Horror 'The Last of Us' HBO Series

[BoredGuy]

No, I get how transmissible it is, especially when you have infected food + zombie bites, I get why it would spread so fast

but Covid was new and spread quickly, and people were already planning for it, considering ways to counter it... The mRNA vaccines have been in development for a decade and then got supercharged when it was clear they were necessary. Fauci was warning of a pandemic just like what we had, and despite some missteps early on, he hit the ground running.

So it just seems odd that this epidemiologist was warning about a fungal outbreak 40 years prior, but he did jack s*** to prepare the world for it, and basically said "what's the point, we're screwed"

 

[Detective Conan]

 

[Kane52630]

 

[Still Wynning]

I bet you the percentage increase is from a lot of new people tuning in out of curiosity due to word of mouth from the last episode and how great it is and was received.

If what I have heard about the next episode is any indication, that number is going to keep growing.

 

[squeekness]

Yeah, but idk
the scientist in 1968 named a bunch of different fungal strains, and also said "no vaccine is possible"
He had decades to try to come up with a treatment but seemingly didn't even bother because it was hopeless

The outbreak was only hypothetical then, no need to make a vaccine. By the time it did break, it may have spread too quickly to stop.

 

[squeekness]

The real star of the episode!

I know, right! An amazing talent.

 

[squeekness]

No, I get how transmissible it is, especially when you have infected food + zombie bites, I get why it would spread so fast

but Covid was new and spread quickly, and people were already planning for it, considering ways to counter it... The mRNA vaccines have been in development for a decade and then got supercharged when it was clear they were necessary. Fauci was warning of a pandemic just like what we had, and despite some missteps early on, he hit the ground running.

So it just seems odd that this epidemiologist was warning about a fungal outbreak 40 years prior, but he did jack s*** to prepare the world for it, and basically said "what's the point, we're screwed"

Not sure you can make a vaccine until have a specific target to aim for. SARS and covid are both viruses and very closely related so there was a starting point at least. A fungus, especially the first fungus to actually attack, might be a whole other animal.

 

[Iceman]

Haha. Takes a quality cast and crew to achieve that when you know its going to happen ahead of time.

 

[Broseph44]

Another great episode. They nailed The Clickers. What an intense and scary scene. Love the changes and things they’re doing too with the hoardes of infected laying on the ground with the tendrils. Terrifying stuff.

 

[Iceman]

Really great sign when numbers go up significantly like this. Word of mouth is getting out that this is a quality show.

 

[flickchick85]

Just wondering, everyone in the flashbacks keep saying "A cure is impossible" "There's no vaccine, no medicine we can develop" etc... but they've provided no explanation for that

So, why is it so impossible?? We have anti-fungals for external issues, can they not be developed for internal use? We've developed medicines for all sorts of weird s*** but the characters in this are awfully insistent that it's not ever going to be possible, and I don't quite get why. Is it common knowledge that a fungal infection cannot be cured??

I have zero medical/biological knowledge on this, but I just assumed he was telling us the difference between a virus and a fungus, and that vaccines are only for the former. Cancer's been around for much longer than this thing would have been (or even the idea would have been in 1968), and we're still losing that battle constantly despite the billions of dollars that have been sunk into research to fight it, so it makes enough sense to me.

 

[BrollySupersj]

So even though I'm not a total diehard fan of TLOU, but I'm in the camp that it's so strange seeing how much Bella Ramsey doesn't look like Ellie. While I'm not a diehard fan, I do feel actors that look like the person they're playing should be considered a bit. It adds more to the adaption aspect.

 

[Lily Adler]

Not sure you can make a vaccine until have a specific target to aim for. SARS and covid are both viruses and very closely related so there was a starting point at least. A fungus, especially the first fungus to actually attack, might be a whole other animal.

 

[Persona]

I dunno, I felt like Druckmann's inexperience as a director showed through the first half of the episode. Very clunky. However, a lot of nice sets and FX work offset that a little bit.

Things immediately got a lot better once they reach the museum. Very strong setpiece.

The last bit of the episode had its moments but played out in a somewhat rote way.

It is really hard for me to shake how much this thing is a trope blender. I am enjoying the show but we have seen these same types of plot beats in similar settings and narrative structures soooo many times over the past couple decades. On the other hand, it probably says a lot about the quality of the show's execution that people are really enjoying it despite how played out (literally, ha) so much of it is.

 

[squeekness]

Ha!

 

[squeekness]

I dunno, I felt like Druckmann's inexperience as a director showed through the first half of the episode. Very clunky. However, a lot of nice sets and FX work offset that a little bit.

Things immediately got a lot better once they reach the museum. Very strong setpiece.

The last bit of the episode had its moments but played out in a somewhat rote way.

It is really hard for me to shake how much this thing is a trope blender. I am enjoying the show but we have seen these same types of plot beats in similar settings and narrative structures soooo many times over the past couple decades. On the other hand, it probably says a lot about the quality of the show's execution that people are really enjoying it despite how played out (literally, ha) so much of it is.

I remember when Cameron 's Avatar movie came out and a lot of critics complained saying we've seen it already -- Dances with Wolves -- and they weren't exactly wrong. Yet, I still loved the heck out of it. I think that even when a story is not exactly fresh, you can get away with it with a fantastic cast and amazing effects that place you in that world, just like Avatar did. For me, this is the same even if it might not be for others.

 

[flickchick85]

Craig Mazin is a better director than Druckman, and it showed in this episode, imo. Tess' death scene was just....weird and OTT to me. The changes in the circumstances around it worked I thought, but the actual scene, not so much. But the rest of the episode was still quite good, imo. Once again loved the cold open - nice to see what they were talking about happening in Jakarta back in last week's episode. And the Clickers are perfect.

 

[CaptainWagner]

No, I get how transmissible it is, especially when you have infected food + zombie bites, I get why it would spread so fast

but Covid was new and spread quickly, and people were already planning for it, considering ways to counter it... The mRNA vaccines have been in development for a decade and then got supercharged when it was clear they were necessary. Fauci was warning of a pandemic just like what we had, and despite some missteps early on, he hit the ground running.

So it just seems odd that this epidemiologist was warning about a fungal outbreak 40 years prior, but he did jack s*** to prepare the world for it, and basically said "what's the point, we're screwed"

I mean, that cold open showed that the fungus doc wasn't being taken seriously. One scientist and the few people who believe him won't make much difference if the whole scientific community sees them as crackpots.

 

[Man in the Suit]

Craig Mazin is a better director than Druckman, and it showed in this episode, imo. Tess' death scene was just....weird and OTT to me. The changes in the circumstances around it worked I thought, but the actual scene, not so much. But the rest of the episode was still quite good, imo. Once again loved the cold open - nice to see what they were talking about happening in Jakarta back in last week's episode. And the Clickers are perfect.

There was actually a third director who went uncredited. Kantemir Balagov directed the first 40 minutes of the pilot. His work ends with Joel burning bodies at the QZ. What aired was his episode cut down and edited together with Mazin's second episode. Balagov left over creative differences

But I'm pretty sure Mazin did small reshoots on the original pilot. There's a photo of him directing the infected Grandma Adler. And I think they reshot Sarah's death toward the end of production because there were set photos of crew redressing that set.

 

[Teelie]

Yeah, but idk
the scientist in 1968 named a bunch of different fungal strains, and also said "no vaccine is possible"
He had decades to try to come up with a treatment but seemingly didn't even bother because it was hopeless

It's not easy to treat an infection from something that literally no one has ever encountered before and did not exist until last week. Obviously this stuff is not foot fungus either. As funny as it would be it would also make for a sure game and an even shorter series if you can just spray Tinactin everywhere and call it a day.

Even working on COVID where they had almost everything they needed from working on other SARS related viruses took over a year to get a vaccine. We have no analogue to cordyceps.

 

[Persona]

There was actually a third director who went uncredited. Kantemir Balagov directed the first 40 minutes of the pilot. His work ends with Joel burning bodies at the QZ. What aired was his episode cut down and edited together with Mazin's second episode. Balagov left over creative differences

But I'm pretty sure Mazin did small reshoots on the original pilot. There's a photo of him directing the infected Grandma Adler. And I think they reshot Sarah's death toward the end of production because there were set photos of crew redressing that set.

Balagov is a very talented young director (check out BEANPOLE, everybody). Originally I was very excited about the pilot because of his involvement and had no idea he had been given the Gareth Edwards treatment until after it came out and people were talking about how Mazin had directed it. I was very confused and went to IMDB and saw no mention of him, so I almost wondered if I had imagined it. Then I saw the cinematographer of BEANPOLE worked on the first episode and I was like, "Maybe that's who I was thinking of." But I could have sworn I remembered the DP being involved because of the director.

Anyways, good to get more clarification and also assurance that I am not completely losing my mind yet, ha. Thanks.

 

[BoredGuy]

It's not easy to treat an infection from something that literally no one has ever encountered before and did not exist until last week. Obviously this stuff is not foot fungus either. As funny as it would be it would also make for a sure game and an even shorter series if you can just spray Tinactin everywhere and call it a day.

Even working on COVID where they had almost everything they needed from working on other SARS related viruses took over a year to get a vaccine. We have no analogue to cordyceps.

Lol, John Madden could've saved us all
"Hey Clicker... BOOM... tough actin' Tinactin b*tch!"
..
And I get what y'all are saying, it just seemed odd the doctors in both flashbacks said it so definitively "A cure isn't possible" rather than "nobody's ever had to develop a cure for this."

But I guess it also just relates to the question of the whole season, whether or not Ellie's blood can actually save everyone, makes the audience question everything the same as Joel

 

[Teelie]

We have known of theoretical diseases for decades but knowing and having a way to combat them are two seperate issues. COVID is a great example again. We keep vaccinating against it and it keeps finding new ways to evade detection. With something like this fungus it really would seem impossible to combat it.

 

[Kane52630]

 

[obredaan]

Must of been very gratifying for Druckmann to actually get the chance to direct an episode. Also, I'm pretty sure that was Druckmann who got his head blown out by Joel in the museum.