TV: The Last of Us (HBO)

[ACC1224]

Sunday is the last one.

Thanks, that's what I thought.
When I told my wife that this morning she said a co-worker told her there would be one more still.

 

[Mr Fahrenheit]

I would think that batteries would be some of the most valuable items around and not common, even if FEDRA were producing them, and if they were, they probably wouldn't be sharing them with high schoolers for their Walkmans or with non-FEDRA. After all, FEDRA is accused of starving people, IIRC. It's hard to see them being generous with batteries but stingy with food. I think that it's just one of many things that have no good explanation and we just have to go along with.

Ellie was a part of FEDRA

 

[Osprey]

Ellie was a part of FEDRA

I know. If she were an officer or top student, it'd make a little more sense for her to have battery privileges, but she was just a kid and a problem student.

 

[Hivemind]

The materials to create batteries aren't exceptionally rare. Not only would the QZs have hardware stores, factories, scrapyards and other areas they would have been stockpiled in, its not that hard to scrounge up some copper and zinc or aluminum when scavenging abandoned buildings.

 

[Osprey]

The materials to create batteries aren't exceptionally rare. Not only would the QZs have hardware stores, factories, scrapyards and other areas they would have been stockpiled in, its not that hard to scrounge up some copper and zinc or aluminum when scavenging abandoned buildings.

The materials wouldn't be rare, but the knowledge, means and expertise to make them might be. How many people would know how to make a battery or have a book on it and have the ability to melt and form the metals into precise shapes and assemble them into working batteries? Also, how many could those few people make doing all of that by hand? That's why I imagine that batteries would be valuable in a post-apocalyptic world. Even if they could produce enough for everyone, they're an essential that FEDRA might want to ration and choose who gets for the sake of control and security. For example, they probably wouldn't want the Fireflies to have working flashlights and walkie talkies because it's a lot easier to coordinate with them, especially at night.

 

[Hivemind]

The materials wouldn't be rare, but the knowledge, means and expertise to make them might be. How many people would know how to make a battery or have a book on it and have the ability to melt and form the metals into precise shapes and assemble them into working batteries? Also, how many could those few people make doing all of that by hand? That's why I imagine that batteries would be valuable in a post-apocalyptic world. Even if they could produce enough for everyone, they're an essential that FEDRA might want to ration and choose who gets for the sake of control and security. For example, they probably wouldn't want the Fireflies to have working flashlights and walkie talkies because it's a lot easier to coordinate with them, especially at night.

Plenty of people know how to make batteries (and its not like all the libraries inside these QZs instantly burnt down, either).

You don't need to melt metal or form them into precise shapes. You can make a battery in an ice cube tray, or out of a potato. Obviously you're referring to making batteries to fit in a flashlight, but you don't need to perfectly mimic a AA battery to get a flashlight to operate. Scavenge some copper wire from an abandoned building, some aluminum from old cans, and maybe some washers from a busted down car and you have plenty of sources of both anodes and cathodes that could be fit into the profile of a AA battery. Slap some insulating material around it and you're good to go.

This is stuff people can build inside their own homes. FEDRA wouldn't be able to control the supply.


edit - I forgot that US coins would be a great source of copper as well. In the age of FEDRA ration cards, you can turn your old coin jar into cathodes.

 

[Osprey]

Plenty of people know how to make batteries (and its not like all the libraries inside these QZs instantly burnt down, either).

In the show, most of the population has been wiped out, including most people who were over 30 when the pandemic started. I don't imagine that many people who were old enough to know how to make a battery survived and would still know 20 years later. That's where libraries could theoretically come in handy, but I doubt that people were returning books when the world was falling apart, so information in them might've been limited to the first people to find them. Also, people were probably taking books from libraries and everywhere else for kindling more so than knowledge. It was suggested how hard it was for Ellie to find a 2nd volume of one of her favorite books.

You don't need to melt metal or form them into precise shapes. You can make a battery in an ice cube tray, or out of a potato. Obviously you're referring to making batteries to fit in a flashlight, but you don't need to perfectly mimic a AA battery to get a flashlight to operate. Scavenge some copper wire from an abandoned building, some aluminum from old cans, and maybe some washers from a busted down car and you have plenty of sources of both anodes and cathodes that could be fit into the profile of a AA battery. Slap some insulating material around it and you're good to go.

How long would such a DIY battery last and how powerful would it be, though? I imagine "not very" in both cases or else we'd see more people doing that now, rather than buying disposable Duracells and Energizers. If you go to all of that work for 15 minutes of half brightness out of your flashlight, it's probably not worth it.

 

[Hivemind]

In the show, most of the population has been wiped out, including most people who were over 30 when the pandemic started. I don't imagine that many people who were old enough to know how to make a battery survived and would still know 20 years later. That's where libraries could theoretically come in handy, but I doubt that people were returning books when the world was falling apart, so information in them might've been limited to the first people to find them. Also, people were probably taking books from libraries and everywhere else for kindling more so than knowledge. It was suggested how hard it was for Ellie to find a 2nd volume of one of her favorite books.

How long would such a DIY battery last and how powerful would it be, though? I imagine "not very" in both cases or else we'd see more people doing that now, rather than buying disposable Duracells and Energizers. If you go to all of that work for 15 minutes of half brightness out of your flashlight, it's probably not worth it.

There's plenty of people of a wide variety of ages left. Think back to the episodes around QZs, in which there were older people (the doctor in KC is a prominent example, but also think of the radio operator and tons of side/background characters in Boston). There are certainly some electricians, engineers, scientists, doctors, makers, tinkerers, and other STEM-inclined folks left. The QZs still have electrical power grids running (including enough to turn on a mall), and that takes a lot more resources and know how than batteries.

DIY batteries can last a wide variety of times, depending on how you make them. There's no uniform answer here, as it varies depending on how many cells you create, how large the cells are, what your electrolyte is, what materials you make your cathode and anode out of, the quality of your materials, etc etc etc.
People do make batteries now, but mostly as a hobby/demonstration. It's not widespread because it's not worth it. The convenience of buying a battery far out strips the very tiny savings you could get by making your own. But in an apocalypse, that convenience factor is no longer the determination.

And once again, I'm going to point out that they literally show Bill storing the stuff to make car batteries in his fridge and that Joel then proceeds to build a car battery.

 

[Dubi Doo]

The biggest one for me is them showing cans of food that would clearly be bad by now. Only honey can basically last forever.

My biggest pet peeve is Joel pulling the knife out. He's supposed to be this bad ass survivor. You dont pull the knife out, dude! That's how you bleed out!

 

[Bounces R Way]

See anything interesting during filming?

They filmed a lot at my University. Could not believe how many trucks of stuff they had to setup. And how many security people there were, seemed like one posted every 20 meters.

The scene where Joel and Ellie enter the school there's a kiosk I get coffee at most afternoons.

 

[sdf]

The plot in this episode wasn't super outstanding, this is why I didn't like that moment with the lack of footage of people. If you don't have a great plot, then such carelessness in such small details is annoying.

And something in their dialogue when he put her behind bars seemed a little silly to me. Maybe it's that he called her cruel, lol this son of a bitch is undoubtedly like that, but what's the point of calling her that

 

[John Price]

What a great opening sequence

 

[Tuggy]

Nice to see them get game Ellie in an episode as well.

Knew her voice instantly.

 

[John Price]

Wow that episode was short

Solid episode.

 

[Kcb12345]

f*** it was perfect. Amazingly done. Quick and brutal just like in the game

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

The short episode really hurt it for me.

It was still good, but really felt like another 15 minutes or so would have made damn near perfect. Made some sections feel rushed and not as fleshed out as they could have been with even just that tiny little bit more.


Still, truly overall a phenomenal season. Sucks that we're most likely looking at ~2 years before season 2. Not sure what to do with my Sunday nights again

 

[John Price]

The short episode really hurt it for me.

It was still good, but really felt like another 15 minutes or so would have made damn near perfect. Made some sections feel rushed and not as fleshed out as they could have been with even just that tiny little bit more.


Still, truly overall a phenomenal season. Sucks that we're most likely looking at ~2 years before season 2. Not sure what to do with my Sunday nights again

Ugh I just assumed it would start nest year. 2 year wait

 

[Arthur Morgan]

great episode. great series but the lack of suspense is why im giving it a 7.5/10
sad to see it's over. I already cancelled my crave sub lol

looking forward to season 2 where people are going to rage quit the show

 

[King Makar19]

That Ending is a joke?
f*** me that was AWFULLLL
Wtf with the Jurassic Park Girraffes...

Good lord...

 

[stephenball]

great episode. great series but the lack of suspense is why im giving it a 7.5/10
sad to see it's over. I already cancelled my crave sub lol

looking forward to season 2 where people are going to rage quit the show

People can rage quit the show like they did with the game, their loss. They missed out on an incredible game and what I’m sure will be an incredible show.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Ugh I just assumed it would start nest year. 2 year wait

I'm assuming 2 years. Maybe it ends up less but most of the big budget top tier shows these days usually take 2 years between seasons. HBO in particular does the 2 years between seasons thing quite a bit.

 

[Arthur Morgan]

People can rage quit the show like they did with the game, their loss. They missed out on an incredible game and what I’m sure will be an incredible show.

they will prob watch it and lie they didn't the same people are still bitching about the game and its been like 3 years lol

 

[Karterthadon]

Ellie's birth scene was a nice addition, my biggest gripe with the show is that they didn't do enough of that.

That Ending is a joke?
f*** me that was AWFULLLL
Wtf with the Jurassic Park Girraffes...

Good lord...

That entire scene was out of the game.

Honestly, I feel blah about the series. It wasn't bad, I just didn't feel like that it was anything special. I read ASOIAF at least 3 000 times before Game of Thrones was a show and that sucked me in big time but Last of Us just left me nonplussed.

 

[King Makar19]

Never played the game...but that Ending was absolute shit TV..

John Wick scene was bad..prolly from video game too...

Ill go watch REACHER.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Never played the game...but that Ending was absolute shit TV..

John Wick scene was bad..prolly from video game too...

Ill go watch REACHER.