The Last of Us: The Show!

[scoobysi]

2 hours ago, Moz said:

Also can we give a thumbs-up for nighttime sequences which are dark and contrasty while still being completely comprehensible. Looking at you, House of the dragon.

But a thumbs-down for the sheet Sam writes on, had to keep pausing to be able to read it.

[Timmo]

52 minutes ago, scoobysi said:

But a thumbs-down for the sheet Sam writes on, had to keep pausing to be able to read it.

Had no issue myself, were you watching on a Gameboy Color?

[scoobysi]

28 minutes ago, Timmo said:

Had no issue myself, were you watching on a Gameboy Color?

 
lol no but a distance from the TV.

[McFly]

The performances and casting of all the characters so far has been good or great, bar "Kathleen". Sam and Henrry really seemed like brothers.

 

 

As for the writing pad thing I didn't have any issues, and I'm so glad that there isnt any of the mumbley or low volume talking as its so infuriating. 

 

 

[Timmo]

42 minutes ago, McFly said:

The performances and casting of all the characters so far has been good or great, bar "Kathleen"

 

Careful, you're not allowed to criticise her because she's been in other stuff or something. (I didn't find her convincing, either.)

[fragglerock]

She was good at being psychotic and genuinely chilling in places,  I just think her character setup did not work. I did not see why anyone would follow her, and her motivations were all a bit tell don't show. The bedroom stuff did not help me see her in some new light... and then standing around talking on the road just seemed to go against how her character was meant to be.

 

But  a great episode, fantastic action, and the girl clicker was fucking terrifying in the way she moved. Devastating at the end.

[Mogster]

I really liked, well, appreciated Kathleen by the end of this episode. I liked that they didn't go for the standard leader type, and if anything that made her more threatening while also humanising her.

 

I loved the whole episode actually, and once again the podcast provided some interesting anecdotes:

 

Spoiler

They couldn't find a suitable street to use for the sniper/bloater sequence, so they built the whole thing from scratch. The houses are obviously just shells, but still!

 

[Fry Crayola]

With Kathleen,

 

Spoiler

the scene with her and Perry in her old apartment seemed to make clear that her brother was the one that banded so many together (even Henry wanted to join), but his death made her hell bent on revenge and lifted the revolution into concrete and definitive action. It's also been less than a fortnight since that happened, so she's still carrying that cachet.

 

I'm not sure entirely how long it was before the uprising that her brother was killed, but given her demeanour and the fact that Henry is still in city and her number one priority, I would count it in days, not months.

 

[makkuwata]

Kathleen was terrible. The part and the performance.

[McFly]

1 hour ago, Timmo said:

 

Careful, you're not allowed to criticise her because she's been in other stuff or something. (I didn't find her convincing, either.)

She seems really familiar but I can't place her

[Garibaldi]

I didn't buy the loyalty folk were showing her, either. Especially her second in command.

 

Spoiler

It's clearly obvious to him that she's persuing a grudge with all her resources, while he sees a clear and present danger from somewhere else, then he just stood by while she admitted that she was going to kill Sam as well. Would've been better for me if he challenged her in that moment, a standoff resulted, which was then broken by the truck falling into the sinkhole (cue the cries of 'I'm glad you didn't write it!'.) But yeah, I just have problems with her inclusion in general, mainly because, as has been pointed out, she's a ham-fisted allegory for Ellie's future revenge arc.  

 

[Majora]

There's a fine line between portraying a character in a leadership role who doesn't really have the characteristics of someone you would normally expect in said role, and that character coming off as so unconvincing that you just can't believe they would last more than a few days without being overthrown.

 

I'm not sure either the writing nor the performance quite nailed it. I don't doubt that Kathleen's actress fully intended for the character to come off the way she did but that doesn't necessarily make it feel any more plausible.

 

I can just about buy into the logic given the time-frame of events and what happened to her brother but overall I found her a bit of an expositionary damp squib.

[McFly]

I'd expect someone on her position to be either totally detached or blood crazed kill em all type. She just seemed lame and in charge be default.

 

Thankfully it doesn't matter now.

[McFly]

6 minutes ago, BubbleDragon said:

Rose from Two and a Half Men?

Maybe, but I didn't watch that too much.

[Colonel Panic]

She was recently in Yellowjackets. 

[Parappa]

That has to be a nod to

Spoiler

Resident Evil in the shoot out running towards the house?

 

[the_debaser]

Caught up on this. Apart from ep3 which was ok this has been trash. I don’t get the love. 

[OneDvBmbr]

As someone who hasn’t played the game, I’ve been really enjoying this so far. 
 

That said, episode 5 lost me a little.
 

Spoiler

I found the action sequence at the end felt a bit of a stretch in terms of believability and overly videogamey with the Groot-esque enemy. 

 

[Jamie John]

Episode 5:

 

Spoiler

Well, that hour flew by! Really tense in places and incredible production values for a TV show, even if it is HBO. Clearly, they're putting that GoT money to good use.

 

Having said that, however, put me in the camp of of people who feel that we didn't need to see things from the POV of the enemy characters in these last two episodes. It felt pretty unnecessary to know about the back-story, especially when Kathleen and the second-in-command guy are both dead now, and (presumably) the show is never going to return to that same location again. I suppose there's an argument to say that learning about what happened added texture to the world, but I would have preferred it if there were more scenes with Ellie and Joel and Henry and Sam together, trying to sneak out of the city - the fact that Henry was a rat and killed the rebel leader felt like it was only there so that Henry and Joel could have that quite on-the-nose conversation about how sometimes you have to do 'bad guy things' in order to survive. Ellie and Sam's immediate bond also felt a bit superficial to me - I'd have believed it more if we'd seen them on screen together more. And I thought that the bit when they find the abandoned underground settlement was quite rushed, especially compared with the game, where it's a really elaborate, tense set-piece in which the gang is rushed by waves of infected in a claustrophobic space and have to survive.

 

But still, I'm just nit-picking after the fact. When I'm watching this I'm entirely caught up in it; it's only afterwards that these sorts of things occur to me.

 

As ever, can't wait for the next episode!

[Jamie John]

42 minutes ago, the_debaser said:

Caught up on this. Apart from ep3 which was ok this has been trash. I don’t get the love. 

 

But normally you're so approving of everything.

[Alan Stock]

Episode 5 was brilliant. I didn't remember much about this chapter from the game but a lot of it came flooding back, and I really like the changes they made. I too was not sold on Kathleen at all but I did like seeing 'the other side'. The actors were amazing in this episode though and the climax was brilliant, as well as them paying much more homage to the game than I thought they would. Just an overall great episode with great character moments, intense action and really heartwrenching scenes.

 

Full game story spoilers:

 

Spoiler

Although I don't remember the events of Sam getting killed very well from the game, I feel like the TV version did a better job of building the relationship with him and Ellie, especially at the end when they're in the motel. Henry and Sam's actors' performances really blew me away and made Sam's death even more impactful. Even though I knew it was coming it was still brutal to watch.

 

It's a bit weird though having played the game because these moments don't hit as hard, then you see people bawling their eyes out for the show who don't know the game, and it reminds you of the impact it had originally. I certainly remember Sarah's death being pretty emotional for me for my first time playing the game, whereas in the show it was more of a sense of sadness because you know how it goes. That's why Bill and Franks's story was so effective for game players in the show because we got to experience that along with the TV-only watchers.

 

Looking forward though, I feel like this show is going to have a problem in that we just won't get enough time with Joel and Ellie and their interactions compared to the game. We're already on Episode 5 of 9 and signs are that Season 1 is going to be the entire first game. That means pretty much an episode per game chapter and there's a lot of ground to cover. We haven't had much Ellie and Joel time yet, to me it feels like their relationship is only just beginning in the show. What there has been in the show has been good in that regard... but we only have 4 more episodes. I know its got to be condensed for TV but I really wonder if people are going to feel the same attachment to these characters than the game, where you get far more time with just Joel and Ellie with hours of chitchat and banter during gameplay as well as all the cutscenes. I know the rest of the show will be great but I feel like it's maybe a bit too short if they want it to have the same impact in terms of Joel and Ellie's character building. But then you look at an episode like Bill and Frank and perhaps they can pull it off. I think the next few episodes will be a bit slower and have a lot more Joel/Ellie time based on what I remember from the game.

 

Anyway loving the show and can't wait for each episode, hurry up Monday!

 

 

[choddo]

19 hours ago, scoobysi said:

 
lol no but a distance from the TV.

Bigger TV clearly needed

[choddo]

9 hours ago, OneDvBmbr said:

As someone who hasn’t played the game, I’ve been really enjoying this so far. 
 

That said, episode 5 lost me a little.
 

  Hide contents

I found the action sequence at the end felt a bit of a stretch in terms of believability and overly videogamey with the Groot-esque enemy. 

 

Spoiler

Even my daughter thought Joel was a remarkably good shot considering a few minutes earlier he couldn’t hit a truck windscreen and had a shit ton of ammo.

 

Enjoyed it though. Highlight was definitely the little girl clicker.

 

[NecroMorrius]

10 hours ago, the_debaser said:

Caught up on this. Apart from ep3 which was ok this has been trash. I don’t get the love. 

ok bye

[choddo]

On 11/02/2023 at 19:56, Masterbeef said:

When the show came back after the ads on Sky

The 4k version doesn’t have ads. Can recommend.

[NecroMorrius]

Were you guys watching a different episode or something?

 

Spoiler

Everything referenced, from Kathleen’s brother being killed to the uprising against fedra to the hunt for Henry happens in a couple of days. She IS in charge by default only because she was his sister and that love and respect is misguidedly redirected upon her. She has no leadership skills but was installed after spearheading an out-of-character violent uprising fuelled by collective grief (her being the greatest) and became leader just long enough for those around her with experience to start questioning her leadership and priorities. Her leadership has nowhere to go but utter collapse. This misguided faith in her on account of her brother’s leadership gets them all killed, including her. All of the things you’re complaining about are the point.

[El Geet]

Yep Episode 5 was a goodie. It’s quite interesting how some episodes are completely self contained. 
 

Spoiler

They could easily have kept with Sam and Henry for another episode - would have made the end a bit more impactful I think. I’m possibly in the minority on this as it sounds like it was v impactful for those who’ve not played the game. I actually couldn’t remember exactly what happened but remembered they died. In the game you spend quite a bit more time with them and I always enjoyed having company in the game - fewer nope moments!

 

The movements of the little girl clicker were brilliant. The way she slides into the car and kind of flops over was creepy AF.

 

The sniping from Joel was total video game stuff    One of the more odd gameplay choices NG make those few times where you magically get infinite ammo and it becomes a bit like a Time Crisis game  

 

[Mortis]

I've kinda accepted that we have to pay homage to the game in certain moments, finding a ladder, climbing through holes to open doors from the other side  we just need to get a dumpster moved to climb over a wall to tick the "video game tropes" box

[makkuwata]

7 minutes ago, Moz said:

Were you guys watching a different episode or something?

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Everything referenced, from Kathleen’s brother being killed to the uprising against fedra to the hunt for Henry happens in a couple of days. She IS in charge by default only because she was his sister and that love and respect is misguidedly redirected upon her. She has no leadership skills but was installed after spearheading an out-of-character violent uprising fuelled by collective grief (her being the greatest) and became leader just long enough for those around her with experience to start questioning her leadership and priorities. Her leadership has nowhere to go but utter collapse. This misguided faith in her on account of her brother’s leadership gets them all killed, including her. All of the things you’re complaining about are the point.

The fact that it was deliberate doesn’t make it good writing. The fact that the actress made bold choices doesn’t make it a good performance.

[choddo]

I think the offish thing is she doesn’t actually seem that upset about her brother. There’s almost no emotion I can discern when she talks about him. Maybe that’s supposed to be her having compartmentalised it or something but I end up not buying that she’s so hell bent on revenge and I just want her offed, zero sympathy