Full season reviews for the HBO series are out and they are absolutely stellar, so I just made a Lenny face like I did all those years ago to celebrate lol.
Yeah! They're really freaking good which is awesome.
A lot of people are praising Episode 3, which is the Bill and Frank episode which is cool
I've been hearing of a few "major"-ish changes recently (no spores, time-frame change, Ellie's reveal) but it seems like a lot of that are worthwhile changes or insignificant in the grand scheme of this adaptation. It nails a lot of it (maybe too well, some people say it sticks to the game's events too predictably)
But this is awesome news indeed.
Can't wait for next week.
Full season reviews for the HBO series are out and they are absolutely stellar, so I just made a Lenny face like I did all those years ago to celebrate lol.
Shame about the spores since I think those could have looked really cool visually and could add some tension, but at the same time the games themselves play fast and loose with how they work so I can see why they changed it.
Apparently the first and third episodes will be 80 minutes long, while episodes two and four will be around 50 minutes. Not sure about the rest though.
Yeah! They're really freaking good which is awesome.
(Spoiler)
I've been hearing of a few "major"-ish changes recently (no spores, tim… moree-frame change, Ellie's reveal) but it seems like a lot of that are worthwhile changes or insignificant in the grand scheme of this adaptation. It nails a lot of it (maybe too well, some people say it sticks to the game's events too predictably)
But this is awesome news indeed.
Can't wait for next week.
I eagerly await the opportunity to relive 2013 again, and watch as this series vacuums up every possible award for everything this year
no but seriously, I do hope this finally breaks the live adaptation curse, and shows that translating a video game narrative to film/TV is quite possible (and likely lucrative) when you actually try to respect the source material
I worry that because it's releasing so early in the year, it'll be overlooked a lot when it comes to "best of 2023" discussions at the end of the year. Maybe it'll be so big it can overcome that though
I eagerly await the opportunity to relive 2013 again, and watch as this series vacuums up every possible award for everything this year
n… moreo but seriously, I do hope this finally breaks the live adaptation curse, and shows that translating a video game narrative to film/TV is quite possible (and likely lucrative) when you actually try to respect the source material
Here's something interesting... Masahiro Sakurai has a channel on game design, and recently he went through the options menu of The Last Of Us Part 1 to show off the importance of accessibility.
It's just 10 minutes of him checking out and talking about what each setting does, but I find it super fascinating he's putting a spotlight on such a thing, since Japanese games often feature very few game options, let alone accessibility
(And he kind of call out Nintendo's old practices of this at the end too hehe)
Edit: I really want to try the 'speech to vibrations' setting. Where it uses the controller's vibration to convey the same intensity of the dialogue playing on-screen. Sounds fascinating.
It's probably used for deaf people, who don't have that auditory aid...
Super Duper Duper excited for the show's premiere tonight!!
Oh boy it sounds like they've struck gold (and it was probably really easy since it's so cinematic/episodic already), so I hope this gets to be big, and at least proves that with respect (and some thoughtful writing to fill in some gameplay blanks), you can make a great video game adaptation.
Can't watch it tonight myself, gotta wait for the parents to come home tomorrow... but when that time comes... it'll be fun!
Great premiere episode! The whole cast was fantastic! Pedro, Bella, Gabriel, Anna, and Nico all nailed their respective characters. I was not expecting Gabriel Luna to sound exactly like Tommy, and whatever reservations I had with Bella Ramsay washed away as soon as she started swearing. I really enjoyed the stuff they expanded upon with the time before the infection, Joel and Tess, and the stuff with Ellie and the Fireflies. The cinematography was excellent, and they did a great job with tenseness especially in the first half of the episode.
Overall I thought it was great and am looking forward to next weeks episode!
Spoiler Notes
I really liked the talk show opening. It's a cool way to set up the infection.
The movie Joel and Sarah watch in the flashback is the movie Ellie talks about in the beginning of TLoU2!
The out of focus old lady freaking out behind Sarah was horrifying.
The little tendril things coming out of the infected mouths is new. Also Super gross.
Sarah's death still hits hard, goddamn.
Looks like Tommy stuck with Joel all these years in this, which is an interesting change.
Joel and Tess's relationship is a bit more blatant here, which will make her upcoming demise hit harder.
I liked seeing more of the shady stuff that Joel does in the QZ, same with Tess.
I like the inclusion of Joel's PTSD. I wonder how often it'll appear in the future.
This played right after the episode on the HBO channel, I'm very surprised they chose to include that last shot.
Joel... with an assault rifle... in a hospital?!? Ooooh booooyy
Alright so, that Last of Us premiere... time for a little run-down now of my thoughts:
I talk a lot, spoiler for it all:
The 1960s talk show intro was a great, new way to open the show, set the tense "viral pandemic" tone, and clue in new people into what to expect from this series.
Starting the "Prologue" earlier than what the game does was a great touch, to get to know the normal world, a little of Joel and Sarah's dynamic, and slowly set the arrival of the full-on outbreak.
The quiet scene with the granny twitching and moving in the background was terrifying. And so, so good.
A lot of the scenes and dialogue going from the truck scene onwards is taken verbatim from the game, very cool to see it recreated.
And... that death was almost as sad as it was the first time. They did not need to change a thing about that scene, and I'm glad they didn't.
Flashforward to 20 years later... a terrifying way to show how broken and detached Joel is, by burning a child's corpse in the QZ. Two child deaths already, yikes.
(Apparently this is the scene the original Episode 1 would have ended at... wow what a choice)
Ah, and by the way, it is UNCANNY how close in vocal inflection Pascal and Luna sound as Joel and Tommy. I don't know if that was intended to happen, but they got it really close most of the time.
A bit of lore about FEDRA owning a QZ factory is cool, and I like how it ties into the themes of rebuilding the broken world.
Got a scene with Robert. That surprised me. He's always the most forgettable part of the game for me. His fate is ended by someone else's hands later, but that's fine with me.
Ellie's introduction here, chained up by the fireflies, was really good. Bella Ramsey has that SASS.
Interesting that they already portray the Fireflies as a bit antagonistic (as would come about a lot later), I was worried they wouldn't given their slogan is being used across all TLOU marketing so far.
Even the scene where Joel wakes up in his bed! Stuff taken from the game, and a lot more is clear about Tess and Joel's relationship... they do be lovers.
Merle Dandrige, back as Marlene! She's so good, and I'm glad she landed this role (probably helps that she was the same face model)
And then that same scene with Ellie... they don't reveal her immunity! Huh. I like that they also plant some scenes that Marlene has some history with her, something Im sure will come up later, we don't even see in the games
"Your watch is broken" 😁 yessss. I thought that was gonna be the scene they ended it on, but...
They escape the QZ, avoiding the spotlights like you do in the game, cool cool... and come across this guard Joel was trading with earlier!
And then, in some bout of PTSD, Joel brutally murders this guard he knows when faced with the same situation he left Sarah in... that's a great reveal of how scary and dangerous he's become in the post-apocalypse.
One thing about the last scene
There's also a bit -- that I'm worried and afraid of -- they tease a bit in the featurette and podcast afterwards, that Ellie is "activated" by this, or... somehow enjoys seeing Joel murder this dude, as a contrast to Sarah being afraid when he kills the old lady.
I hope they mean she enjoys seeing someone protect her using such force, instead of just the violence itself...
Because, while I get how this can tie into Part II and Ellie's choice to go on a murder spree to find this lady. I think that was a gradual de-sensitization that she went through in Part 1, that drove her to it, not an enjoyment of it... ("Holy Shit, Joel!" Is an iconic gameplay line when she sees a dead body)
Overall though, this episode was fantastic, and I love that it basically added some new context and filled in the gameplay gaps with more to see, that becomes this tense, intriguing thrill-ride the introduce people to the story. It's surprising how much they kept here.
We'll see what happens later (I know episode 3 is probably gonna focus a lot on a character that was already dead in the games), but I can't wait to see what can surprise me next. I'm hoping for a little segment on Ish.
Also did you know there's a Last of Us podcast they'll put out every week, featuring Troy Baker, Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin go over a bunch of the episode's scenes, and talk about what went into writing it and figuring out how to adapt it.
Youtube & anywhere else you can find your podcasts...
It's a pretty good glimpse of the writer's/director's choices behind the camera.
When they bring up the cookies the neighbours have in the podcast, Mazin specifically mentions they leave many breadcrumbs in this episode that'll lead to bigger things later.
Some fans picked up on the fact that Joel didn't have pancake mix, forgot to get a cake, and coupled with how pushy the neighbours were about the cookies (and focusing on the granny eating them), they're probably going to reveal that the outbreak happened from some contaminated food/grain. Ooh.
Why does everyone need to be a character in any media? I don't care if they are human beings or not, it does nothing but kill the focus of the story.
Also, It's hilarious how right you were about this Aron. They did make us care for a random person, because it just fits so perfectly.
What's the best way to show how dangerous Joel is by not only going berserk on a man's face at the end, but the very same guard he regularly trades with.
Were they close? No. But Joel knew this man, and without a second to think he beat him to death.
Wow.
PlayStation has started their parallel Behind-The-Scenes series about TLOU Part 1 in conjunction with major moments from each HBO episode...
Also Craig Mazin has clarified his previous quote from the New Yorker about not connecting "with pixels" instead of real actors dying. -- He meant the NPCs and amount of them in different combat scenarios are treated as obstacles instead of dramatic threats and "people" that have weight if killed...
I kinda figured that, and it definitely means we'll have less action pieces in the series, but it'll make the ones that do appear more special. Episode One just had a few infected during Outbreak Day, and some easy Stealth at the end!
It’s very hard to make npcs feel like people without it feeling forced. The best version of it I’ve seen is undertale and even then the enemies were very scripted.
In a way it’s unfair to compare emotional weight between tv and video games since games have a lot more factors to consider.
PlayStation has started their parallel Behind-The-Scenes series about TLOU Part 1 in conjunction with major moments from each HBO episode...… more
Also Craig Mazin has clarified his previous quote from the New Yorker about not connecting "with pixels" instead of real actors dying. -- He meant the NPCs and amount of them in different combat scenarios are treated as obstacles instead of dramatic threats and "people" that have weight if killed...
I kinda figured that, and it definitely means we'll have less action pieces in the series, but it'll make the ones that do appear more special. Episode One just had a few infected during Outbreak Day, and some easy Stealth at the end!
big image
(Spoiler)
Latest episode of the show was great!
A bit lighter on plot, but its our first terrifying scene involving Clickers and it was extremely intense!
The addition of the cold open in Indonesia shedding more light on the initial infection was interesting and also scary.
I like that they're kind of adding in a realistic angle of how the professionals could see this coming, but were unable to prevent it, or unsuccessful.
The added lore of the Infected being some sort of hive-mind is a cool way to give the groups of them more deadly, as well as the growing fungus on walls being connected too (though unfortunately my mind immediately flashed to Stranger Things 4 where they also introduced that element recently)
However, holy holy shit, I did not have Fungus Transfer via Infected Smooch on my bingo card and I'm terrified and grossed out that they put that in there ewwwww
Next week is Bill's Town and everyone says its the best episode of the show, maybe even one of TV'S overall greats! Rumored to be 80 minutes... I'm interested!
The second episode is a little slower paced than the premiere but overall still great, with some very strong beginnings and endings. There's also more really cool and really nasty expansions on how the infected work, and some more worldbuilding I didn't know I wanted. Neil Druckmann directed the episode and funnily enough it felt kinda video gamey in a way. Got our first look at some Clicklers and they look great!
Looking forward to next weeks episode with Ron Swanson!
Spoilers
Was not expecting to see Indonesia pop up, but I loved it. I actually have family who live there too! Though the mexico filter was a bit much lol. Very cool, and very sad. I hope there's more stuff like this in future episodes!
I like that it's the scientist this time that advises total annihilation instead of the military dude who just sat there looking horrified. Usually in other media it's the complete opposite.
Also looks like the theories about the infection being spread through flour were right!
Some video game callbacks with the previous room being blocked off, Joel lifting Tess up to crawl through something, bandaging with tape, etc.
Really liking the changes made to the infected. Also very gross. Definitely also thought of Stranger Things when they were explaining the veins lol.
Lmao at Ellie getting bit again. It's a nice juxtaposition to Tess, and a great way to show not only Joel, but the audience that Ellie is immune.
Looks like Tess tried starting something with Joel which he turned down. I wonder if that'll be brought up again.
Interesting that most of the infected ignored Tess, while the one calmly walked straight towards her as she stood there frozen seemingly trying to fight back against some invisible force. It really feels like the fungus is way more intelligent and powerful here. Not just having some form of control over the fully infected, but with the people who are turning as well.
Was expecting Tess to get bit and die by the end of the episode, but was definitely not expecting the fungus kiss. Tess gets it way worse than in the game lol. At least there she just got shot.
Can't wait to roast TLOU1 remake again since from what I have heard, Dead Space Remake isn't just a 1 to 1 remake, it adds new content and feels like a different game while keeping the same spirit. Sucks that I have to wait until tomorrow for my game to unlock.
I wouldn't be surprised if a third season gets announced as well considering they've said a few times now that adapting the second game would take at least two seasons.
According to Druckmann, however, we nearly never met Piano Frog. Sharing a behind-the-scenes image on Twitter of a bird being placed behind a fake frog, Druckmann revealed, “Piano frog wouldn’t be a thing… if piano bird did its job!” The bird was supposed to eat the frog in the transition, but “it never did!!!” he shared. “I guess everything happens for a reason.”
The Last of Us Creator Says 'Piano Frog' Was a Mistake
According to Druckmann, however, we nearly never met Piano Frog. Sharing a behi… morend-the-scenes image on Twitter of a bird being placed behind a fake frog, Druckmann revealed, “Piano frog wouldn’t be a thing… if piano bird did its job!” The bird was supposed to eat the frog in the transition, but “it never did!!!” he shared. “I guess everything happens for a reason.”
https://twitter.com/Neil_Druckmann/status/1617469323450404864
Lol frog death scene didn't happen so they had to make a wholesome frog scene instead
Tonight was The Last of Us Episode 3! This one's got the biggest deviation and addition from the game yet, and it's fucking beautiful!
I was not ready to cry, and boy did I CRY!!
(And it probably didn't help that it came off the heels of the death of one of the OG actors)
Holy crap, this episode is like 80% Bill & Frank and 20% Joel and Ellie.
Spending a major part of the episode as a flashback, looking at how Bill and Frank meet, get together, see their relationship develop in this isolated town in small snippets, and ultimately unravel in a beautifully tragic way.
My gosh... the scene with the raiders coming in was tense! They nearly had me thinking they'd kill Bill instead of Frank! Thankfully he survives along with Frank, but man, not for too long after...
Frank develops some sort of nervous system disease, and ultimately, like the game, chooses to kill himself -- though with his lover's consent, after being treated to a great final day.
That entire last montage of the two of them together on that day had me uncontrollably bawling by the end of it. And in a major surprise, Bill chooses to die alongside Frank, leaving Joel and Ellie to come across an empty town, and a written note...
Jesus. After that I calmed down and enjoyed a little levity between the pair (and got majorly hyped when seeing Joel in his green plaid and Ellie in her sunset shirt!)
Fantastic stuff 10/10, a great slow episode that replaces the game's action for awesome character building...
And next week, we ditch the feels for some tension again! The Pittsburgh chapter ooh! (actually Kansas City in the series)
Episode three is fucking beautiful, I was not ready for how absolutely devastating it would be, while also being surprisingly funny. Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett were fantastic! They did a great job playing roommates. This show just keeps getting better and better. If they stick the landing, which I'm 100% certain they will, this show will be remembered for a long long time.
Spoiler
What was the thing Ellie found in the basement? I couldn't get a good look at it other than it said Pearl.
The cut from the remains of the mother and baby to what they were before was depressing as fuck.
Frank's got an amazing gaydar lmao.
The nazi joke was fuckin' hilarious.
My one single criticism this episode is why Bill just stood in the middle of the road during a shootout lol.
Making Bill and Franks relationship into a love story was a brilliant move. It's hard to compare this version of the two and the games because they're so different and their outcomes hit differently, but damn. This got me bad.
It's like an extended version of the opening from Up, except that it ends with a double suicide.
I like how extremely awkward and uncomfortable Bill is for the first half of the episode. It does a good job of showing that he is the very opposite of a people person.
I bawled my eyes out when Frank listed the things he'd like to do for his last day, and it's made even worse seeing Nick Offerman crying.
Ellie unlocks her video game outfit! Also a gun! I wonder if she'll pull that out for when they're attacked at the university just before Joel gets the rebar.
Bill's letter to Joel was incredibly touching, and it helps push Joel to be less closed off to Ellie. That's some damn good writing.
I went to listen to the Linda Rondstat song and immediately starting tearing up. God damn, what a good episode.
Side note. I hope when Sam and Henry show up, they make it until the following episode before they get offed so people aren't just expecting all the new characters to instantly get murked.
Episode three is fucking beautiful, I was not ready for how absolutely devastating it would be, while also being surprisingly funny. Nick Of… moreferman and Murray Bartlett were fantastic! They did a great job playing roommates. This show just keeps getting better and better. If they stick the landing, which I'm 100% certain they will, this show will be remembered for a long long time.
Spoiler
(Spoiler)
Okay, I just know I'm gonna be thinking about that very intimate bed scene between Bill and Frank a lot this week...
It was so good
Nick Offerman did a fantastic job there, and it was a fantastic addition to show Bill of all people -- Bill, the paranoid, rugged, very masculine-looking guy -- be portrayed so vulnerable with Frank in bed.
He looked so nervous and confused, maybe even ashamed that he'd only done this "with a girl before", and needed to be consoled and comforted by Frank -- a very open, kind man, but relatively still a stranger to him.
I thought it was super wholesome and comforting in ways I can't [and don't want to] explain here right now...just some real feel-good stuff IMHO
According to Craig Mazin, episode 3 was originally two hours long and that it made him cry so hard it physically hurt. Hot damn, that's a lot of stuff they cut and what we got still destroyed me. I can't imagine what was in the original cut that would have been even more devastating.
Very much enjoyed episode 4. It's a little lighter in tone with most of the episode focusing on Ellie and Joel bonding, there's still that ever present grimness to things but it's definitely a more "fun" episode especially in comparison to last weeks. Bella Ramsey is fantastic and gets a lot of time to shine both in terms of humour and emotion. There's also some big changes to some things from the game and I'm intrigued to see how things play out. Overall another great episode, though it definitely feels like a two part episode! Next weeks episode is gonna release earlier because of an owl which is great, but that also means the wait for the following episode will be a bit longer .
Spoilers
They did the porn magazine joke!
Joel finally lets himself smile! He literally hasn't done that since the first episode.
Love that Joel ends up freaking himself out about possibly being attacked and ends up staying up.
The ambush was great! Though I wish Joel said the line, "He ain't even hurt."
I like that they've minimised the body count in the series. Makes deaths more shocking and hit harder.
I wonder what it was Henry and Sam did to these people.
Jeffrey Pierce, AKA Tommy's original voice actor, makes an appearance as the second in command of this new faction! Goddamn he looks cool. He's 100% gonna die a horrible death. Maybe death by Bloater?
Looks like there's a bloater living underneath the city.
Ellie once again cheekily disobeying Joel and hiding the gun in her jacket. Oh Ellie you silly scamp.
I really like that Joel's age plays a big part in his physical capabilities. Like with him struggling in a hand to hand fight with the much younger dude, his issue with the stairs, and then his hearing.
Ellie seems to be heavily implying that she killed Riley after they both got bit. It's been a while since I've seen the original game but was that implied there as well?
Love the ending with Joel and Ellie having a laughing fit over the poop joke. It's a really cute scene.
Comments
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whut
Full season reviews for the HBO series are out and they are absolutely stellar, so I just made a Lenny face like I did all those years ago to celebrate lol.
Joel and Joel.
Yeah! They're really freaking good which is awesome.
A lot of people are praising Episode 3, which is the Bill and Frank episode which is cool
I've been hearing of a few "major"-ish changes recently (no spores, time-frame change, Ellie's reveal) but it seems like a lot of that are worthwhile changes or insignificant in the grand scheme of this adaptation. It nails a lot of it (maybe too well, some people say it sticks to the game's events too predictably)
But this is awesome news indeed.
Can't wait for next week.
Now kiss
Shame about the spores since I think those could have looked really cool visually and could add some tension, but at the same time the games themselves play fast and loose with how they work so I can see why they changed it.
Apparently the first and third episodes will be 80 minutes long, while episodes two and four will be around 50 minutes. Not sure about the rest though.
I eagerly await the opportunity to relive 2013 again, and watch as this series vacuums up every possible award for everything this year
no but seriously, I do hope this finally breaks the live adaptation curse, and shows that translating a video game narrative to film/TV is quite possible (and likely lucrative) when you actually try to respect the source material
I worry that because it's releasing so early in the year, it'll be overlooked a lot when it comes to "best of 2023" discussions at the end of the year. Maybe it'll be so big it can overcome that though
Here's something interesting... Masahiro Sakurai has a channel on game design, and recently he went through the options menu of The Last Of Us Part 1 to show off the importance of accessibility.
It's just 10 minutes of him checking out and talking about what each setting does, but I find it super fascinating he's putting a spotlight on such a thing, since Japanese games often feature very few game options, let alone accessibility
(And he kind of call out Nintendo's old practices of this at the end too hehe)
Edit: I really want to try the 'speech to vibrations' setting. Where it uses the controller's vibration to convey the same intensity of the dialogue playing on-screen. Sounds fascinating.
It's probably used for deaf people, who don't have that auditory aid...
Super Duper Duper excited for the show's premiere tonight!!
Oh boy it sounds like they've struck gold (and it was probably really easy since it's so cinematic/episodic already), so I hope this gets to be big, and at least proves that with respect (and some thoughtful writing to fill in some gameplay blanks), you can make a great video game adaptation.
Can't watch it tonight myself, gotta wait for the parents to come home tomorrow... but when that time comes... it'll be fun!
SO IT BEGINS
IT WAS SO GOOD
Great premiere episode! The whole cast was fantastic! Pedro, Bella, Gabriel, Anna, and Nico all nailed their respective characters. I was not expecting Gabriel Luna to sound exactly like Tommy, and whatever reservations I had with Bella Ramsay washed away as soon as she started swearing. I really enjoyed the stuff they expanded upon with the time before the infection, Joel and Tess, and the stuff with Ellie and the Fireflies. The cinematography was excellent, and they did a great job with tenseness especially in the first half of the episode.
Overall I thought it was great and am looking forward to next weeks episode!
Spoiler Notes
I really liked the talk show opening. It's a cool way to set up the infection.
The movie Joel and Sarah watch in the flashback is the movie Ellie talks about in the beginning of TLoU2!
The out of focus old lady freaking out behind Sarah was horrifying.
The little tendril things coming out of the infected mouths is new. Also Super gross.
Sarah's death still hits hard, goddamn.
Looks like Tommy stuck with Joel all these years in this, which is an interesting change.
Joel and Tess's relationship is a bit more blatant here, which will make her upcoming demise hit harder.
I liked seeing more of the shady stuff that Joel does in the QZ, same with Tess.
I like the inclusion of Joel's PTSD. I wonder how often it'll appear in the future.
Another trailer with some sneak peeks at the rest of the season!
This played right after the episode on the HBO channel, I'm very surprised they chose to include that last shot.
Joel... with an assault rifle... in a hospital?!? Ooooh booooyy
Alright so, that Last of Us premiere... time for a little run-down now of my thoughts:
I talk a lot, spoiler for it all:
The 1960s talk show intro was a great, new way to open the show, set the tense "viral pandemic" tone, and clue in new people into what to expect from this series.
Starting the "Prologue" earlier than what the game does was a great touch, to get to know the normal world, a little of Joel and Sarah's dynamic, and slowly set the arrival of the full-on outbreak.
The quiet scene with the granny twitching and moving in the background was terrifying. And so, so good.
A lot of the scenes and dialogue going from the truck scene onwards is taken verbatim from the game, very cool to see it recreated.
And... that death was almost as sad as it was the first time. They did not need to change a thing about that scene, and I'm glad they didn't.
Flashforward to 20 years later... a terrifying way to show how broken and detached Joel is, by burning a child's corpse in the QZ. Two child deaths already, yikes.
(Apparently this is the scene the original Episode 1 would have ended at... wow what a choice)
Ah, and by the way, it is UNCANNY how close in vocal inflection Pascal and Luna sound as Joel and Tommy. I don't know if that was intended to happen, but they got it really close most of the time.
A bit of lore about FEDRA owning a QZ factory is cool, and I like how it ties into the themes of rebuilding the broken world.
Got a scene with Robert. That surprised me. He's always the most forgettable part of the game for me. His fate is ended by someone else's hands later, but that's fine with me.
Ellie's introduction here, chained up by the fireflies, was really good. Bella Ramsey has that SASS.
Interesting that they already portray the Fireflies as a bit antagonistic (as would come about a lot later), I was worried they wouldn't given their slogan is being used across all TLOU marketing so far.
Even the scene where Joel wakes up in his bed! Stuff taken from the game, and a lot more is clear about Tess and Joel's relationship... they do be lovers.
Merle Dandrige, back as Marlene! She's so good, and I'm glad she landed this role (probably helps that she was the same face model)
And then that same scene with Ellie... they don't reveal her immunity! Huh. I like that they also plant some scenes that Marlene has some history with her, something Im sure will come up later, we don't even see in the games
"Your watch is broken" 😁 yessss. I thought that was gonna be the scene they ended it on, but...
They escape the QZ, avoiding the spotlights like you do in the game, cool cool... and come across this guard Joel was trading with earlier!
And then, in some bout of PTSD, Joel brutally murders this guard he knows when faced with the same situation he left Sarah in... that's a great reveal of how scary and dangerous he's become in the post-apocalypse.
One thing about the last scene
There's also a bit -- that I'm worried and afraid of -- they tease a bit in the featurette and podcast afterwards, that Ellie is "activated" by this, or... somehow enjoys seeing Joel murder this dude, as a contrast to Sarah being afraid when he kills the old lady.
I hope they mean she enjoys seeing someone protect her using such force, instead of just the violence itself...
Because, while I get how this can tie into Part II and Ellie's choice to go on a murder spree to find this lady. I think that was a gradual de-sensitization that she went through in Part 1, that drove her to it, not an enjoyment of it... ("Holy Shit, Joel!" Is an iconic gameplay line when she sees a dead body)
Overall though, this episode was fantastic, and I love that it basically added some new context and filled in the gameplay gaps with more to see, that becomes this tense, intriguing thrill-ride the introduce people to the story. It's surprising how much they kept here.
We'll see what happens later (I know episode 3 is probably gonna focus a lot on a character that was already dead in the games), but I can't wait to see what can surprise me next. I'm hoping for a little segment on Ish.
Also did you know there's a Last of Us podcast they'll put out every week, featuring Troy Baker, Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin go over a bunch of the episode's scenes, and talk about what went into writing it and figuring out how to adapt it.
Youtube & anywhere else you can find your podcasts...
It's a pretty good glimpse of the writer's/director's choices behind the camera.
When they bring up the cookies the neighbours have in the podcast, Mazin specifically mentions they leave many breadcrumbs in this episode that'll lead to bigger things later.
Some fans picked up on the fact that Joel didn't have pancake mix, forgot to get a cake, and coupled with how pushy the neighbours were about the cookies (and focusing on the granny eating them), they're probably going to reveal that the outbreak happened from some contaminated food/grain. Ooh.
Also, It's hilarious how right you were about this Aron. They did make us care for a random person, because it just fits so perfectly.
What's the best way to show how dangerous Joel is by not only going berserk on a man's face at the end, but the very same guard he regularly trades with.
Were they close? No. But Joel knew this man, and without a second to think he beat him to death.
Wow.
PlayStation has started their parallel Behind-The-Scenes series about TLOU Part 1 in conjunction with major moments from each HBO episode...
Also Craig Mazin has clarified his previous quote from the New Yorker about not connecting "with pixels" instead of real actors dying. -- He meant the NPCs and amount of them in different combat scenarios are treated as obstacles instead of dramatic threats and "people" that have weight if killed...
I kinda figured that, and it definitely means we'll have less action pieces in the series, but it'll make the ones that do appear more special. Episode One just had a few infected during Outbreak Day, and some easy Stealth at the end!
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It’s very hard to make npcs feel like people without it feeling forced. The best version of it I’ve seen is undertale and even then the enemies were very scripted.
In a way it’s unfair to compare emotional weight between tv and video games since games have a lot more factors to consider.
Latest episode of the show was great!
A bit lighter on plot, but its our first terrifying scene involving Clickers and it was extremely intense!
The addition of the cold open in Indonesia shedding more light on the initial infection was interesting and also scary.
I like that they're kind of adding in a realistic angle of how the professionals could see this coming, but were unable to prevent it, or unsuccessful.
The added lore of the Infected being some sort of hive-mind is a cool way to give the groups of them more deadly, as well as the growing fungus on walls being connected too (though unfortunately my mind immediately flashed to Stranger Things 4 where they also introduced that element recently)
However, holy holy shit, I did not have Fungus Transfer via Infected Smooch on my bingo card and I'm terrified and grossed out that they put that in there ewwwww
Next week is Bill's Town and everyone says its the best episode of the show, maybe even one of TV'S overall greats! Rumored to be 80 minutes... I'm interested!
The second episode is a little slower paced than the premiere but overall still great, with some very strong beginnings and endings. There's also more really cool and really nasty expansions on how the infected work, and some more worldbuilding I didn't know I wanted. Neil Druckmann directed the episode and funnily enough it felt kinda video gamey in a way. Got our first look at some Clicklers and they look great!
Looking forward to next weeks episode with Ron Swanson!
Spoilers
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Can't wait to roast TLOU1 remake again since from what I have heard, Dead Space Remake isn't just a 1 to 1 remake, it adds new content and feels like a different game while keeping the same spirit. Sucks that I have to wait until tomorrow for my game to unlock.
Renewed for Season 2!
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/last-of-us-season-2-hbo-1235308683/
I wouldn't be surprised if a third season gets announced as well considering they've said a few times now that adapting the second game would take at least two seasons.
The Last of Us Creator Says 'Piano Frog' Was a Mistake
Lol frog death scene didn't happen so they had to make a wholesome frog scene instead
That's pretty funny! Thank goodness the bird was a difficult actor or we wouldn't get such an icon.
Fuck cancer. May she rest in peace.
WHOA
Fuck cancer, holy shit. That's still pretty damn young for a life...
RIP Annie Wersching. Brought to life such a badass character
Goddammit.
Tonight was The Last of Us Episode 3! This one's got the biggest deviation and addition from the game yet, and it's fucking beautiful!
I was not ready to cry, and boy did I CRY!!
(And it probably didn't help that it came off the heels of the death of one of the OG actors)
Holy crap, this episode is like 80% Bill & Frank and 20% Joel and Ellie.
Spending a major part of the episode as a flashback, looking at how Bill and Frank meet, get together, see their relationship develop in this isolated town in small snippets, and ultimately unravel in a beautifully tragic way.
My gosh... the scene with the raiders coming in was tense! They nearly had me thinking they'd kill Bill instead of Frank! Thankfully he survives along with Frank, but man, not for too long after...
Frank develops some sort of nervous system disease, and ultimately, like the game, chooses to kill himself -- though with his lover's consent, after being treated to a great final day.
That entire last montage of the two of them together on that day had me uncontrollably bawling by the end of it. And in a major surprise, Bill chooses to die alongside Frank, leaving Joel and Ellie to come across an empty town, and a written note...
Fantastic stuff 10/10, a great slow episode that replaces the game's action for awesome character building...
And next week, we ditch the feels for some tension again! The Pittsburgh chapter ooh! (actually Kansas City in the series)
Episode three is fucking beautiful, I was not ready for how absolutely devastating it would be, while also being surprisingly funny. Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett were fantastic! They did a great job playing roommates. This show just keeps getting better and better. If they stick the landing, which I'm 100% certain they will, this show will be remembered for a long long time.
Spoiler
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Pearl = Tampons
Okay, I just know I'm gonna be thinking about that very intimate bed scene between Bill and Frank a lot this week...
It was so good
Nick Offerman did a fantastic job there, and it was a fantastic addition to show Bill of all people -- Bill, the paranoid, rugged, very masculine-looking guy -- be portrayed so vulnerable with Frank in bed.
He looked so nervous and confused, maybe even ashamed that he'd only done this "with a girl before", and needed to be consoled and comforted by Frank -- a very open, kind man, but relatively still a stranger to him.
I thought it was super wholesome and comforting in ways I can't [and don't want to] explain here right now...just some real feel-good stuff IMHO
God Episode 3 was amazing.
Ah that makes sense lol
According to Craig Mazin, episode 3 was originally two hours long and that it made him cry so hard it physically hurt. Hot damn, that's a lot of stuff they cut and what we got still destroyed me. I can't imagine what was in the original cut that would have been even more devastating.
Very much enjoyed episode 4. It's a little lighter in tone with most of the episode focusing on Ellie and Joel bonding, there's still that ever present grimness to things but it's definitely a more "fun" episode especially in comparison to last weeks. Bella Ramsey is fantastic and gets a lot of time to shine both in terms of humour and emotion. There's also some big changes to some things from the game and I'm intrigued to see how things play out. Overall another great episode, though it definitely feels like a two part episode! Next weeks episode is gonna release earlier because of an owl which is great, but that also means the wait for the following episode will be a bit longer
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Spoilers