condensed mirrored Joel and Ellie’s, with a development of trust and openness 

[Majora]

9 hours ago, drmick said:

I'm not sure what purpose that episode served to the overall arc? I was mistakenly under the impression Bill and/or Frank were going to be main characters in the show. But they have no interaction in the present with Joel and Ellie.

 

 

Beyond the simple nuts and bolts of the plot (getting a car, supplies etc), the thematic relevance to the main story is 100% spelt out in the letter Bill leaves for Joel. 

[SpagMasterSwift]

10 hours ago, drmick said:

Is the rest of the season going to be like this? Characters of the week- like Knight Rider

 

 

It's been a while, but I don't remember Knight Rider being like this. He certainly did love that car tho...

[Eighthours]

Frank was a total Mary Sue, though, right? No one is that great!

 

(Oh wait, he was shit at piano. Mary Sue denied!)

[makkuwata]

I mean he said he wasn’t a whore, but saying doesn’t make it so. At that point they’d known each other a couple of hours, he was sleeping with a stranger for room and board.

[makkuwata]

Wait, he also said he’s bad at lying.

[choddo]

12 hours ago, drmick said:

I'm not sure what purpose that episode served to the overall arc? I was mistakenly under the impression Bill and/or Frank were going to be main characters in the show. But they have no interaction in the present with Joel and Ellie.

 

Is the rest of the season going to be like this? Characters of the week- like Knight Rider, the Incredible Hulk TV show, Nowhere Man, A-Team, Murder She Wrote etc

 

 

 

All GREAT shows.

 

10 hours ago, LeighCb said:

Possibly one of the best love stories ever presented on television. 

That might be a bit of a stretch. I think it shone in context but ... surpassed by Dirty Den & Angie surely?

[Sexton Hardcastle]

People complaining that a show wastes time making good episodes with characters instead of rushing the plot along is the kind of dangerous thinking I heard in the early seasons of Game of Thrones when there was always complaints for it to 'get a move on'. Look how that worked out.

 

Enjoy the characters for what they are & quit moping there isnt enough advancement. Its not a video game!

[LaveDisco]

I almost hope this takes a year or two break before season 2, I think Bella is great as Ella, but playing the two games again recently, 

 

Spoiler

The 5 year time skip really made her feel older (obviously), and Bella really looks young. The 'cast' of Abby and her peers all feel the same age, and I not sure about them all feeling like teenagers, rather than people around 20 or so. I know she's actually 19 or something, and I'm sure they can make it work, but Pedro looks the same age throughout the 25 year span of the show, and all Bill got was a white beard. So it's probably the only minor worry I have.

 

Still loving, loving, loving the show.

 

 

[yakumo]

Is there nothing Nick Offerman not good at?.

[yakumo]

BTW its been a while but where Tess and Joel a couple in the game?

[makkuwata]

At her last stand in the game she tells Joel “There’s enough here that you have to feel some sort of obligation to me, so you get her to Tommy’s” which is about the extent of what we learn. Rule 1: ‘no talking about Tess’ is straight from the game.

[Stig]

1 hour ago, yakumo said:

BTW its been a while but where Tess and Joel a couple in the game?

 

I don't think they specifically say they are, but there's hints and Joels reaction when people talk about her.

[drmick]

17 hours ago, LeighCb said:

Things we learn. 

 

Ellie is a bit of a sadist and comes face to face with the infected. 

 

Joel and Tess were together for ages even more trusted and respected than we discover in the first two episodes

 

What it was like to live as a prepper, survive and then find love in this new world. Possibly one of the best love stories ever presented on television. 

 

The terrible government response and origin of the pandemic

 

Frank is lovely

 

Joel's entire motivation and also repetitive failure to protect the people he loves. 

 

Nothing else happens though so might as well skip this episode because Joel has found a battery. 

 

Ignoring the Frank is lovely comment- you make five points. Four of those points are from the present day bookends of the episode and are not really anything to do with the flashbacks.

 

The comment on what it is like to live as a prepper in this new world is not quite correct as it is repeatedly established that the town is way off the beaten track and it's unlikely that many will come by.

 

As someone who knows absolutely nothing about the games, and with the letter from the game posted above- I feel like there is something important missing from this episode that those have played the game are able to appreciate, but that the producers haven't really spelt out for complete noobs. I had the same issue with the Harry Potter movies too.

[Don Wiskerando]

23 minutes ago, drmick said:

 

Ignoring the Frank is lovely comment- you make five points. Four of those points are from the present day bookends of the episode and are not really anything to do with the flashbacks.

 

The comment on what it is like to live as a prepper in this new world is not quite correct as it is repeatedly established that the town is way off the beaten track and it's unlikely that many will come by.

 

As someone who knows absolutely nothing about the games, and with the letter from the game posted above- I feel like there is something important missing from this episode that those have played the game are able to appreciate, but that the producers haven't really spelt out for complete noobs. I had the same issue with the Harry Potter movies too.

I haven't played the games, (I know), but that was a beautiful episode of television and it may have a payoff further down the line.    Don't be in such a rush to get to the end. 

[Chadruharazzeb]

1 hour ago, drmick said:

As someone who knows absolutely nothing about the games, and with the letter from the game posted above- I feel like there is something important missing from this episode that those have played the game are able to appreciate, but that the producers haven't really spelt out for complete noobs. I had the same issue with the Harry Potter movies too.

 

There's nothing missing, both the episode and the Bill's Town section of the game begin and end in the same way - Joel and Ellie walk to the town and drive off in a car at the end. It's the bit in the middle that's different. In the game it's a succession of frantic action scenes with infected. You know what the episode was. One isn't necessarily better than the other, they are each as valid to their respective media.

[Broker]

Worth noting that the “it doesn’t further the plot” argument is currently being weaponised by homophobes systematically review bombing the episode.

 

https://kotaku.com/the-last-of-us-hbo-bill-frank-imdb-1850066300

 

Not suggesting that’s what any of the comments to that effect on here are about.

[Stevie]

13 hours ago, macosx said:

I liked the way Bill and Franks relationship sort of condensed mirrored Joel and Ellie’s, with a development of trust and openness 

Good catch! 

[jonamok]

2 hours ago, Chadruharazzeb said:

There's nothing missing, both the episode and the Bill's Town section of the game begin and end in the same way - Joel and Ellie walk to the town and drive off in a car at the end. It's the bit in the middle that's different. In the game it's a succession of frantic action scenes with infected. You know what the episode was. One isn't necessarily better than the other, they are each as valid to their respective media.

Maybe the homopho- critics can have their wish…

 

ND should go back and align the game with the show, so you have an hour’s interlude, controlling Bill for a touching, haptically enhanced romance sequence of cooking, piano practice, fruit gardening and Frank sexytimes mini games.

[p1nseeker]

Why I think ep.3 fit into the overall arc (massive game spoilers):

 

Spoiler

Bill's letter makes it clear that he and Joel are similar in that they are here for a purpose, of protecting someone special. The letter says Tess of course as Bill didn't know she was dead. Joel thinks he failed Tess by not keeping her safe, he won't let that happen again with Ellie, even at the end where letting her go could potentially find a cure. He will protect Ellie at all costs.

 

[Stig]

For anyone that likes podcasts and wants to listen to three fans of the game and the show talk about it, we did a spoilercast covering the first 3 episodes.

 

We're going to do 3 podcasts covering 3 episodes at a time. There's no game spoilers beyond what we've seen in the show either for those people who haven't played the game.

 

It's available everywhere.

 

 

 

[Gotters]

Murray Bartlett has that almost chameleon quality like Michael Sheen, loved him in White Lotus then it nagged at me for the first couple of eps of the Chippendales thing on Disney 'who is that bloke', only watched that a fortnight ago.

 

He turned up on this last night and I had to google the cast list as was bugging me who the beardy bloke was that I thought looked like chef Marcus Wareing.  

[Chadruharazzeb]

One thing that bothered me about Frank was that none of the hair on his head seemed convincing. Looked like he was wearing a wig, false eyebrows and a fake beard.