A Skeptical Review of HBO's 'The Last of Us' - Season 1
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- Опубліковано 13 бер 2023
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- The Last of Us: Part II - Forgiving The Unforgivable - Luke Stephens
• The Last of Us: Part I...
- The Last of Us | The Ultimate Commentary - Luke Stephens
• The Last of Us | The U...
Joel and Ellie, a pair connected through the harshness of the world they live in, are forced to endure brutal circumstances and ruthless killers on a trek across a post-outbreak America.
Winner of a combined 500+ Game of the Year awards, The Last of Us series is critically renowned for its emotional storytelling, unforgettable characters, and suspenseful action-adventure gameplay.
Decades after the Cordyceps infection ravaged America, ruthless factions and Infected present a constant threat to survivors. Rugged smuggler Joel is tasked with escorting teenager Ellie to safety. Although Joel is traumatized by his past, their brutal cross-country journey gives him “something to fight for.”
5 years later, Joel and Ellie settle in Jackson, Wyoming. When a harrowing incident rattles their community, Ellie embarks on a relentless journey for justice and closure. The dangers she encounters aren’t her only obstacles; she also must grapple with the repercussions of her actions.
Play The Last of Us Part I, now available on PlayStation 5 and in development for PC. Continue your journey with The Last of Us Part II, available on PS4 and backwards compatible for PS5.
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Still too soon :D
So for the french kiss. I took it as Tess was losing control of her body due to the cordyceps, and forcing her to just sit there and accept the merging into the “hive” I guess. Which I think could be cool but they don’t really do a good job of showing that on screen.
I wonder if the idiots that attempt to scam with spoofing your info comment on your own messages.
Luke you should check out the animated movie flashpoint and if you liked it you should check out the other movies that’s connected to it
After every episode there’s a podcast on why they made the changes they did 😌
My biggest issue is that neither Joel or Ellie threw a brick at anyone. I was so hyped for a brick cameo
unfunny
That would be too op
oh shit! i didnt even realize 😶
They definitely could add that to the first time they face the clicker scene!
I just laughed real hard at the idea of a brick cameo
I feel like a lot of people are misunderstanding Ellie being quiet and distant in the finale. She’s not just being “moody” or worried about what’ll happen when they get to the hospital. She’s still traumatized about what happened with David and what she did after; hence her reference to “time heals all wounds” when she says she knows why Joel told her about Sarah and his attempt on his life.
I agree! I think they made that Ellie is still recovering from her trauma during winter in the game; as spring fades in, she's looking at a decorative representation of a deer on a wall nearby, implying she's still actively trying to process the trauma from it.
Exactly, that's 100% how it is in the game and the show. Ellie just butchered someone after coming face to face with someone who wanted to rape her. That's not something you just shrug off
Same I thought that was obvious
The game made that more clear
Most people understand this. Assuming most people are adults
I think they set it in 2003 so we see Joel & Ellie’s journey in 2023, the year we are in now. I think this is to draw comparisons to our lives and feel more invested in the story overall, just as they tried with the game to make outbreak day in 2013, the time the game came out.
According to the podcast, yeah, that was pretty much it
This is the correct answer
I'll take obvious points that Luke Stephens will inevitably miss for $500.
Yep Crain mazin said this in an interview too
I think it works pretty well when it comes to Joel aging from beginning of the show to when the events with Ellie take place. He describes how his hearing and physical abilities have decreased which is believable if you consider he's 36 at the start of the show (56 during the rest)
For Tess's death, QZ people chasing three random people all the way out there would not make sense whatsoever. I personally found that odd in the game as well. So it makes sense they changed into infected. As David says in the 8th episode, cordiceps is just trying to progress themselves and ensure its future in the world. And it does everything to do so. But when cordiceps does not need to be aggressive, why would it be aggressive? Especially after realizing Tess was already its part? The reason Tess was not attacked is because the fungus figures out Tess was already infected and because Tess did not defend herself.
Also, I felt Sam being deaf adds a lot. He's a lot more vulnerable now. In the game, Sam keeps his infection hidden, but in the show they wanted Ellie to try to save him and for that Sam needs to write that to Ellie. In the show, if Sam could talk, I personally feel it would not make sense if he just told Ellie about his infection and not Henry. Its probably just me.
I think in the game the QZ people were hunting down the Fireflies at the Capitol, so I think that’s what the justification was in-game and that they mistook Ellie and Joel for Fireflies. Although I do thoroughly agree that the show version made more sense logistically that it was infected that were converging on them, it felt much more tense paired with Tess’ infection revelation
It makes more sense they showed Sam telling Ellie for the show cuz the game expects us to believe she didn't know like he's going to keep that to himself knowing what happens! For the game it made sense ellie knew but not much more the show makes it easily plausible she knew & tried to cure him which also then had the murder suicide.
TBF in the game they weren’t chasing three random people. They were engaged in an all out slaughter of fireflies. That’s why they were in the area. Because they had just killed a bunch of fireflies. This threat from the fireflies feels less present in the show and on their way out they had killed just one guy that nobody probably found until the next morning. It made more sense in the show that FEDRA doesn’t have the capacity to extend themselves that far out of the QZ and also it gave a good opportunity to make the infected a real antagonist where they’re not going to be for any future episode except Left Behind.
@@destroyraidenI hated that change in the show with her trying to cure Sam and then falling asleep in a room with a potential infected. It made Ellie look dumb. In fact, TV show Ellie is so much more incompetent and less mature while somehow being less endearing in her naivety. Bella Ramsey did a fantastic job with what she was given however.
@@fearlessfailure2848 the show answered a what IF moment since in the game she didn't tried to cure sam. They just confirmed that her blood isn't some miracle cure for the infected.
Naviety is a part of being a kid or adolescent we all go through with it and in some cases grown adults are worse since with all that experience they don't mature.
Joel working his way through the firefly hospital felt like a mass shooting. His cold expression throughout and the muted audio really made it feel super cold blooded. I think that was a strong change from the game
I loved it a lot, I felt like Joel felt at home just killing. Almost like he slipped into a sort of dissociative trance or something
That’s because it was. He went on a murder rampage of like 20 people, didn’t even spare people with their hands up and surrendering.
@@maynardssoblue3839I think that’s the point. It’s not an urgent rescue scene, it’s a cold blooded slaughter.
@@captainuseless2120Which is why it's a problem.
In the story, he is knocked out by people armed far more heavily than anyone previously encountered while he was reviving a drowned child (both incapacitating him and adding dangerous seconds to brain death), and then being thrown outside without supplies (in the show, without weapons as well) at gunpoint. In other words, sentenced to death by a heavily armed group who has separated him and Ellie. And he never fully trusted Marlene in the first place. Why would he spare them? They could be cannibals or marauders for all the context is telling him. For all he knew, the Fireflies had just grown that desperate after years of failures and losses.
The next question is the canon nature of the deaths - how many Firefly deaths are actually mandatory on a playthrough? In all likelihood, he is only killing the ones truly in his way, apart from two cutscenes
@@lumeronswift Yeah. The fireflies treated him badly, and aren’t the nicest group of people, that was clear from the getgo. That doesn’t change the scene. Joel couldn’t care less how they treated him, couldn’t care less about his own survival in that moment. Couldn’t care less if he ‘missed’ a couple of fireflies. The muted sounds and detached camera angles are designed to show Joel’s own detachment.
He’s on autopilot, because his little girl is in danger, and he won’t let anyone get in his way. He cannot and will not loose another daughter. So he kills, without much thought and without a hint of remorse, because they’re trying to keep him away from Elie.
Action scenes were a complete second thought for this show, like the truck stop crash in episode 4, was way more visceral and horrifying in the game. That may seem like a dumb entertainment detail but it impacts how the journey feels. It felt like much more of a breeze for Joel and Ellie to get to the fireflies in the show than it did in the game.
The worst for me was Joel's injury in episode 6, that's one of the most memorable and intense parts of the game, and I was fine with them playing it down, but the confrontation with the three robbers just looked so awkward and lacking grit
The show's allergy to action scenes and infected ultimately undermines its own premise; the infected being such a non-issue changes the context of the ending entirely - Joel is no longer dooming the world to save his daughter, he's preventing the cure to a mild inconvenience.
I agree. How are you going to adapt one of the most violent games into a HBO series and leave out all of the violence? I get they wanted a more "realistic" approach but at the end of the day it's a fictional story based off a video game. There needs to be entertainment. I honestly thought the show was mediocre at best. It was a show pushing "the message" to its audience. I'm sorry but in a violent end of civilization world where mutated mushroom people are running around killing all not infected living beings , there would never be a fat out of shape women in charge of a faction of people who took over a QZ. The whole gay episode was really well acted and was interested but it was bloat and filler for the show. The show is about ellie and Joel. Why did we need a entire episode on two gay guys and them living their best life? Like I said it was just a show pushing LGBQT agenda for no reason. I'm so sick of everybody bending the knee to such a small percentage of people.
@@lepythagore3288 Well the injury he suffers in the game is massive and he loses so much blood its just unbelievable he survives, so i dont mind that they toned it down, also makes him being able to fight off the guys who come for him more believable
It just followed the game beat for beat n added almost no depth to it.. so when u do that, while obviously eliminating the tension from the gameplay, it just becomes a lot less of an impactful story .. nothing felt like it happened because it organically happened, everything just felt like well this happens in the game so it has to happen in the show and who cares how we get there or what the context is..we get that the story is about people but still, if u never show the actual infected rhen u lose the tension, u lose the impact of Joel’s final decision, because it never felt like humanity needed a cure to survive, everyone seemed to be doing just fine honestly lol
There were so few infected that by the end of the show you forgot what they were trying to find a cure for
Told my friend yesterday they should have left episode 3 the same as it is in the game. Just heavy action sequences with a shit ton of zombies, and some character development.
@@Contra7311 but then how would they show they're an ultra ally to the movement?
@@caveresch this comment is funny to me cause The Last of Us had always been an Ultra Ally to the LGBTQ+ community in Bill and Ellie yet we still got a whole episode that sidetracked the entire story 😭
@@joshuasatterwhite9520 In the original there is no support to the lgbtq+ com. Only in the dlc there was a first support. This is when Druckman took complete chrage and the game went downhill.
Honestly they could’ve had both. The series felt rushed. Keep episode 3 as is cause it was a really nice change, but have bill not OD or fail and survive and episode 4 be the same as the game.
At the beginning of episode 2, we find out there were 14 workers missing from the flour factory, not “1 or 2”. And if you stick around and the watch the commentary after the episodes, it may help to answer some of the questions you had about why certain things were changed.
IIRC, there were 14 workers at the factory, all were infected but 1 or 2 were not accounted for.
That's to hard to understand for a UA-cam critic
@@pulpficti yeah guys like this that want to sort of shit on something everyone seems to like don't really care about whether or not their supposed critique actually holds together
@@kevinscottbailey8335 it's the cinemasins approach which is an obvious comedy channel. But some think that's a good way to critique art
Exactly. All you have to do is listen to the after episode podcast and they literally answer why they changed certain things for the show.
14:57 see I really had a problem with the way they depicted Joel's PTSD in relation to the flashlight being shone at him. In the game, you're also haunted by imagery of flashlights or spotlights to signify the most traumatic incident of Joel's past. But in the show they're either far, far too overt with it (like the end of episode 1) or they don't include it at all (like the flashlights following Joel as he's carrying Ellie from the firefly hospital, which just doesn't happen in the show).
Yeah I can’t believe the cut out Joel running through the hospital carrying Ellie
According to Mazin, the reason for the Kiss scene with Tess’ death was to show that the fungus isn’t just this evil, violent force. Since she was infected and just about to turn, it was showing the fungus embracing her into the fold. It was a little weird at first but I wasn’t too put off by it
That actually makes some sense. thanks for the insight 👍
Me neither and I don't understand why many are complaining about it. It was an awesome, terrifyingly beautiful scene.
That makes a lot of sense. I don’t have a gripe w that scene just the decision to remove spores entirely. Spores added another threat to the world I guess so removing it felt strange. I’m sure they had a solid reason though.
Sooooo why does it tear other people apart?
@@macslacksI wouldn’t have an issue with removing spores and adding tendrils if there was actually more emphasis placed on tendrils instead of just a handful of episodes
They really needed just a couple more episodes to flesh things out a bit more. It almost feels rushed now that season ones over.
It really did feel rushed to me
look tlou is my favorite game bro so not attacking just trying to understand why you say it feels rushed. tlou isn’t a very complex story anyway and i think it’s for the best they didn’t drag it out. it covered everything it needed to.
@@wakkjobbwizard
I just think there should have been more episodes to flesh out Joel and Ellies relationship a bit, especially since two of the 9 episodes are basically filler. I was shocked that the final episode was only just under 50 minutes.
@@alt0799 I think its hard as allot what makes Joel and Ellies story great is the interactivity.
They could have gotten away with 2 seasons per game.
I think it was pretty good and has a lot of great potential but I’d argue it didn’t feel as dangerous and suspenseful as it should’ve been. Part of the reason why the slow and emotional scenes work in the game is because they’re moments where humanity shines amidst the survival and action. Not saying we needed all of the action scenes, but maybe the upside down shootout could’ve still happened and it could’ve been solved without Bill. We could still have the truck chasing Joel and Ellie around before they hid in the hotel and meet the brothers. Make the raiders and hunters more vicious and violent, have them throw Molotov cocktails at Joel and Ellie so that their escape feels less anticlimactic and make Joel’s stabbing feel a lot less accidental and awkward. Have the crew run into infected in the sewers, which sets up that awesome war with the horde at the end. I think having more infected and a more dangerous world could help make the emotional scenes stand out more and have a bigger impact.
Yeah it's a terrible decision, relying on such few zombies to populate the show. Compared to most other zombie shows it's pretty shitty
My only criticisms of the show is regarding the pacing - I think it could have used 1 or 2 episodes in the middle with Joel and Ellie alone and problem solving their way through infected. It would have addressed the 'lack of infected' issues many folks have and slowed down the searing pace this season was moving at. That being said - I still think they did an excellent job and some of the additions they made elevated the content from what it was in the game. I don't envy the writers trying to wrangle that Part 2 plot into 2 seasons, but I'm excited to see what they do.
I agree we needed more time with them specifically. Their relationship didn't feel fully earned by the end but it still worked for the most part. As for the infected they probably could have used 1 more scene or so but I like that they used restraint because it really emphasizes that more than anything it's the people that made the world as bad as it was and the infected were just a catalyst
The game is phenomenal but the show is so fucking boring I could hardly finish the episodes without dozing off from nothing happening 95% of the time
The game is supposed to span 1 year of their lives. The show definitely didn’t convey that to us. They marched right through it
They should have split Bill's town into 2 episodes. 1 episode to focus on Bill and Frank and then give them a conflict that's not just some stereotypical gay conflict like curtains to separate Bill and Frank. 2nd episode would be Joel and Ellie going to find Frank and fight through some zombies to find Frank. Frank doesn't even have to die, he could have held himself up somewhere and Bill, Ellie and Joel come and kill all the zombies and rescue Frank. Then you could show the end of Frank and Bill's relationship.
The producers already explained why they changed the spores. They didn't want to make Joel use a mask all the time. Pedro Pascal already does that in Mandalorian.
Yeah and the nuance of facial expressions while there’s no dialogue would be lost.
That's what I said! I bet he was like " No! No way! No more masks! " 😅😂
they should have maybe it would have masked his terrible acting and how terrible of a casting choice as Joel he was.
Thank you. It’s almost like he didn’t listen to any of the videos before the show came out. They literally explained it. It doesn’t make sense to have spores in only closed areas because in the real world, spores are literally everywhere and having the characters wear mask every single episode would be ass.
I think the show was good, but it was very rushed in my opinion and just felt like there was little to no threat throughout. They had very limited infected numbers, especially in the 2nd half, and the human antagonists felt far inferior to the game. The DLC episode could have easily been 15-20 minutes of another episode, and episode 4 & 5 could have been combined. Episode 3 was good, but also felt a bit dragged on, and could have incorporated more into the present-day storyline. Having those extra 2 or 2.5 episodes to focus more on the Ellie and Joel relationship along with developing the infected more would have more ideal in my opinion. Overall, it was good, like a 7/10
You complain about the show being rushed and then want the 2/3 hour dlc to be cut into 15 minutes, uh what?
Yup. Episode 3 would have been great as a 5th episode. If we'd seen more of Tess and Joel in the beginning then seeing her die and show up in a flashback would have been so much better.
@Seth3600 The DLC is arguably not important. We don't need a whole episode to barely develop a relationship. Same complaint I had for episode 3. I think it was good, but we don't need 2 episodes out of 9 to focus on a relationship where 3 of the 4 characters involved are objectively not important to the story.
Exactly my thoughts. I’d give 6/10.
@@ralphengland8559 episode 3 wasn’t going to be “ great” regardless 😂😂it shouldn’t have been made
They moved from spores to tendrils because they didn’t want Pedro to be wearing a mask for whole segments of the show. (Like he does with the Mandalorian)
Overall I really liked this adaption, my only “complaint” is it felt like the writers kind of forgot what made some very key moments “key” in the first place. For example, Ellie killing David, the scene was already powerful, but in the game the audio gets distorted until Joel finds her and stops her. That scene became WAY more powerful due to the fact that Joel saw Ellie become a sort of monster for a sec, and was able to snap her out of it. I understand they tried to make things more logical by having her walk out of the restaurant because obviously the doors were locked and David had the key but the game did a much better job of conveying the connection Ellie and Joel have…they literally bring the light out of each other in two souls full of darkness. Kind of a nit pick but I understand why it was changed I guess.
i agree with the (minor) pacing issue and yeah, 1 or 2 more episodes in the season being a better fit. we could've gotten one whole episode of just joel&ellie navigating through the wasteland and fighting infected. the only real (and extremely well done) reference to that part of gameplay was joels 'little' ludonarrative rampage through the hospital. also there is a weird divide between the 8th and 9th episode. that final episode could've also benefited from a little slower pacing / slightly longer runtime, i think.
I don't mind what's been added. I actually love it. Seeing how the rest of the world was affected was inriguing and captivating. It's not just them.
One thing i would have loved is an interaction between Joel and the Doctor, a few lines of dialogue, show the doctor as a good guy who believe he's doing the right thing... before he pick up the scalpel.
Won’t we get that with some flashbacks later on? Or at least there are some in TLOU2
Between Joel and Doctor Dad ?@@nikkydalby7126
I think there's a lot on the show that does things right and small things that I feel like were changed for no reason. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed The Last of Us and appreciate the details and new stories they added in.
yeah we all gotta remember, if the target audience was gamers, we would've just got another game, but they're trynna give the story to the masses so of course its not gonna fulfill all our wants but it did a damn good job
@@jaaandro Definitely!
As a fan of the games, my favorite parts of the show was were the creators deviated from the game.
That said, never in the show I felt condesended by the creators whenever they beat-to-beat recreated the same scenes. They felt as if the creators said "yeah, there is nothing to improve with these scenes" and they weren't put in as nostalgia bait
Agreed. However 1 awful deviation looms large in my mind after watching the finale, and it's the reason why Joel wanted Tommy to take Ellie. In the game it was bcuz he didn't want to become attached to her, since in his mind that would betray the memory of Sarah. Makes perfect sense. But in the show the reason is he feels he's too "old, slow and deaf" to protect her? 🤨 Now...how old, slow and deaf did he look SLAUGHTERING an entire hospital packed with a FULLY ARMED MILITIA? What a pointless deviation from the source material...
@@KoolKeithProductions pretty sure he was just saying that to deflect from his actual motivations, which you stated. He didn’t want to admit. Pretty characteristic of a blue collar man from 2003 Texas who probably was never encouraged to be vulnerable at any point in his life
@@coles5908 I assumed that too...but then why for that ONE episode did they have Joel have panic attacks? Why did they have him fall asleep on his watch and Ellie take over for him? None of that happened in the game, so it was clearly done to give more evidence to the fact that he COULDN'T protect her. But again, he had no problem hearing, or any panic attacks in that last ep, so that change made zero sense.
Yes. Some scenes were literally 'copy-paste' from the game.. and I think if you're just going to copy, then why make it at all..
@@yasm1376 if it ain’t broke…
9:30 As far as i know, they changed it because Craig Mazin thought it would be more emotional if the characters wouldn't wear masks all the time, because you can see their facial expressions better.
That is true and I thought that was kinda fair but I would’ve been fine with either anyway
It’s not like the infected are even really a threat in the show universe anyways, more of a minor inconvenience
And we all know how Pedro feels about wearing masks... 😅
My theory is that they set it in 2003 simply so the 20 years later bit would hit in 2023. I think this links heavily to our recent experience with the pandemic and the opening scene, they use it to get the audience to feel this massive sense of dread in the opening episodes.
Yeah that was pretty clear to me. Even barring our own pandemic, I think they would have done it; makes it more immediate.
Wouldn't it have made more sense to start the story in 2023 then? The game starts in 2013 to show us how our modern world would look like after 20 years of the apocalypse, but the show gives us an older version of that same world?
@@ItsAv3rageGamer it made sense the way it is because they wanted the apocalypse to bring forward all the feelings of loneliness and hopelessness many people felt during the pandemic, but I spose it doesn’t matter too much either way.
@@samnicholson8691 I guess, but the actual world where the story takes place is essentially the world as it was in 2003. Since that’s when society collapsed. Think it would have made more sense to go forward ten years rather than back. It doesn’t really affect the story at all anyway.
@Dark_Emeralds Part of the reason the opening segment is so eerie is because no one quite knows what's happening. Imagine if Sarah could just look at her smartphone and immediately have the mystery ruined, and if she had an iPhone and didn't look, the audience would be annoyed by that; "just check Google!" Same reason in modern horror movies they tend to find some reason to make everyone's cell phones unusable (no signal, etc.).
There should have been more episodes exploring and expanding their journey. In the end I was left wanting more of Joel and Ellie just moving through the world and building their relationship. Also the choice to not feature more of the 'infected' set pieces from the game was disappointing. So many memories of the game are tied to the horror of the infected and moving through environments terrified of alerting them...moments like that could have worked amazingly well in the show and really solidified Joel and Ellie's bond in them surviving those situations together. What's really odd to me is the decision to ditch the idea of 'spores' from the game and the characters (apart from Ellie of course) having to wear gas masks. They introduced the idea of the 'tendrils' to replace the spores seemingly because they didn't want to hide the characters faces behind gas masks. But then there really weren't enough encounters with infected to justify that choice and the whole idea of the tendrils being able to alert infected from miles away was just quietly forgotten. I loved the show overall and think they did an amazing job. It made some great new additions but also left out some things that really should (and could) have been preserved. Ultimately I still prefer the game, but understand its hard to be completely objective about the show having played it multiple times.
One of the reasons the spores were ditched is that is a real-life scenario they would spread so far and wide that the cordyceps would take over the planet in no time.
But I agree there was a lack of tense and genuine fear inducing moments particularly in the later half of the series and I think the story would have benefitted from them too
The reason the kid was deaf is because the actor is actually deaf in real life, but they like him so much as an actor, they adapted the character
Also, keep up the good work Luke
It also explains why Sam didn’t attack them during the night. He couldn’t hear them once he turned.
I believe it’s easily the best video game adaptation I’ve seen. That being said, there’s places where they could improve. As much as I loved the bill and frank episode, there was no reason for it to be longer than most episodes.
it was longer than the Finale which sucked. I expected the finale to be just as long as the pilot but it was just 43 minutes. I felt like the show was too fast paced, 9 episodes just wasn’t enough imo
I had no problem with Episode 3. But *EDIT* : (Kansas City not St. Louis) could have been done in 1. The DLC episode wasn't needed either in a 9 episode season.
It wouldn't have hurt to have 12...
Agreed, I think it would have worked a little better if they had a longer season overall and added more Joel and Ellie scenes to balance out the pacing.
I wouldn't put it anywhere near arcane or edgerunners as a game adaptation but it was solid.
I disagree. I thought the show was mediocre at best.
In response to the french kiss death scene, I personally think it was mostly a horror trope moment. The idea of experiencing that is horrifying. Also, I think Tess kissing the inevitable cause of her death is symbolism for her acceptance of it.
What do you think of the new 4k widescreen video format? Let me know so I can decide if we should keep it!!
It’s swag
Very nice mate
Luke i love you more than i love fanta
It looks great!
Don’t say crazy things Hamza…
one other thing.....I really liked the bill and frank episode but those two got more time to show their relationship blossom than Joel and Ellie seemingly over the 9 episodes. Just seemed like one episode Joel was iffy with Ellie, then she read him a joke and the next epiwode they were tight.
The show skips over a lot of stuff where Joel and Ellie's relationship starts to take off. Like the hotel in the game or journeying with Bill where Joel starts to rely on Ellie more. I really think the first game could have been spread over 2 seasons but that's just me. Imagine if they ended the season with Joel passing out after being impaled, that would have been a perfect cliffhanger for people who didn't play the game.
Well... That's because... Nah never mind
I kept waiting for the show to revert to the game moment we find Frank like this whole ideallic life was simply a shell shocked Bill but that didn't happen Bill had a happy life with Frank for real.
@@ItsAv3rageGamer They shoved the hotel scene in the waterlogged area where she does the checkin while standing knee high in water! That was odd.
I'm glade they shifted the impale scene to a stabbed scene cuz I collected a lot of survivalist magazines but I doubt any of them would've covered how to do a field operation on his specific wound so I didn't like how game ellie performed some off screen surgery on joel because that's the only way he was living through that in the TV show ellie w/o much if any medical knowledge (as they were never shown collecting & reading survival medical books) can handle a shallow stab wound.
they'll be splitting TLOU2 into 2 seasons so season 1 may cover day 1 & 2 while season 3 covers episodes 3 & santa barbra.
@@destroyraiden oh did they? I honestly didn’t remember it.
I don’t have a problem with him getting stabbed rather than impaled but I wish they showed Joel’s capability a bit better. He gets into a scuffle with one guy and nearly dies basically. I wish he’d have taken out a few more guys first.
They got rid of the spores because filming and acting with gas masks is really difficult (the show runner learned this in his previous project Chernobyl)
Why should it be that difficult? The numbers of infected in this series was very minimum. They could easily adapt this in the series but chose not too. And to be fair there was actually no threat, the infected felt like they were far away from danger.
@@Sab__007 I was just stating a reason for why they made the choice. You imply it isn't that difficult but if it wasn't then there wouldn't be a problem so clearly it was. If you have a solution then go work in film because clearly you have skills and knowledge the pros don't
@@jobdunnright1932 im not a pro. This is about making the right choices in the movie. They choose less action and more drama and relationship between the two main characters. That is fine but still it could be much better in my opinion.
The Podcast has incredible insight about how they decided what to change and what to keep. It really shows how much Mazin and Niel really cared about the show/game.
I was looking for this comment, totally agree, finished the podcast and the show episode by episode and that made it even better
I think a lot of people before posting their reviews, should listen to the podcast first.
For anyone interested, hbo posted on their youtube channel a podcast for each episode in wich Troy Baker interviews the showrunners Mazin and Neil Druckman, and they talk about all the changes and the decisions behind the episodes. It's pretty good even if you don't agree with some of the changes
Not really unclear, they explained why they didn‘t go with the spores: Apparently they wanted to see the actors expressions and not hidden under masks every time they go into an infected building. Considering how rarely that happened anyway and how seldom we saw infected I call usual BS by Druckmann on that explanation though. (Also, the Mandalorian is a hit and Pascal is beyond a mask constantly and I was told you only see his face a single time within 2 or 3 seasons)
Pedro Pascal before the airing of The Last of Us had 2.9 million followers on instagram. In just 3 months he doubled them, go check. I mean that constantly acting in a mask doesn't bring you any benefit.
@@HerlaaiGrey The show is a big hit! You frankly believe that this climb in subscriber numbers for Pascal wouldn‘t have happened if he had worn a mask a few minutes twice in 9 episodes (museum & tunnel in Kansas City)?
Btw I don‘t really care one way or the other (spores or tendrils) but Druckmann pretty much gave the game away in the last HBO Max podcast for episode 9 by saying that he thought (when Mazin brought it up the first time) tendrils alerting other infected were a much better idea than spores. Nothing to do with masks. Looks like he just claimed that at first to placate gamers which didn’t like the change …
Say about Druckmann what you will but honesty never really has been one of his defining traits …
Actually, they go on further to explain that if they WERE spores, literally all of humanity would have been wiped out. The game doesn't make much sense to have spores in it and they wanted to make the show a bit more realistic. HBO has an excellent podcast for each episode and the showrunners explain things in depth on why they did what they did, I highly recommend it!
My opinion on the Bill and Frank episode is that it was one of the best episodes of tv I have seen in a long time. That being said it was completely unnecessary for the purposes of the overall story. Like you said the show started to feel rushed and I think it’s because they devoted an entire episode to something that did not progress the story in any way. Again I love the episode in isolation but not as part of the overall story.
I totally agree, RILEY. But it's notable how you mentioned Bill and Frank's episode but not your own, RILEY.
Maybe if they cut Riley's episode and a bunch of the Kathleen stuff they'd have had the time necessary to de-rush the show even with the Bill/Frank episode there.
That shouldn’t have even been there, that whole booby trap section with the bloater at the school was insane. As well as the relationship between bill and Ellie. This show was good but episode 3 and 7 weren’t great with 7 being one of the worst paced episodes I’ve ever seen
It’s not “OnE of thE beSt epiSodeS of tv EvER” it’s one of the WORST episodes of tv ever created. Completely trash
@Raymond Sims exactly, it was unnecessary, cringe and unbelievable. It was overdrawn at the detriment of progressing the actual story.
But even as a standalone "romantic" episode, it was bad: there was no chemistry between the two dudes. I just couldn't believe that they really feel anything towards each other. It was ham overacting. Cheesy, fake.
You are right, one of the worst episodes of tv in a long while...
@@viktordoe1636 THANK YOU!!! Nice to know there’s a few honest lads out there. Because I was confused about all the praise that episode got. Heck I’m confused with all the praise the show got😂😂🤷♂️it was awful and that episode is where it went downhill. And then episode 7 is probably the second worst episode I’ve seen in a while right behind episode 3😂😂😂this show stunk it up big time
The way Ellie’s immunity came about is the same as how Blade got his powers. His mother was bit while giving birth so it made him a vampire that also enjoys the sun. I like the explanation overall
Obviously there are many reasons for Abby to be ripped. However, couple things. For one, to be that big you would have to be stealing rations, how are you bulking in an apocalypse? I guess she is high in the ranks and I get she works out and trains but gains like that demand quite a bit of food. I personally think she got ripped because she saw what Joel did at the hospital. She saw that one man killed, what? 20 guys by himself? The fact she even goes after him at all is impressive. I feel like she knew she had to be shredded at the minimum to take on Joel. But nope, turns out you just gotta take advantage of his humanity. Okay sorry I said a lot.
@@mikeyrocks8664
They do but it really doesn’t make much sense. She has access to some very good gym equipment and she’s got real drive to get her revenge and protect the people she loves. However it ultimately doesn’t work because she would still need proper nutrition to get those muscles regardless of drive and gym equipment. In a post apocalyptic setting where food is hard to come by it would be difficult for her to make the gains without those building blocks. Even with a proper farm or ranch producing food you wouldn’t have enough for her to get those gains. You just wouldn’t have enough protein. It would be like building a mansion with the supplies for a small cottage. It wouldn’t be enough. Now her body is based on a real person. I forget her name. But that very real person doesn’t live day to day scavenging for food and barely surviving. Well I at least hope she doesn’t..
If she was a character in a road warrior setting then I think people would be more accepting as a setting like that is filled with mutants and weirdness already. I doesn’t really work in a more grounded apocalypse setting like The Last of Us.
@@mikeyrocks8664 Abby is a high earner for her people i'm sure that's why she can have what she wants the snack portion of the game wasn't her day off it was a work day so with all the food they have access to it seems if you have free time you can eat cuz lord knows they weren't leaving care packages of fresh produce & meat for the scavengers in the city! Nor could her boss eat it all so all gym rats eat like Kings if they wanted when they wanted.
No the bulk problem doesn't come from Abby it comes from the Scars we have both men & women built like bricks out there on a vegan menu do you have any idea what MORE you have to do to bulk on a vegan menu? They simply do not have that food available but everyone whines about Abby who has everything she needs to do what she does.
I loved the little additions at the start of the first few episodes and wish they'd continued with them, but the fact that they only got given nine episodes obviously influenced their decision there. Your comments regarding game players involvement in the physical progression of the characters, their exploration, confrontations and in helping each other is right on point. It really builds, not only your empathy towards them but the awareness of how close they become as the game progresses .
In the TV series that amount of time as a % of the whole screen time is severely cut back as they spend time fleshing out other characters in the game. This is where the problem with 'only nine episodes' caused a problem again. They just didn't have enough time to show that relationship between Joel and Ellie growing, particularly noticeable towards the end of the series and after Ellie dispatching Dave. In the last episode she's distant for a large part of it, which creates an emotional divide between her and Joel again.
The being quiet and distant is understandable after the confrontation with Dave but they badly needed another episode to show the main theme of the game which is the growing relationship between Joel and Ellie . In the game you see them laughing and joking and you really feel emotionally that they have become so close, almost inseparable. To go from Ellie dealing with the aftermath of the David confrontation to getting the audience back on board with the growing relationship in one episode was just not possible for me. They tried with the giraffe scene and Joel telling Ellie she was the reason he had hope again, but boy did it all feel extremely rushed.
Joel going through the hospital needed to be more stealthy instead of Taratinoesque !! It would have been more believable. The way they did it reminded of Bill in episode 3. A full on survivalist stood in the middle of a floodlit street while in confrontation. A scriptwriter I once read said you can do anything you want, as long as it's believable to the audience.
As I've said many times I've loved the series but it needed another 3 episodes... first and foremost to spend more time portraying the growing relationship between Joel and Ellie and secondly to able to have the 'left behind' episode slipped in at a different point instead of the incredibly stupid place they decided to put it.
I have a cult film for you Luke, for one of your Sunday nights....Check out 'Dead Man's Shoes' directed by Shane Meadows.It's not streaming on anything, but it's well worth the watch if you can get hold of it.
I think the issue with Kathlyns side plot was that it removed tension and a real threat to that city section. In the game, the hunters were a bunch of rapey psychopaths who only wanted to kill and rob people for their supplies. Adding a backstory, imo removed a lot of the threat rather than just having these people be evil for the sake of being evil. It’s okay to have a villain just be a monster with no real motivation other than they’re just pure evil.
Edit: if you wanna watch a great show on HBO, highly recommend succession or Barry. (Not saying tlou is bad. Just saying S1 is over for now so watch these now.)
This has to be the dumbest thing I've ever read. Bro really just said they should have added a villain who was "evil just for the sake of being evil"💀Do you understand how the real world works buddy?
i agree with your point about the tension, and chernobyl is another good hbo show
@@user-jgjlqyn Worked for the game so it can work for the show. We don’t go into Sauron’s backstory for why he wants to take over the world. Dude is just an evil megalomaniac. You don’t need a real motivation for a villain to be good. It’s a fictional post apocalyptic world and ur talking ab this is how the real world works??
@@cheerio2298 Chernobyl is an amazing show. Depressing as hell tho
tbf tho, the backstory for the hunters was the same as the game. only difference being is you had to find this out through notes you could find around Pittsburgh
I feel like most people that hadn't played the game loved it and it blew my expectations out of the park as someone that had played the game. With a bigger budget, I would have loved more of it, but I think they did a great job with what they had. I feel like both are great on their own and I would recommend people still play the games that watched the show and vice versa as I think they complement each other vs. one being the superior product. I am curious how the video game scenes will hit to someone that watched the show first since they'll know what's coming like we did.
The budget was over 100m. It had a higher budget than each of the first five seasons of GoT. They intentionally wrote the show that way and budget had nothing to do with it.
Huh? You can obviously tell they had a huge budget just by that mall episode.
Well rounded commentary/analysis as usual good sir.
The spores were removed because the creators thought that the characters wearing gas masks all the time would remove the possibility for the actors to show emotions.
But they barely had encounters with infected in the show anyway so they should’ve just kept the gas masks. It probably would’ve only been used in 1 or 2 scenes anyway.
Spores in real life arent concentrated in one area like the game, so they would’ve had to wear masks the whole time, not just when they encountered an infected that produced spores
And Pedro made his feelings about masks clear in his last series... 😅
Hey Luke! A lot of these things are clear, if you hear the official podcast with the creators. For example, they changed the spores thing because they didn't want to cover the faces of the actors with a gas mask, so they had to thing of a different way for the fungus to spread.
OMG Ashley Johnson's grunting in the last episode! I had exactly the same experience as Nikki (Nikky?), I could close my eyes and tell it was Ellie. It was kind of bizarre experience haha 😅
There were many parts that were rushed and I agree that many aspects were contrived. I even watched the Behind the Episode and the director LITERALLY said "I was talking to Neil and I said...what if Sam was deaf?" I think that's about as much thought as was put into it.
One of the major disconnects I noticed, that you didn't touch on, was there's this whole section in the show about how Joel wants Tommy to take her to the university. He feels he's too old and slow to protect her now and the journey from Jackson to the university is going to be extremely dangerous. Then he changes his mind and they just sort of BOOP teleport and they're at the university with zero trouble in between. Just cuts to them at the uni.
Now say what you will about "Well it's not the game, there's not going to be as much combat" but come on! That was literally a narrative point, and it had ZERO payoff. It just teleports them to their destination with no struggles. And yes the finale was...very rushed. The last 2 or 3 episodes were so rushed that the relationship building between Joel and Ellie wasn't as strong. It just wasn't. They also decided to omit the picture of Sarah for some reason. When Joel finally accepts the picture and doesn't reject it, that's a huge character developing moment and that picture just doesn't exist in the show at all.
I trusted HBO and Neil, and the show started off very strong. I was on board. But the last few episodes were just very lackluster. It almost felt like I was sitting through a simple summary of the game, sort of like the story recap you can watch before starting up God of War Ragnarok.
definitely agree about joel and ellie’s relationship in the show. their development felt a bit rushed to me and it made their bond feel unearned 😕
@@singulariteas i agree, they just gloss over the growth with a time skip, and even after it’s established they have that relationship now it still never feels like it (to me at least)
Hey Luke, you should watch all the Podcast's for each episode with Troy, Neil and Craig. Almost all of your questions (why they changed stuff) are answered there :)
Shouldn't have to watch a podcast about a show to understand the show and the changes. All of thay should be obvious just by watching the show. This is just 1 reason whybthis show in mediocre
@@jewboi419 It's not to understand the show, but the changes they made. If you never played the game, you will not notice the things Luke pointed out. Neil and Craig talked about all that stuff thoroughly in the Podcast's. If you didn't enjoy it, your loss. I'm a TLOU fan since 2011 and I loved everything about the show. Part I and II are the best games ever for me, nothing even comes close to them. So to see such a faithful adaption, made it even better. And most other people think the show is pretty darn good too. Just look at the IMDB ratings.
This comment honestly needs to be pinned
I think we’ve always wondered how well a modern, cinematic video game would work if adapted to TV or film. This isn’t like Mario Bros, Tomb Raider, or Mortal Kombat, this is a video game that’s already like a movie. I must say that I’m very impressed with how it turned out. Of course it all has to do with the writing, acting, pacing, etc., but now we know it can be done. I have high hopes for Fallout.
That Right There is the Issue. Games Like The Warriers, Scarface, God farther, Star wars Episode 3 game. Translated well into games. The games you talked about do not Have the same Story telling. Even Than I feel the Last of us was still a better an interactive Experience but the show was still well done. I really do Not Think Fallout Will Work as a tv show as it works well as a video game With All the branching choices. Witcher TV show is not based on the Game but the choices You can make in the game make it a better experience. Some people wanted an RDR2 show But what makes the story great is you as the player decide if yoy want to redeem Arthur and getting the experience of living in that world is something you could not capture in a TV show. One of the Reasons I think Halo failed was the Fact the Halo games do not have the Greatest Stories. In order For a game to to translate to a tv show or movie it needs to have a chracter driven story with linear Chracter devlopment which why last of us works so well.
Your first comman is unnecessary and makes that sentence awkward af
@HaHa your first "commant" is unnecessary and makes this thread awkward.
I think they shifted the show to 2003 so they could have the main story take place in 2023 to coincide with the year it originally aired in, kinda like a flip of the game starting in 2013 to coincide with the year it released in.
Mostly just gives the audience an extra connection.
I think "the kiss" was due to the infected sensing that she's already got cortyceps in her. And then tearing her up wouldn't make sense but spreading it to her head faster would.
Marlene is incompetent for telling Joel that Ellie is undergoing risky surgery. She should at least wait until it was over.
Something that I thought about after the last episode was now that the fireflies know how she is immune (being infection when born) why can't they simply resimulate that same condition and run more experiments or whatever on the people who volunteered to sacrifice themselves?
Shhhhhh thinking bad
Which pregnant woman would volunteer to get bitten right before giving birth and let the fireflies experiment on her newborn after she inevitably dies. Or worse, who would volunteer to get pregnant for this purpose? 😅
Of course the fireflies don't have to wait for volunteers necessarily, but that alternative sounds even more horrifying than murdering one Ellie tbh
There was a possibility that the Fireflies wouldve made a cure. And everyone sane in this world, who does not care about Ellie, will sacrifice her in a heartbeat for just that possibility even if they deep down feel that the generation of a cure is actually very improbable. So Joel is a villain to most people out there but we, watching everything from Joel's perspective while living in world which does not need to worry about a fungal infection, are inclined to feel Joel was right.
Nah, he did the right thing. Marlene's weak moral sophistry dies at the feet of the fact that they could have asked and didn't because they didn't actually care what her answer would have been.
Yes I think the Fireflies being incompetent is meant to make Joel's decision less clearly "bad", since you can argue they probably would have f-ed up the cure anyhow.
@@danh8804 As I said, from our perspective he did the right thing, and that's coz we are not the ones struggling every single day to avoid getting killed. We are not the ones to lose their loved ones to the infection once in a while. The people in TLOU world. Even if those people felt the fireflies won't manage to make a cure, they'd still sacrifice Ellie just for that possibility. Joel didn't coz he loved Ellie. But anyone who didn't, would kill her in a heartbeat just for that possibility.
@@tishyo77 I think fewer people are onboard with human sacrifice than you apparently do
@@danh8804 Again, you're saying this from your perspective. Imagine about people living in a post apocalyptic world who have to fight infected to survive every single day. Imagine about the people who have lost everyone they loved to the infected. If you told a person living in the QZ, that a random girl would have to die for a possibility to create a cure to the infection, do you really think they'd object to that? If you do, you're just in denial.
I’m a little late to this but I think I remember seeing that one reason they decided to change how the virus works was because they didn’t want the actors to have to wear gas masks since you would feel more “disconnected” from the characters since you can’t really see facial expressions and such.
I started laughing out loud at the last shot of ep 8 😂. ”Why the hell are they walking towards a lake Hahah??
Last of Us Part 2 was a masterpiece and I think will translate well to a show. I can't wait to finally be able to talk about this with friends who just aren't into playing it
There’s nothing “masterpiece” about tlou show or tlou two😂both are garbage
@@raymondsims7042 nope
My main complaint are personal preference. I thought Bill was more interesting in the game, the same with Tommy and Joel’s relationship. I do agree that it felt rushed idk if i would fee that way if I hadn’t played the game
I haven't played the game as of yet, and I personally still think it's rushed.
It is clear why they changed the spores. The director said literally right after one of the episodes. In the nightly episode 120 second recap that’s worth watching with doing an hr critique… it’s because the the spore’s density in the air in the game didn’t translate well into motion picture. In the game, the air is stagnant in open airflow areas, which isn’t realistic. And it would be hard to replicate if not impossible . The idea change was brilliant to me.
Always really enjoy your content, Luke.
6/10 for me as a series. A few of the episodes were quite good, but I think they left much to be desired, and I think HBO usually does a better job than we saw here.
That being said, it's probably the best adaptation of a video game I've seen. So that's something.
The Tess death was to show the loving nature of cordyceps. That was later explored by David in episode 8. The infection ultimately just wants to multiply. And while usually violent, you can see the way they react to Tess when she’s calmly standing. And due to her calmness, the zombie infected her in a rather romantic way lol
She’s already infected at that point.
The final shot of ep8 - through the window with the blowing curtains - was supposed to represent/replicate the the main menu screen of the game.
I picked up on that.
Thumbs up for screens from TV series in the background. Changing angles during your review is also nice technical touch. Btw kudos for 4K/60 fps.
Besides some of the changes I’d consider it a perfect video game adaptation tho and it really hit all the strong points. I do feel it needed like 2 more episodes at least before we got the ending
I mostly agree, some of the action scenes had weird character decisions that took me out of the immersion personally.
Perfect video game adaptation 😂😂😂 what an absolute joke
@@jordyhitty right?😂😂these lads are crazy!! This show was trash
@@raymondsims7042 nah it’s great
@@dirtycardigan4609 it’s not even good let alone great. If I was to be nice I could say it was average at the very best
i think they set it in 2003 because they simply wanted it to match the year we are currently in now when making the 20 year jump. also taking into account the fact we just had a pandemic making the shows outbreak hit a lot closer to home, especially for ppl who did not play the game and went into the story completely blind.
Lol you would think that would be obvious but to some it needs to be deeper than that 🤣
i think the end of ep 8 is like that bc both joel and ellie are using each other to walk, joel being injured and ellie being traumatized. they're both limping and leaning on each other to stand up and i thought that was a neat way to show their relationship.
The way i see it is that they set the outbreak in 2003 was because they wanted the year Ellie and Joel met was 2023 (the year it’s now) because the time skip between the outbreak and the events of the show/game is 20 years
A lot of the confusion you shared about changes is covered in the podcasts they released along each episode. They really go in depth on the reasoning behind making those changes; i.e. Kathleen's story was focused on how tunnel visioning on revenge for a loved one's death can have serious consequences, and they even have Henry explain why he was complicit in her brothers death - it was either that or let Sam succumb to leukemia.
Same with the change from spores to gas masks (easier to act without one), or making Sam deaf (makes him more dependent on Henry and less alike to Joel and Ellie). It was all explained in the podcasts…
The thesis of the last of us is love. Love can make you do both amazing and horrible things. David called the fungus love, and said that it loves, which I think the Tess scene was supposed to be a precursor to. Obviously it doesn't actually love, and that is a sick twisted version of love, but it ties it back to the theme that love is the biggest human catalyst
It was explained why it’s tendrils and not spores, because we would honestly have no chance against spores irl. It wouldn’t be a “mask up guys” type of situation in certain areas. It would be everywhere and we would’ve lost the day they started popping up.
I really enjoy your takes. But Fedra was also training Child Soldiers. I'd love to hear more about why you dislike the fireflies
I think Luke would benefit from listening to all the podcasts episodes they do for each episode. They explain all that stuff in there
And that's the problem. You shouldn't be asked to listen to the podcasts to fully understand the show.
@Piotrekz Productions as far as the Tess thing went, I thought it was this oddly beautiful moment where the Infected almost welcomed her into the hive mind using its tendrils to connect with the ones growing inside her.
I already drew my own conclusions after each episode and understood most of the stuff they did, but I just listened to confirm those thoughts and to see what the thought process was as far as adapting went, especially when it came to cutting stuff, adding stuff in, or recontextualising things.
@@piotrekzprod If you want to know WHY they made changes from the game, they explain it in the podcast. For the viewers who haven't played the game, they wouldn't be asking "why did they change this from the game?" Because to the non-gamers, it doesn't matter. The show is fantastic as a standalone from the game. Btw, the podcast if super worth if you're a fan of the game! I highly recommend it :)
@@goddessofdooom8675 Yeah, fair point. As a TLOU fan who played both games I've already listened to 4 episodes of the podcast. It is great indeed
I have a ton of people at my work that never played the game... They loved it! I loved this as well. This sounds weird, but I think we have to remember that the people who played the game before are not their target audience... same with The Last of Us Part 1 Remake. This show is for people who are new to the story. My wife never played the game, and she loved it! For HBO, that's mission accomplished!
@@bwhere45 Are you really gonna be THAT guy? It's simple - if you're going to moan, then just don't watch. People want it to be accurate... then when it's pretty accurate, there's complaints. Make up your mind.
@bwhere45 the show has a much better chance at executing TLOU2 better than the game.
We didn't spend as much time with the characters in the show vs the game, the end hospital scene paints Joel as a villain way more than the game did. The show doesn't have you take control of a character in Abby like the game did. I think if they change some pacing and writing in the show, s2 might actually give the overarching story a better feel than the game did with TLOU2
@@bwhere45 It'll be fine. Go in with low expectations, then maybe you'll feel better, and it'll be a good season for you. The second game was great - it was just different than the first, and that made people freak out. The only tweak for the second game, I feel, is that they need to reorganize the story structure (which I trust they'll do for the show). Plus, trust in HBO - they're pretty much the only network that puts out consistently decent content. Sometimes they miss, but it's rare.
@@DJTransplant there is plenty of critiques and opinions of the second game, I have mine too just like you and I just think they took an insanely bold move by not just killing but slaughtering a beloved franchise character and then forcing players to play as that character.
It was a massive risk that I'm sure the studio understood during development. I believe they took thus risk hoping their character work, writing and direction over the course of the entire game would redeem the players by the credits and make everyone have this feeling of appreciation when it was over. For the most part I don't think they managed to actually succeed with that goal. They fumbled it the entire way through the game with poor pacing, writing and really bad character work, where a lot of situations came off like "really? Why would they do this?".
Maybe on the flip side they didn't intend to win the player back over by the end, but instead make the player feel the same way ellie felt by making them insanely angry at the start of the game and then throwing them in the shoes of the killer. Therefore they have the player bceom incredibly invested emotionally the same way ellie way and have that same feeling of revenge, only to show them by the end it was all for nothing and wasted energy chasing revenge. For me the players did not need to play as the killer to have the same emotional reactions ellie had, it actively made the player experience very bad for making people so angry and frustrated. That said, it was a huge risk and a bold move snd they deserve some props for trying to pull it off.
On a technical level the game is a graphical masterpiece, audio and sound design is insane. The combat is samey, made some good additions and QOL but nothing innovative.
Overall I think the story could have been executed much better, there's nothing wrong with Joel dying. That's a perfectly fine story beat, but for the purpose of the story I don't think it was necessary to slaughter and torture him the way he was, maybe show abbys emotion for how much she hated him, do a couple things to show the player that but have her team give Joel a mercy kill because they don't agree with the torture. I just can't thunk of the game being anywhere near the level of TLOU1, they did too many things wrong but they did something few games do, and that is viscerally piss off a huge portion of your player base and double down on it for half the games length by making you play as the person they have such a strong hatred for. That's an insane approach and props to them for trying it.
I keep hearing this about how the shows target audience isn't people who played the game..... but neither was the first game. Who was the target audience for the game? The game wasn't made for a niche audience.... that's why so many people liked it. Changing the original story takes away from its "masterpiece " status.
If it ain't broke don't fix it.
19:21 I belive the kiss is about the zombie already reconizing tess as part of the cordyceps family or something like that, and just going there to stablish a proper link with her. Makes sense to me, idk.
I belive they mentioned it during their podcasts staring the show's writers.
Have you been listening to the last of us podcast with the creator of the game and the show runner while watching the show? They made videos for each episode explaining some of their choices and I thought it added a lot of meaning to the show.
Possible theory of why Tess got kissed:
If you listen to the infected during gameplay, they'll occasionally vomit out broken words and phrases, showing us that, in some way, there's still a person in there.
I think that's got something to do with why the infected guy kissed Tess. A deranged, lonely and starved person stuck in a body that isn't theirs anymore reaching out for some kind of connection.
Not in a creepy way, more of a desperate one.
Ooo I love this take. I can definitely see this.
maybe the infected recognised that this woman was infected and thus didn't feel the urge to tear her apart (the other ones who were running past didn't seem to notice her). This may also be how that particular infected passes the infection along?
Really enjoyed the series. Loved the Bill and Frank episode and the Kathleen segway. I think taking the time to broaden out form Joel and Ellie gave the world a bit more depth than the headlong panic that the game felt like. Of course, I'd be happy for season two to just focus on Graham Greene and Elaine Miles! They were perfect. It is well worth listening to the HBO podcast with Druckman and Mazin being quizzed by Troy Baker. The pod is very insightful, as was the similar pod Mazin did for Chernobyl
They built out the world but kinda undercooked Joel and Ellie's relationship. I haven't played the game yet(waiting for the pc port) so it was kinda weird seeing them focus a whole episode on two characters(Bill & Frank) who are already dead by the time they get there. Meanwhile Joel and Ellie fast travel to map points around the country and bond offscreen lol. They probably could've taken their time and made 2 seasons out of this part of the story.
I loved loved loved the self-sufficient couple living their lives as they always have. Along with all the many reasons this story would have benefited from being told over two seasons, getting a full Bill &Frank-style episode with Graham Greene and Elaine Miles would have been pure gold.
@@SPQRKlio episode 3 of tlou is one of the worst episodes ever put to television 🤷♂️I’ll never understand why some of you like it
@@raymondsims7042 I loved seeing people survive self-sufficiently in an apocalypse. I have a bit of a prepper mentality and I enjoyed seeing that depicted in a positive way instead of being depicted like a lunatic; or seeing every group of people who set up a way to survive on their own either collapsed before the story gets there (like the folks in the sewer tunnels), destroyed by the arrival of Rick Grimes, or turned cannibals (Walking Dead, TLOU, Z-Nation, most every other zombie story).
When the trusting townsfolk and that lady with the baby were driven off to their doom and Bill came out from his house, I was sold and all-in then and there on the episode. It had its parts where I thought the direction of a scene wasn’t logical, and sometimes I felt like I was being made to invade someone’s privacy too much. But the idea of being able to endure, thrive, and be happy without anyone’s interference, and having friends who come along now and then who you cooperate with for everyone’s benefit? Yeah, I loved that. Having lost more than one person to similar circumstances as how the story played out, it made me think about what I’d have done in that situation if the rest of the world was essentially gone.
So I enjoyed the Greene and Miles scenes, too.
What I didn’t love is Joel & Ellie getting less time because of the capsule episodes. Series really needed to be 2 or 3 episodes longer.
@@SPQRKlio yeah I got ya mate. But we didn’t need an entire episode of essentially irrelevant guest characters, having sex, planting strawberries, running through the grass, and spewing out cringey dialogue. That was a waste of time! They did all that only to never see either one of these two lads again. All that episode did was waste my time, and make the tlou world seem so easy to live in. There wasn’t a clicker in sight. It was a really out of place and unnecessary episode in my opinion. Idc about two random men falling in love in the zombie apocalypse. That had absolutely nothing to do with the plot.
Great video but I noticed a lot of your questions about certain changes or decisions are answered or addressed directly by Craig and Neil on the post episode podcast hosted by Troy Baker
I think the kiss death for Tess was for many reasons:
It heavily goes to theme of the infected network being connected. Kissing someone in that way is generally something you only do with a person you're intimate with and in a twisted way, that's what the infected was doing to Tess, connecting her to their intertwined network. So it was both creepy as F and made a lot of sense thematically with the change to how the fungus works.
It also gave the opportunity for the nice editing back and forth of the infected coming in for the kiss inter-spliced with her trying to get the lighter to work. It gave the scene a good tension and I think worked really well. You would not have gotten that if the infected attacked her aggressively. You would have had a much more cliched scene of the lighter being knocked away, then her grabbing for it while the infected bared down on her. The kind of scene we've all seen a million times before. Instead we saw a kiss none of us would want to receive and that sticks with us.
To me the biggest misstep was showing the hospital massacre as a montage instead of a tense action scene. It was supposed to be the whole story's emotional climax, it was supposed to make us feel Joel's desperation through physical violence, and instead it felt like they were saying "and then Joel killed a bunch of people yadda yadda", which doesn't sell at all the emotion of the scene nor the weight of his actions.
Completely agree. That was one of the most intense parts of the game, but I didn’t feel that the scene itself really conveyed the brutality Joel committed, or his desperation as he tries to save another daughter from death. I also hated how they cut out the chase scene after Joel gets Ellie back and the fireflies are running after him. The swelling music combined with the fireflies' screaming and gunshots, and Joel telling Ellie over and over that he’s going to get them out of there just makes it such a harrowing experience. Ultimately did not feel the intensity from the actors in this series as I did from the VAs in the game, which I think is down to the directors more than anything. It’s ok but so much of the emotion from the source material just isn’t there.
@@rosalaenne i felt exactly the same way! in the game you can *feel* joel’s fear and desperation as he finds ellie and takes her from the doctors (he is visibly shaken at seeing her lying unconscious on that hospital bed) and he’s distraught all the way to the elevator. in the show when he gets to the surgery room he seems so cold and in control? it felt like such an odd choice to me. i definitely agree that a lot of the emotion from the game isn’t in the show and it’s a bit disappointing but oh well.
I think the reason Craig Mazin gave in the podcast for the first episode is because the show's 20 year time skip would put the show in 2023, making it closer in time to today than 2033 in the game and therefore easier for the audience to connect to
I really don’t get that, it’s not like the year it takes place ever comes up after the initial 20 years later. If anything seeing modern day technology instead of 90’s and early 2000’s would make me think more about irl time than what they did
Yeah I don’t think that’s valid though. Making the year 2023 is in no way relatable though, considering that the world went tits up 20 years ago.
@@Jruss1994 It's supposedly to make it seem more like a parallel to the way things are now and like a "potential" alternate reality or whatever
I think they said that the infected kissed Tess to show that the fungus' goal was just to spread, whether through violent means or otherwise. Since she was already bit and wasn't fighting it didn't need to rip her to shreds or anything it just spread to her gently.
The writers explain their thought process on changes in the podcast that released along side the show.
This show has horrible writing🤷♂️
@@raymondsims7042 I'm not defending the changes. If Luke sees my comment, he'll get a better understanding of why the changes were made.
@@WanderingRurouni92 oh yeah sure
@@raymondsims7042 oh, yeah. Whatever.
@@WanderingRurouni92 the show and it’s writing stinks. I don’t need to know why it was bad
About Sam being deaf: It did not feel contrived to me. I liked the change.
About Ellie's relationship with Sam: It did not feel contrived to me.
About the latter half of the show feeling rushed: Absolutely. Actually I felt like all the episodes that were less than an hour felt rushed, and I felt like a lot of the emotional beats did not linger long enough. Like Sarah's death scene didn't feel long enough, Sam and Henry's deaths did not feel long enough, the very ending of the show where Ellie staring at Joel after he lies to her did not feel long enough. Etc.
But those scenes and emotional beats are almost the same exact length as the scenes that were in the game, so why would it be an issue.
I wish they did 2 seasons per game, either way, they did an excellent job!
Abby’s dad getting killed immediately like some roach. Lmao. I was like “If they plan on making a season 2, they might want to make that scene more dramatic.”
They explain some of the changes you mentioned in the "Inside the Episode" segment that ends each episode (following the credits); the clips can also be found on YT. For example, they made Sam deaf in order to emphasize the bond between the brothers; how they're connected not only as family but also through a language not many other ppl can speak. It's also to really drive home how much Sam relies and depends on Henry.
I see that you have a few questions about certain changes for the TV show. I would recommend that you listen to the companion podcast as they go over the changed they made and at least to me it makes sense. I know it's an extra step for watching a show, but I'd think you'll like them. In my personal opinion it a good adaptation, however, although the first few episodes were great in my opinion the second half has not as strong, but overall I like it.
I think the Fireflies were portrayed as even more incompetent in the show than in the game. In the game, they were getting their asses kicked by the army in Boston, while in the show they all died in a smuggling deal gone wrong. Seriously, how bad of a group of freedom fighters can you be if you get your asses whooped by a bunch of smugglers ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
They could have perfectly adapted this. The show just needed more episodes, with more time spent on tension, the infected and Ellie and Joel overcoming obstacles together.
They should have done 2 seasons per game.
Yep, 12 episodes would have made a huge change.
They set the game in 2003 so the whole show could set place in current time (2023)
Exactly
im curious to know tho, in the shows case, would a cure actually save the infected or would it just save the people who arent infected. like would someone who was bitten 2 hours prior be cured or would they be left for dead?
Can't exactly put my finger on what they could've done to fill the gap but I genuinely feel like an entire episode was missing between 8 and 9 pacing wise
To me what I got from Tess' death is sort of the macabre beauty of the fungus. It's visually disturbing yet beautiful in the way it spreads like the intro. It must of known that she was already infected so it's use of deadly and vicious force like it does with the living was not necessary. Instead it offers a kiss of death to assimilate her into the fold. Nature is almost always beautiful and ferocious at the same time.
23:07 they said that where they filmed it was easier to resemble Kansas City than to try and make Pittsburgh work
The crazy thing is it almost feels like Marlene knows why Ellie is immune based on the flashback but shes not wanting to face that which makes her and the fireflies seem even more incompetent trying to surgically find a cure. There’s no reason for Marlene to not mention to the doctors the possibility that Ellie was exposed to a small amount of the virus at birth but I guess she just has no critical thinking skills.
We were shown a doctor who had studied cordyceps for the majority of her life and acknowledges there’s no way to find a cure, so it also really makes it hard to feel bad for the fireflies because we know the cure wouldn’t have been possible anyway. And as much as it sucks abby lost her father it also makes her story seem kind of silly because had her dad lived he would’ve been responsible for the death of an innocent girl. Like her dad really wasn’t any better than Joel and was supported by, like you said, a terrorist organization.
genetic mutations happen bro there's no real reason for you to be so skeptical of the possibility of a cure
It wouldn’t make sense for FEDRA to be so far out into the city for no reason, so that’s why I think they didn’t make her fight off a group of soldiers. My opinion on Tess’s ‘kiss’ death scene is that it’s a metaphor for life, kinda. The kiss of life but on its head, instead of being filled with life the zombie is transitioning Tess into a new life, an infected one.
This review is longer than the finale....
I’ve been waiting for this
Great overall review of the last of us show. It's one of my all time favorite games and I think they did it justice and I'm glad people who didn't play the game now get to enjoy one of the best stories ever told on any medium. I also feel the changes make the show work and I'm just super glad they didn't fuck it up. If you liked Pedro Pascal he's really good in the mandalorian maybe check that show out, you don't have to be a star wars fan to enjoy it.
The show was really good imo. Has its problems, but it was enjoyable. They did the first game pretty faithfully to an extent and they better show the second game the same love because I'll be pretty mad if they fuck with Part II lol
“Really good”
@@raymondsims7042 T'was part of my first sentence, yes. I appreciate you pointing it out
@@NoNonsenseSpider yeah sure this show was “really good” 😉
@@raymondsims7042 Glad you agree too
@@NoNonsenseSpider show was trash🤷♂️
This was our first 4K video in a 2x1 aspect ratio to fit better with your mobile devices while watching. Let me know what you think so we can decide if we should keep it!
I may be mistaken but I believe in one of the segments at the end of the episodes that the showrunner mentioned the spores where changed because they don't make sense in real life. They would enter through anywhere so it would almost be impossible to avoid them if you are anywhere near their vicinity.
Is this the showrunner that "created" (FYI TLOU pt1 was great due to Bruce Straley in spite of Neil Druckmann) the video game which portrayed just that? Nobody had a problem w the spores in TLOU game, why would they care about such in the show? The spores built suspense, something the show lacked.
Great review! I do know they switched to the tendril transmitter as a move to have the characters not having to wear masks in certain scenes. Otherwise the year change difference was a little odd.. don’t exactly have any idea why that would be.