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

I'm finding the podcast to lift the veil a little too much, like I'm reading along with the Cliff's Notes, which makes me feel dumb and lazy. I don't mind putting in some work when the text is as good as this is!

So big mushroom guy is called a "bloater" in the game. The normal path of infection is runner->clicker->bloater (as discussed above). Yes it's a pretty obvious addition that solves the need for the game to have some diversity in foes and additional challenges. Also, when the body dies, the fungus continues to consume the body and spread a bunch of spores, however the show eschews this aspect of reproduction for some reason (get rid of masks? honestly curious why...), which is weird because I'm unaware of a single cordyceps fungus that doesn't reproduce via spores! What's confusing to me is it's somewhat implied that spores are what got in the food supply (in the show), causing the initial spread, but it's not mentioned or depicted since. This omission has diminished the utility of bloaters as well. In the game, they actually throw spore bombs at you from a distance.

Honestly, if the game or film was to depict cordyceps in humans realistically, they'd be runners for a bit, and then kamikaze in a crowd of humans and their body would spontaneously sprout appendages that would explode in spores very quickly. Would be super gross, but probably manageable, preventing the pandemic as it is depicted in game and film.

if the game or film was to depict cordyceps in humans realistically

Yeah "realistically" isn't my favorite term when we are referring to murderous TV zombies.

How about "Non-Fun Fungals"?

"Shroomericans"?

"Sporesfans"?

"Shiitheads"?

"Those who have become Portabelligerent"?

Fun Guys

Fun Gals too!

In the game, they actually throw spore bombs at you from a distance.

OK, this is the one thing I am now desperate to see incorporated into the show. Does this happen while you're climbing up a rickety scaffolding that tilts back and forth and eventually gives way, or running across a pathway over a lake of molten lava?

Ha, no, you're stuck in a relatively small space, running around for cover.

Good essay about the fundamental differences between the game and show, for those interested:

https://www.vox.com/culture/23598009/prestige-tv-hbo-play-game-last-of-us

It's basically spoiler-free, but this part I think conveys the crux of it:

The strength of the story is wholly dependent on how you feel about its two main characters. The game’s special trick is that it doesn’t need to convince you of their relationship, because it gives you custody over it.

Take the events at Bill’s compound, which highlight two very different approaches. The show, operating from the prestige TV owner’s manual, must imagine Bill (Nick Offerman) as a fully realized human person, and basically succeeds. The only caveats are that Joel and Ellie are relegated to the episode’s margins and that Bill’s most colorful characteristic — his practical knowledge of shockingly sophisticated booby traps — is presented as a funny quirk, on par with his capable wine pairings.

In the game, Bill and his traps are part of the same bravura set piece: a series of close calls in which Joel increasingly relies on Ellie. On your way to meet Bill you stumble, as Joel, into a snare trap that hoists you 10 feet into the air upside down, your POV flipped. As Ellie attempts to cut you loose, a wave of infected appear. You’re out of reach — but she’s not. They sprint to her. Your heart in your ears, you force yourself to adjust to this new position and dispatch the fungified threats to your surrogate daughter with a wobbly 9mm.

Those five minutes make a masterclass of the game’s major modes: improvisation, disorientation, and dread. They also hint at an advantage inherent to the medium. In the game, Ellie’s survival is structural: you literally can’t go on without her. In the show, you merely expect her not to die. Death is the hallmark of any honest tour through post-apocalyptic America, and the game knows how to leverage it in ways the show cannot. There are, to be sure, dozens of deftly written and consistently grim cutscenes over the game’s roughly 15-hour runtime. But so much of its lingering power transmits through lightly scripted gameplay, and the constant low-grade suspense elicited any time you point Joel’s flashlight or pull his trigger. Even moments of relative peace or boredom feel freighted with anticipation, like when you rummage through a drawer for supplies and find a letter instead, or when you gingerly step through the rubble of a bombed-out metro station.

I've also been learning more about the gaming concept of “ludonarrative dissonance," of which "Last of Us" has played a major part of the discourse.

Anyway, psyched for another episode!

Good article, thanks! I got a PS5 in December (my previous console was an Xbox360) for 2 main reasons: to have an Ultra-HD disc player and to play TLOU. I completed Part 1 about a month ago, and Part 2 about a week ago; both destroyed me, emotionally - no other games have come anywhere close, regarding emotional impact (although I don't play a ton of games, maybe 2 a year on average).
Yes to "improvisation, disorientation, and dread" - the dread in both TLOU games hit me like very few movies have ("The Wages of Fear" and "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" come to mind) and it's sustained for long periods of time. Other factors in the game vs. TV show experience:
** Feeling of accomplishment from the game (puzzle solving, or defeating a tough enemy)
** Relationship building - you're spending dozens of hours with these (fictional) people. I'm reminded of the study about friendships that said it takes 40-60 hours to form a "casual friendship". When playing as Joel, Ellie will help out during combat situations, and you're thinking "aw, thanks for stabbing that guy, kiddo, that's sweet of you." I'm also reminded of Bioshock Infinite, where Elizabeth constantly is giving you money or ammo that she finds.
** 1st person empathy (playing as a character, not just viewing), to understand irrational or unethical behavior - taken to its extreme in Part 2, particularly. Spoilers: there's the "trolley problem" ethical dilemma aspect of Part 1, and we see the flip side of that dilemma more in depth in Part 2, and morally ambiguous behavior (e.g. killing Abby's father, rather than maybe just tying him up or knocking him out? Or Ellie killing Owen and Mel, kinda of out of self-defense but not really because she was the instigator and would have killed them even if they cooperated?) from people we want to root for.

When the zombiepocalypse comes, I am really hoping that at least some people will still be choosy about wine pairings. We are not savages, after all.

goddamn mushroom zombie show making me cry all the goddamn time wtf

when all of the monkeys were roaming freely outside the labs I thought Bruce Willis and Madeline Stowe were gonna show up

bring on twitchy brad pitt

I did enjoy the kids at the movie showing looking only semi-enthused. anybody born after 2003 has no frame of reference for movies made about normal lives they never had.

what was the movie they were watching?

It’s a commune… we’re communists honey.

Yeah the reductivist binary explanations of socioeconomic life certainly project present day worldviews more than anything I've seen so far this season

what was the movie they were watching?

Herbert Ross'/Neil Simon's "The Goodbye Girl." Every kid's favorite.

Anyway, another really good episode, with a surprising number of subtle details from the game's sequel sneaking in there. However, seeing what next week's episode seems to be, and knowing there are only three more episodes left, I remain surprised that they didn't try to squeeze a 10 episode season out of this, because I know what the final two episodes have to be after next week's and it feels a bit rushed. Or maybe it's just that the show is really good and I want it to last longer, lol!

Best episode since the first two in my opinion (maybe surprising since I've been a "more fungus" guy but I didn't love what they did with more fungus in ep 5.) I think this show is better when it's low-key and funny and worse when it strives for big emotional beats -- like in this one, the "no you take it from here brother I can't lose my daughter AGAINNNNNNN" business felt set-up and forced but there were so many small good, moments, especially with Ellie, who was kind of unleashed this episode. Like when she sees a dam and quietly says "Dam."

word for word. recreating one of the best most emotional scenes in tlou. pedro and bella are hands down the perfect joel and ellie. DOWN TO THE TONE THEYRE INSANE #TheLastOfUs pic.twitter.com/10JRmUKLrr

— joel miller defender tlou era (@ellievjoel) February 20, 2023

And, and totally missed the visual pun of Joel breaking down as he struggled to repair his cracked ... sole.

This episode was pretty good. The "We're communists" part made me laugh, as did Ellie's excitement when they got to campus. "First time seein' a monkey?" "First time seein' a monkey."

looking forward to the eventual payoff when Joel finally sings

fingers crossed for merle haggard

Spoiler question for people that know the game: assuming next week is Left Behind, does that mean they are going to make people wait two weeks to find out Joel's fate? Or do you think next week will be largely Left Behind, with bits of Ellie helping Joel?

I'm hoping it's all flashback. Very enthusiastic about the idea that they'll show (not tell) some of Ellie's QZ history

Response to Josh's question (spoilers): my guess is that they'd want Joel in every episode, at least a little (e.g. Ep 3). The Wiki page for the TV show has the next episode's title as "Left Behind" - they could even mirror the DLC, bouncing back and forth btwn Ellie/Riley and Ellie/sick Joel in the mall setting. I like the changes the show has made so far, diverging from the game; it seemed implausible in the game for Ellie to steal a horse and escape a fortified compound, so they changed that in Ep 6 and made it just as emotionally effective.

A very nice touch in this episode is that when you first see Tommy he's setting up a scaffold that LOOKS a lot like the nooses we saw set up for public FEDRA executions in the Boston QZ (or was that KCQZ?) but it's just a headfake and when you see it closer up he's just doing some kind of normie construction.

yes otm, i def thought it was a noose at first

part of me was ugh Joel you fucking idiot why are you pushing tommy away this place is DOPE you both could just stay here & like maybe live a life & trade for shoes & board shorts & fucking pizza even who knows

but noooo you have to be the world’s biggest stubborn grump who rejects love in all forms because you love mushrooms & sadness most in life i guess idk

The contractor

What a great episode. I really liked all the emotional to and fro, and also Rutina Wesley! What the fuck was that ending though, I said “what the fuck, how is this the end,” and my better half said, “HE’S NOT DEAD.”

They tied together a lot of obvious but so far implicit stuff - Ellie as Sarah replacement or not, Tommy and Joel and their whole relationship and differences, and also we got some classic upskilling. The horse must be well trained to not try bolting at the sound of gunfire.

Having said all that, I could do without the wispy John Lewis ad covers. Just do an instrumental!

people loved contractors

I know! Loved that whole interlude

that was great, a+ comedy no notes

oh shit also

ELAINE MILES aka the goat aka Marilyn from Nothern Exposure + Graham Greene the other goat!!! so awesome
— also Ellie’s behaviour in their presence would qualify her as being, to paraphrase Rez Dogs, a shitass

Omg the menstrual cup and her reaction 🤭

YES I KNOW

I didn’t recognize either of them on first viewing but I said “I know those two… like they’re a comedy duo or a real-life couple or something” and then saw their names in the credits. (It’s been a long time since I watched Northern Exposure!)

xp to VG :)

I recognized Graham Greene right away but I've seen him in a million things. The woman I had only ever seen in one or two episodes of Northern Exposure so I knew I recognized her face (and especially her voice) but not from where. They were hilarious. "Did you tell them the truth?...Are you telling me the truth?"

can’t believe I didn’t connect her

Northern Exposure was one of many reasons I almost didn’t pass Calculus 2 in college, because I’d do the homework an hour before class at 3pm and Northern Exposure was in syndicated reruns at 2pm

Great job maintaining a sense of dread waiting for the town's big evil secret to be revealed ("kids don't talk like that here" - oh are they psycho fundies?!?! - oh no they just have normal kids) but no, just a pretty sweet setup.

lol me too. the moment Ellie walked into Tommy's wife's house I was expecting her to discover something (and she did, yes, that Joel's daughter's name was Sarah, but that isnt' what I was thinking she might find out).

i wouldn't mind living in a town like that right now tbh

I found myself mulling over lots of tedious questions about their power supply and apparently functional sewerage system and its maintenance and whatnot. The wrong way to watch it obv.

I guess it’s easier to keep the sewers from overflowing when 99% of people are dead

I admitted I was doing it wrong! But lots of sewer networks rely on pumps and constant maintenance and fatberg removal or maybe blocked by thousands of corpses. I know a lot of hydro-generators can run for decades unmaintained after the collapse of human civilisation, but the electrical grids they feed need a lot of maintenance and repair work. Yes I am doing this wrong!

Lol

I just handwave all that, if they don’t mention it I don’t care

i didn't realize the random girl in the camp that joel sees when he has another panic attack was supposed to remind him of sarah until they showed a sarah flashback later on. it's been a while!

I'm really glad they have been sparing with the flashbacks of her, cos it helps illustrate just how far Joel has had to shove her into the recesses of his brain to just wake up every day.

if this was a Paramount Plus Original she'd have been popping up every episode with Charlie Puth "See You Again" playing each time she comes on screen

they should’ve played the smashing pumpkins cover of “never let me down” instead of the weepy piano cover at the end. otherwise another excellent episode

otm! i love the pumpkins cover