“I'm taking a ride with my best friend” - The Last of Us on HBO (2023)

I just assume everyone in video games is constantly filthy and damp. Except Arthur in RDR2, who takes a lot of baths. But he gets filthy again pretty quickly.

Once again some shots and scenes that are exactly like the game; great sets/virtual sets/however they do it. Also some changes and tweaks that are noticeably different from the game, like the Indonesia stuff and the way the fungus spreads/communicates. The latter is imo less effective than in the game. In the game, the fungus largely spreads via spores. I get why they changed it here, but at the same time now it's less passive, more like the aggressive hive-mind creature in "The Thing" that wants to spread and survive at all costs; iirc they even gave the fungus spreading a scary sound. I don't know if this is meant to play up the threat, but I think it makes the clickers seem more like conventional zombies, which of course we've seen a lot. What I like about the game is the way the spores and slightly more aimless clickers are depicted pose a kind of constant ambient threat; they're dangerous obstacles as much as anything else. Here they're portrayed as more predatory than environmental.

i am really digging this so far

love how the creatures are so grotesque but weirdly beautiful, like a del Toro movie

and the tone of the show isnt just action/survival but this intense underlying sadness, it’s v good and i am into it

i wanted to yell at anna torv “aaaaah omg jfc who gives a fuck abt the stupid lighter just pull one of the 20 fucking grenades on the ground”

love u anna

Honest question, why is everyone so into Anna Torv? She's fine in this, but I'm not sure I've ever heard of her before, and don't recognize her from anything else. Was she in a popular movie or show that I've never seen or something?

She was in Fringe and Mindhunter, two shows a lot of people liked. (Me included, though I wasn't raving/passionate about either.) She's got that kind of business-domme thing that lots of nerds go for.

I don't know what Fringe is, but I have been meaning to start Mindhunter, so I guess I'll see her there!

She’s Rupert Murdoch’s niece apparently

oh ffs!

will always be olivia to me

otm

I still maintain that the dual universe plot in Fringe is the best sci-fi series stuff in decades. And yeah, the part of Olivia that isn't in any way at all and couldn't possibly be Rupert Murdoch's niece still rules!

I watched something where a zeppelin made an appearance recently and was disappointed anew that the alternate universe in Fringe didn't get more time/attention.

anna torv shouldn't be judged by her aunt's terrible life decisions!

She's got that kind of business-domme thing that lots of nerds go for.

...

Anyway, weird sexual dimension now with how the infection spreads, which is appropriate because that's how fungus reproduces.

dumb question here

but wouldn’t the best place to avoid infection be the coastline? like that kinda fungus wouldn’t thrive/spread in a coastal environment right? or no?

Anna Torv left her phone unattended. She returned to this photo. pic.twitter.com/iMg6xiWJQx

— Bella Ramsey (@BellaRamsey) January 24, 2023

Veg, how do you mean? I think that fungi can grow anywhere (even *in* the oceans).

I'm curious what people thought of the museum sequence (if they thought it was tense) and if they've played the game or not. I felt kind of bored by it even though in the game it's pretty stressful, I think because the stakes and outcome of the latter are actually up in the air and depend on my active interaction with it.

Just felt like Jurassic Park kitchen sequence. It was entertaining but needed to be a little more creative to actually be exciting.

I'm curious what people thought of the museum sequence (if they thought it was tense) and if they've played the game or not. I felt kind of bored by it even though in the game it's pretty stressful, I think because the stakes and outcome of the latter are actually up in the air and depend on my active interaction with it.

Standard horror trope. We're moving through the empty house/haunted hospital/abandoned military facility...when (not if) will the creatures attack? I thought it was a little less tense than some other iterations I've seen but generally fine. And the fungus-headed monsters were kinda cool-looking. The best part of the episode was the Indonesia prelude, though.

horror games are always scarier than other horror media bc of the level of immersion. i found the scene very stressful though!

fungus makeout is the kind of ridiculous and awesome visual i needed to send this show home for me, having a great time

Made the mistake of checking what the internet at large thought of that scene. Not surprisingly there's tons of confusion. Seemed clear to me? Tess trying to stand still so the zombies don't swarm her. She's infected and about to kill herself. She can't light the lighter. Oh god they're running right by now, it just won't light. Stay still. One is walking up to her. No sudden movements, just light it. In her face now. The spores are coming out of the mouth and reaching toward her. They would have attacked by now but something's different ...because it's also inside her this time. Kissing? No, not exactly... might look that way maybe, but no. Horrible. Doesn't matter, don't move, just light it.

However seeing lots of "what's the deal with the KISS?! wtf?!" comments

Yeah sure it didn't actually have to happen at all, but it was cool shock value but made in-universe sense to me!

and*

I don't know what Fringe is, but I have been meaning to start Mindhunter, so I guess I'll see her there!

Fringe is available on HBO Max. I just re-watched the pilot and it's fucking bonkers.

i love Fringe so much, even when it confused me utterly

I found the museum stalking scene writhingly terrifying (non gamer here btw).

Yeah clickers are as freaky in the game as they were depicted in the museum!

I Photoshop paddington into a movie, game, or TV show until I forget: Day 688 pic.twitter.com/GAYYrNbGRr

— Jaythechou (@jaythechou) January 26, 2023

horror games are always scarier than other horror media bc of the level of immersion.

Definitely this. Had plenty of tense moments watching horror movies but nothing that compares to playing say Dead Space or Silent Hill 2.

The cold openings for this show are stellar.

Yes they are and the rest (so far) leaves me cold. But I’ll hang in there even though fungus makeup gives me the willies.

Tonight’s episode 😭

Pleasantly surprised by the show so far. I was expecting a rote Cliff’s Notes version of the game but it’s proving to be very canny with its adaptation choices.

Yes! All the changes made for this episode were for the better.

murray bartlett = deadset legend <3
and use of linda ronstadt was chef’s kiss

great episode

Found myself looking at the phone during this one, kept waiting for the show to bring some feeling into this story or for the characters to feel real and it just kind of lay there as an abstract parable.

Finding the right tune on which to hang Bill and Frank’s encounter presented Mazin with a unique challenge. In addition to something that could be played on the piano both well and terribly, the showrunner was searching for a song about “a long-term ache — the sadness of somebody saying, ‘I wish, but oh, well, I shall be forever alone.’

“Man, I just couldn’t find the perfect song,” he continues. “I texted my friend Seth Rudetsky, who hosts the Broadway channel on SiriusXM radio. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of music. I said, ‘Here are all the things I’m looking for. Do you know a song that would fit the bill?’ Within 30 seconds, he texted back with ‘“Long Long Time,” Linda Ronstadt.’ I played it and was like, ‘That’s the song.’”

This episode was the rare example of something very different from the game that doesn't really alter the plot. Added a lot of stuff, albeit at the cost of some stuff. That said, sweet episode though it was, it also posed something of a curious detour. The story is about Joel and Ellie and the time they spend together. With a limited number of hours with which to tell that story, it's a strange choice to spend so much time on characters that have nothing to do with that story.

Yeah this was a great episode. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop the whole time. I was not expecting that.

Just so heartbreaking, every time the time skips forward and they’re still there, still in love, literally growing old together. Absolute cruelty.

#TheLastOfUs spoilers
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episode 3 may have been devastating but this line had me ON THE FLOOR pic.twitter.com/HaWFHNOoMS

— kenny (@bvckystjames) January 30, 2023

I thought he was going to do Bill in when his guard was down singing Linda Ronstadt because I'm so good at predicting what happens in these shows!

I did too! It didn’t feel like it would go that direction, I was on edge until the time skip.

Aw:

This morning, we lost Annie Wersching, who portrayed Tess in the game.

Even though the HBO show is a new iteration of The Last of Us, our storylines, worlds and lives have become inextricably linked. We are a blended TLOU family now, and when tragedy strikes, we all feel it.

We will be thinking about Annie tonight and always, but we know that it's her family who will miss her more than anyone.

We’re talking with our respective employers about ways we can help as individuals and as companies. Those things will likely be handled anonymously. If you’re also interesting in helping, there’s a GoFundMe to support her boys: Freddie (12), Ozzie (9) and Archie (4).

https://gofund.me/f915834e

Annie was a brilliant actor, a wonderful mother, and a bright light of a human being. We mourn for her and the children who are grieving her loss. Tonight's episode has become particularly poignant in a way we would have never hoped or wished for, and we are dedicating it to Annie’s memory. It may be too late to get that on screen for tonight, but we will work to get it done as soon as we can.

Annie Wersching, and the Tess she originated, will live on in our hearts. May she rest in peace.

--Craig & Neil

An aside, I don't remember how much the game leans into this stuff, but I like how the show keeps underscoring how this is Ellie's first time outside the QZ, first time in a forest, first time in a car, etc. (She doesn't even know what a seatbelt is, because why would she?). Helps show how she's not only just a kid, but she's a kid who has grown up literally gated away from the world. Hell, we're introduced to her locked in a single room. Her world is rapidly growing bigger. Really helps enforce that for all her world-weary affect, she's still pretty innocent.

Yeah, the "you got to go up in the sky!" bit was great, and the car scene was almost a mini callback to that.

Really liked this episode a lot. I'm not a huge Nick Offerman fan but he was very good.

I highly recommend the official HBO tie-in podcast that follows each episode.

can’t believe i’m watching an hbo show and i don’t even get to see nick offerman’s hog

Google "nick offerman three-quarter headshot"

Offerhog* content

https://vimeo.com/70792622

The story is about Joel and Ellie and the time they spend together. With a limited number of hours with which to tell that story, it's a strange choice to spend so much time on characters that have nothing to do with that story.

Have to disagree. This was a fantastic bottle episode but still had plenty of Joel & Ellie (and other) plot developments: Ellie's constant wonder at the outside world, Joel starting to change from seeing Ellie as a chore to someone he has to protect, they now have a vehicle, Ellie now has a gun, we saw raiders for the first time, we found out the infection originally spread through food supplies etc. By the end of the episode they're even wearing the same outfits from the game

Joel starting to change from seeing Ellie as a chore to someone he has to protect

Honestly I think I will like this show much more if Kaitlyn Dever becomes the lead

Yeah that’s stupid

i am not so anti-Ellie as to be really all that heavily invested in that, i guess.
Like I’m interested but i’m not all like oh fuck yes finally. And i get that that all ties to the game. Fine, sure whatever.

but that leads me to my biggest ongoing rant about this season & this show in general: i fucking hate the way that the show is so heavily idk, “policed” by gamers like UGH THATS DIFFERENT THE CHARACTERS CANT BE DIFFERENT ITS NOT INTENSE ENOUGH ITS TOO GIRLY ITS TOO Y-A IT SHOULD BE X Y Z? as though the tv show cant be its own thing is truly endlessly exhausting

like have these ppl ever read a book adapted to a movie? THEYRE DIFFERENT MEDIUMS GUESS WHAT IT LETS YOU TELL DIFFERENT STORIES

like were you just born?

shut! up!

it has been exhausting in this way since the Bill & Fran ep in s1

and tbh if i stopped watching the show it wouldnt be because of characters or story choices in the show itself it would be bc the discourse is fucking! stupid! and tiring! (sorry to ppl itt who played the game, i’m not lumping you in w that)

The gamer reaction is kind of the producers' fault though - they're hewing close to the game rather than taking "shroom zombies" as a starting point. When it's 90% the same (to the detriment of the show) that 10% is going to get some nerds riled up.

The nerds are driven by being misogynists. Let’s just not pretend they have a point, ok? They’re upset because Bella Ramsey doesn’t look like the character they wanted to fuck.

There are some of those game difference nerds here and I haven't seen their criticism being about Ramsey's fuckability.

VG otm

This season has been a big drop off in quality from S1 though. A lot of episodes wouldn't have been out of place on The Walking Dead

the fall of a cliff each episode this season has been vast tbf. never played the games, it's just got worse and worse. the writing is terrible and that hangs the acting out to dry. and bella ramsey isn't a good actress anyway, nothing to do with the game, but they aren't helping her here at all. one minute she's feeling bad about shooting the people who were part of the group that killed joel, the next she's furiously remembering oh yes must kill abby.

also for a second season that took about two years they managed to bodge together about a ninety minutes longer than a film by the time you take all the ads out. and even within that they still built to a 'finale' where someone gets on a boat, goes somewhere, gets into trouble and has to drive away again. the writing is unbelievably slapdash by now. couple that with them folding in characters we've seen say about ten lines each as the final cast, and it makes it even worse.

it's frustrating because the show had potential. even first few eps this season i thought were really good. but i genuinely was close to turning this off before the end.

I do like it when a show gives you the chance to say, *out loud*, "Why the fuck am I still watching this shit?" So thanks, THE LAST OF US. All done with you now.

p much otm.

off*

A lot of episodes wouldn't have been out of place on The Walking Dead

and yep, this.

There are some of those game difference nerds here and I haven't seen their criticism being about Ramsey's fuckability.

even within that they still built to a 'finale' where someone gets on a boat, goes somewhere, gets into trouble and has to drive away again

That scene had me internally shouting "What the fuck was the point of that?" as it ended. Five minutes (maybe longer) that could have been spent on literally anything else. Oh, but I bet that matriarch character will return in Season 3 and we'll be expected to remember her, and give a shit.

we've prob all watched enough fail prestige tv now that it becomes really apparent really soon when they haven't a fucking clue what they're doing, and this season/this finale have felt more and more like that. this episode, for a final episode of a show that prob cost more than nearly any other tv show that exists, was just completely shambolic bullshit. the minute the opening scenes were like oh hello, welcome back love triangle part three, it was obvious the whole thing is going nowhere. also like, it seemed like ellie would progress through the hospital basement at one point, and things were moving that way, but repeatedly everyone just goes back to the cinema, over and over.

also the big siren when ellie was captured and they're like 'leave her', even tho they were about to kill her, presumably fairly swiftly. like 'nope we don't have time now, let her get back on the boat which she learned to drive in a storm a few minutes ago, and also got hit by a wave in but didn't die cos we thought why not keep making this character die so often that it is even more clear they will not die'

Abby is a monumentally uninteresting character at this point, and the actress seems bad. Maybe people like her from some other thing she was in?

Also, could they have hung a bigger THIS CHARACTER WILL DIE BY EPISODE'S END sign around Jesse's neck? "Oh boy, I'm gonna be a dad!" is up there with "I've got a week till retirement" as a harbinger-of-doom cliché.

Kaitlyn Dever was in Justified - she played a good character but it wasn't really an acting tour de force.

i said ellie above, but i mean abby.

no wait, i don't.

Also, could they have hung a bigger THIS CHARACTER WILL DIE BY EPISODE'S END sign around Jesse's neck? "Oh boy, I'm gonna be a dad!" is up there with "I've got a week till retirement" as a harbinger-of-doom cliché.

'got myself a new boat, it's called the live forever'

The hill on which I'm willing to die is that they should have had an entire season at Jackson - the love triangle (pregnancy in general) has little weight because the show had to tell you all of that.

Jesse, the ex-cop bartender, the angry shrink, Joel's brother, Joel's brother's pregnant wife, Joel's nephew (or niece, whichever) - just zipping on past so we can find the only mint condition Martin acoustic after 25 years of 98% humidity.

Yeah agreed really. Season one was given so much leeway they did 90-minute bottle episodes, and really good ones. This season they somehow cobbled together seven 40-minute ones, and even at that just burnt characters away as you say.

And locations

A lot of us who played the game are taking that discussion to the game thread and I think that's the best place for it.

At least on this board a lot of us who are criticizing the show are coming from the perspective where it felt the game was better at presenting the story and characterizations of the ensemble (if it ain't broke, etc).

That said I feel the last two episodes were the best so far this season but perhaps not coincidentally they were the only ones not wholly written by Mazin.

Excited to see how they handle the next season. As has been remarked above, the set pieces are incredible!

it wouldn't be an HBO genre show if everyone online hated it but somehow returned each week/season (see also: Game of Thrones) (see also: True Blood) (etc.)

Abby is a monumentally uninteresting character at this point, and the actress seems bad. Maybe people like her from some other thing she was in?

can confirm re: Kaitlyn Dever acting (and whoever was downplaying her perf in Justified upthread is high, she was so fucking good in that season!)

Druckmann is leaving the show...

I just finished watching this series - disappointingly short. I've kind of had it with "you think you're better than me but you're not, you let someone die"/"you think you're better than me but you're not, let me go and kill a bunch of people" over and over. but tbh I kind of enjoyed it up to now.