The Last of Us (HBO Max)

[janglesworthy]

Wouldn't it be super easy to clear out all of the infected? Just step on one of their triggers wait for them to rush to that location. Flame thrower, lighting bolt, done. Clickers? dig a ditch toss an alarm clock into and when it fills up with infected.....hand grenade, flame thrower, lightning bolt, done.

 

[AJK001]

Wouldn't it be super easy to clear out all of the infected? Just step on one of their triggers wait for them to rush to that location. Flame thrower, lighting bolt, done. Clickers? dig a ditch toss an alarm clock into and when it fills up with infected.....hand grenade, flame thrower, lightning bolt, done.

That would make for a very short series. They have to milk it for all they can get out of it.

 

[Thain]

Not surprising, seeing how well the show has been performing so far. Tbh, pretty excited to see the second game adapted. As controversial as it is, it really worked for me.

'The Last of Us' renewed for season 2, and gamers know what that means

'The Last of Us' is officially getting a season 2, and gamers can already guess what to expect.

ew.com

 

[teragon]

I've got to say, I've conflicted feelings about the second game. I think it was well made, but it left me emotionally drained like nothing I've felt before. The endless cycle of vengeance and violence combined with forcing you to play both sides was taxing, it was bleak as all hell, to the point of not enjoyable as an entertainment medium at the end. Really felt the "an eye for an eye and the whole world goes blind" message.

And I'm not sure you can convene that the passive viewers, so I'd be curious to see the reactions. But then again, it's HBO, and it certainly would be violent, bold, shocking at times and intense, so why the hell not.

 

[Thain]

I've got to say, I've conflicted feelings about the second game. I think it was well made, but it left me emotionally drained like nothing I've felt before. The endless cycle of vengeance and violence combined with forcing you to play both sides was taxing, it was bleak as all hell, to the point of not enjoyable as an entertainment medium at the end. Really felt the "an eye for an eye and the whole world goes blind" message.

And I'm not sure you can convene that the passive viewers, so I'd be curious to see the reactions. But then again, it's HBO, and it certainly would be violent, bold, shocking at times and intense, so why the hell not.

Ha, that's pretty much exactly how I feel about it. I've played the first game countless times (and in the middle of another play through atm), but I've only played the second game once. I appreciate how many major risks it takes, and that it challenges you by making you question how you feel about the characters you love so much. It puts everything in a new perspective, and like I said, it really worked for me. It has powerful themes and doesn't hold back in how it communicates and explores them. But yeah...it's not a fun game, despite the gameplay mechanics being improved so much that the combat is a lot more exciting than the first. I've been thinking about revisiting it soon, but I'm going to need to be in the right headspace. And to be totally honest, a particular boss fight in a pitch black fungal-ridden ICU was so stressful and scary, I'm good never playing that ever again Might just have to skip that chapter if I do end up playing it again.

 

[Laspector]

I've never played the game, in fact I don't think I've played a video game since about 1987, but I have watched a few of the game scenes on Youtube, so I am at least familiar with a few of the characters. Can't say I agree with the casting of Sarah and Ellie, but I knew that Sarah dies in the first few minutes of the game, so I guess it doesn't really matter. And I know Ellie was originally based on Ellen Page. Wasn't there some lawsuit about that?

 

[CadetTK2386]

I've never played the game, in fact I don't think I've played a video game since about 1987, but I have watched a few of the game scenes on Youtube, so I am at least familiar with a few of the characters. Can't say I agree with the casting of Sarah and Ellie, but I knew that Sarah dies in the first few minutes of the game, so I guess it doesn't really matter. And I know Ellie was originally based on Ellen Page. Wasn't there some lawsuit about that?

There were accusations made that they based her appearance on Ellen Page, and "shade" thrown by in a Reddit AMA at the time of The Last of Us's release, especially because Ellen Page was voicing a character in another game, Beyond Two Souls, which released around the same time, but no legal proceedings were ever undertaken in the manner.

 

[somerset fox]

Having visited Boston, Mass, late last year, anyone care to comment on the large forests a mere 10 miles west of Boston? Thought it more rolling fields and hills. I stand to be corrected

 

[Leinads]

Having visited Boston, Mass, late last year, anyone care to comment on the large forests a mere 10 miles west of Boston? Thought it more rolling fields and hills. I stand to be corrected

poetic license lol?

 

[Tommy]

Having visited Boston, Mass, late last year, anyone care to comment on the large forests a mere 10 miles west of Boston? Thought it more rolling fields and hills. I stand to be corrected

Yeah, apart from perhaps the shot of Joel and Ellie crossing a footbridge, none of the terrain they walk through evoked eastern MA. There are scattered wooded parks with hiking trails, but certainly no rocky gorges or nearby mountains. And the fields they pass are WAY too big.

On the flipside, while I'm not specifically familiar with Lincoln, the town felt reasonable enough. Although... is it just me, or does the Boston skyline in the distance at 21:45 correspond with a view from the south rather than from the west?

At least the story in ep. 3 was an interesting departure. I could've watched a full hour of Ron Swanson Bill gleefully looting and boobytrapping.

 

[firesprite]

This is the google maps view you get when you put in Lincoln, MA.

Lincoln Ridge is visible in this zoomed in shot, as well as what looks like a gorge-like fomation:

LARGE swaths of trees visible...

 

[Tommy]

Lincoln Ridge is visible in this zoomed in shot, as well as what looks like a gorge-like fomation:

If you look up on-the-ground images, I think you’ll be disappointed.

Anyway, Lincoln was their destination – a “5-hour hike” from the gorge (conservatively maybe 8 miles if they walked slowly and included breaks).

If we give the benefit of the doubt that Bill’s house is at the far western edge of town, and figure that they can’t be starting any closer than 5 miles away, then depending where you measure 10 miles from and the direction of their path, that puts them somewhere between Wellesley and Lexington.

For a little perspective, the scene was shot just downstream of Sheep River Falls in western Alberta. The mountain ridge in the background has a prominence of over 3300 ft relative to Joel. Only one mountain in Massachusetts – in the far northwest corner – reaches that elevation above sea level.

 

[Thain]

Episode 3...wow. Beautiful.

To be honest, I had mixed feelings about them deviating from the game so dramatically...I was really hoping to see Nick Offerman's take on angy, jaded, talking-to-himself Bill and the utterly chaotic interactions between him and Ellie. At first I was disappointed we didn't get any of that. And this was a long episode, spending most of the runtime on characters that ultimately wouldn't have much, or any, direct impact on Joel & Ellie's story (other than the free supplies and the on-the-nose "open your heart! Save & protect those you care about, Joel! WINK WINK" line in the letter). But thinking about it in the thematic context of the show, it absolutely fits.

They took a 1 page note from the game and turned it into an entire episode of a beautiful story about how love can prevail in a dangerous and depressing world that threatens to take your humanity and leave you a shell of yourself. In a world that, as we've seen, can take everything from you, they found each other and had a better life together than they ever could have before the world fell apart. Bill and Frank didn't just survive, they lived.

 

[jkno]

I found that Frank looked a lot like Joel from the game.

 

[Laspector]

That episode 3 was just about the most boring episode of anything I think I've ever seen. I didn't realize this show was going to be a chick flick.

 

[Supe]

I was actually pretty disappointed in episode 3.

Spoiler

The whole "lovers meet, live together, die in each others arms" trope has been done a million times, and I think they missed a real opportunity here.

IMO, they could have played to both the games theme AND the "softer side of the apocalypse" themes if they had opened things as they had, but then followed up with Frank actually leaving. This would have left room to build years of regret and self-loathing into Bill's character, which would have made it that much more heartbreaking, which just fits the theme of a post-apocalyptic world. My ideal "adaptation":

-Bill and Frank meet, fall in love.
-Show depicts the "honeymoon period"
-An uptick in raiders/zombies heightens Bill's paranoia and prepperdom. Frank remains blissfully aloof while Bill has to work to offset Frank's lack of preparation.
-Frank can't take it anymore and leaves during a heated argument
-Years pass. The show emphasizes Bill's loneliness and regret. Bill sinks deeper and deeper into depression and paranoia, and his anger at both himself for driving away Frank, and Frank for walking out on him after all he had done to love and protect him.
-Joel and Ellie arrive. Bill is meaner than ever, and his willingness to help Joel is purely transactional.
-Bill is not going to give Joel his truck, but knows of a truck across town outside of his fenced in street.
-They make their way across the "occupied" parts of town, with some of the Ellie/Bill banter along the way to pay homage to the game.
-Frank was bitten before making it out of town, but did not have time to write the note and hang himself as he did in the game.
-As Joel and Ellie prepare to escape in a truck whilst fending off zombies, both Joel and Bill recognize one of the infected as Frank.
-Bill, pointing his gun with tears streaming down his face, can't bring himself to pull the trigger. Off screen, Joel does instead.
-Joel gives one final transactional nod to Bill who nods in return. Joel and Ellie zip away in the truck.

 

[el toro]

Yeah, apart from perhaps the shot of Joel and Ellie crossing a footbridge, none of the terrain they walk through evoked eastern MA. There are scattered wooded parks with hiking trails, but certainly no rocky gorges or nearby mountains. And the fields they pass are WAY too big.

On the flipside, while I'm not specifically familiar with Lincoln, the town felt reasonable enough. Although... is it just me, or does the Boston skyline in the distance at 21:45 correspond with a view from the south rather than from the west?

At least the story in ep. 3 was an interesting departure. I could've watched a full hour of Ron Swanson Bill gleefully looting and boobytrapping.

But this happens all the time. In the Nolan dark knight movies, it looked like Batman was casually traveling back and forth between NYC, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Newark when he wasn’t outside his castle in the North UK. I know Bruce Wayne had a Lambo, but it doesn’t drive that fast.

 

[Tommy]

Episode 3...wow. Beautiful.

I was actually pretty disappointed in episode 3.

As a non-gamer with no prior expectations, I fell somewhere in between.

Spoiler

I appreciated the assisted suicide conclusion, completing Bill's arc from grudgingly allowing Frank into his life to grudgingly facilitating his exit.

But I'm also not a fan of the mutual suicide trope, especially when it's portrayed as romantic. Frank just as easily could have spent his final moments utterly horrified and guilty over the realization that his actions had prompted his healthy partner to needlessly cut his own life short.

My preference would have been for Bill to live through the grief – returning to solitary life, but retaining a degree of his gradually-gained optimism. Maybe when Joel and Ellie show up, he opens a drawer with two envelopes left by Frank - one for Joel and one for Tess. He leaves the Tess one, but in the letter for Joel, Frank encourages Joel to "keep Tess safe." Bill volunteers his car, assuring them that he'll make do.

But this happens all the time. In the Nolan dark knight movies, it looked like Batman was casually traveling back and forth between NYC, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Newark when he wasn’t outside his castle in the North UK. I know Bruce Wayne had a Lambo, but it doesn’t drive that fast.

Absolutely; it joins a long string of funny geography flubs. Granted, in Batman those real-world locations are portraying a fictional city, so you can't really fault that. This thing with Boston is more like a reverse of The Proposal (where Massachusetts rather hilariously stood in for Alaska).

 

[Sundowner]

I absolutely loved episode 3 and thought it was beautiful. The

Spoiler

wedding scene got me teary eyed

 

[Noeland]

Nick Offerman is a legend. No question about it. Frankly I'd of liked to see his character live so he could interact with Joel and Ellie, and maybe leave with them and have some action/questing going on a little bit, but I get why they didn't do that. He'd of just stole the entire show.

Outside of that, I was mostly bored and not moved by the episode. The looting scenes were so good. The traps were just fantastic. So much fun.

I keep wondering if they'll be introducing Abby at the end of this season. I kind of feel like they will not wait until next season to do that. Like she might be part of a cliffhanger finale.