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The Last of Us - Season 1

PleaseBlitz

By PleaseBlitz
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Momma There Goes That Man

Momma There Goes That Man

Posted
Posted

Adding my last couple of posts following the premiere 

 

Outstanding premiere. The actors embody the characters perfectly. Some scenes are shot for shot remakes like the camera angle in the backseat of the truck. Bella even sounds like Ellie when she’s dropping f bombs. 
 

I liked the changes made so far, spending the day with Sarah really added to impact of that moment. Some of the additions are nice to see because they happen off screen like Ellie being in firefly custody and the guys that jump Tess is almost a throwaway line but we see it here. That’s exactly the type of stuff I want to see in place of the gameplay segments that will obviously need to come out. I even think they streamlined the Robert/guns/firefly stuff to get around the gameplay and has the added benefit of not making Tess into a sociopath. Tho I don’t think they can sand down the edges of someone like Joel too much, I think doing it at the start to get the audience behind him makes sense 

 

 those that have played the game:


spoilers potentially for this season

Spoiler

I feel like I’ve mapped it out this way. I haven’t read any show spoilers and won’t but this is how I see it playing out. 

 

episode 2: Make it to the state house. Introduced to clickers. Tess bitten and sacrifice. 

 

Episode 3: Bills “town” and leave with truck. Maybe bloater introduced? 

 

Episode 4: Pittsburgh and raiders. Ellie’s first kill. Henry and Sam. 

 

Episode 5: Make it to Tommy in Wyoming, Ellie runs off/Joel wants to leave, Ellie/Joel fight 

 

Episode 6: Eastern Colorado University /Joel is seriously wounded 

 

Episode 7: Ellie captured/David scenario/ Joel rescue

 

Episode 8: Salt Lake City/giraffe, and end with being taken in at the hospital 

 

Episode 9 Finale: Joel is told about Ellie, all hell breaks loose, kills surgeon, epilogue at Tommys

 

I think this makes the most sense for pacing and where they can leave each episode. I also think they made need to condense Tommy’s initial meeting and the Wyoming stuff  in with the Colorado college episode so they can spend more time on the David stuff. I don’t want that to seem rushed. That’s sort of the big moment and they need to appropriately flesh out Ellie’s growth taking care of Joel and then getting captured. But then the fight Joel and Ellie have is crucial for their relationship and there isn’t really a better place they can put that because Joel wouldn’t haven’t anywhere else that he wants to leave Ellie and return home. Maybe the winter episodes are longer so they can hit everything they need to

 

as I said before, I think the only concern I have after episode 1 is that Joel is going to be too likable. Part of that is Pedro Pascal just being awesome and charming but also they can’t sand off Joel’s edges too much or they will find that adapting the second story doesn’t work as well. Joel was always beloved but you have to keep that undertone of “is he really that good of a guy at this point” throughout the season to sort of help allow the empathy and understanding required for part 2. 
 

there are some key moments and dialogue from the first game that I am looking for to see how much they are setting this up 

 

 

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Hersh

Hersh

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It was a solid first episode. First five minutes were great. 2003 was good save for one tough scene I knew was coming.  

Spoiler

I struggle watching kid killing scenes in movies/shows since I became a dad a long while ago. 


After that, the rest was good. I’m not as hyped about another zombie type series but  I expect the first season to be good. 

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codeorama

codeorama

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5 minutes ago, Spaceman Spiff said:

 

Still here man, where you been?

I went back to school, became a college professor and have spent an inordinate amount of time training my son in baseball as his junior high school season starts in March. 
 

How have you been?

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Momma There Goes That Man

Momma There Goes That Man

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Liked the second episode a lot. Loved seeing the Jakarta section. They differed a bit more from the game than the first episode but it worked well and the important stuff was pretty 1:1 throughout like the museum fight and the Tess stuff again which was awesome. 
 

interested in how the hide mind will come into play and I always like seeing the different ways they swap out all the insane gunfights in the game. In this case the group of runners and clickers storming the state house compared to the humans/fedra that push Joel/Ellie out for Tess’ sacrifice 

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Hersh

Hersh

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1 hour ago, Momma There Goes That Man said:

Liked the second episode a lot. Loved seeing the Jakarta section. They differed a bit more from the game than the first episode but it worked well and the important stuff was pretty 1:1 throughout like the museum fight and the Tess stuff again which was awesome. 
 

interested in how the hide mind will come into play and I always like seeing the different ways they swap out all the insane gunfights in the game. In this case the group of runners and clickers storming the state house compared to the humans/fedra that push Joel/Ellie out for Tess’ sacrifice 

 

About that sacrifice

 

Spoiler

It drives me nuts in shows and movies when they have a good character make the dumbest of choices. Why not just use the grenades to ignite everything. Also, why would they not immediately grab ammo and guns to take with them? They are 20 years in, you'd think that would be second nature.

 

 

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Spaceman Spiff

Spaceman Spiff

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Posted (edited)

Meh.

 

Where to begin?  Spoilers ahead for anyone who hasn't seen episode 2.

 

So we have Joel and we have Ellie and I can't find any endearing qualities between the two of them.  Joel is older, crusty, doesn't want to trust Ellie and for good reason; he's probably gotten to where he is by not trusting a lot of people, outside of someone like Tess.  Ellie is a smartass, everything out of her mouth seems to be a wisecrack and not all of them particularly funny.  And if it's supposed to be edgy and funny to see a teenage girl drop an f-bomb, it comes across more forced than anything.  So these two characters are going to, obviously, break down each other's walls and become endearing to one another on this journey now that Tess, the buffer between the two (and the one who could keep Joel in line) is dead.  Unfortunately, I thought Tess was the best character of the three, but she wasn't going to be long for the show seeing as every promo photo is Joel and Ellie and not Joel, Tess and Ellie.

 

But I find the stakes remarkably low.  I mean, Joel has survived this pandemic for 20 years and somehow made it to Boston from Texas.  So he's transversed practically half the country before, he's battle hardened and knows what to look out for.  He bribed and then took out a FEDRA agent in the first episode and took down zombies with relative ease in the second episode.  He's not a long-shot to make it to where he needs to go.  If I were in a zombie fueled pandemic and I needed to go somewhere, he's the guy I'd pick to be my guide.  And then Ellie is immune to whatever virus the zombies have, so why exactly does she need an escort?  Because Joel needs some battery and he needs Ellie to trade for it but I've already forgotten why he needs it and I really don't care, either.  So where exactly is the danger between the guy who's navigated the pandemic for 20 years and the girl who's immune to the virus?  What's next, he gets hurt or sick and she has to be the one who looks out for him, some kind of role reversal?

 

All of this is to say is that I think the most interesting arc of Joel's story took place in that 20 year time leap, and I'm sure there's going to be some flashback scenes to fill in gaps.  I'm way more interested in how he dealt with the death of his daughter immediately after she was killed and how/why he went to Boston, not how he's going to project his daughter's absence onto Ellie and become a father figure to her. And I don't find Ellie particularly interesting at all.  

 

So like I said, I'm struggling to care about either one of them and therefore I'm struggling to care about the relationship between the two.  I'm also waiting for the social commentary or the meaningful themes about humanity start playing out, but perhaps it's a bit too early.  Then again, I can't imagine two characters as shallow as Joel and Ellie to have anything meaningful or original to say.  I'm assuming they're going to tackle things like finding meaning in life, reasons to keep living when things get tough, the need for each other, reasons to complete the journey, fate, etc.  All of which are interesting topics and worth exploring but not if the characters are this one-dimensional.

 

The only reason I'm rooting for these two is because I'm supposed to be, not because I particularly like them.  But that highlights the other issue, you could drop any two people into this situation and you'd be rooting for them, too.  You're obviously rooting for Joel as crusty and grumpy as he is because he endured a terrible tragedy with his daughter and you're rooting for Ellie because it appears she holds some kind of cure that gives humanity a chance against the virus which are easy reasons to root for them.  But like I said, you could drop any two people into a situation like this (trying to save humanity from a zombie virus with a cure) and you'd be rooting for them.  Pick two of some of the most unlikable people you can think of in recent history like Jared and Ivanka types and try to get an audience to find sympathy with them, to root for them, to find humanity in them.  A guy who lost his teenage daughter and a teenage girl are a layup.

 

Completely, 100% uninterested in the zombies, and the differences in them.  There were the big ugly ****ers with the giant bulging brains (why not shoot them in the head first?) and then the other ones that Tess stayed behind to set on fire.  Completely uninterested in the "rules" in this world and how the zombies operate, how they're alerted, etc.  

 

These things all said, I'm still interested.  So why keep watching?

 

Mildly interested in seeing how it plays out for Joel and Ellie, to see if it's as predictable and straightforward as it appears to be, to see what other people they run into to see if they can be trusted or not, to see if I can find any reasons to like Joel (not out of pity for what happened to his daughter) and Ellie.  And the production value is really fantastic, not sure how they shot it (green screens, on some locations, etc) but it's really well done and overall enjoyable to watch from that perspective.  Even though I don't find Joel likable, Pedro Pascal is a good actor and I'm enjoying watching him.  Can't say the same about the girl playing Ellie, however.

 

Edited by Spaceman Spiff
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