Discuss and Rate the Last Thing You Watched (non-movies)

[Phoenixmgs]

Los últimos de nosotros

Here's an odd change to the story: the very first scene tells us who Abby is, what's driving her, that she's looking for Joel and that she knows what he looks like. The whole enchilada vegetariana. This is probably because the show doesn't have the benefit of pulling the game's switcheroo on the player, which is (in theory) a big part of getting to empathize with her. So instead they're putting out a safety net so the hatred towards Abby isn't insurmountable, which in turn lessens the impact of all the eventual revelations. Not very elegant, spoiling your story because you don't trust you can stick the landing.

Here's another inelegant change: Catherine O'Hara is around as a made-up character ("ThEyRe AlL mADe Up" / "SHUT UP"), a therapist who solely exists to comment on the show's writing. Where's Dr. Melfi when you need her. There's a lot to unpack by the end of Part II and again, this just feels like another safety net just in case Mazin can't land the plane.

None of these changes are the worst thing ever but my first impression of S2 is that the game, like it or not, has nothing to benefit from being adapted into TV (and split into two seasons, apparently). It's the same miserable story all over again, either muted or dumbed down in the process, and at best it kinda looks like the videogame, which is something you can also say about the Borderlands movie.

I'm totally not interested in watching Season 2 of TLOU (or Los ultimos de nosotros) because, yeah, the story is shit. Also, I did watch the 1st season of the show since the 1st game is good and wondered how they'd adapt it, and I didn't feel like they did a good job with that honestly (let alone the clusterfuck that is the 2nd game). Not that the show was bad, just the game was better and did a lot of non-game moments better than the show was able to accomplish. It felt both overlong and rushed because the show expanded on stuff that really didn't need to be expanded on and also left out stuff from the game at the same time. I felt like we never got a ton of time with just Joel and Ellie in the TV show and that's the backbone of the game/story.

 

[Xprimentyl]

Back in it's prime, Mythbusters was one of my favorite shows. I know behind the scenes, Adam and Jamie didn't really get along, but along with Grant, Tori, and Kari, that didn't stop them from making for some really fun and informative television. I was scrolling through the channels and caught an old episode, still think it's great, but the next episode was a couple of douchbags I've never heard of hosting. Apparently, they tried to reboot the series with two brand new guys, and it's just awful. They're corny, condescendingly insincere, and obnoxious; they come off as a couple of nerdy dude-bros. I couldn't even finish the episode. Thankfully, it didn't stick; it only lasted a season so not nearly long enough to to badly mar Mythbusters' legacy.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I'm totally not interested in watching Season 2 of TLOU (or Los ultimos de nosotros) because, yeah, the story is shit. Also, I did watch the 1st season of the show since the 1st game is good and wondered how they'd adapt it, and I didn't feel like they did a good job with that honestly (let alone the clusterfuck that is the 2nd game). Not that the show was bad, just the game was better and did a lot of non-game moments better than the show was able to accomplish. It felt both overlong and rushed because the show expanded on stuff that really didn't need to be expanded on and also left out stuff from the game at the same time. I felt like we never got a ton of time with just Joel and Ellie in the TV show and that's the backbone of the game/story.

I thought S1 was fine and generally faithful to the source, just an overall lesser experience. A lot of the emotional heft from these games comes from the act of being in control of these people and catching the brunt of their actions. Watching Pedro and Bella go through the motions of what I already experienced for myself, only it's the faster, chewed-up, "any %" version of that, simply isn't as impactful.

I'm curious about how S2 transalates Part II but my impression of S2E1 is that they're going to streamline the wild emotional swerves into something mushier. Already they removed the sting of betrayal of initially rooting for Abby, and people aren't going to be as pumped for Ellie's bloodlust because the whataboutism is already out of the bag. I'm no fan of Part II's narrative but the compromise herr is to make it toothless.

 

[Phoenixmgs]

I thought S1 was fine and generally faithful to the source, just an overall lesser experience. A lot of the emotional heft from these games comes from the act of being in control of these people and catching the brunt of their actions. Watching Pedro and Bella go through the motions of what I already experienced for myself, only it's the faster, chewed-up, "any %" version of that, simply isn't as impactful.

I'm curious about how S2 transalates Part II but my impression of S2E1 is that they're going to streamline the wild emotional swerves into something mushier. Already they removed the sting of betrayal of initially rooting for Abby, and people aren't going to be as pumped for Ellie's bloodlust because the whataboutism is already out of the bag. I'm no fan of Part II's narrative but the compromise herr is to make it toothless.

IIRC, the 1st season never had an episode of just Joel and Ellie just being themselves together like the 3rd episode where we got that with Bill and Frank. I kinda feel like the 1st season needed an episode or 2 of basically just Joel and Ellie "White Lotus" style just doing normal things one would do in a zombie apocalypse to convey that sense of gameplay togetherness that the game had. I do wonder how much of playing the game taints your view on the show.