HBO Max The Last Of Us review (SPOILERS!)

[laggyteabag]

This episode was fine enough, but definitely weakest so far. With that being said, this is almost certainly framed as part one, of a two-part story, so it almost feels unfair to judge this as an incomplete package.

So tune in next week for all of the payoff, to this episode's setup!

 

[Piscian]

Coulda used a little more nuance in this one. I'm from kentucky and lived and worked in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado. The throughway in kansas city is totally avoidable and I just don't feel like the argument was presented well for why they'd go into the city instead of circumnavigating the overpass. Granted its all fictional, I just didn't "believe" it was necessary based on him looking under the trunk and literally seeing a completely clear rode.

Also maybe explain to her to always at least point a gun down aye? Just asking to accidently get shot waving it around like that, but whatever. I don't lick boots and guns or anything, but that is kinda like the first thing you learn.

Semantics aside my only real complaint is that this episode was all setup. Writers should know not to do that. You can set up stuff, but this episode was all pieces. It didn't have a single overarching narrative with a payoff. Very Walking dead, please don't do that. Last episode had a very clear start middle and pay off. Introduce characters, tell story, explain why it was important for the viewer to see it. This is easily the first episode I'll forget because nothing meaningful happened.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Coulda used a little more nuance in this one. I'm from kentucky and lived and worked in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado. The throughway in kansas city is totally avoidable and I just don't feel like the argument was presented well for why they'd go into the city instead of circumnavigating the overpass. Granted its all fictional, I just didn't "believe" it was necessary based on him looking under the trunk and literally seeing a completely clear rode.

Also maybe explain to her to always at least point a gun down aye? Just asking to accidently get shot waving it around like that, but whatever. I don't lick boots and guns or anything, but that is kinda like the first thing you learn.

Semantics aside my only real complaint is that this episode was all setup. Writers should know not to do that. You can set up stuff, but this episode was all pieces. It didn't have a single overarching narrative with a payoff. Very Walking dead, please don't do that. Last episode had a very clear start middle and pay off. Introduce characters, tell story, explain why it was important for the viewer to see it. This is easily the first episode I'll forget because nothing meaningful happened.

Well... Joel laughed at a joke, I guess. But yeah, this felt like opening a box only to find a note saying to wait for the next box. I think that's why the next episode seemingly releases this Friday instead of Sunday/Monday.

 

[BrawlMan]

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[Johnny Novgorod]

I like Melanie Lynskey too but I don't quite believe that a bunch of raggedy hicks would choose the squeaky-voiced lady from Two and a Half Men as their de facto post-apocalypse leader.

 

[BrawlMan]

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[Johnny Novgorod]

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I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times - Pedro Pascal is a big ol adorable softie and I don't buy him as Joel.

 

[BrawlMan]

I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times - Pedro Pascal is a big ol adorable softie and I don't buy him as Joel.

I haven't seen the video yet. Was it something they were complaining about, or just something the crew noticed? I remember your stance from before.

Edit: Nevermind, I was able to see the video

 

[Casual Shinji]

I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times - Pedro Pascal is a big ol adorable softie and I don't buy him as Joel.

Actually I think he plays him a lot more hard-edged. Troy Baker's performance gives Joel more underlying warmth, even from the start. Pedro Pascal is way more stone-faced and guarded. That doesn't mean show-Joel isn't more "caring" than game-Joel, what with wanting to reunite with his brother, but that's on the writing not the performance.

By the way, anyone notice how the whole connected tendril aspect that the show made for the infected hasn't occured outside of that scene in Episode 2 where they needed a horde of zombies to show up for Tess to heroically sacrifice herself for? Yeah...

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Actually I think he plays him a lot more hard-edged. Troy Baker's performance gives Joel more underlying warmth, even from the start. Pedro Pascal is way more stone-faced and guarded. That doesn't mean show-Joel isn't more "caring" than game-Joel, what with wanting to reunite with his brother, but that's on the writing not the performance.

I just don't get a sense of "distance" between him and Ellie. Like I mentioned before, episode one he's already treating her like an equal. He bickers. He gives in. He doesn't use that tone that suggests the conversation's over everytime he answers an annoying question. When he calls Ellie cargo in ep4 I just didn't buy it. Dude looks and sounds like he's desperately trying not to connect with this kid. He giggles at her jokes. I dunno.

I don't buy him as an action dude either, although I guess he's not supposed to be in this. A lot of it comes from the same shitty writing that had Bill standing out in the open with a bolt action rifle (like turning his back on downed enemy who could've easily shot him) but he mostly just seems either scared or sorry whenever he has to fight something. He definitely holds back a lot. Game Joel was more vicious. Game Joel actually ran over the dude in the Pittsburgh ambush (why try avoid him?). He treats everything as life or death because it might be. And the fight after the crash was so much more intense than what we got in the show.

I thinks it's a combination of Pascal not having a decent tough act and the showrunners wanting to emasculate Joel every way they can so he'll be more likeable/less threatening to audiences.

(I know what you mean about Troy Baker's "warmth", but his Joel could snap into ruthlessness when needed - whether he was putting on an act for Tess or he actually had to fight for his life or Ellie's in certain scenes)

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Lol

 

[Casual Shinji]

I just don't get a sense of "distance" between him and Ellie. Like I mentioned before, episode one he's already treating her like an equal. He bickers. He gives in. He doesn't use that tone that suggests the conversation's over everytime he answers an annoying question. When he calls Ellie cargo in ep4 I just didn't buy it. Dude looks and sounds like he's desperately trying not to connect with this kid. He giggles at her jokes. I dunno.

That cargo line is little too try hard. Even when first hearing that in the trailer I wasn't a fan. As for distance... it's different. Joel in the game I feel is not really any more distant from Ellie, it's just handled differently. The game had more time to gradually break down the ice, it had more quiet moments where you just walked around and Joel and Ellie would on occasion say things here and there. But Joel in the game would already very quickly start to father Ellie unknowingly; not wanting her to look at the burnt corpses in Bill's town, not wanting to give her a gun. The gun thing is partly him not trusting her, but I also always got a sense that Joel still had his pre-outbreak dad brain thinking she's a kid so she shouldn't need to shoot anything. Even right after Tess gets bit Joel can ask Ellie how she's doing, and then right after we get the rooftop scene with the view of the capitol building.

I don't buy him as an action dude either, although I guess he's not supposed to be in this. A lot of it comes from the same shitty writing that had Bill standing out in the open with a bolt action rifle (like turning his back on downed enemy who could've easily shot him) but he mostly just seems either scared or sorry whenever he has to fight something. He definitely holds back a lot. Game Joel was more vicious. Game Joel actually ran over the dude in the Pittsburgh ambush (why try avoid him?). He treats everything as life or death because it might be. And the fight after the crash was so much more intense than what we got in the show.

The action in this show is not good, and I don't think it ever will be. Joel taking out a bunch of dudes in a gun fight or even a fist fight requires a lot of choreography and training, and the show obviously didn't have the means or the inclination to invest in that. What action is present speaks for itself; it's bad. I doubt they did that on purpose to make Joel look softer. I mean, the latest episode has him killing a young guy crying out for his mom. The scene wasn't great, but it's obviously meant to show Joel will kill people. They could've shown it, but instead focused on Ellie hearing it happen, which is a decent enough artist choice.

Maybe they want to avoid the heavier more gruesome violence from the game, because in live-action this might come across differently and clash with the more emotional character bonding tone. Videogames, even "realistic" ones, can get away with these more wild shifts in tone, like Joel taking out a gang of goons by blasting their heads and limbs into soup while Ellie snipes dudes from up high, and then have that follow up with a touching scene of Joel handing her a gun of her own.

The violence in the game was always to the side, it was never the main theme. And in a game you can do that (easier), because there's always going to be some dissociation between gameplay and story. Violence in live-action is going to take much more attention from the viewer while they're experiencing the story.

But I certainly wouldn't say they're trying to emasculate Joel in the show, unless we're associating violence and emotional distance to masculinity. I prefer Joel in the game to Joel in the show definitely, but that has to do with Troy Baker giving the character a honey smooth gruffness that Pascal just doesn't have. He's way more impatient and sharp in his portrayal.

 

[Casual Shinji]

This hits pretty well on my issues with Episode 4.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Episode Four was just ok. I had to rewatch the crap with Kathleen like five times because I kept nodding off to where I’d be like, “Wait, how did she get to the point of shooting the doctor?” Well, because she’s an unhinged pos basically.

I like when the show is doing its own thing, taking advantage of the medium and the more in depth storytelling it affords. But like the first couple episodes the highlights here were just more of what we’ve already seen in the game to better effect.

 

[BrawlMan]

The Last of Us Is Not a Video-Game Adaptation

HBO turned the story into unmissable television. So why does it feel like something’s missing?

www.vulture.com

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Well I liked the episode. Against my prediction they go ahead and remake Henry and Sam's deaths pretty much as they happen in the game, although (this is my catchphrase at this point) the game did it better.

The big change is that Sam shows the bite to Ellie, and she attempts to cure him by rubbing some of her blood on it. She even stays with him in the room for the night, something game Ellie wouldn't have even considered trying. In the game she obliviously tells him there's no life after death and says goodnight, which is a much colder, morbid end (in hindsight).

I would've preferred if the episode ended on the suicide/cut to black of the game. Instead there's an almost comical cut to Joel and Ellie diligently digging two graves, which reminded me of Rick and Morty's business-as-usual gravedigging every time they kill themselves in another universe.

The episode was really heavy-handed in setting up Joel's moral quandary at the end of his journey. Henry basically serves as Joel 1.0 having "doomed the world" (or however he put it) in order to save his brother, who is dying from leucemia anyway (sorry to put it so coldly but that's just part of the dilemma). Kathleen's obsession with Henry also plays into the games' cycles of pointless violence/vengeance, and how it's apparently perfectly justified from each POV.

It was nice to get an Ish Easter Egg.

The Bloater looked neat but eh seemed a little too human with its wrestling moves.

The clicker girl in the car reminded me of the ronny/lily episode in Barry.

Kathleen behaved in a sort of phony "movie" way a couple of times. Like instead of shooting she stands perfectly still and waits for a convenient interruption. This happened twice.

That's about it.

 

[FakeSympathy]

Episode 5: Endure and Survive

So yeah, due to Super Bowl on Sunday, we got a new episode a few days early. Fine by me! Kinda nice of them to do this for anyone watching the game.

Anyways, the episode starts with a bit of backstory of Henry, Sam, and the group they used to be with. It looks like they ran away due to the tyrannical rule of Katleen. And holy crap, I actually hate the character Katleen. The actress is doing a damn fine job of doing that. She threatens her own people to get info out, lets them celebrate violence against FEDRA and its "supporters", and bosses around the military to find them. She looks like she doesn't know what she's doing, and just lets her power trip get over her head.

She's almost as bad as Governor or Negan from Walking Dead, but unlike them, she has no charm or fun factor about her character.. Like, she's so unlikable, with no redeeming quality whatsoever and I hate hearing her talk.

I can't remember why Henry and Sam were on their own in the game, but it was a good/risky decision to leave that psychotic b****. Also, Sam is deaf (because the kid actor who plays him is also deaf), which does add more tension. The kid did an amazing job, expressing himself to the fullest with sign language and body language. It reminded be a lot of Quiet Place.

I think the way Henry tries to protect his brother's innocence was rather wholesome and heartbreaking.

We then see them meet Joel and Ellie, and the four of them decide to stick together like in the game. But it's mostly sneaking past Katleen and her gang. As they make it through the tunnel, with so much tension they build up you'd think there would be at least one infected attack. But no, there are no attacks, and they make it safely to some sort of safe house, and we see four of them begin to bond. And turns out Sam had Leukemia, and Henry had to sell out a resistance leader (aka Katleen's brother) to get the drugs to help him, which is why Katleen was so pissed at him. I swear the complexities of these characters. And with all the infection happening, you know it's hard to open up like that.

So we get more on Katleen's character. I think the intent was to have the viewers relate to her. But here's the thing; She could've let go of her anger and hate, and try to lead her people better. But no, she let her blind anger get the better of her. Like I would be pissed too, but it's not like that's gonna bring him back.

Joel's group gets into what seems like an abandoned neighborhood, and we get to the sniper scene from the game, the only difference here being it's happening in the middle of the night. And this is one of those moments where the show version is not as intense as the game verison.... Until we get to the part where Katleen's group wants to run them over with armored vehicles.

The began to have an intense stand-off, Katleen continues to talk big, and then.... Infected swarms with LOTS of clickers. It's a chaotic scene, and then we get to meet the bloater. Holy fucking shit, this guy is terrifying. But I do think there was a bit too much CGI here. Ellie amidst chaos decides to save the brothers. Katleen gets mauled by one of the clickers. And good riddance, I don't think I could've handled any more of her. The four of them escape and rest in the abandoned motels.

And then Sam turns infected, Henry is forced to kill him, and then kills himself, and man, this is just as heartbreaking as it did in the game. I think it was especially hard on Ellie when she tried to save Sam with her immune blood.

9/10. Had they made Katleen a bit more likable, maybe I would've liked the episode more.

 

[Casual Shinji]

The big change is that Sam shows the bite to Ellie, and she attempts to cure him by rubbing some of her blood on it. She even stays with him in the room for the night, something game Ellie wouldn't have even considered trying. In the game she obliviously tells him there's no life after death and says goodnight, which is a much colder, morbid end (in hindsight).

The big difference there was that Ellie in the game wasn't aware of Sam's infection at all. That whole interaction between the two is Sam obviously not wanting to let on that he's infected but still trying to get some words of comfort; are the people still inside, do they go to heaven? But Ellie thinking this is just a conversation about what they're scared of answers truthfully. To say Ellie ingame wouldn't have considered trying what Ellie in the show does feels dismissive, since Ellie in the game picks up a toy Sam was interested in (but that Henry didn't allow him to take) to give it to him later. She even keeps it for the rest of the journey.

I like the change in the show. It shows Ellie is desperate to have her immunity mean something - We know her putting her blood on Sam's bite won't do shit. They should've made that scene, of her being with him through the night, last longer though. Conceptually, I like the show's choice equal to the game, but the show should've lingered on it more

This episode was pretty good, certainly better than Episode 4 and maybe even 2. Most of it was shot in nightime which makes the visuals work much better. It's literally night and day when we switch over to daytime scenes.

There was a decent attempt at giving Kathleen some depth and empathy, by just showing her standing in a kids room, implying this was once hers and the contrast with how she is now that the apocalypse has broken her. And then the show needs to fucking spell it out with her going on tangent about her brother and how he made her feel safe in this room. Ugh.

I had an inkling in the previous episode right after Jeffrey Pierce's character showed Kathleen the sink hole, and suspecting this is when we'd see the Bloater for the first time, that he was totally going to get killed by it when the time came (him or Kathleen). And I was right. I've seen enough Spielberg movies to know the signs. And once the Bloater got a hold of him I was just waiting for the game's death animation to play it, and so it did. Nice one.

I liked the big zombie splooge fest in general. It was obviously just the show throwing money at the screen and going 'argh, scary monsters', but I could very much appreciate it.

I did NOT expect them to straight-up lift the sniper scene from the game though, even Joel taking position and protecting Ellie, Henry, and Sam from goons and infected. And it working - it was actually a pretty nice and exciting sequence. I also liked seeing a child clicker, we don't see enough zombie kids in general.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

The big difference there was that Ellie in the game wasn't aware of Sam's infection at all. That whole interaction between the two is Sam obviously not wanting to let on that he's infected but still trying to get some words of comfort; are the people still inside, do they go to heaven? But Ellie thinking this is just a conversation about what they're scared of answers truthfully. To say Ellie ingame wouldn't have considered trying what Ellie in the show does feels dismissive, since Ellie in the game picks up a toy Sam was interested in (but that Henry didn't allow him to take) to give it to him later. She even keeps it for the rest of the journey.

I like the change in the show. It shows Ellie is desperate to have her immunity mean something - We know her putting her blood on Sam's bite won't do shit. They should've made that scene, of her being with him through the night, last longer though. Conceptually, I like the show's choice equal to the game, but the show should've lingered on it more

This episode was pretty good, certainly better than Episode 4 and maybe even 2. Most of it was shot in nightime which makes the visuals work much better. It's literally night and day when we switch over to daytime scenes.

There was a decent attempt at giving Kathleen some depth and empathy, by just showing her standing in a kids room, implying this was once hers and the contrast with how she is now that the apocalypse has broken her. And then the show needs to fucking spell it out with her going on tangent about her brother and how he made her feel safe in this room. Ugh.

I had an inkling in the previous episode right after Jeffrey Pierce's character showed Kathleen the sink hole, and suspecting this is when we'd see the Bloater for the first time, that he was totally going to get killed by it when the time came (him or Kathleen). And I was right. I've seen enough Spielberg movies to know the signs. And once the Bloater got a hold of him I was just waiting for the game's death animation to play it, and so it did. Nice one.

I liked the big zombie splooge fest in general. It was obviously just the show throwing money at the screen and going 'argh, scary monsters', but I could very much appreciate it.

I did NOT expect them to straight-up lift the sniper scene from the game though, even Joel taking position and protecting Ellie, Henry, and Sam from goons and infected. And it working - it was actually a pretty nice and exciting sequence. I also liked seeing a child clicker, we don't see enough zombie kids in general.

I know Ellie isn't aware of Sam's wound in the game, that's why I say her goodbye is so cold and oblivious. I doubt she would've staid up with him if she'd known he'd been infected but I like the token attempt at saving him. It gives more weight to his death, and doubles her commitment at lending herself as a cure.

For the death scene itself I just prefer the game. We discover the bite fairly late and gives a different meaning to his last interaction with Ellie. The two deaths feel much more sudden and violent and tragic for it. The music and the cut to black. And I noticed Henry doesn't say It's your fault in the show but directly assumes the blame (he's arguably blaming himself in the game too but whatever, it's unambiguous in the show).

And yes, after two episodes without zombies it was nice to finally get some decent action, and so much lifted from the game too.

Regarding Kathleen I guess the show explains a little bit better how this clearly unhinged, petty, inept person got the gig for like 11 days because she essentially inherited it. Ep4 gave the impression they'd taken back KC for longer than that. I doubt she'd gone for much longer before her people kicked her out. Here she essentially Immortan Joe's the whole KC rebellion while trying to hunt down two men and a couple of kids.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I know Ellie isn't aware of Sam's wound in the game, that's why I say her goodbye is so cold and oblivious. I doubt she would've staid up with him if she'd known he'd been infected but I like the token attempt at saving him. It gives more weight to his death, and doubles her commitment at lending herself as a cure.

For the death scene itself I just prefer the game. We discover the bite fairly late and gives a different meaning to his last interaction with Ellie. The two deaths feel much more sudden and violent and tragic for it. The music and the cut to black. And I noticed Henry doesn't say It's your fault in the show but directly assumes the blame (he's arguably blaming himself in the game too but whatever, it's unambiguous in the show).

And yes, after two episodes without zombies it was nice to finally get some decent action, and so much lifted from the game too.

Regarding Kathleen I guess the show explains a little bit better how this clearly unhinged, petty, inept person got the gig for like 11 days because she essentially inherited it. Ep4 gave the impression they'd taken back KC for longer than that. I doubt she'd gone for much longer before her people kicked her out. Here she essentially Immortan Joe's the whole KC rebellion while trying to hunt down two men and a couple of kids.

A lot of the show's shot-for-shot scenes don't have the impact of the game because of the music, or lack thereof. It uses the score from the game, but in Sarah's death or Henry's death they don't use the score that was written expressly for those moments. It's weird, and robs those moments a bit.

I think Henry and Sam were done well in this episode, but I prefer the game as well. Again, because there was more time to be around them. There were also so many great characterizing scenes and situations they didn't have time for in the show; Henry being overprotective of and critizing Sam, contrasting against Joel trusting Ellie enough to not helicopter-parent her. The section where Joel is alone with Sam, showing his time with Ellie has brought out his more gentle side already. Sam commenting on the sewer community when he's with Joel, and you can clearly hear the disillusion in this voice that even these people didn't make it.

I do like, maybe even prefer, the actor for Henry in the show. He just looks like he's on the verge of tears at all times for what he's likely been through, and how scared he is to fail at protecting his brother. While I think his explaining to Joel what he did to be on Kathleen's shit list is a little heavy handed in its foreshadowing, it does make Sam's death and his own suicide hit with a bit more venom.

What I liked about this episode was that Henry and Sam felt vulnerable. We know Joel and Ellie won't die or even get seriously injured; they're the main characters. But with Henry and Sam, even knowing their fate in the game, there was still the possibility they might change things... or they might not. But it helped in lending these characters some tension, in a way that I haven't really felt yet in the show so far.