HBO Max The Last Of Us review (SPOILERS!)

[Piscian]

Well that was depressing as fuck. Mission accomplished I guess.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

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.

Best episode yet for me by far. It succeeded in doing things that the game couldn’t, in terms of both emotionally gripping interpersonal narrative conflict and satisfyingly chaotic action sequences. It also paced these elements rather well, giving each room to do its thing to full effect. Aside from a couple cheesy TV pseudo suspense moments that reach Wilhelm scream levels of phoned-in contrivance, it hit all the right buttons (no pun).

That said, I’m glad they didn’t make Kathleen more likable here, as it would betray the fact she was designed to be irredeemably broken. He brother speech conjured as much empathy as was needed.

As an aside I read an article about the fourth episode that brought up how she felt like she’d fit in the MP factions mode of the first game, which was kinda interesting.

 

[Casual Shinji]

By the way, I just found out that Edelstein, the guy who helped hide Henry and Sam, is played by John Getz. He was a regular appearance in 80's and 90's movies and shows as usually a scummy character. He also played Stathis Boris in The Fly.

 

[Bartholen]

Caught up. 5th episode is easily the best one so far. I think I can see two problems rising from the fact that this is an extremely faithful adaptation of a video game:

1. That it is extremely faithful, to the point where it kind of becomes distracting. It's a weird dichotomy. The score is probably the best indicator of this, since it's not just the same composer, but straight up using the exact same compositions a lot of the time. In a vacuum it's a great score, but because those specific musical cues have a different context in the game, in the context they're used in the show they just end up reminding me of something else, which kind of takes me out of it. The Last of Us as a game goes to great lengths to make its levels feel like a logically connecting series of real environments, so it already feels like it's structured more like a TV show than a game. So when that game that's modeled like a TV show is then modeled into a TV show like the game, it feels like a "screenshot of a screenshot" scenario. Not least because visually the show just can''t match the scope and detail of the game. It's really stagey in places.
2. The rather limited characters and interaction. TLoU as a game is extremely efficiently structured and focused with its characters, which comes as a necessity of its medium. When you have limited characters and can only do so much characterization in cutscenes, most of your familiarity and engagement with the characters comes from their interactions in gameplay, where 99% of the time it's just Joel and Ellie or just one of the two. But what works in a game kind of does the opposite in a TV show, where it at times feels like these characters are being stretched rather thin. The show is easily at its best when Joel and Ellie are dealing with different people and not just each other, which is why I feel the fourth episode was kind of boring.

The fourth and fifth episodes actually did what I'd been hoping for from this series, and that's to expand the world and its scope beyond just Joel and Ellie. Kansas City isn't just a haven for bandits, you get an actual sense of the people living there, how their lives were, the dynamics in the background and so on. It's not done particularly well (Kathleen felt like an especially weak character), but it got the job done.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Some major flubs with this episode were Kathleen and Henry spelling things out, and depriving the audience (and those familiar with the game) to spot the parallels and the foreshadowing on their own. Henry going on and on about being the bad guy for betraying a large group of people for one person... We get it TLoU, gawd. And then later Kathleen doing a reprisal on how one person can't be worth everything, right? Right!?

 

[BrawlMan]

​

 

[bluegate]

Some major flubs with this episode were Kathleen and Henry spelling things out, and depriving the audience (and those familiar with the game) to spot the parallels and the foreshadowing on their own. Henry going on and on about being the bad guy for betraying a large group of people for one person... We get it TLoU, gawd. And then later Kathleen doing a reprisal on how one person can't be worth everything, right? Right!?

You may get it, but there's a large dumb audience out there that needs stuff spelled out for them.

We are now just under halfway through the first season, as there are supposed to be 9 episodes. I'm starting to think it might not cover the first game in its entirety.

With four episodes left, let's look at the story beats left to cover ( from the top of my head );

Spoiler: List of story beats / game chapters

- Joel and Ellie getting to Tommy's, Joeland Ellie having a little falling out
- Joel and Ellie going to an abandoned University that the Fireflies use as a research base, as told by Tommy
- Ellie taking care of a hurt Joel, Ellie getting captured and Joel rescuing her from her captives
- Joel and Ellie getting to the Firefly hospital where the ending takes place

With one hour episodes, seems like they have enough episodes left to cover what's left of the story of the game. It might get a bit tight here and there though.

 

[laggyteabag]

You may get it, but there's a large dumb audience out there that needs stuff spelled out for them.


With four episodes left, let's look at the story beats left to cover ( from the top of my head );

Spoiler: List of story beats / game chapters

- Joel and Ellie getting to Tommy's, Joeland Ellie having a little falling out
- Joel and Ellie going to an abandoned University that the Fireflies use as a research base, as told by Tommy
- Ellie taking care of a hurt Joel, Ellie getting captured and Joel rescuing her from her captives
- Joel and Ellie getting to the Firefly hospital where the ending takes place

With one hour episodes, seems like they have enough episodes left to cover what's left of the story of the game. It might get a bit tight here and there though.

To note, the Left Behind DLC is going to be covered this season.

The episode after the next one is called Left Behind, so im assuming that is when this goes down.

From the list, I would assume that the University story isn't going to happen.

 

[laggyteabag]

I've watched this episode twice now, and whilst there are definitely parts to enjoy, I feel like this two-episode arc has definitely been the weakest of the series, so far.

I feel like this, not because these episodes are bad - they are still really enjoyable - but because I thought that the three episodes that preceded them are mostly faultless, whereas these two make a few decisions that I didn't really vibe with.

First of all, I wasn't too big of a fan of the new militia faction. I liked the idea of a FEDRA rebellion, turned rebel dictatorship, but then giving them a face, putting in the time to explain that person's backstory, giving them multiple POV scenes, and spending time going over why that person was after Henry/Sam, was just a waste of time in my eyes. It is no longer relevant to the ongoing plot, and was no more or less effective than the original context.

The previous Hunters group, where they just killed and looted everyone who came into the city, was a more simple, but just as compelling/intimidating antagonistic force.

Secondly, I didn't really get along with Kathleen herself. Obviously she acted like a ruthless leader, but her demeanour gave me school teacher vibes, and I honestly struggle to believe that nobody had shot her up until this point, simply for being so condescending.

Lastly, I just wasn't a fan of the zombie horde at the end. For for a few reasons:

• It was a bit of a CGI fest. Whilst I give an exception for the bloater, it was a bit of a disappointment after seeing the excellent makeup in Episode 2
• I struggle to believe that Ellie, Sam and Henry survived that. All of the dudes with guns got ripped apart, yet the two kids and the "I don't like violence" guy got away (mostly) fine
• It felt way too convenient that the truck just so happened to hit the house with a tunnel beneath it, and release the horde
• The 2nd in command guy who did the whole "You run, I'll hold them off!", then dying 3 seconds later trope was stupid
• Killing Kathleen at the end, and wrapping up that plot, felt a bit too "clean"

Honestly, the whole plotline just felt a bit The Walking Dead to me. Whilst I thought that the final scene with Sam and Henry was effective and emotional, the whole journey was a bit grandiose, and felt rushed to its conclusion.

I try not to make too many comparisons to the source material, but for the first time I would like to say: The game did it better.

 

[Bartholen]

The previous Hunters group, where they just killed and looted everyone who came into the city, was a more simple, but just as compelling/intimidating antagonistic force.

Secondly, I didn't really get along with Kathleen herself. Obviously she acted like a ruthless leader, but her demeanour gave me school teacher vibes, and I honestly struggle to believe that nobody had shot her up until this point, simply for being so condescending.

While I do agree with these up to a point, I also feel that 1. the change with the hunter group was necessary due to it being a TV series, and 2. there is room for a reading of Kathleen's character being deliberately incompetent, though I'm probably more charitable than most in that regard.

In the game Pittsburgh being occupied by a group of hunter bandits works, because it makes for a more engaging and less morally grey gameplay scenario. It justifies there being enemies and gameplay challenges on the way out of the city, and also allows the game to stay focused on Ellie, Joel, Henry and Sam, since basically anyone else in the city is going to be hostile to all of them. But since an hour long TV episode can't just all be sneaking around and beating people up, it's going to have to create character interaction out of something. And IMO doing that with expanding the background of the faction in the city was the right choice, since we already get plenty of Joel and Ellie's dynamic, and the show also more or less covers everything there is with Henry and Sam.

As for Kathleen, there's enough there for me to see her character a bit differently than a failed attempt at a post-apocalyptic leader: the events of the episode take place less than two weeks after the uprising happens, and as we know, Kathleen's brother was the actual big leader. As such, the faction is still dealing with the immediate aftermath of the takeover, and Kathleen with the emotional turmoil of such a change and being essentially thrust into the leader role, possibly unwillingly. Things aren't settled or stable in the slightest, and then there are the infected under the city. To me it made sense that in such a situation Kathleen would be emotional, nervous and not really convincing as a leader, because it's so much to handle at once.

 

[BrawlMan]

The 2nd in command guy who did the whole "You run, I'll hold them off!", then dying 3 seconds later trope was stupid

I saw that clip on youtube. I laughed my ass off.

 

[Casual Shinji]

With four episodes left, let's look at the story beats left to cover ( from the top of my head );

Spoiler: List of story beats / game chapters

- Joel and Ellie getting to Tommy's, Joeland Ellie having a little falling out
- Joel and Ellie going to an abandoned University that the Fireflies use as a research base, as told by Tommy
- Ellie taking care of a hurt Joel, Ellie getting captured and Joel rescuing her from her captives
- Joel and Ellie getting to the Firefly hospital where the ending takes place

With one hour episodes, seems like they have enough episodes left to cover what's left of the story of the game. It might get a bit tight here and there though.

I think they may be squishing Tommy's settlement and the university into one episode, by simply getting rid of the university. I've seen the preview of the next episode and it looks like it'll already be winter when they get to Tommy's. There's also a shot of Ellie sitting behind Joel on horseback firing her gun at someone chasing them, so that might be David's group already.

First of all, I wasn't too big of a fan of the new militia faction. I liked the idea of a FEDRA rebellion, turned rebel dictatorship, but then giving them a face, putting in the time to explain that person's backstory, giving them multiple POV scenes, and spending time going over why that person was after Henry/Sam, was just a waste of time in my eyes. It is no longer relevant to the ongoing plot, and was no more or less effective than the original context.

The previous Hunters group, where they just killed and looted everyone who came into the city, was a more simple, but just as compelling/intimidating antagonistic force.

That worked better in gameplay form. I mean, I like Pittsburgh in the game better than Kansas City in the show, but I understand why they changed it for the show. It's just awkwardly caught between the breath of Pittsburgh in TLoU1, and the expanded history of Seattle in TLoU2.

Secondly, I didn't really get along with Kathleen herself. Obviously she acted like a ruthless leader, but her demeanour gave me school teacher vibes, and I honestly struggle to believe that nobody had shot her up until this point, simply for being so condescending.

If they made her talk less maybe this character could've worked. I understand what they were going for, but she never really came across to me as intimidating or even worthy of my scorn. Also, the way they had her walk on screen to hold the party at gunpoint near the end of the zombie horde scene and yell 'stop'. Like, fucking why? Just shoot the guy.

The 2nd in command guy who did the whole "You run, I'll hold them off!", then dying 3 seconds later trope was stupid

Him turning around to tell Kathleen to run and don't look back while he already saw the bloater was charging in his direction was what got me. Like, why would you turn your back on this thing even for a second, you idiot - Just tell Kathleen to run WHILE you're shooting at the big monster that's 5 seconds away from ripping your head off.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

By the way, I just found out that Edelstein, the guy who helped hide Henry and Sam, is played by John Getz. He was a regular appearance in 80's and 90's movies and shows as usually a scummy character. He also played Stathis Boris in The Fly.

I spent my whole life thinking the dude from The Fly was also this asshole:

 

[gorfias]

I struggle to believe that Ellie, Sam and Henry survived that. All of the dudes with guns got ripped apart, yet the two kids and the "I don't like violence" guy got away (mostly) fine

My very thought. And then Sam shows he did get bit at least.
I thought it moved a bit too slowly for the 1st 1/2 but I guess it was necessary to let us know who the players were. The 2nd half was pretty terrific, just, suspend disbelief.

It may have been mentioned elsewhere. The explanation for what the infected are is being done kinda wrong but it is likely wrong in the same way game was. That infected that gives Tess a kiss? That's more like it. It is a fungus. It wants to spread. Ripping some one's head off is not likely to help get that 2nd person to spread the fungus.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

[*]I struggle to believe that Ellie, Sam and Henry survived that. All of the dudes with guns got ripped apart, yet the two kids and the "I don't like violence" guy got away (mostly) fine

I don't disagree. But reading this I was reminded that Ellie basically survived by having Joel snipe her every attacker (nobody else in the melee get the guardian angel package). And you could argue that the hunters drew most of the aggro by shooting the zombies, which allowed Henry and Sam to sit out the fight under a car (and even then not unscathed).

But I agree it was all a little too clean and convenient. Especially Kathleen behaving like the Big Bad, monologuing and wasting two perfectly serviceable gunpoint moments.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I spent my whole life thinking the dude from The Fly was also this asshole:

View attachment 7929

Nah man, even Stathis Boris, unlawfully entering stalkling creep that he is, was more charming than Ellis. The only other role I remember this guy being in was as the love interest in the Supergirl movie.

But I agree it was all a little too clean and convenient. Especially Kathleen behaving like the Big Bad, monologuing and wasting two perfectly serviceable gunpoint moments.

Speaking of, I'm so fucking bothered by how limp-wristed she's holding that gun on Henry right before the pit opened up. It looks like she's an 8-year old holding a gun for the first time.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

It's interesting watching this show because I played the game once, so I remember the major stuff but not all the details. That created a weird but good kind of tension for me while watching the last episode with Henry and Sam.
My wife had a laugh-shock moment when the huge monster joined the fight, that was pretty cool.

It's just nice to have a big deal event HBO Sunday night in our lives again.

 

[LegoDnD]

Bloaters just don't have the same "ohshit" element without the ability to throw spore-grenades.

 

[FakeSympathy]

Episode 6: Kin

So the episode starts with Joel and Ellie asking an old couple where they might find Tommy. They are lost and asking for directions at gunpoint. Joel starts to hav a panic attack for the possibility of his brother's death (which we all know is not true).

We get treated to beautiful sceneries of WY outdoors in the winter, including a starry night with aurora. I always love these nature shots. They once again have a bonding time over campfire. Joel talks about wanting have a quiet life raising sheep, and Ellie wants to be an astronaut. We never got to see this side of either characters, and I think this was a nice addition. Joel has started to really care about Ellie's well-being.

They reach the dam (just like in the game), where they run into some guards. We get the classic false-tension fake-out cliche of Ellie being mauled by their dog, only to become friendly with her. The guards lead them back to their base, which has more resemblance to what we saw in TLOU2.Come to think of it, I don't think we ever got to saw the full view of the town in the first game.

Joel and Tommy reunite, and admittingly it is a touching scene. They get introduced to Maria later. She looks and sounds like a competent leader. And she says something that's really interesting, that being the town having a government of the community, literal communism. And I can't get over how this never was brought up in either game. It's the reason why Tommy stopped communicating with Joel because of the protection of the community. Another interesting is in the game Tommy resented his time with Joel doing some messed up shit, but here he admits it was a "we" effort, and admits they both did some horrible things together.

He also has more reasons to stay, that being Maria carrying his child. Hence why he can't help Joel take Ellie to firefly. Joel also never mentions about Ellie's immunity. Both are disappointed at each other for refusing to be part of their lives again.

Ellie gets some time with Maria, and she gives Ellie protection against the pregnancy menstrual cup. At first, I thought this meant having a baby with Tommy was unplanned, but then it turns out she had a son who unfortunately died. I'm guessing the pain of losing her child once made her not wanna have another? They then go to see a movie (The Goodbye Girl). And it is understandably a community event, the whole town is there to see it, especially children.

Joel and Tommy have another talk, and Joel reveals to him about Ellie. Joel confesses he's been feeling scared of losing Ellie. And holy shit, Petro Pascal absolutely NAILS the performance here. The voice cracking and being on verge of tears is superb. He asks Tommy to take Ellie instead of him because he has no confidence in himself. Tommy reluctantly agrees to do this.

Ellie overheard the last part of their conversation, and Instead of running off, she meets Joel in one of the houses in the town. And this is where the show does its take on the dialog about losing people. And as much as this scene is emotional, I don't think this scene can top what we saw in the game. We do get treated to both of them being emotionally distraught, the payoff doesn't feel as strong.

Of course, the next morning Joel had a change of heart and do decide to take Ellie. And I think this probably took a lot of courage and determination from Joel, both in the game and here.

They ride out together, and Joel teaches Ellie how to shoot a rifle. In the game they were in a bit more tense situation, but here it's a much more lighter mood and they enjoy each other's company.

They made it to the Univesity, where they discover fireflies were here, and they have been doing. Apparently they have been doing experiments to find a cure, and left in a hurry? They get in a fight with one of the raiders, and Joel ends of being stabbed. The episode ends with Joel passing out from the wound. Ellie is on the verge of tears.

Overall, this was 10/10 episode from sheer acting skills. The episode title is amazing approriate for what happens in the episode, and the emotional delivery is fantastic.

We are now 2/3 way down for the entire season. It looks like the next episode will adapt the dlc's story?

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Ellie gets some time with Maria, and she gives Ellie protection against pregnancy. At first I thought this meant having a baby with Tommy was unplanned, but then it turns out she had a son who unfortunately died. I'm guessing the pain of losing her child once made her not wanna have another?

She gave her a menstrual cup. It's not a contraceptive.