HBO: The Last of Us

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[Monkey_Driven]

Should have been two episodes. Felt rushed.

[Jorge]

Extremely rushed. Sloppy. Weak. A terrible episode. Felt like network TV.

[dad]

That final part was awesome

Yeah I loved tonight’s episode.

[Malloy]

a show that takes dead-aim at mediocrity, and rarely misses

[Ensign9]

Surprised at the negative reactions. I thought that was pretty note perfect. The performances had a lot to do with that but everything felt good to me. I do wish the whiteout blizzard from the game was part of the scenery (along with the tolling bell) as it added a lot to that stretch of the game.

Similar to past “guests,” I like how they filled out some additional character beats, David in particular tonight.

For non-gamers, the whole episode was largely carbon copy of the game, minus a big infected encounter at the saw mill.

The cooking and dinner scene had my skin crawling, knowing exactly what was happening.

And great to see Troy!

[epilogue]

But did anyone not know exactly what was happening in the dinner scene?

It was all so heavyhanded.

[Jorge]

Yeah. When that guy took a moment to say "venison" he might as well have pulled on his collar and given a Rodney Dangerfield look straight into the camera going "GULP!"

Priest guy was paper thin. They took no time to develop him. It was clear from the very first moment that he was a lunatic. No startling and sudden menace, he was just immediately identifiable as the bad guy of the week, even when he was being nice

And Ellie escaping from their grasp like she's Bugs Bunny and he's Elmer freaking Fudd... it was so bad.

[Bi_3]

Surprised at the negative reactions. I thought that was pretty note perfect. The performances had a lot to do with that but everything felt good to me. I do wish the whiteout blizzard from the game was part of the scenery (along with the tolling bell) as it added a lot to that stretch of the game.

Similar to past “guests,” I like how they filled out some additional character beats, David in particular tonight.

For non-gamers, the whole episode was largely carbon copy of the game, minus a big infected encounter at the saw mill.

The cooking and dinner scene had my skin crawling, knowing exactly what was happening.

And great to see Troy!

The haters are right this time. The last two have been dull, predictable, basic becky cable tv. For zero seconds did I think it was anything other than cannibalism last night or that a depiction of religious white people wouldn't turn out to be murderous psychos. And in the previous episode what could have been the most emotional moment in the story, when Ellie learns she is immune while Riley turns, wasn't even shown. Really bad choices by the creative team robbed the momentum from the story.

[Ensign9]

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree (at least on the latest episode).

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[Ello Sailor]

I owe Spike an apology. Hating on this show is as good a pastime as any.

E3 and 5 were so good though! They misled us!

[Ensign9]

I think seeing Cocaine Bear yesterday afternoon may have skewed my quality calibration routines. After thinking about the ep some more, and listening to Greenwald and CR discuss on The Watch, I’m in general agreement on where the episode’s faults lie. In particular, their point about every character being the hero of their own story contributing to the grey morality of Joel and Ellie’s choices to date rang true. That grey morality was all but eliminated by turning David into an evil pedophile at the end. He does go nuts in the game but not cartoonishly so.

Anyway, I still enjoyed the ep but understand the criticisms.

[Revelator]

Extremely rushed. Sloppy. Weak. A terrible episode. Felt like network TV.

Yeah agree this should have been spread over 2 episodes, can't figure out why they didn't just just do a 10 episode season, the final story arc(s) are feeling rushed. David could have used a bit more development, and Ellie's rage fit at the end just didn't feel believable/warranted. One episode left and Ramsey still isn't doing it for me. This is still easily the best Game to TV adaptation I've seen but she still feels miscast. The game itself is still hands down better than the show, no question.

[BurtReynolds]

SOUNDS LIKE I WAS RIGHT NOT TO BOTHER

[Biff Pocoroba]

I haven’t played the game so the plot line is new to me.
This episode had a lot going on. It felt more pulpy than previous ones, rushed at times but with some pretty good sequences in the moment but upon rethinking doesn’t always make sense.
I really hope the show doesn’t bog down with various new survivor groups set up to be easily dispatched villains. Next week is already the season finale so I’m curious what new reveal or turning point will come.

[@SkitchP]

I agree with Jorge for the most part on the most recent episode. I think it would have benefitted from being 2 episodes (much the same way I felt about Sam and Henry). They wouldn't have even had to hide the a heel turn, just give these "story of the week" characters a background and some depth before they interact with Joel and/or Ellie. The way it played out was so incredibly rushed, and cartoonish.

I did like the episode with Ellie's backstory quite a bit more, although the kiss was incredibly telegraphed. I think that might be the weak point of the show overall for me, is that it thinks it's creating these "OMG REVEAL" moments, but it tips its hand entirely too much for it to have any effect.

Someone mentioned that they would have liked to see Ellie deal with her friends turn, and that was a missed opportunity. The cynical part of me has me thinking that they didn't show that so that a season or two down the line they can have her turn up again (i have absolutely no knowledge of the games, but this seems like something the could diverge on) as another sloppy reveal.

I also kinda feel like this show is falling into the trap that a lot of media is recently. It's trying to stretch out some things to be long running, but rushing through other things and never really feels like the pace of the overall story matches. A lot of Marvel stuff has felt like that to me... like I think the Eternals actually could have been a really well done Disney plus series where we got to know each of them individually for an episode at a time so we actually knew/cared what happened to them. Where as Loki, or Falcon/Winter Soldier would have both been better as side quest movies. Really the only show to get it right in the last year from these preexisting IP's has been Andor.

Overall I am enjoying the show, but it really does feel like it's just missing the mark slightly.

[Monkey_Driven]

I did like the episode with Ellie's backstory quite a bit more, although the kiss was incredibly telegraphed. I think that might be the weak point of the show overall for me, is that it thinks it's creating these "OMG REVEAL" moments, but it tips its hand entirely too much for it to have any effect.

Someone mentioned that they would have liked to see Ellie deal with her friends turn, and that was a missed opportunity. The cynical part of me has me thinking that they didn't show that so that a season or two down the line they can have her turn up again (i have absolutely no knowledge of the games, but this seems like something the could diverge on) as another sloppy reveal.

Spoiler: show

A twist like this would be a major departure from the game. My theory is they are saving this moment for a series of flashbacks in the finale.

[Coach]

I liked the latest episode. I thought it was creepy and even a little scary. This show is inconsistent but I am sticking with it.

So are others it seems...

‘The Last of Us’ Episode 8 Hits Series High of 8.1 Million Viewers, Up 74% From Season Premiere

https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/the-la ... 235544609/

[Bi_3]

Still in for sure, but this should have been 12-16 episodes instead of forcing the seemingly standard 10 limit on it.