TV: The Last of Us (HBO)

[HanSolo]

First few seasons are good. It goes down hill pretty quick like Dexter.

I honestly think it starts going downhill after the pilot. In hindsight, even the best of the show wasn't all that good. I tapped out after Negan showed up. I didn't make it to Glenn's second death. By the time Negan showed up I was just exhausted with how repetitive the show was ending up.

The pilot was outstanding though. One of the best ever imo.

 

[M88K]

I honestly think it starts going downhill after the pilot. In hindsight, even the best of the show wasn't all that good. I tapped out after Negan showed up. I didn't make it to Glenn's second death. By the time Negan showed up I was just exhausted with how repetitive the show was ending up.

The pilot was outstanding though. One of the best ever imo.

nah, there was some legitimately great episodes through the first few seasons. they dragged out stuff and it got too formularic but there was some gems in there.

 

[the valiant effort]

I was among those who tapped out after Glenn/Abraham because I just didn’t want that kinda grotesque violence in my life anymore

 

[TCTC]

I was among those who tapped out after Glenn/Abraham because I just didn’t want that kinda grotesque violence in my life anymore

Yeah, that was one of the few occasions where I quit on a TV show after a specific episode. I don't mind violence or even over the top violence in the right context. Tarantino does it well.

But that was so grotesque and distasteful that I lost any interest in any of the characters and their story.

Good filmmakes know what to show and what not to show and that was complete amateur hour.

 

[SniperHF]

I honestly think it starts going downhill after the pilot. In hindsight, even the best of the show wasn't all that good. I tapped out after Negan showed up. I didn't make it to Glenn's second death. By the time Negan showed up I was just exhausted with how repetitive the show was ending up.

The pilot was outstanding though. One of the best ever imo.

This is basically correct, but all I ever heard from the faithful as the series went on and became more like the comics, was some variation of "This happened in the comics" as if that's a justification.

So then the comics were shit too, eh?

 

[Jovavic]

This is basically correct, but all I ever heard from the faithful as the series went on and became more like the comics, was some variation of "This happened in the comics" as if that's a justification.

So then the comics were shit too, eh?

Being on AMC really neutered Negan, from what I hear. And the language and gore in general. Show should've been on HBO or Showtime

 

[Osprey]

I finally watched the episode. It was on par with what I expected, if you catch my meaning.

The episode was action packed and intense, but there were many things that didn't make sense...

It seemed awfully convenient to the plot for Abby to happen to slide down a snow bank, stop right over an infected hole and make enough noise doing so to waken the infected. Maybe they're light sleepers. Also, why did all of the dead ones freeze to death right there, meters from the hole, if all of the others could run for miles without freezing?

When the infected were first approaching the city, why did no one shoot at them? They had, by their estimate, five minutes to thin their numbers and they just waited until they reached the wall. Then, they lit them on fire when their wall was made of wood. Not a great plan.

They didn't even shoot at the big guy (forget what he's called) as he was approaching the wall, and once he reached it, they didn't try in any way to stop him from breaking through. It felt like they gave up on defending the wall too soon so that the episode could get to the big firefight inside the city.

Then, as someone else alluded to, Joel's brother had some serious plot armor because many of the infected ignored him and ran right past him while he was trying to get the big guy's attention. I know that there were other people on the street, but you'd think that they'd go for the nearest target.

Where was Ellie's partner when she was entering the lodge? We saw them together in the weed shop, then she was suddenly at the lodge by herself, then he re-appeared at the end of the episode. In fact, it seems convenient that so many characters all happened to be wandering around in bad weather and stumbled upon each other at the right times.

 

[alko]

I finally watched the episode. It was on par with what I expected, if you catch my meaning.

The episode was action packed and intense, but there were many things that didn't make sense...

It seemed awfully convenient to the plot for Abby to happen to slide down a snow bank, stop right over an infected hole and make enough noise doing so to waken the infected. Maybe they're light sleepers. Also, why did all of the dead ones freeze to death right there, meters from the hole, if all of the others could run for miles without freezing?

When the infected were first approaching the city, why did no one shoot at them? They had, by their estimate, five minutes to thin their numbers and they just waited until they reached the wall. Then, they lit them on fire when their wall was made of wood. Not a great plan.

They didn't even shoot at the big guy (forget what he's called) as he was approaching the wall, and once he reached it, they didn't try in any way to stop him from breaking through. It felt like they gave up on defending the wall too soon so that the episode could get to the big firefight inside the city.

Then, as someone else alluded to, Joel's brother had some serious plot armor because many of the infected ignored him and ran right past him while he was trying to get the big guy's attention. I know that there were other people on the street, but you'd think that they'd go for the nearest target.

Where was Ellie's partner when she was entering the lodge? We saw them together in the weed shop, then she was suddenly at the lodge by herself, then he re-appeared at the end of the episode. In fact, it seems convenient that so many characters all happened to be wandering around in bad weather and stumbled upon each other at the right times.

Plus:

After 20+ years, they had still many many bullets for their guns.

 

[x Tame Impala]

Fast and loose with the spoilers, guys.

Spoiler

Well this was the one thing about TLOU Part 2 I had spoiled for me before the first season even came out so I have no idea what happens now.

Heart wrenching that Ellie had to watch that happen in real time. I'd imagine Dina would be her first lead as she saw their wolf logo.

Interesting that Abby's group all had different reactions to what Abby was doing/did. I'd imagine that will be relevant later.

Didn't actually know the doctor was Abby's dad when I had that spoiled for me. (I mean honestly, people had zero restraint when that game came out. I saw that spoiler at least three times without looking for it and without warning around the internet.) knowing that now, the killing makes sense. What Joel did, looking at it in black and white, is awful. And potentially catastrophic for humanity. But knowing this reasons, it's at least understandable. So when I see Abby's group so close to Jackson Hole I'm left wondering, are they really trekking this far and through these conditions just to punish Joel? Knowing the doctor was Abby's dad...I mean it still seems like a huge risk to life and limb to help Abby but at least I can see why they'd want to help a squadmate get revenge. As for Abby, totally understandable why she did what she did. Joel reaped what he sowed in the end. Having the full context I really don't get why fans of the games were so upset but maybe the game played it differently. I'm sure there will be some wider story/theme about how harmful revenge is, but all this was was Joel's choice having fatal consequences.

This is a minor gripe because the infected attack on Jackson Hole was an insane spectacle, but why did all those infected wake up at once? And how did they all know to run towards the city? As far as we've seen, the infected reacted to noise as an indicator for the presence of uninfected humans while regular infected can see them but still, it's not like when Joel and Ellie would pull up to a new city or town, the local infected just swarmed as a hivemind and detected them from distance. This attack involved a huge swarm of infected, as a unit, running a great distance together to attack the main gate of the city. I'd assume this happened in the game too so I'm wondering why they're bending the rules of this world this way. And on top of that, maybe I misunderstood something from Season 1 but isnt the whole thing with this fictional mutated strain of cordyceps that it thrives in warm conditions? Like sure maybe there's still climate change in the world but you have a swarm of infected go from inert to a hive mind attack and a huge chain of the fungus living in the pipes in the middle of what they show pretty clearly is a cold ass winter. Did the fungus evolve again? Cause if it can survive under any condition and getting a cure from Ellie is impossible, then humanity here is just f***ed. Top to bottom. Short of living on boats and subsisting on fish, I don't see how humanity, in a place like JH, can hope to survive and the odds were minimal to begin with. Like is that..the point? Bleak human stories in between humanity's final breaths?

It's not necessarily what happened with Joel. That was really shocking but makes a ton of sense and was a cool way to handle a character and story.

The problem was you play as Abby for a huge chunk of the game and there’s this complete bullshit degree of moral ambiguity the player is meant to feel throughout the game but it never had any legitimacy to begin with. So you end up playing as Joel’s killer in a storyline you don’t care about.

 

[x Tame Impala]

As far as spoilers go, people who played the games shouldn’t be ruining anything that hasn’t happened on screen yet. But if you’re in this thread days after the most recent episode aired and are whining about spoilers then that’s on you.

 

[Jussi]

I was among those who tapped out after Glenn/Abraham because I just didn’t want that kinda grotesque violence in my life anymore

But aren't you a Habs fan?

 

[DaaaaB's]

At least we got one last great line from Joel when he told Abby to "shut the f*** up and do it already" while she gave her overly dramatic and annoying speech.

 

[Mr Fahrenheit]

I finally watched the episode. It was on par with what I expected, if you catch my meaning.

The episode was action packed and intense, but there were many things that didn't make sense...

It seemed awfully convenient to the plot for Abby to happen to slide down a snow bank, stop right over an infected hole and make enough noise doing so to waken the infected. Maybe they're light sleepers. Also, why did all of the dead ones freeze to death right there, meters from the hole, if all of the others could run for miles without freezing?

When the infected were first approaching the city, why did no one shoot at them? They had, by their estimate, five minutes to thin their numbers and they just waited until they reached the wall. Then, they lit them on fire when their wall was made of wood. Not a great plan.

They didn't even shoot at the big guy (forget what he's called) as he was approaching the wall, and once he reached it, they didn't try in any way to stop him from breaking through. It felt like they gave up on defending the wall too soon so that the episode could get to the big firefight inside the city.

Then, as someone else alluded to, Joel's brother had some serious plot armor because many of the infected ignored him and ran right past him while he was trying to get the big guy's attention. I know that there were other people on the street, but you'd think that they'd go for the nearest target.

Where was Ellie's partner when she was entering the lodge? We saw them together in the weed shop, then she was suddenly at the lodge by herself, then he re-appeared at the end of the episode. In fact, it seems convenient that so many characters all happened to be wandering around in bad weather and stumbled upon each other at the right times.

Weren't they talking about more and more infected sightings over a last while? I assumed the frozen infected were simply killed and left there, but idk

I'm sure they were waiting to shoot till they were close enough to accurately hit but I was thinking the same thing about using fire when they have wood walls. That was the best siege defense?

As for Ellies partner, they were splitting up to find Joel and Dina. They specifically mention meeting at a mine (i think?) after a certain amount of time regardless of finding them or not

As for bullets, obviously they would make their own. I believe we see Bill doing this as well

 

[Osprey]

The problem was you play as Abby for a huge chunk of the game and there’s this complete bullsh*t degree of moral ambiguity the player is meant to feel throughout the game but it never had any legitimacy to begin with. So you end up playing as Joel’s killer in a storyline you don’t care about.

I'm afraid that the moral ambiguity is going to be a problem in a slightly different way with the show. I don't feel much animosity towards Abby. She's not intimidating, Kaitlyn Dever is too likable and, most importantly, she's actually somewhat sympathetic and Joel arguably got what he deserved. Now, the rest of the season (and it sounds like Season 3, as well), will be Ellie seeking revenge against her, but if I don't hate Abby, and Joel got what he deserved, I'm liable to not care.

Weren't they talking about more and more infected sightings over a last while? I assumed the frozen infected were simply killed and left there, but idk

I'm sure they were waiting to shoot till they were close enough to accurately hit but I was thinking the same thing about using fire when they have wood walls. That was the best siege defense?

As for Ellies partner, they were splitting up to find Joel and Dina. They specifically mention meeting at a mine (i think?) after a certain amount of time regardless of finding them or not

If the infected were killed there at the hole, you'd think that the noise would've caused a lot more to pour out of it or that the townspeople would've tried to seal it or been on edge about it. It seemed, instead, like they didn't know where the infected were coming from. It also wasn't far from the lodge that they apparently didn't know about, either.

Well, the infected were so tightly packed during their charge that I don't think that hitting them would've been a problem, but they didn't even shoot at them when they got close. For some reason, they let them crash into the wall and only then opened fire.

Ah, thanks. I didn't remember that scene about them splitting up. It still seems odd, though, that the next time that we saw her, she was at the lodge. It feels like a scene of her alone, on horseback, and sighting the lodge in the distance was cut.

 

[DaaaaB's]

Idk, the West is pretty massive when you're just traveling by foot/horse and have limited basic resources and zero technological advantages. That timeline about tracks for me.

Well, I suppose you could spend a lot of time looking in the wrong direction too. Frontiersman like Jim Bridger certainly wouldn't have took long lol. Also turns out they were training or whatever up in Seattle for part of the time.

 

[CallMeShaft]

Ah, thanks. I didn't remember that scene about them splitting up. It still seems odd, though, that the next time that we saw her, she was at the lodge. It feels like a scene of her alone, on horseback, and sighting the lodge in the distance was cut.

There was a scene when Ellie, on horseback, was half way up the mountain and saw the horse trail from Joel and Dina, which she followed to the lodge.

 

[RandV]

Weren't they talking about more and more infected sightings over a last while? I assumed the frozen infected were simply killed and left there, but idk

I'm sure they were waiting to shoot till they were close enough to accurately hit but I was thinking the same thing about using fire when they have wood walls. That was the best siege defense?

As for Ellies partner, they were splitting up to find Joel and Dina. They specifically mention meeting at a mine (i think?) after a certain amount of time regardless of finding them or not

As for bullets, obviously they would make their own. I believe we see Bill doing this as well

I thought there was a comment about piles of them hiding under the dead frozen top layers for warmth.

Yes I'd say there's some plot issues with the shooting range. Didn't really have issue with the fire though. The barrels were tossed a set distance away and solid wood isn't just going to immediately light up. I don't know exactly how it all works but I'm pretty sure there's construction methods where solid wood is more fire resistant than your standard mixed materials construction. Or consider the motte-and-bailey castle popular in early middle ages Europe before they got into stone castles, with the same style of wooden log walls. That wouldn't be effective if a besieging army could just show up with torches and/or fire arrows.

 

[Stylizer1]

nah, there was some legitimately great episodes through the first few seasons. they dragged out stuff and it got too formularic but there was some gems in there.

When they find Carrol's daughter? When Shane and rick walk off into the forest at night? When Rick finds Beth? When Daryl finds Merle?

intense.

 

[Chairman Maouth]

Still working on my recap of season one. I'm on the final episode.

In an example of casting excellence, it is uncanny how much Ellie's pregnant mom looks like Ellie. That is the type of shit I like. Let's face it, this is a zombie series that overall is not based in reality. This shit could never happen. But it's the little things like Ellie's mom that makes the series more enjoyable for me. It's a little bit of realism buried in fantasy, and personally, I need that if I'm to enjoy a movie or a TV show. I need to believe in at least something.

Jesus. I forgot about Maria killing Ellie's mom. That is some seriously heavy shit.

The way Joel is smiling at Ellie as she feeds the giraffe.... damn. This may be realer than I thought.

Joel is using a Ruger Mini-14 in the gun battle. A fantastic rifle.

Joel is the kindest, most empathetic, ruthless and violent character I've ever seen.

Rocky Mountains.

It's been so long since season one ended that I forgot all that stuff. On to two.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

A lot of changes to that episode but I enjoyed it for the most part.

The attack on Jackson doesn't happen but that was awesome and it made the episode MUCH better, in fact I would call this the best episode of the series because of that.

It's supposed to be Tommy and Joel that find Abby not Dina, Dina actually finds Ellie after Joel dies, her and Jesse arrive and find Ellie next to Joel's body.

It's a minor change but I'm still not sure why they made it, it seems pointless but not a huge deal.

The main issue is "Abby" what is that? because it sure as hell isn't Abby, that girl is WAY to small.

If you are familiar with Chyna from the WWF in the 90's that is basically what Abby is supposed to be she's female Brock Lesnar.

This girl is not Chyna, nor is she female Brock Lesnar.

Then they got her punching Joel in the face trying to beat him to death.

She could punch him in the face for 24 hours straight and I'm not sure she could beat him to death.

The method in which she kills him is mostly accurate although she doesn't stab him in knee with the golf club or in the neck.

They actually spit on him so I'm glad they changed that because I felt like that was unnecessary even when I played the game.

Overall I liked the episode but that girl is NOT Abby not even close.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Still working on my recap of season one. I'm on the final episode.

In an example of casting excellence, it is uncanny how much Ellie's pregnant mom looks like Ellie. That is the type of shit I like. Let's face it, this is a zombie series that overall is not based in reality. This shit could never happen. But it's the little things like Ellie's mom that makes the series more enjoyable for me. It's a little bit of realism buried in fantasy, and personally, I need that if I'm to enjoy a movie or a TV show. I need to believe in at least something.

Jesus. I forgot about Maria killing Ellie's mom. That is some seriously heavy shit.

The way Joel is smiling at Ellie as she feeds the giraffe.... damn. This may be realer than I thought.

Joel is using a Ruger Mini-14 in the gun battle. A fantastic rifle.

Joel is the kindest, most empathetic, ruthless and violent character I've ever seen.

Rocky Mountains.

It's been so long since season one ended that I forgot all that stuff. On to two.

That's Ashley Johnson she's Ellie in the game

 

[DaaaaB's]

A lot of changes to that episode but I enjoyed it for the most part.

The attack on Jackson doesn't happen but that was awesome and it made the episode MUCH better, in fact I would call this the best episode of the series because of that.

It's supposed to be Tommy and Joel that find Abby not Dina, Dina actually finds Ellie after Joel dies, her and Jesse arrive and find Ellie next to Joel's body.

It's a minor change but I'm still not sure why they made it, it seems pointless but not a huge deal.

The main issue is "Abby" what is that? because it sure as hell isn't Abby, that girl is WAY to small.

If you are familiar with Chyna from the WWF in the 90's that is basically what Abby is supposed to be she's female Brock Lesnar.

This girl is not Chyna, nor is she female Brock Lesnar.

Then they got her punching Joel in the face trying to beat him to death.

She could punch him in the face for 24 hours straight and I'm not sure she could beat him to death.

The method in which she kills him is mostly accurate although she doesn't stab him in knee with the golf club or in the neck.

They actually spit on him so I'm glad they changed that because I felt like that was unnecessary even when I played the game.

Overall I liked the episode but that girl is NOT Abby not even close.

When she was punching Joel, I thought to myself that she would probably being doing more damage to her hand than to him. However, there are women in UFC who are pretty tiny and can probably hit pretty damn hard.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

When she was punching Joel, I thought to myself that she would probably being doing more damage to her hand than to him. However, there are women in UFC who are pretty tiny and can probably hit pretty damn hard.

Yeah but they are in the UFC this girl isn't

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Oh and

Spoiler

Kaitlyn Dever was phenomenal.

She might be a great actress but if you know the games they cast the least believable Abby possible.

 

[DaaaaB's]

Yeah but they are in the UFC this girl isn't

Doesn't mean she can't hit hard and I'd rather watch a talented actress like Kaitlyn Dever than a roided up bodybuilder.