Great finale, they executed it very well. And yes, this was very close to the game. It is one of those endings that has led to many discussions over the years and sticks with you.
One thing I really think the series did very well was changing/adding some plotlines to mirror Joel's journey. Especially the conversation between Henry and Joel, where Henry tells the story of his betrayal to save Sam.
They covered that change in the official podcast. Basically it's another extension of keeping the show more grounded. They considered the wider plot implications of there being hundreds of infected in the middle of nowhere. The more I think about it, the less it makes sense in the game - not that it bothers me at all, but i can see why they avoided it in the show.
I don't think it was a reason for the change, but the other thing it allowed them to do is focus more on David's manipulative side. In the game, it was chance that they had to fight off infected such that Ellie started to trust him. In the show, it was all him working to win her over.
Yeah, that is fair.
I do respect the decision to keep things more grounded. And in the Winter chapter it makes the most sense. With there being no infected, it gives the people a solid plot reason to keep surviving through the harsh winter as well.
The lack of infected makes for a unique "zombie" show. Actually, it really is more of a post apocalypse show where the infection started the downfall of society.
It keeps the game it's own experience as well, as that is much more of a voilent "against all odds" survival struggle through hordes of humans and infected. In the game's world it is offcourse also much easier to get infected (by breathing in an infectious amount of spores).
Which makes sense for the game, because a game needs enough active participation in the form of action (unless it's something like the Telltale games). I still think the storytelling in the games is phenomenal, but by virtue of being a game it has to sacrifice some realism/groundedness for the sake of gameplay.
I guess everyone interprets art and media differently, but I always saw TLOU as a post-apocalyptic story about people and societies, rather than actually about the infected. A lot of thought went into them for sure (in the games and the show) but mainly I saw them as the setting rather than the story.
And to be honest, I don't even agree with the view that the show has a lack of infected. They've appeared in more than half the episodes, and those they've not appeared in have been ones that focused on people conflicts.
I agree with you (and as for the amount of conflicts of the game I made a similar post a while back, a game like this indeed needs a lot of conflict for gameplay). Having a bit more infected is just a personal preference, I just loved the design of the clickers in the series, I would've liked seeing a bit more later on at some point (delving into the horror elements that the game sometimes has).
Amazing finale! That opening scene threw me for a loop with me thinking that it was set in the future with a pregnant Ellie. That lady looked so much like Bella! Honestly it's one of the best zombie related series I've seen and love that they don't focus too much on the zombies. It was a gut wrenching episode though not in the traditional sense. Brutiful ending is what I'd call it.
Edit: Ok so just read that the lady playing the pregnant mom is the actress who played/voiced Ellie in the game, they sounded so similar!
She is indeed Ellie in the games. Amazing voice/motion capture actress, good to see her talents translate well to the screen too.
On a sidenote, Troy Baker, Joel in the game, played James in the last episode (David's right hand man).