HBO's "The Last of Us" loses too much of the game's essence
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- Опубліковано 28 вер 2024
- The Last of Us is a terrific game with one of the most compelling stories ever told, but this adaptation loses much of what made the game so special, and this video essay aims to dig deep into the flaws of the series.
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"If I had more time I would have written a shorter letter." Who knew I'd end up making my longest video yet? But I had a lot on my mind after finishing the series, and I'd love to know how everyone else felt about the show.
I’ve really enjoyed the show, especially the Joel Ellie relationship!
Completely agree with all of your points. The show felt very off, very disappointing to me. The only part where I disagree is the flashbacks. They felt more like interruptions than expansions of the story. I thought they took away from the continuous format of the story that the game told much better.
@@iamlsusam
The show was nothing compared to the game and I get the feeling you haven't played the game. Otherwise you wouldn't say that, because their relationship was way more flourished in the game. The emotional moments hit harder in the game as well.
Felt rushed and it felt like they used their platform for their woke agenda. Which is fine if it doesn't take away from the actual story/ characters, but it did.
Meh game was pretty generic kinda ripped off POP 2008 especially the ending.
💯 Agreement. First two episodes are good and pretty faithful adaptations.
Episode 3 is where the messages of the Show fell short of the Games message.
Bill & Frank's story was more This Is Us than The Last Of Us.
They have too perfect a life in a Post-Apocalypse with just the two of them.
Game Bill was surviving on a knife's edge. Struggling to keep the infected at bay.
I think if they reworked the story of the show to mirror the game more.
Have Bill & Frank lose parts of the town. Bill angry at Frank for distractions, and himself for letting things fall apart.
Have life be a struggle for them.
Maybe have a FEDRA vehicle spring one of Bill's Traps, killing the crew, but still making it salvageable.
One problem.
The area would be surrounded by infected from the noise.
Bill says the battery on it is the only way to restore his truck, but he won't risk it to grab it.
Frank goes alone to get the battery, but gets infected.
Now there are two ways they can do this.
1) Go the game route beat for beat.
2) Have Frank return, say Bill was right and apologize. Then have Bill apologize for his cowardice and not helping him.
Frank gets put to rest from poison or drug OD.
Bill buries him in the hole they met in with a strawberry garden as a memorial.
I have some more story changes I'd make, but I'll do it in other comments.
Wish they’d kept the part where Ellie has the chance to escape with Henry and Sam, but jumps down and chooses to stay with Joel. That’s a pivotal moment in their relationship.
I wish they had just given us Sam and Henry without the boring melodrama with Kathleen. The scene where Henry shot Sam was so much more impactful in the game when he had been a cheerful optimist before then. He spoke about barbeques and riding motorcycles, he laughed and smiled. Him having a mental breakdown and shooting himself was heartbreaking.
In the show he was already glum most of the time and guilt-ridden from giving up Michael. Don't even get me started on Michael, they made him sound like Jesus, it was so heavy-handed and hammy.
@@kwk111Neil Druckmann is a narcissist hack who surrounds himself with yes-men and has an inflated ego because of how rabid and insufferable TLOU stans are. Craig Mazin just simply doesnt understand the source material, at all.
Another thing that made David’s moment slightly worse was how Joel and Ellie were attacked at the university by his man, they had sneakily escaped, posed no threat, they could’ve been left alone but David’s dumb man attacked him with a stick. They killed in self defense. So when David’s giving his big speech and says a “Crazy” man attacked and was traveling with a little girl doesn’t hit like it does in the game. In the game you HAD to kill at least 5-7 guys between Joel and Ellie and it was brutal. So it made sense to call him a “crazy man” but in the show it just doesn’t work. They want the big pay offs from the game without laying groundwork.
But in the game, David’s men attacked first as well. And Ellie still argues with David that they didn’t have a choice, just to a lesser degree.
Totally agree. I also thinking not having David and Ellie have to work together fighting infected was a mistake. You start to trust David while you fight with him so when he turns on you it is even more impactful.
@@PeachesandCream225agree I knew that David was bad from the start but despite it I was still shocked how fucked up he was. In the show David tells ellie straight away about knowing Joel, in the game he installs a fake sense of security and ellie having control when we learn that he was in control all the time. It was a perfect example of grooming. In the series we know David is bad straight away with how he deals with his community. Ellie knows not to trust him in the game from the start but she still becomes closer to him after fighting together and we as players do the same so the revelation was impactful
Yeah, also the actor does an alright job as this "manipulative preacher," but he doesn't scream David imo. I pictured Steven Ogg in the role, and it felt way better.
@@PeachesandCream225 this is maybe the least important aspect of game David that the show David was lacking, but note-worthy enough: in the game David had dark-gray scruffy hair and beard. This gave him a slight abstract resemblance to Joel. There was a subtle sense of familiarity to him, for the player and in-universe for Ellie. This added to the sense that maybe he could be trusted.
Daniel, you managed to materialize my thoughts and feelings about the series that I didn't even fully develop. You made them clear, with a perfect choice of words and editing of the scenes from the series and the game. Thank you for this, can't wait for the next essay.
Thank you so much for the kind words!
It's really important that this video exists. Among the sea of praise the show is getting (and rightfully so), it's still not above scrutiny. And rather than some of the typical UA-cam vids that just want to fawn over or trash a popular thing, it is valuable to have *real critical analysis* from those who don't just love the source material, but UNDERSTAND the reasons why the source material works the way it does.
This is truly excellent stuff. Needless to say, I agree with virtually all of it. I don't think anything in the show reaches Game of Thrones S8 levels, but otherwise yea. The lack of infected, and rushed relationship at the center of the story are the big issues, but I love your examination of both Joel and Ellie's individual characters. On a surface level, everything is there, but there's a nuance to knowing how subtle personality changes have an effect on how their arcs read onscreen. A less violent Joel and a more assertive Ellie both feel to me like the show coded these characters based on how they are in Part 2, but it retroactively alters how Part 1 feels.
I can't say I'm a fan of the cordycepts changes either, since the fungal network and tendril mouths were more to set up a shocking moment violating Tess, than anything that actually factors into the story ever again. Over-explaining Ellie's immunity now creates plot holes (she would have been scanned living with FEDRA and it would have come up). I could go on, bringing up Kathleen, but I really don't want to sound ungrateful, because HBO really has achieved something special with this series. It's hard for me to call the adaptation a failure when casual audiences still reacted to all the key beats exactly the way the story intended. And that's what's most important.
I appreciate you saying so! I rarely get negative on this channel so whenever I do, I make sure I put in the time to get it right. I think nitpicky channels like Cinema Sins are just bad for film criticism, and I'd hate to get lumped into that category lol
This is a take that I didn’t really consider, especially having played the games for as long as I have. Very well-made video
It's not the take I intended, but yeah, I had a lot of thoughts on the show lol. thanks for watching!
Fully agree. We played through Part 2 when the show was on and one of the biggest differences was the lack of THREAT we felt when watching the show. Obviously we knew the broad beats they would explore, but it really lacked the tension from the infected. I think it would have been best to end season 1 at the conclusion of the Sam & Henry plotline, and fill it out with more episodes of them struggling to survive, fight and gather precious resources - whilst also bonding more
I was literally thinking the same thing. Perfect cutoff point for a first season that would have allowed them to do everything they needed. Even if those moments were totally different from what we saw in the game, just anything to build more tension that enforced their bonding
Omg thank you! I was trying to explain to my friends who haven't played the game why this show needed to be longer and bleaker, the world is supposed to feel scary and awul so that when you get to those brief moments of hope and peace they really make an impact. The pacing felt so wrong to me, it genuinely didn't seem like the post apocalypse was all that bad which makes the stakes far less intense. And ditto with the Joel and Ellie relationship the pay off of the final scene is very much not rewarding when the relationship was so rushed, he was way to soft at the beginning of the show for me, the great character arc for him fell flat because it felt more like emotional whiplash. He would be fine then snap, especially with the Ellie fight when he tried to dump her on his brother, that didn't feel like show Joel at all because his character was so different. The ending too. I wasn't mad at the show just let down. It didn't feel lazy and I could tell a lot of people involved really cared but all in all it fell apart for me.
Exactly, I would never call anyone who worked on this show lazy, and in many ways everyone did some incredible work, especially the cast and crew. But all these rushed feelings totally killed my enjoyment of the show, and it left me feeling more disappointed the more I watched.
Well theres only 9 episodes of course it wont cover every little thing, did you want the uncharted movie to be 15 hours too?
@@StarRain6 I think to fix it's pacing issues it should have been either a 20 episode series or split the story of the first game into 2 seasons. So essentially yes I think it needed to be closer to 15 hours to round out the world and characters.
And no I don't think the Uncharted movie needed that since the games aren't as story heavy and the movie was a much looser adaptation of that source material.
@@pongo5000 20 episodes of joelenellie would be atrocious. Its not just about joelenellie adventures ugh.
@@StarRain6 For starters although yes the show would have more time for the Joel and Ellie relationship to develop which I think would be helpful, with 20 episodes it would obviously be more than that. I don't know what even gave you that idea. More episodes could lead to more world building, more actual Infected being shown and various characters given more time to be developed on screen. You're assuming quite a lot of a theoretical show runtime.
If you personally like the length of the show then fair enough. I found it weirdly paced and that it rushed through some character and plot developments so wish they had given it more episodes.
Also tbh although it's not JUST about "JoelnEllie adventures" as you called it they are literally the focal point of the game and show. They are the driving force and their character arcs are dependent on eachother. If you think 20 episodes of their story (which is literally the point of the show) would be atrocious, I really don't get what you're even getting out of the show.
Could not agree more. After a few episodes in, I realised there was something off with this adaptation, but I couldn't see anyone else doing anything other than singing the shows' praises.
You are 100% correct. There is not enough time spent with Joel and Ellie. We constantly cut to the perspective of others when we should stay with theirs for the majority of the show. Its not important why adversaries act the way they do, through some deviating back story side plot, only how Joel and Ellie perceive their confrontations.
The game represents a near year long journey with Joel and Ellie and the pacing of the game really makes you feel this. The show doesnt make it feel like the two characters have spend much time together at all. All of Joels character changes come spilling out far too easy, rather than having the change dragged out of him against his will.
One big upset for me was the scene where Ellie first kills a human with a gun. In the game, Joel scolds her instead of thanking her and its a brilliant show of his mindset at the time, how he is purposely keeping her at distance. The TV shows version of this scene skips the scolding and jumps straight into an emotional one. It is no longer a scene for Joel, but one for Ellie instead, and it is inferior.
The TV show ending didnt land for me at all. No one who played the game in 2013 can forget how gobsmacking the ending of the game was. Players experienced a cocktail of shock, disgust, shame, and heartbreak upon initial completion of the game as the weight of Joels actions dwelled on them. The show in comparison just felt flat.
This is an incredibly well articulated and level headed take. It’s been a very odd feeling as the show has received near universal praise, specifically for being a “masterpiece adaption”, but it’s refreshing to see some folks in the comments and otherwise who are as passionate about the source material who have felt like lunatics for not being enraptured by the show.
The beautiful part about it receiving so much love as a series is that even as a dietary version of the story, it still connected with people so strongly, which is a testament to the power of the game. But it’s like hearing Taylor Swift doing a kazoo-only cover of a Led Zeppelin song (no disrespect to T-Swizzle) or taking the ingredients of a delicious casserole and putting it all in a blender, raw, unbaked and lacking proper nutritional sustenance 🫰
Anyway, this was a truly excellent video, and I hope people go into it with an open mind.
Bro be careful, the Swifties are everywhere.
Hey now, I like Taylor Swift well enough lol. I said “no disrespect”, but I suppose that doesn’t mean **** to some. But I don’t care how talented she is, NOBODY can pull off a kazoo cover of “The Rain Song”. And I stand by that haha
This is a fair and calculated review! Well Done! Craig Mazin needs to hear this feedback. I hope that these humble criticisms can break through all the praise and be taken seriously.
My other post was kind of long, so I thought I'd break it up into more than one. Another thing I didn't like about the show as compared to the game: Like you said, they took their time with Joel warming up to Ellie and their bonding (in the game). One could SEE what was happening through their actions and dialogue. In the show they kind of threw it in the viewer's face (in case they're too stupid to get it, I guess?), and rushed it. Like Henry saying something like, "You're not her father, but you were someone's." As if the viewer can't realize that Ellie is going to be important to him at some point, as Sarah was. We don't need a hammer blow to the head with that stuff. Show, don't tell, and all that. There was another line of dialogue that was a little too on the nose, too, in that same vein, but I forget what it was or what episode it was in. (Edit: I think it was the Bill and Frank episode when Ellie was reading the note that Bill left. Saying he found that one person to make everything worthwhile and "saved him." BAM! Thanks, show, just in case we miss it completely later on * eyeroll * )
And I really hated that they focused on some little fairy tale life for Bill and Frank (yeah, okay, two DECADES - in an APOCALYPSE - of all the food you can eat and all the wine you can drink and very little Infected or Hunters coming to take it away), instead of having a jaded Bill, as you've said, showing how Joel could end up with no one going that route. And I missed the Bill/Ellie interactions. Bill's Town in the game was one of the best parts and they just ruined it.
There's more, but this is getting long, too.
lmao that's how I felt writing this video! Every time I thought I was done I had more issues that I wanted to talk about, and hence the 33 minute length lol. Honestly I still felt like I had more to complain about, but then this video would just be 4 hours long and it'd have taken me months to finish XD
@@daniel_netzel Right? 😄 If I wanted to cover everything I wanted to cover, I'd just have to make my own damn video. (No one's going to read a two page length essay in the comment section, heh.)
Honestly, if the show had managed to (narratively) translate everything the game did it would still be the lesser version by virtue of the visuals not being able to stack up, and the musical score not being where it needs to. But more importantly the game had Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson, who have a quintessential chemistry with one another that Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey simply can't compete with. The unsung succes of The Last of Us (game) is really those two actors working so well together.
While I think that Pedro and Bella were amazing, and had some terrific chemistry, I do agree that there's just no competing with Troy and Ashley, they were pitch perfect every step of the way.
I think the fact that Joel is not as ruthless in the show makes his rampage at the end feel much more significant and impactful. When faced with the potential death of his new daughter, he goes from a violent but not that ruthless guy, and turns into a killing machine willing to do anything to not have to face that loss again. Had he been just as brutal from the start, the final rampage would have just felt like more of the same, and not the emotionally-driven brutal act of selfishness and fear that it was in the show.
I get where you're coming from, it's clearly how the writers of the show felt, but that's where I disagree. Most of the violence in the game is clear self defense, everyone in that world immediately tries to kill you so we just kill them first. There's still a vast difference between killing a bunch of cannibals who were trying to eat you or raiders who just shoot on sight, and mowing down scientists and soldiers who are literally just trying to save the world. To me in the show it just felt off because we even see other characters who have lost children(Maria) or characters who deeply care for Ellie(Marlene), but neither of them are going on a mass shooting to protect someone and I think the whole point is that this is not just a universal reaction, other people faced with this choice would make the right decision, or would find another way of saving Ellie that didn't involve murdering a bunch of innocent people.
And again, this is kind of the entire point of TLOU Part 2, which is why this is such a sticking point for me. I feel like all of the emotional weight behind that story stems from the idea that some people just really don't know how to handle loss.
But I appreciate your thoughtful comment. It's refreshing to see someone say more than just "L take bozo" and actually offer some genuine opinions.
@@daniel_netzel I struggle to get your point, in utter honesty. Joel reacted like none of the mentioned characters probably would have reacted because, well, he's a different character indeed but, quite most importantly, there are different circumstances and characterisics at hand. First, Joel ain't like Maria or Marlene. He has no attachment whatsover to a particular community, nor feel responsible for them or the whole world, he feels responsible only for Ellie and his brother. Them aside, he's basically a cynical survivalist loner. That's an aspect that alone brings weight towards making a choice over another.
Secondly, Maria lost a child and so did Joel, except losing Ellie would have meant going through that trauma a whole second time. Again, Maria may love Tommy but she's a leadership figure surrounded by a whole community she's clearly in touch with. For Joel, Ellie is an abundant 3/4 of his world. The same applies to Marlene: she leads a revolutionary group and is in touch with a specific community, in this case the type of community acting as "freedom fighters" who hold the ambition of saving the whole world. And she indeed cares for Ellie, but mostly because (in the show) she made a promise to her mother, and is merely protecting her from afar; nothing even barely comparable to actively risk your life to protect her for months, sharing traumatic experiences and overcoming immense obstacles together, protecting and caring for each other all the way through. The bond formed in that way is way, way, way more adamant and visceral. Last but not least, Marlene and the Fireflies rushed way too fast towards the goal of murdering Ellie to get the vaccine/cure, making Joel unable to emotionally process what the fuck was happening. The cold, almost scorn attitude of the Fireflies (both in the game and show but possibly even more in the second) just added insult to injury; for someone struggling to emotionally process the situation and coming from a whole 20 years of unresolved trauma, those Firefly soldiers symbolized the wolrd delivering the ultimate spit on his face.
On the general argument regarding the failure of adaptation, I'll agree to disagree because I think the disagreement comes from an entirely different perspective or, if one prefers, ideological/philosophycal take. To me adaptation means exactly what it says, adapting: and adapting means bending, enough to fit a different environment without ever breaking. That's what "adaptation" means to me. You gain things you didn't get, and you lose some along the way, and that's because the two mediums ain't superior to one another, they are just very different and will inevitably get different results, but I think the show has been faithful to the source as much as it could reasonably be. But again, this is my very specific perspective. Beyond that, I do believe the show has its own proper flaws but I blame them to budget contraints rather than fundamental flaws in the writers' vision. I mean, the budget was still considerable (and it showed) but this first season remained a bet that may have struggled to pay itself, if something worked the wrong way.
Exactly his point makes no sense
Of course these are different characters with different circumstances, but my point was that mass murder is just not a default setting for most people, regardless of what's at stake. Some faced with the same choice would make the sacrifice for the greater good, but even the most protective parents would do anything to find another way of saving their child, most people wouldn't just kill without mercy and go full terminator mode regardless of the situation.
I think such extreme action from Joel needs to have its precedent, the breadcrumbs that can build to such an act of atrocity. People don't just become mass shooters overnight, and the game's Joel is clearly established as incredibly violent as soon as we take control after the prologue, but HBO Joel spends half of the show demonstrating the opposite, he tries to defuse conflict, not escalate it.
So ultimately that is where it fails as an adaptation for me, naturally no story is going to translate perfectly or identically when switching mediums, but in your words you describe bending, not breaking, and these changes did break it for me. But of course we can agree to disagree, I know plenty of people loved the show, and I envy you guys, I really do. But yeah, all of these changes were much more than nitpicks for me, it may seem like hyperbole from your perspective but I genuinely mean it when I say that this fell apart completely as an adaptation for me.
I think the show highlights one of the problems with the original game's ending, namely that the game's ending fails to make the possibility of the cure under the circumstances and the cost to achieve it believable. The show (I can't recall how the game approaches it) attempts to frame the situation as a moral debate around consent; Joel points out that the Fireflies lied to Ellie and are sacrificing her without asking her, that what happens to her life isn't their choice. Marlene attempts to equivocate by saying it isn't up to him either, suggesting he's being just as selfish; she speculates that Ellie would have chosen to do the right thing. Joel remains silent in the face of this, but that's an artifice of the writing forcing Joel's silence so that he can't be allowed to give the obvious retort: that, if Marlene believes Ellie would have given her her consent, why didn't she ask her? As a question of consent, the Fireflies are forcing Ellie to give up her life, and Joel is saving her from being forced. Ellie was not given a chance to choose by the Fireflies; Joel was not given a chance to *ask* by the Fireflies.
The way the show frames the conversation, Joel is objectively correct to have done what he did. Even as a utilitarian debate between the needs of the many (the world) outweighing the needs of the few (Joel, Ellie), the game and the show both fail to make the argument for the sacrifice being a worthwhile thing. Indeed, the second game outright gives us the answer, that the surgeon couldn't find a cure despite having experimented on several other subjects; unwittingly, Joel's cover story to Ellie after she wakes in the car is the god's honest truth. And really, what more can be expected from a so called surgeon with only a bachelor's in biology? I mean, do they have the manufacturing facilities needed to develop the cure, produce it, and disseminate it? And who gets the cure anyway? I'm sure all the Fireflies get it, but who else, I have to wonder?
The game and the show are both hyper realistic settings, but the ending of the first game, and the position the second game seems to take around Joel's final choice, requires you to engage in purely magical thinking, wherein your disbelief and basic critical thinking skills have to be abruptly jettisoned to accept its premise. That's why damn near everyone sides with Joel; the Fireflies simply don't make their case, and Joel has to be actively prevented from defending himself through the artifice of the Writer to allow the uncertainty within the narrative to stand on its flimsy foundations. This is one of the biggest problems people have with the second game, that despite all available evidence clearly pointing to Joel having done the right thing, the narrative insists his choice was monstrous and selfish, and he isn't allowed to defend his choice in the myriad of obvious ways.
Whatever the show, and the game, were trying to say or encourage the audience to consider, it fails because the premise of the ending doesn't add up; to most people, Joel made the right choice, and that was enough.
Couldnt agree more, i felt they became best friend in a snap of fingers
It was amusing how everyone on the journey (Tess, Bill, Henry, etc.) would stop and directly tell Joel the same "do ANYTHING for the ones you love" message. Cut to them as Star Wars ghosts applauding as he blasts his way through a hospital full of allies and the last hope of humanity.
Season 1 felt like a missing opportunity. The cast was great, showrunners were great, they just should have given us a bit more like 10-12 episodes.
Yeah it felt rushed. I did not expect the emotional winter part to be done in one episode...
Show should've been longer. Also, every single emotional moment hit way waaayyy harder in the game.
The cast is bad.
The cast was terrible. Pascal was more like a soft tampon wearing version of Joel and Ramsay is far too annoyingly upbeat for someone in the apocalypse and completely misses the light and shade personality of Ellie.
@@drewkiely901 10 seconds of seeing Ellie from the series and I stoped watching it. Polar opposite.
If it's a missed opportunity in your eyes then how come the showrunners are great?
It skims through the plot and adds unnecessary fillers and the fillers are just agenda...
Also the cast is bad
Amazing analysis, thank you for that.
My thoughts - whilst the show had its moments, it was not at the level of HBO quality say some scenes here and there, and two or three episodes that all the others paled too much in comparison, and which really could have been short stories unrelated to the rest of the series. The exclusion of the spores was a very strange decision considering us as the audience could have sympathised with a world where air born particles were a major risk and masks a necessity called upon in certain situations. Why they talked about the hive mind of the infected but never touched on it again I do not know.
I felt show Bella was over acting in some parts, being an unnecessary bad ass or overly swearing in scenes that did not ask for it. In game Ellie was a sweet innocent child, with some fire, struggling with the burden of existence that starts to weight on all of us from the transition of childhood into adolescence - the realisation that the world is not the Disney we all thought it was. Add this to the reality of the environment she exists in, and her burden, we see her slow corruption through Joel’s instinctual parenting, and the necessities of survival in that world.
Pedro was a poor choice for Joel. He is too soft, in game Joel cannot break down, a hardened shell of a man made by what he has had to endure. He cares not for death, or emotions, he lost all of that the day his daughter died. He simply goes on because it is in his nature, he survives on instinct in the same way he parents on instinct. Ellie is in direct contrast to this, and the reason why they are the perfect catalyst for changing one another with their opposing forces, a yin and yang so to speak. I did not feel this in the show. Both Bella and Pedro’s reactions and actions in many situations were not reflective of the characters the show was attempting to build. There was very little rapport to justify their love for one another let alone enough chemistry.
The inclusion of flash backs was a nice touch that gave necessary exposition, and gave those of us who played the games something new to work with, however they were not consistent which I feel would have added a nice touch if included in every episode. CGI was off in some parts too and looked at least a decade old in terms of quality.
I did enjoy many aspects of the show, however the game was a perfect 10 for its ability to derive an emotional response that no game came close to. The scenes of respite in the game, those moments where conversation naturally took place, that was everything. We grew with the characters, understood them. In the show, we did not.
A caveat - I like both Bella and Pedro. But they had no business in these roles. The heads of the show wanted to stand out above other shows, yet they messed with a recipe that made a perfect cake more than was necessary.
perfectly articulated. i haven’t played the game for years, so I sensed something was off about the show but couldn’t put my finger on what changes sunk the show so hard. you described it exactly.
well done!
Dude finally someone gets it. I thought i was going crazy with all the praise. I felt like it was a bit more shallow and missed a lot of the major themes and subtleties of the game. Thank you for understanding how these "minor changes" fundamentally change the characters.
I haven’t seen the show so I can’t comment on it, but my feeling when they announced the show was, this must be for people who haven’t played the game. For me, the game told its story well enough that I didn’t have any interest in seeing a remake, particularly when it looks virtually identical to the original.
you said it best. it just "looks" like the original.
The TV show succeeded for me when it veered away from the game and told new stories or simply changed characters completely (Bill as an example). I prefer the game and the personal experience of actual being joel/ellie throughout the experience versus being a fly on the wall throughout the tv experience. It's still a solid tv show in my opinion but it didn't blow me away like the game. My recommendation would be to tell a completely different story and make it a new experience all around ------ as it stands now it is going to be comparison piece between the show and game.
I think you have really figured this out nicely...the whole conundrum of changing aspects of the game story vs maintaining the game storyline in piecewise fashion, leading to "problems" in the show.
I agree man, on a technical level, the show was great: vfx, score, set design, acting(in some cases), but I also have a few issues. Mainly that I felt that the overall first season didn’t feel as organic as it should’ve been, the separate stories or events were good on there own but as a whole I don’t think they fit well. As far as adaptions of video games go it’s really good, but I can’t say I’m in love with the show. I feel weird about it because it does a lot right but I’m just not into like a majority of people.
I agree! And it's strange because Chernobyl follows so many different POVs and they all work perfectly, but yeah they just didn't mesh all that well for me, it just feels like a lot of disparate stories at the end of the world rather than any focused narrative, and that focused narrative is a huge part of what made the game so memorable for me.
If you want the full last of us experience, play the game.
If you want the "The last Filler of us" watch the show.
I think they likely had a budget and episode conflict. HBO probably knew they had a hit but still…I mean before this Sonic is your best game adaptions in forever. I imagine they went “you tell this in one season and hook them”. Thus show wasn’t made for gamers as much as it’s a show for new fans to watch with gamers. Yes I think they could of split this into two 7 episode seasons. End right at the college fall. But I have the game, and now show fans have the game. They did it good, I still love the game more but they did this well. We can pick it apart, but I bet a lot of folks aren’t going to be on this granular comparison once season 2/pt 2 happens. I hope they continue remixing and adapting and changing things. We will get a more expanded season but for now…man I’m happy we got the show we did at the level we did.
From what I've read, HBO seemed pretty open to give them more episodes. Also, think of something like Dune. They had no idea how well that would perform or if they'd get to finish the story, but it's better to do something properly even risking leaving the story unfinished than to just condense everything out of that fear.
Craig Mazin is incredible and he did so good with Chernobyl but so underwhelmed me - I never felt that same tension when playing the game. And 2 episodes in I’m rerouted to a side story which could easily have played in Season 2
Nice critique and you really landed on the fine details that could have made all the difference
I think the main obstacle that every adaptation of a videogame to a different medium has to circumvent is the fact that videogames are an interactive form of art. That is their primary strength.
When you try to adapt something as specifically made to be played as The Last of Us, that has a narrative so entangled with it's gameplay, you must make use of all the unique strengths of the new medium, that being TV in this case.
I agree with pretty much everything you said. The show is really well made, well acted, with great production values; but as an adaptation, which it clearly tries to be, it falls short of the game. I think if they had divided the story of the first game into two seasons, maybe it would have turned better, specially for the character work and building up the relationships between them.
Although, to be honest, I would've much preferred that they told us a different story than just retreading the same one with Joel and Ellie. I see it as a missed opportunity. Just imagine if they had shown us different parts of the world succumbed to the fungal outbreak. The different ways that different characters carry on with their lives in this God forsaken post-apocalyptic world. Imagine the countless stories that can be told in this world that have nothing to do with Joel and Ellie.
But, oh well, we're not the owners of this IP so, in the end, all we can do is to endure and survive. At least we still have the games.
Great video as always, Daniel. ✌🏻
I really wish the first game had been made into 2 seasons, I really think that would have solved a lot of issues for me
I personally loved the show, but I am very glad that this video exists. In a sea of complaints that are just "the woke agenda ruined the show" it's very refreshing to see an actual critique of TLOU.
I love to see videos that make points that I disagree with without them turning into some cringy culture war "I don't like that there's black people in this" bullshit.
Great video! Subscribing right now!
Absolutely insane how this show was run by the writer of the game and creator of the franchise, yet feels like it was sabotaged. Like they wanted to rush through the story of the first game to get to Part II's events, but why? Why speedrun through the half of the franchise that is beloved by all to only get to the events of Part II (that led to one of the most vitriolic and contentious game releases ever seen) and then extend it to being told in seasons 2 and 3? That's something someone who is ambivalent to Part I but loves Part II would do, that's something I would do. Did I write this show? 😳
The TV show that I feel best explores violence and how it erodes ones humanity is Barry
As someone who played the game after watching the show, it was hard for me to notice small things like this, so thanks for bringing this up. I definitely agree that Joel and Ellie didn’t get enough screen time together, it felt like the ending came out of nowhere. I feel like if they had a few more episodes it could have went much better. I’m also wondering how they will do certain things when they start Tlou pt 2, since they got rid of spores (ifkyk).
Excellent breakdown! All your arguments felt so considered and robust yet also easy to follow - both in the script and visual editing. Good on you for getting this point of view out there.
(and equally big props to you for replying to so many comments here).
I 100% felt the same way. That the relationship between Joel and Ellie didn’t feel that deep….on top of everything you said, it felt that Joel and Ellie were almost equals when they met. Ellie was trained by fedra, pegged for leadership. What did Joel have to teach her about violence? pS- I never played the game. I only knew the story from HBO
Well glad someone agrees with me !
Well put my friend, great job and great analysis.
Thank you!
THANK YOU. My biggest gripe is that the show butt fucks any sort of subtlety
Nice to see you back. This is brilliant. Thankyou.
Thank you!
I agree with basically everything you said. It's crazy how many people missed some of the most important elements of TLOU, resulting in the ridiculous backlash to Part II. I couldn't get into the show personally. I didn't make it past episode 5, it felt like a pale imitation of the original to me. The bits they copied weren't as good as the game and the bits they added I felt detracted from the point of the story.
Thanks for putting into words my profound disappointment with this series and frustration I felt with this shows warm reception. Well said.
Very well said. Yeah I also shudder how Craig is planning to handle game 2 for the show considering game 1 was already extremely pacified and game 2 is even more extreme than game 2.
I really wish we stopped having these creators who treats all movie and TV show audiences like emotionally and mentally stunted 3 yr olds whose only idea of "character development" and "morally grey characters and stories" comes from the MCU aka none. Like honestly, it felt like Hollywood felt the need to treat their audiences even dumber than before after that franchise became so popular. Some of it is understandable, but they don't seem to grasp the idea that there's another portion of the audience who hates the MCU for that same reason.
If anything, part of the reason why I like Last of Us, Red Dead Redemption and Attack on Titan to name a few is because they ain't afraid to go to those extremes to further emphasize the story. Like what happened to the storytelling of the 90s that wasn't afraid to kill off the beloved characters because it's the only way to complete the message of the story? Like geez, I can't even imagine how badly Craig would've pacified Attack on Titan if he ever had to tell that story.
I agree, the show was definitely different than the game. I thoroughly enjoyed the show but really appreciate your points. I was shocked when I found out that it was going to end the game in season one. Way to short. I figured they would end when they got to Tommy. I didn't think about the lack of violence but definitely noticed the lack of infected. Maybe my love the for game filled some of the gaps when watching the show. Really enjoyed your take and video. My wife watched the show with me but never played the game. I might ask her opinions after making her watch this :)
Your essays are fantastic!
You hit the nail on the head. This show IMO is the definition of mid. I sort of can't even believe this was an HBO series, it felt much closer to an AMC spinoff of TWD most of the time.
If someone hasn't seen the show or played the game, I would basically just tell them to play the game and watch episode 3. The rest of the show is inferior to the game in basically every aspect. If you suck at video games and don't have some disability preventing you from playing, just put it on easy mode. I am not very good at this game, and even I can beat it on normal difficulty with like 75% of kills being melee (even then, a lot of sections you can either run through or have your companions do the killing while you hide so long as you're patient lol)
I watched 3 episodes and I couldn't stomach watching anymore, The Last Of Us was one of my favorite all-time games and HBO destroyed the story!
Great vid! Your arguments were exactly what I was pointing out to myself watching the show. I especially liked how how you mentioned the lack of the infected. With so much emphasis on the origins of the infection, I was surprised there weren’t more infected let alone any threats at all in general. The journey was the best part of the game and the show lazily portrayed every instance of that. Not to mention I was also highly disappointed in the portrayal of Ellie. I found myself being more annoyed of Ellie than rooting for her to survive.
I actually thought the show left a lot of the relational development implied between the episodes, which I found worked for me. If this is a disappointing adaptation, it's perhaps mostly because the thing being adapted is so great in the first place!
And honestly that might just be it for me, the game is as good as it gets, and I'll never not compare the two lol
As much as I appreciate this quality video, I'm scared of the next upcoming update video saying you are leaving UA-cam. I thought you said you want to upload more frequently? Just want to avoid you being frustrated over lower views again, you know it's not working out without frequent uploads.
Believe it or not this video didn't take nearly as long as the last few. I only started working on it after the final episode of the season aired, and put the video I was working on hold because this one was much more time-sensitive. But I'm certainly not giving up any time soon, I invested the better part of a year in the whole "take as long as I need" approach, and I'm going to invest at least the same amount of time in this new direction before even considering leaving.
Dude this is exactly how I felt about the show and everytime I voiced it online Holy moly they came for me lol
I love the games, and also the show. I thought this was a well-balanced critique (and very well-made video), although I don't agree on everything.
Violence in a game is very different from violence in a show. I think they wanted to avoid the trap many game adaptations make by include too much of the violence or action. That something is fun to play, doesn't make it fun to watch. And if you make the character in a TV show kill a lot of people (or infected) the feeling of danger goes down, and it makes them seem like an invulnerable superhero. Exactly what they didn't want for Joel. Furthermore, the amount of time that passes in the show is (roughly) the same as in the game. The bounding is there, it is just not shown the same.
I do agree with some of your other points, mainly the infected. They should have made them a bigger threat, I think. Could have done that easily by trowing in a few here and there, they needed to sneak by (maybe even throw a brick or bottle).
Ps. I got here from your comment on the React content video from DarkViperAU. Wanted to check out your channel and saw something I liked. Will also watch, like and comment on the other TLOU video you made. Trying to do my small part for the algo for creators who obviously deserve it. Keep up the great work.
I definitely hear where you're coming from, I certainly wouldn't want him to feel like a super hero, I just wish he still had that darkness like the games character. That's awesome, thanks dude! I only recently found his channel but he's doing some important work!
You nailed it. Absolutely perfect assessment. I completely agree that in the game, even those who disagree with Joel's final choice and found it to be abhorrent--still EMPATHIZED with Joel and understood WHY he did it. He wasn't going to let this world take another daughter from him. I truly love TLOU and was similarly disappointed with the show.
Bill and Frank's episode was beautiful, but was ultimately filler and not really on theme with TLOU. Their compound was safe and resources abundant. I didn't even feel the Strawberry scene was particularly beautiful, considering how well they'd already been eating!! In the game, QZ's suck, but at least you're safe from infected and get rations. In the show, I don't see why anyone would live in the QZ when there's almost no threat outside of it! And I just personally prefer Bill as a warning sign to Joel--"this is what you could become. A paranoid man that survives out of spite and has nothing and nobody." The letter Bill writes Joel in the show is just so on-the-nose, almost cheesy. =/
You explained everything so well. The show fits the shoes of a weird spinoff.
I really have disagree because you're way too kind...of course you're video on this topic is great and of course they do not have to copy the scenes but there is one thing they didn't care about it's the intensity that's it. Remember the walking dead Negan killing Glenn...remember how everybody was shocked to the core how intense it felt...thats it. The last of us had to be Hardcore Drama but they don't know how it felt because they didn't play the game 🥱
Thanks for the video! Really loved your point of view!
Thanks for watching!
I don't care how impressive the acting was, or how beautiful that love story of Episode 3 was, it completely killed the pacing of the show. Filler on the 3rd episode. I gave up on the following episode when they kept cutting away to some new faction I didn't care about. I didn't know they gave an explanation for her immunity, really glad I skipped the rest.
Thanks! I haven't played the game and the last episode soured the whole show for me - GOT-style. At least now I understand, how that happened.
While I understand your points, I also disagree a lot. I don't mind those changes, as my expectation upfront was to get a different take on the story. For example an exact copy of the Joel character would have been redundant. Anyway, those changes are dwarved by the greater problem I always have had with the ending (in the game and show), namely: strictly speaking, there is no moral dilemma with Joel's decision as the Firefly's plan of producing a vaccine is almost 100% sure to fail (lack of infrastructure, can't produce required reagents, the doctor has no basic knowledge of immunology). Even if for a moment we believe they could pull it off, obviously they should have taken a blood sample of Ellie first and extract the antigen and then do trial runs. They need her alive for fresh batches of antigen, in case something goes wrong during the process (e.g. the freezer where they would need to keep the samples loses power). Only if that method would have contineuously failed they could have done the brain procedure as a last resort, but I doubt this would change anything. No matter what, the chance is so tiny here that killing a person is never justified, even with their consent (btw. children cannot legally consent to surgery for a good reason). Joel's decision was therefore right, even though his motivation was a selfish reason, while he had no knowledge to realise that the Firefly's efforts are scientific non-sense. However, he overstepped the boundaries of what can be regarded as self-defense when rescuing Ellie. All in all, the ending itself never made sense to me, that's the main issue I have with the first season and the game likewise.
Personally I think that's reading into things a little too literally. I mentioned Children of Men in this video, and I think it's similar here too. Or even a film like Snowpiercer would be a good example. It's not about the factual logistics of a real world equivalent, it's a vehicle for storytelling that allows us to explore human behavior. We never know why women can't get pregnant anymore or what makes this woman any different, if this means a change at large for the world or if her body can be studied. Snowpiercer, the train itself is obviously impossible, but that's not the point.
So to me the efficacy of a vaccine or if they'd ever remotely have what they needed to implement it is missing the point. In this story, in this world, it's hope, it's the only hope they've had in a long time, but instead of Joel making a sacrifice for the greater good, he kills dozens of innocent people for his own selfish reasons
I think that HBO probably only did 9 episodes of this show in case it flopped as we all know video game adaptations havent historically done well. This show was very expensive to make so it makes sense in that regard. BUT I agree that I wish it was spread out and longer...like at least 12 episodes. I didnt even play the game and it still felt rushed. I bet HBO will take note and stretch out the second part quite a bit more.
Hah, great timing! I just made a video criticizing the same things. But, I also think it has technical problems as well.
It certainly does, but I do think its technical aspects are far less of an issue(at least they were for me) than the writing itself, and this video was already long enough xD
100% agree. Basically it was good. But nothing compared to the game, I think Mazin maybe interfered a little too much, as if he thought he was 'called in' to improve the original story, resulting in him deforming it. I'm convinced a like for like adaptation could have worked so much better, especially in this very rear case that is The Last of Us.
the show was mostly pretty awful, flat, terrible casting (this Ellie is about .1 percent as charming as game Ellie and makes it impossible for me to believe that Joel would develop a fatherly love for her.) Yeah, it was bad. We didn't get to see that beautiful bond between them blossom. It made no sense. It seems like that industry hack Mazin steam rolled the production. Like really, we need to see a gay love affair for an entire episode? That was for sure an HBO idea and would have only made sense if they had three more hours of TV.
Well said
I know people love the game actors and I do as well, but seeing Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson in the show just made it feel silly. Especially Ashley playing Ellie's mother, it's just one of those things that disconnects me emotionally from the story.
The book was better
lol
Seems like so many people online just want to find something to complain about. Was the show perfect, no. Was it great, yes. Was it the best show on TV lately? Maybe not but it sure was one of them. Would have been nice to have 12 plus episodes. You have to add and change things to make a video game into a television show. They did a fantastic job.
I go into everything with an open mind, i'd much rather find reasons to love something than to find things to hate, but this source material is one of my favorite stories, so I was a little harsher on this show than I'd normally be, but I definitely didn't think it was great, for me it was the biggest letdown I've had all year lol
Toxic gamers should understand what Storm(Riley) says in an interview that it's our duty to do justice to the game with the twist we can put.... gamers should understand that the show doesn't need to be a replica of the game... that's pointless why watch the show then...I am a die hard fan of this game, played it more than 100 times and I loved the changes in the show and I also loved how they kept the similarities between the show and the game...the actors just need to pick up the essence of the games characters that's it...and they all did it... And yeah the amount of hate Bella got... those people don't deserve to play the game and watch the show....you don't like the show don't waste your time to watch it then.....there are millions of people who will watch it with all their heart. Like it's really simple if I played the game and then start watching the show then after 1 or 2 episodes I see same copy paste from the game I'll stop watching the show... it's the differences that makes me curious to watch another episode...toxic gamers are fools not to understand this
Great review! I agree 100%
You nailed this essay! I agreed with every point you made. I didn’t even realize how integral Bill was to Joel in the game. Reaffirming he needed to look out for himself.
But personally, I think you are complaining about a ‘woke agenda’ simply for some of the points you made: 1) Joel has been pacified 2) he doesn’t get his moment with Bill to keep himself blocked off and 3) Henry ‘is a bad guy that did a bad guy thing’ instead of a guy just trying to keep himself and his brother safe.
That said, I agree with your insight and that the connective tissue between the video game characters and lack thereof in the show. It’s identical to what we had in GoT.
I enjoyed your video. Excellent edits btw!!
I love the series!!!
I agree 💯
The show started out incredible but by the end I was disappointed. The game is far better then the show
When people ask my why I didn’t like the tv show I’ll send them this video
That would be appreciated! :D
Excellent analysis. I fully back everything you've stated, although I'm not quite as generous regarding the performances as you are. Ellie suffers the most I'm this regard, though I'll admit that plenty of it was due to the writing as well as Ramsey's limitations as an actress.
Ramsey isn’t limited as an actress and Ashley Johnson confirmed she played Ellie better than herself
@@DaBoon-en9fl - Ashley Johnson is being nice and I would expect nothing less of her.
That doesn't mean the statement is accurate.
Your videos are great, keep it up
Damn, as more and more time goes by I’m increasingly happy that I saw the series before I played the game. Maybe ill play the game one day in the far far future, but IMO this show is waaaay too special to reduce it to a simple adaptation and keep it beholden to its source content.
I got this feeling after being disappointed with Legend of Korra, which has totally different themes than ATLA, but unfortunately I don't think having the same guys who directed the original work of art can give us any assurances of the quality of the next piece. What makes The Last of Us, or ATLA, good, was the work of all the actors, the writers, the designers and artists, and you simply cannot replicate that by just having the one guy who incidentally got his name on the work, purely by already being employed to direct it. I worry Neil Druckman's idea of Joel is that he's just a "morally gray guy who makes selfish decisions to sooth his own inner fears," which isn't wrong, it's the idea for the character he had that got the whole thing started, but what made Joel who he was, was the entire game experience. You can't just take a single concept and slap it onto the next product and expect it to work the same way. I think people have way too much faith, generally, in the directors of particular art objects, when the actual substance comes from everyone else.
On the low violence argument, I think they did that because they were scared that they didn't have enough time to properly develop the characters through that violence. You pointed to other shows who had deep and/or violent characters, but all of those were super long-running series that took several seasons to make people really feel for the characters and understand their full depth. And those those stories were made with that long distance in mind, just as the game was. But here they had 9 episodes, with several, as you pointed out, being about completely other characters. So I think that they might go way deeper into violence in the second season, just as second game was (imo).
Outside of that I definitely see your point and this was a great video.
I don't think you're wrong, but also remember, Walter White kills someone literally in the pilot, and then the next few episodes deal with him deciding if he's going to kill Crazy 8 or not, and then shows like The Sopranos or Barry also start with the violence immediately, it's just part of the DNA from the very beginning, so I think there is a precedent for that sort of thing in a show, even without having a ton of time to build to it.
That's a byproduct of only taking nine episodes to tell this story, though, when this is a show for premium cable and there are ostensibly less rules for the format and runtime, and all but zero rules on content.
I agree. It's a good TV show, but it's a good TV show based off of a great game. The writing of the game is just tighter and more impactful and unfortunately when the TV show tries to derive from the game it mostly fails. It wastes a lot of time on stories that didn't need to be told, and not enough time on things that should have been expanded on.
Perhaps, ultimately, the best way I can describe it is: it wasn't as authentic to the spirit of the Last of Us as it could have been.
I'll summarise my assessment.
- Great start, great acting (though Kathleen's character was not great, too monologuey and not that believable as leader of tough revolutionaries)
- Dropped the ball after episode 6. Although episodes 7, 8 and 9 were very good episodes on their own, together they made for a poorly paced and rushed sprint to the climax. 8 and 9 needed more room to breath, the 'moments' in 9 felt like a box ticking exercise.
They were close to nailing it, they just needed maybe two more episodes at the backend to pull it off, instead of finishing with the shortest episode in the season.
Well made video but as someone who didn't play the game as a stand alone series it works for me
I enjoyed the show but it was very sentimental. Perhaps what the two characters of Joel both answer is “if you do the right thing for purely self interest are you still doing the right thing?” That being said, I never played the game. It has something in common with modern games like GTA that you can’t choose to be good. Or conversely, you can’t decide if Bowser is a better ruler of the mushroom kingdom than Princess Toadstool if you are Mario. The player is at the behest of the designer. In these games, choosing violence is easy because you are disposed to defending oneself. The player still lacks agency. It’s amazing to me that a game that was a FPS for people that didn’t like FPS’s ended up adapted from cut scenes which is just the part that the player pushes the A button to skip over anyway. The cynic in me sees this as HBO’s attempt at grabbing survivalist porn IP to cash in on since WestWorld and GoT both went belly up. To do that, they needed a Joel that was a nuanced three dimensional being and not another sociopathic PUA-alpha killing machine (which is all one needs to play a game to shoot people and blow things up). The Last of Us tv show may be an audience friendly summation of the same narrative but at least it saved me from losing over an entire day of my life from playing the game, irrecoverably.
Well-thought out take, GG! But I believe what you haven't considered is that Joel and Ellie are different characters in the show, and that's intentional... Bella's Ellie is more hardened, Pedro's Joel is more soft... These are intentional choices, as adaptations change things based on the actors and episodes.
Furthermore, in the show, Ellie does not remind Joel of Sarah. She is as different from Sarah as day is from night, and both in-show Joel and the creators say this. It was intentional. You may disagree with the decision, but it was conscious.
I talk about this a bit in the video, but my whole issue is taking different characters through the same narrative beats. I don't inherently have a problem with them making changes to who these people are, but I think they needed to make more changes to the story to fit those characters, especially in the end.
This definitely summed up the main reasons why I was disappointed with this show. Glad someone got these points out there.
You say you don't want to talk about the woke agenda because "seriously, grow up." But then you complain about the show backing down from portraying Joel as the anti-hero who's desensitized to violence, like he was in the game from 10 years ago, because adult audiences watching HBO supposedly can't handle that. That's precisely one of the key problems with the woke agenda: It wants to treat everybody like babies at the expense of good storytelling.
What did you expect them to do exactly? I’ve been a fan since 2011 when the first game was announced but even I understood that for this series they had to adapt not remake it, I mean yeah there is minor nitpicks from there not being enough Infected to the majority of actions sequences being removed but I understand it because that enhanced the games it wouldn’t have worked for the show, expecting every single interaction or moment from the game to be recreated was just setting yourself up for disappointment imo and at least people like me understood that they had to adjust the story and characters to fit a different medium
Of course they had to make adjustments, I didn't want a shot for shot remake of the game, the game is perfect as it is and didn't need a show to just do the exact same thing, but the problem is that it IS a shot for shot remake of the game half of the time. Watching the show is like watching the game but only its cutscenes, with some new deleted scenes, and my argument is that taking only the cutscenes and none of the gameplay cuts out too much vital character development for the same story beats to work, in just the same way that watching a YT video of only the game's cutscenes would be a drastically incomplete vision of the story.
@@daniel_netzel yeah I mean I agree with that element that some of the character development from the gameplay parts were lost but if it didn’t adapt ANY of the core story of Joel and Ellie then it would’ve just told another story set in the universe instead of a different interpretation of the story we all know, stating that it ‘fails’ as an adaptation is a matter of perspective and a fundamentally objective opinion which me and many others completely disagree with
Any video like this is always going to be a subjective opinion, it's just that putting "I think" or "I feel" in the title feels redundant and overly cluttered for YT lol But of course anyone is entitled to disagree, I never made this video with the intention of having everyone on my side, I just wanted to share my subjective feelings about a show I had really high hopes for.
I really want this to be something other than every essay mindlessly praising TLOU! Hahahhaah We shall see
I praise the hell out of the game, the show not so much lol
Over the years I can only really count on one hand something I’ve watched that have impacted me and stayed with me for such a long time.TLOU is one of my favourite pieces of fiction full stop.
Overall it was a disappointment for me and a great missed opportunity (show). The main problems are its length, taking great moments (even small ones) and not replacing them leaving it with a net negative/downgrade (too many to go through) and the acting choices.
I just felt so empty after every episode and felt something missing, a lack of *true* connection with J&L’s relationship. I would’ve LOVED just an episode of Joel & Ellie just walking and talking like the back end of Ep6. As far as Bella, I felt she relied too much on “Ellie swears OMG” with an added **soo precocious!** trope that plagues kids in media and i didn’t start to feel anything towards her till episode 6, I really shouldn’t have to wait that long in a 9 episode series. How people can say she’s a better Elle I really struggle with despite her good performance generally. Ashley Johnson arguably have the best performance in the whole series, I was left smiling “Ashley fucking Johnson man”. With Pedro i I also shouldn’t seeing Liam Neeson playing Qui Gin Jinn in his performance. Being stoic, reserved and guarded does fit Joel’s character but that’s what I’m not receiving when watching. I literally cringed at the “you’d just come back for her” line it was so bad. Whilst with Troy I got every emotion Joel was feeling in every line, Pedro was a flat line for me.
The bottle episodes were executed well, it just suffers with the problem inherent in the show of course, it’s length (series and maybe some episodes). The last one was the best example of that. I was enjoying J&E interacting and bonding and then the rug gets pulled out under you, it had me going “wait, we’re here already?!”. One of the things I would’ve liked was an expansion of Ish et al, but even in the show that was so glossed over…it would’ve taken not much more running time. I was so disappointed.
Whilst it did some things better in certain instances and is great for getting it to a wider audience, the ultimate conclusion is which of these will stay with me still in ten years time?
Spoiler:it’s the game.
Sonic 2 is the best video game movie so far.
If it takes 20 hours to play the game, are you expecting HBO to have 20 hours of a show? It's very expensive to produce a show; HBO has to balance demonstrating the entire relationship in a shorter period of time, versus dragging out the relationship between Ellie and Joel over more time like the video did. They have a lot of other shows to develop and create, and there is no guarantee that this show would have been as popular as it was. .This gets into whether Episode 3 (Bill and Frank) and Episode 6 (Riley) should have been done; many people afterwards liked Episode 3. Many people (like me) wanted more interactions with the Infected- this could still be done without sacrificing Episodes 3 and 6, but would cost more.
I fell to sleep playing the game, i also fell to sleep watching the series.
12 DAYS LATE SQUAD WHERE YOU AT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
Bro that is word to word, maybe a little non linearly, my opinion on this huge non-royal dump of an adaptation. Thank you.
Thanks for watching!
That’s cause Druckman is an overrated writer
Don’t understand your critic, why should tv series be copy paste from the game
i never said that though? lol
Agreed. I really didn’t buy their relationship what so ever. Kinda sad a decade old video game did it better than a 9 episode HBO production with a huge budget and all the talent you could want.
the show is garbage
Im so sick of people praising it like its the best thing ever.
Its very flawed. I loved it because its pretty and gave me some excitement for every monday evening, but its pretty bad. A complete miss.
The ending is NOT "perfect". The show itself provides all the indicators that Joel's dilemma is highly complex, which only a few are willing to see. Consider these, off the top of my head.
1. The cold open has the experts say that there is no existing fungal vaccine, and it is probably impossible to create one.
2. The game and show posit that infected turn in a matter of a few hours at most. Meaning that such a fast growing infection will completely overwhelm any immune system. The human immune system require many hours to even begin to fight back.
3. It's common knowledge to anyone with the most rudimentary life's experience that surgeons are trained in the physical skills of surgery, which has ZERO overlap with virology and immune studies. Geez, surgeons aren't even trained in elementary nutrition.
4. Abbey's father, as a brain surgeon, would have zero capacity to create even a common vaccine against virus or bacteria pathogens; certainly NOT an unprecedented vaccine against fungi, not least because surgeons are not cross-trained in mycology.
5. Developing vaccines requires much state-of-the-art equipment and resources, including experienced staff. The Fireflies have none of that, not even a sterile environment to work in.
6. Then there is the fact, which Joel has every right to be highly suspicious of, that the Fireflies want to immediately and summarily kill the only living person who they know is immune. Any honest group would want to keep Ellie alive as long as possible, to learn what they could, to prepare for their experiments and procedures. Immediately prepping Ellie for death is the strongest possible signal to Joel that this all stinks to high heaven.
7. Everyone (of your persuasion) assumes Ellie would have elected to die if allowed the choice. If so, why didn't the Fireflies giver her that choice? Would you elect to die for a one in a billion chance that a rag-tag group with nothing to work with might produce something of value?
It's highly probable that Ellie's immediate death would benefit no one, and eliminate any possibility for some more competent outfit to later actually develop a treatment. Joel was absolutely correct on all counts to remove Ellie from Firefly custody, by any means necessary.
I generally agree with the sentiments espoused in the video but the arguments are rather overexaggerated. I prefer the game's cynical worldview but the show's more sentimental adaptation is not without merit. The adaptational changes ultimately engender a different feel to the story but it functionally remains the same. Sure, I didn't love every change that was made but the claim that the adaptation is a failure (and that it's remotely close to the disaster that was GoT S8) comes across as unnecessarily hyperbolic.
I get that this all might seem like pure clickbait, but outside of shitting on the final season of GoT, every video I've made is about praising something. So to say that I rarely get all negative in these videos would be an understatement, but this was just 100% accurate to my feelings. I don't expect everyone to feel the same, but these videos were always about me speaking passionately about something, usually for the good because I feel like there's enough negativity online as it is, but this show cut me pretty deep. I LOVE the game so much, it was an unforgettable experience from start to finish that still remains one of my all time favorites, and this show just fell short in every way for me.
How dare you sir
sowwy
The more years pass for this franchise, the more Neil Druckmann seems like a mediocre artist who was in the right place with the right team around him
Factually incorrect, Neil was the one and only writer in the origina game
@@DaBoon-en9fl He wasn’t though. bruce straley and amy hennig were in for the original game but they left.
nah
agree to disagree? lol