it also is another depiction of his warming up to Ellie. if he was sleeping outside by himself, with no Tess, he probably woulda just slept, but he responded to Ellie's very visible anxiety of being found.
― sanguisug boggy bogg (Neanderthal), Monday, 6 February 2023 16:21 (one year ago) link
is a shame he spent multiple episodes getting to Bill and Frank's for working battery/vehicle, only to like, have his truck tires shredded days later and in a dangerous area where he can't realistically use it anymore.
― sanguisug boggy bogg (Neanderthal), Monday, 6 February 2023 16:25 (one year ago) link
similar to that BBC show Survivors (the one from 2008) where it seems like every episode, someone's car is blowing up or getting the tires shot out and they just go "ok we'll just get another one' and pick another off the street. which they can't do in this show because the batteries are all dead and fuel degraded
― sanguisug boggy bogg (Neanderthal), Monday, 6 February 2023 16:27 (one year ago) link
As far as subtle character beats go, it's of course implied Joel didn't sleep in the woods at all, and stayed awake vigilant, but in the later scene, having grown a little more comfortable with Ellie, he *does* fall asleep, and *that's* when they get caught.
The game, fwiw, is told more or less exclusively from the perspective of Joel and Ellie. I do appreciate how this show, while not opening super-wide, does open up enough to offer some stuff from other perspectives. Kathleen, for example, is not depicted in the game, but it's definitely plausible that she still "exists" in that world of militias and whatnot, even if we (players) didn't see her operating.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 6 February 2023 16:31 (one year ago) link
they should be looking for bicycles
― Jaime Pressly and America (f. hazel), Monday, 6 February 2023 16:38 (one year ago) link
lol otm
― sanguisug boggy bogg (Neanderthal), Monday, 6 February 2023 16:44 (one year ago) link
it's too bad in the show the outbreak occurs before E-Bikes were big, could have been hilarious bottle eps of someone trying to figure out how the unlock the damn things
― sanguisug boggy bogg (Neanderthal), Monday, 6 February 2023 16:46 (one year ago) link
I always thought that back when I even bothered with the Walking Dead. I want to say I've only ever seen one zombie thing where they had bicycles, and it might have been ... World War Z? Like, the dumbest one.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 6 February 2023 16:53 (one year ago) link
scores and scores of people evading zombies in pedicabs
― sanguisug boggy bogg (Neanderthal), Monday, 6 February 2023 16:54 (one year ago) link
One thing I liked about the Stand was how much time King spent on them getting the power working again, but there's limits to how interesting you can make that narrative. Not that I wouldn't watch a series that just focused on utilities and infrastructure in a post-apocalyptic world and didn't have zombies or lawless marauders.
― Jaime Pressly and America (f. hazel), Monday, 6 February 2023 17:40 (one year ago) link
Like, where is my Sim City: Fallout Edition
― Jaime Pressly and America (f. hazel), Monday, 6 February 2023 17:41 (one year ago) link
also easier to do successfully in a novel where you just read fragments at a time and stop when you feel like it. actually watching this is often less interesting (and as we've seen from all attempts, adapting The Stand has been a challenge, even though it's my favorite King book).
honestly I prefer post-apoc fiction where there isn't a group of semi-undead monsters chasing you because that gives survivors a common enemy that they can still rally to fight - yeah, there are still 'other humans' that are a problem, but it's easier to build coalitions when you're constantly facing off against thousands of zombies/similar. much more interesting watching society breakdown and all of niceties and social order of before crumbling and trying to navigate that, like how do you rebuild anything when you can't trust anybody's motivation?
(I still do like post-apoc w/ monsters, mind)
― sanguisug boggy bogg (Neanderthal), Monday, 6 February 2023 17:44 (one year ago) link
and yeah there's plenty of that still present in TLOU, but remove the funguspeople and you'd probably see way more rogue survivalists, splinter factions, etc all competing for control, as well as naive folks who somehow want to reconstruct the neighborhood watch program or something
― sanguisug boggy bogg (Neanderthal), Monday, 6 February 2023 17:46 (one year ago) link
Agreed. I gotta admit I got more psyched for the episode when Joel said they were too isolated to worry about the infected, it was "people" they had to worry about. Smart to lay off the zombies for a couple of episodes now.
― Brio2, Monday, 6 February 2023 18:01 (one year ago) link
I would like an infrastructure-focused post-apoc video game because I think the widespread assumption that humans will descend in violent chaos is to some degree a myth. What you see in actual disasters is people coming together and helping one another. The whole Mad Max thing is just not what happens.
― Jaime Pressly and America (f. hazel), Monday, 6 February 2023 18:07 (one year ago) link
In Florida after a hurricane people usually rush to Twitter to complain Disney is closed
― sanguisug boggy bogg (Neanderthal), Monday, 6 February 2023 18:11 (one year ago) link
lol
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 6 February 2023 18:23 (one year ago) link
I think the widespread assumption that humans will descend in violent chaos is to some degree a myth. What you see in actual disasters is people coming together and helping one another. The whole Mad Max thing is just not what happens.
I dunno, if it was something that happened not just to Florida or Texas but to literally the entire planet? We have people in this country living like this right now, stockpiling weapons and food and flags and whatnot, and we don't even have fungus people. Hell, if all cell phone and internet service stopped tomorrow, how long until the looting and panicking starts? Plus, this show takes place 20 years after the disaster, so maybe things have had time to get better *and* worse.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 6 February 2023 18:27 (one year ago) link
‘Petty warlords’ does not seem an unlikely model in the event of total societal/governmental collapse
― papal hotwife (milo z), Monday, 6 February 2023 18:56 (one year ago) link
Even now, in the event of natural disaster we have 20% of the population with raging hard-ons for shooting looters and they’re the ones with most of the guns.
― papal hotwife (milo z), Monday, 6 February 2023 18:58 (one year ago) link
In more positive news:
Over the end credits, we hear Lotte Kestner’s cover of New Order’s “True Faith.” Interestingly, this cover was the basis for a version of the song that (REDACTED) sang in a commercial for The Last of Us Part II, which prompted Kestner to tweet about the unauthorized use of her cover. Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann soon tweeted an apology for the “oversight” and said they were working to rectify it and that Kestner deserved recognition for her work. Hearing it featured here is a nice coda to the story, and hopefully gets Kestner’s lovely cover more recognition still.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 6 February 2023 19:07 (one year ago) link
in even more positive news, next episode comes out early! Out Friday, to avoid Superbowl on Sun.
― Brio2, Monday, 6 February 2023 20:24 (one year ago) link
But doesn't that mean a longer wait for the episode after that?
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 6 February 2023 20:28 (one year ago) link
I watched this week's episode over lunch today, on a Monday! Imagine the possibilities.
― mh, Monday, 6 February 2023 20:29 (one year ago) link
HBO's adapting another iconic game pic.twitter.com/YtsIswwSBb— Saturday Night Live - SNL (@nbcsnl) February 5, 2023
― papal hotwife (milo z), Monday, 6 February 2023 20:42 (one year ago) link
Very interesting video; Pascal guest hosted Inside The Actors Studio and interviewed Willem Dafoe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wrCxo_42eg
― but also fuck you (unperson), Monday, 6 February 2023 21:26 (one year ago) link
I am utterly certain that there was a decent Cracked piece including a good digression on bicycles.
Although I can't find the piece that first called this to my attention, there is now a rich literature of "why don't they use bicycles" that is beginning to rival "why didn't the Hobbits just use eagles" for rectonny fanwankery.
Still. Bicycles. It's become a tvtrope.
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NoBikesInTheApocalypse
― Auf Der Martini (Ye Mad Puffin), Monday, 6 February 2023 21:40 (one year ago) link
More proof, if needed, of how good The Expanse is
― groovypanda, Monday, 6 February 2023 21:51 (one year ago) link
I mean ultimately you're going to have the same petroleum-based problem with bikes, no replacement rubber tires available.
― Jaime Pressly and America (f. hazel), Monday, 6 February 2023 21:52 (one year ago) link
f. hazel, I read an extremely dreary science fiction series 30ish years ago where a time traveler went to medieval Europe and developed most of the technology required to make a bicycle, but still needed rubber, and embarked on a perilous expedition to Africa and etc. etc.
― Auf Der Martini (Ye Mad Puffin), Monday, 6 February 2023 21:59 (one year ago) link
Clearly you don't know your bike history.
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/01/8f/50/018f50376cfa03268374657ee4773219.jpg
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 6 February 2023 22:04 (one year ago) link
like i said, society breaks down, i'm walking into the ocean
i ain't riding around town on a unicycle with no tire and just the rim
― sanguisug boggy bogg (Neanderthal), Monday, 6 February 2023 22:15 (one year ago) link
I would merely make a run for the upper midwest and live on bison meat, they seem to be doing pretty well based on the last episode.
― papal hotwife (milo z), Monday, 6 February 2023 23:24 (one year ago) link
right!?
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 6 February 2023 23:38 (one year ago) link
Yeah, so boring fanwankery about bicycles aside, good episode, yes?I liked the dad jokes recurring through the episode. Really warmed to both main characters a lot.
― here you go, muttonchops Yaz (gyac), Monday, 6 February 2023 23:44 (one year ago) link
the jokebook stuff was great - i was similarly obsessed w a jokebook at ellie’s age & drove my family crazy w dumb jokes on car tripshim cracking up at the end was cute as hell
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 6 February 2023 23:47 (one year ago) link
The jokebook, fwiw, is in the game, too.
Like I was saying earlier, Joel and Ellie are key to this, so it was so nice to get some time with the two alone.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 7 February 2023 00:02 (one year ago) link
agree
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 7 February 2023 00:14 (one year ago) link
Yeah, solid episode for sure - felt a tiny bit straight-ahead after the last couple, but I don't see how that could be avoided. Nice character development for Joel and Ellie, and I want to know more about this whole Kansas City post-FEDRA situation. Kinda hoping we'll get a flashback to what exactly went down. Seems like they've freshly liberated the city and are settling scores, maybe becoming the oppressors they just defeated a bit? Interesting dynamic. Is the Melanie Lynskey character in the game, or a show-only thing?
― Brio2, Tuesday, 7 February 2023 00:37 (one year ago) link
Show only, and I wouldn't get your hopes up for much of a backstory of this location. In the game there are lots of locations like this one, run by militias or people otherwise independent of whatever government exists.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 7 February 2023 01:25 (one year ago) link
I love Melanie Lynskey! I hope there is more to her character than this “i have seen the face of the devil and his name is Henry” thing
― french testicle (flamboyant goon tie included), Tuesday, 7 February 2023 05:27 (one year ago) link
Also if there is a place in Georgia that is capable of making smuggleable drugs up to Boston as was indicated in the first episode, I would hope that humanity had the wherewithal to also make contraband canned ravioli while they’re at it
― french testicle (flamboyant goon tie included), Tuesday, 7 February 2023 05:30 (one year ago) link
found what I was looking for
https://www.cracked.com/article_19325_6-technologies-conspicuously-absent-from-sci-fi-movies.html
― Auf Der Martini (Ye Mad Puffin), Tuesday, 7 February 2023 14:03 (one year ago) link
A couple of those things can be sort of hand-waved away, but definitely not the absence of bikes.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 7 February 2023 14:16 (one year ago) link
Someone should make a thread about that so people interested in boring on about it can go there.
― here you go, muttonchops Yaz (gyac), Tuesday, 7 February 2023 14:26 (one year ago) link
Something that had been underwhelming about the series was Joel and Ellie, as in the game, the way they interact in the game is electric from the start. With the show, Joel is so much more muted that I found him dull to watch (maybe he just needs more sleep), and Ellie just didn't have anyone tip bother off of. Thankfully he's letting loose more, and the back and forth with the puns is charming. Lovely episode, with loads of nice little touches, like how when they go top sleep in the woods their backs are to each other, but in the office building she's facing him and he ends up facing her.
I also really appreciate when the show goes off script, since then I'm watching something for the first time. That said I was looking forward to the magazine gag.
― Shartreuse (Leee), Thursday, 9 February 2023 05:54 (one year ago) link
sigh
― the absence of bikes (f. hazel), Thursday, 9 February 2023 06:08 (one year ago) link
xpost That was the only issue I was having, especially knowing there are so few episodes left (relatively speaking). And going counter trends, it looks like the final episode is ... a shockingly short 40 minutes. But this episode showed how quickly TV can catch up, Joel and Ellie relationship-wise.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 9 February 2023 13:10 (one year ago) link
looks like there's some twitter bullshit going on about Melanie Lynskey's character/type as being insufficiently post-apocalyptic: https://www.vulture.com/2023/02/melanie-lynskey-last-of-us-criticism.html
― Brio2, Thursday, 9 February 2023 19:08 (one year ago) link
twitter is full of reactionaries now
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Thursday, 9 February 2023 19:19 (one year ago) link