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What's so bizarre about the pacing of the first two seasons is they always feel like they're rushing through the game material's big moments. They've had 7 episodes and Seattle has been a blur.
Things have felt very rushed, especially compared to the game. We have hardly spent any time with Jesse and he dies next week. The Nora confrontation felt far too easy and rushed. It's a shame.
The full details of the soundtrack album for the second season of the HBO original series The Last of Us have been revealed. The album features selections of th
Finally saw this week’s episode. Holy crap. This is season is just lights out. Amazing TV. It’s hard to believe it’s based on a video game, albeit a great one.
Watching Joel’s and Ellie’s relationship deteriorate was heartbreaking, but it all made perfect sense. Pedro and Bella KILLED it in this episode. I’m glad we got one more episode with the two of them together. And **** every incel loser who is bullying Bella online. Those turds wish they had one tenth of Bella’s talent. They are an exceptional actor and this show is more than lucky to have them.
I think Bella has done great and really crushed it in some of those emotionally heavy scenes (like the porch scene). The criticism I see aside from generic "bad acting hurrdurr" seems to break down into 2 categories:
"Bella doesn't look like Ellie in the game" which kinda just makes me roll my eyes and ignore anything else that person has to say. Plenty of characters in this show doesn't look like the videogame version and you never hear people say that argument about Tommy or some of the other characters. Just feels like a generic "Ellie in the game is much hotter" argument.
The one I can actually agree a little bit with is the portrayal, but for me that's very little to do with Bella and it's on the writing and directing. There's definitely been a few episodes this season where Ellie comes off as 'nerfed' in order to make Dina shine more. And I know Ellie in the game is also a hothead who rushes into situations without a plan, but I'm talking more about scenes where you go "Wait, this girl travelled across the country with Joel and survived? and she doesn't know some basic survival stuff?". But again it's hard to fault Bella for that, it's what the writing is.
Feels like they really want to lean in to Pedro's likeability, and also to protect Kaitlyn Dever (and to a lesser extent Bella) by making everybody too sympathetic and easy to root for. They need to let the characters be vicious and ambiguous if you want to strongly present these themes of grief and the cycle of violence.
The last episode was very good in terms of showing us adorable-dad Joel and his relationship with Ellie, and making us sad that it deteriorated the way it did. But even this episode, they rushed through the complexity and made Ellie immediately "angry but forgiving". She basically gave Joel the old, "I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed"
Yep one of the better episodes of the season. Once again I didn't like all of the changes made but they kept the emotion of the moments from the game without adapting them all fully.
I can't help but feel these flashbacks would have been better spread throughout the season rather than one episode though. Especially with next week being the finale and the Theatre encounter .
Can we have a clear separation between Game's spoilers and TV Show spoilers, it's getting annoying.
If you're spoiling the game - put it under "GAME SPOILER". Please.
It dawned on me rewatching episode 6 today that a main reason why they must have placed the porch scene with Joel and Ellie here and not at the end like it is in the game was so they don't have to worry about bringing Pedro back for future seasons since he's quite in demand. We've now gotten all of the Joel portions from the game adapted for the show and any time they show him in the future could just be done using archive footage.
I liked this more than the other Seattle episodes as it found the tone of the game more and there were some moments I really liked, but it doesn't quite come together. And that's I think on the way this season has functioned so far. On the whole, the season's okay. It's not a bad show, but it really pales in comparison to its source material. It lacked teeth. Ellie's descent lacked the tangibility of the game and the aftermath scene this episode ran into the show's constant need to say everything out loud. It's like it's terrified of any kind of emotional uncertainty. The pacing of the season didn't allow the emotional underpinnings of the story a chance to really flourish and so I think when this episode did the scene where she and Jesse split, it rings a bit hollow even though I think the scene in isolation was quite good and a highlight this week.
I think a lot of the plot changes are perfectly workable with the right writing. I probably wouldn't enjoy those choices as much as the game ones, but workable just fine as an adaptation. Episode 3 I think is one of the best episodes of the season, but I also think that's an episode you do if you have more time and the season suffers for it. But the bigger problem is I just don't think Mazin's able to thread the needle with what on paper seem like fine changes to make and the core of the story he's adapting. Stuff like shifting Ellie and Dina's relationship makes some sense for taking a different approach, but it causes Ellie's character journey to compound awkwardly and I think his actual relationship dialogue is not very good. If you're adjusting that around, you need to handle it with a lot of finesse I just don't think they do.
It's not bad. And I think you can see they got ****ed on the budget quite a bit here, but how they spent their budget and runtime I think was also an issue. It's not like it's a disaster, there's plenty of good to be found. Episode 6 I thought was really good. By and large, the actors all do very well and I think most of my objections to acting choices have to do with the showrunner's wants and not them. But I think it's a disappointing adaptation and it doesn't really stick the most important points.
I've gotta say, I liked the finale a lot more than I thought I would, mainly thanks to Bella Ramsey and Young Mazino's performances. I did like the addition of Jesse learning that Dina was pregnant. It made his death all the more tragic.
I was curious how they were going to handle Owen and Mel's deaths (as well as their unborn child) but I knew they were going to make Ellie less cold-blooded. She's still responsible for their deaths but it's an easier pill for the audience to swallow by making Mel and her baby's death accidental collateral damage.
Along those lines, first Shimmer was spared and now Owen and Mel's dog. It's enough to make you think the production did something to piss off PETA in the first season to the extent where they didn't even want to hint at animal deaths here.
The final scene came as a surprise to me. I truly didn't think we were seeing any of Abby's POV until season 3 but I guess it makes sense to end on that to soften the cliffhanger a bit.
Overall it's been a mostly rushed adaptation of Part II but putting the game aside and pretending it doesn't exist for a second and judging this as a stand-alone season of TV, I think it was pretty solid. In any case I'm excited to see Kaitlyn Dever leading season 3.
I've gotta say, I liked the finale a lot more than I thought I would, mainly thanks to Bella Ramsey and Young Mazino's performances. I did like the addition of Jesse learning that Dina was pregnant. It made his death all the more tragic.
I was curious how they were going to handle Owen and Mel's deaths (as well as their unborn child) but I knew they were going to make Ellie less cold-blooded. She's still responsible for their deaths but it's an easier pill for the audience to swallow by making Mel and her baby's death accidental collateral damage.
Along those lines, first Shimmer was spared and now Owen and Mel's dog. It's enough to make you think the production did something to piss off PETA in the first season to the extent where they didn't even want to hint at animal deaths here.
The final scene came as a surprise to me. I truly didn't think we were seeing any of Abby's POV until season 3 but I guess it makes sense to end on that to soften the cliffhanger a bit.
Overall it's been a mostly rushed adaptation of Part II but putting the game aside and pretending it doesn't exist for a second and judging this as a stand-alone season of TV, I think it was pretty solid. In any case I'm excited to see Kaitlyn Dever leading season 3.
Wow, I totally forgot that detail and I missed it when I glanced over his TLOU2 wiki page after the episode but I just rewatched the cutscene. I don't remember Jesse being as focused on it in the game as he was in this episode, plus with the addition of him taking the arrow out of Dina's leg which clued him in.
Wow, I totally forgot that detail and I missed it when I glanced over his TLOU2 wiki page after the episode but I just rewatched the cutscene. I don't remember Jesse being as focused on it in the game as he was in this episode, plus with the addition of him taking the arrow out of Dina's leg which clued him in.
I thought it was a really good episode with two truly great, standout scenes but as a whole this season does kind of pale in comparison to the first especially this finale. Outside of episodes 2, 4 and 6 it definitely feels like this season just wasn't given the same care, passion as the first season and the lack of budget was very apparent throughout as well but I'm still on board for more and Season 3 atleast looks like it's going to go in a really interesting direction.
Jesse going out like that was shocking but I just had a feeling since the beginning of the episode he wasn't going to make it. I also wasn't expecting that cliffhanger ending with the sudden shift to Abby's perspective but I already know Kaitlyn Dever is going to kill it next season as the lead.
I just wonder how casuals are going to react to this and will they still be interested.
I really liked this season a lot. I get people’s issues and understand where they’re coming from, but nothing really bothered me or stood out super egregiously. Maybe a bit of pacing and “telling, not showing” dialogue, but that’s about it. I went in expecting an adaptation of the game and things to be different, and I got that.
Tough to say at this point since the story is not finished, but if TLOU season is a 10/10, I’d give this season an 8/10. A few small issues, but overall still pretty solid.
Looking forward to getting Abby’s perspective next season.
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