Author Topic: The Last of Us (HBO)  (Read 10321 times)

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Offline Grappler

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Re: The Last of Us (HBO)
« Reply #35 on: January 19, 2023, 07:09:19 AM »
One problem with a zombie show that definitely was my main issue with TWD was that there was no 'endgame' or plan. No "we have to get to this safe spot" or a natural place to end the story in, it's pretty much just "survive" and that's it.

If you've followed what Robert Kirkman (Walking Dead writer/creator) has always said about The Walking Dead, it's that he hated zombie stories that ended with "getting to the safe spot."  Every Living Dead zombie movie does that - they get to a safe spot or a helicopter and then it's over - but what happens next?  His story was open ended and more about survival in that kind of world in the years afterwards, than it was about finding an immediate safe spot.

I've never played any of the Last of Us games, so I'm looking forward to watching the show. 
« Last Edit: January 19, 2023, 07:54:42 AM by Grappler »

Offline WilliamMunny

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Re: The Last of Us (HBO)
« Reply #36 on: January 19, 2023, 07:14:09 AM »
Well, it only took three days (oh, the joys of parenthood), but my wife and I finally finished episode 1.

I do not play video games and know nothing about the source material, but I LOVE the zombie/post-apocalyptic genre.

Expectations were high, but this show more than exceeded any and all.

I am all in and super excited to see where this goes.

Offline Zantera

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Re: The Last of Us (HBO)
« Reply #37 on: January 19, 2023, 09:42:36 AM »
One problem with a zombie show that definitely was my main issue with TWD was that there was no 'endgame' or plan. No "we have to get to this safe spot" or a natural place to end the story in, it's pretty much just "survive" and that's it.

If you've followed what Robert Kirkman (Walking Dead writer/creator) has always said about The Walking Dead, it's that he hated zombie stories that ended with "getting to the safe spot."  Every Living Dead zombie movie does that - they get to a safe spot or a helicopter and then it's over - but what happens next?  His story was open ended and more about survival in that kind of world in the years afterwards, than it was about finding an immediate safe spot.

I've never played any of the Last of Us games, so I'm looking forward to watching the show.

I think it's an interesting idea in theory and one that could work well in comic book form because you can still be very creative with visuals but the show really suffered for it IMO. So far TLOU delivers a lot better visually but they usually go big on the pilot and the finale and I fully expect to get some 'cheaper' episodes in between with fewer effects or sets. However, I do think (and hope) that they can compensate for that with strong characterization to keep us engaged.

Offline ariich

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Re: The Last of Us (HBO)
« Reply #38 on: January 19, 2023, 01:04:13 PM »
I get what Kirkman was doing with the Walking Dead comics - I've not read them myself, but I understand from fans of them that there's good characterisation. The problem with the show is that it just meandered so much and didn't go anywhere. It doesn't need to be "getting to the safe spot" - the setting can be unchanging - but then it's even more important that the character arcs are engaging. TWD had moments of greatness in that regard but too few and far between.

In the games (and therefore probably the show), TLOU is very different. It's wholly focused on character stories and motivations and it won't take 11 seasons to get there.

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Offline gmillerdrake

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Re: The Last of Us (HBO)
« Reply #39 on: January 19, 2023, 02:52:01 PM »
I get what Kirkman was doing with the Walking Dead comics - I've not read them myself, but I understand from fans of them that there's good characterisation. The problem with the show is that it just meandered so much and didn't go anywhere. It doesn't need to be "getting to the safe spot" - the setting can be unchanging - but then it's even more important that the character arcs are engaging. TWD had moments of greatness in that regard but too few and far between.

In the games (and therefore probably the show), TLOU is very different. It's wholly focused on character stories and motivations and it won't take 11 seasons to get there.

My issue with TWD show was/is they felt the need to deviate from the source material in order to create surprise and uncertainty.....and in nearly every instance that they did so it was done really bad and diluted the story. I would have loved to have just seen a (more or less) straight adaptation of the Comic.

I've never played the game this show is based off of so I'll just enjoy it for what it is I suppose.

That is when I get the chance to watch....we're day three with no internet  :(  New equipment should be delivering any moment
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Offline gmillerdrake

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Re: The Last of Us (HBO)
« Reply #40 on: January 20, 2023, 07:30:13 AM »
Finally got a chance to watch.....I enjoyed it a lot. I didn't know the 'lore' behind that style of zombie....that's really interesting and a neat take. Gut wrenching with the fate of his daughter....that was a brutal scene.
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Re: The Last of Us (HBO)
« Reply #41 on: January 20, 2023, 09:40:17 AM »
I haven't played the games, I have not watched TWD past the first episode of season 1.

I watched the first EP of TLoU and man, that was fantastic. I hope this one is good enough to keep running for at least 2 more seasons.

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Re: The Last of Us (HBO)
« Reply #42 on: January 20, 2023, 10:03:54 AM »
I think I made it to S3 of Walking Dead...and I realized they were just beating a dead horse over and over again.

Offline The Realm

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Re: The Last of Us (HBO)
« Reply #43 on: January 22, 2023, 10:40:25 PM »
Wow! That second episode was amazing. Loved it. Extremely intense and really well done. The acting was top notch and the production values are also amazing.

As I stated earlier I wasn't at all blown away by the first episode but it did enough to drag me in, but this really ramped it up a few notches.

Offline TheOutlawXanadu

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Re: The Last of Us (HBO)
« Reply #44 on: January 23, 2023, 06:45:21 AM »
I'm waiting until next month to get that HBO Max subscription. At that point, I won't need to keep it for more than another month or so. I'm trying not to have too many of these streaming services going at once. :lol

As someone who knows the games well, I'm really excited to watch the show. It doesn't surprise me that this first season is a hit. I'm very curious to see what they do with Part II. Unlike the first game, which feels very much like a movie or television series anyway, Part II feels more like a novel. I won't say much more because I don't want to spoil anything, but as big a challenge as adapting Part I was, Part II will be even moreso.
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Offline gmillerdrake

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Re: The Last of Us (HBO)
« Reply #45 on: January 23, 2023, 07:15:02 AM »
Wow! That second episode was amazing. Loved it. Extremely intense and really well done. The acting was top notch

Loving what I'm seeing this far....I have zero history with the source material and am just taking it for what they're giving us and I am digging it for sure....it's been great


and the production values are also amazing.

While I agree the sets have been incredible and the whole show has a great feel and atmosphere......there were a couple scenes of the 'daytime' city that you could really tell the difference between the set they were on and the CGI'd city/landscape beyond. It was very well done.....but.....it was noticeable. It's not a detriment or even a gripe, it's amazing what can be done these days but if I'm comparing it to say The Mandalorian or House of the Dragon where those differences are near impossible to spot, that's when it's noticeable to me.
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Offline Grappler

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Re: The Last of Us (HBO)
« Reply #46 on: January 23, 2023, 07:19:40 AM »
The second episode was awesome - I was very unnerved by the tendrils and the living fungus inside of the zombies. 

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Re: The Last of Us (HBO)
« Reply #47 on: January 23, 2023, 08:53:34 AM »
The second episode was awesome - I was very unnerved by the tendrils and the living fungus inside of the zombies.

Yeah.. When the zombie "kissed" her.... Very unnerving

Offline Grappler

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Re: The Last of Us (HBO)
« Reply #48 on: January 23, 2023, 09:05:18 AM »
The second episode was awesome - I was very unnerved by the tendrils and the living fungus inside of the zombies.

Yeah.. When the zombie "kissed" her.... Very unnerving

Even the beginning as well - pulling squirming tendrils out of a zombie's throat.  I can handle brain-dead zombies any day, but the idea that this living fungus is doing that inside of a person really made me feel weird. 

Having watched the behind the episode stuff, I like that they're not afraid to make some changes to the game to make things work better for TV.  I was surprised at the end as well, losing someone already.

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Re: The Last of Us (HBO)
« Reply #49 on: January 23, 2023, 10:57:49 AM »
2nd episode was fantastic and the cinematography was gorgeous. I wonder if some scenes appearing to look a bit fakey is maybe a nod to the game itself. Either way I haven't played the game so going in blind on story-wise and enjoying these two episodes quite a lot so far.
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Offline The Realm

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Re: The Last of Us (HBO)
« Reply #50 on: January 23, 2023, 02:30:33 PM »
Wow! That second episode was amazing. Loved it. Extremely intense and really well done. The acting was top notch

Loving what I'm seeing this far....I have zero history with the source material and am just taking it for what they're giving us and I am digging it for sure....it's been great


and the production values are also amazing.

While I agree the sets have been incredible and the whole show has a great feel and atmosphere......there were a couple scenes of the 'daytime' city that you could really tell the difference between the set they were on and the CGI'd city/landscape beyond. It was very well done.....but.....it was noticeable. It's not a detriment or even a gripe, it's amazing what can be done these days but if I'm comparing it to say The Mandalorian or House of the Dragon where those differences are near impossible to spot, that's when it's noticeable to me.

Yeah, I get that. I was more talking about the overall look and feel. I don't know the game at all but it is my understanding that the city scapes and backgrounds are all pretty faithful to the game. I just think the 'look' of the show is really great. I mean some of it is simple, like seeing Ellie wake up with the golden glow of the sun shining on her (similar to how Jesus is depicted in paintings etc) while Joel and Tess are cloaked in shadow.

There are also so many great and subtle characterisations going on and these things really build a connection with the audience. While, a completely different show, this aspect reminds me a lot of Andor another recent show I also loved.

Offline DTwwbwMP

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Re: The Last of Us (HBO)
« Reply #51 on: January 23, 2023, 11:26:55 PM »
ep 2 was really good. Love the openings of both eps so far!

Offline ariich

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Re: The Last of Us (HBO)
« Reply #52 on: January 24, 2023, 01:33:39 AM »
This show is so damn great. All the small changes they've made from the games completely make sense for adapting the story for TV, but all the big points they're absolutely nailing.

I've also listened to the first two HBO podcasts (hosted by Troy Baker who voiced Joel in the games, and he interviews Druckman and Mazin) which give a lot of interesting insight into just how deliberate and careful everything they've done is, and the rationale for things that are slightly different from the games. Like, the scene at the end of episode 2, having it be infected instead of FEDRA soldiers arose from Mazin asking "why would FEDRA even be patrolling out there in the first place?". It's not a major plot hole in the game of anything, but the tweak for the show makes it a little more logical.

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Offline PixelDream

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Re: The Last of Us (HBO)
« Reply #53 on: January 24, 2023, 04:23:23 AM »
First two episodes were absolutely fantastic. Nailed the whole vibe, everything feels right. Love the addition of the origin story and some of those changes and additions really make for a better show. So far it’s 10/10 for me. Loved the games (completed them both), love the show. Some of those moments with the clickers really felt like how it was in the game.
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Re: The Last of Us (HBO)
« Reply #54 on: January 24, 2023, 08:51:22 AM »
This second episode definitely helped drag me in.  Started getting the story going and I'm hooked.  The fungus aspect of these zombies is interesting and gives it something different but also adds a lot of suspense.

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Re: The Last of Us (HBO)
« Reply #55 on: January 25, 2023, 04:32:57 AM »
Two episodes in and I'm a fan as well. Coming at this with no experience with the game, but I love the world and the story they've set up so far.
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Re: The Last of Us (HBO)
« Reply #56 on: January 25, 2023, 01:21:28 PM »
All the little details and nuances in this show are fantastic to immerse yourself into. The opening to episode 2 mentioned that that patient in Jakarta had been working in the flour mill (which in real life is apparently the largest flour mill in the world), and it turns out in episode 1 Joel, Sarah and Tommy had not been eating anything with flour in because 1. they'd run out (so Sarah made eggs instead of pancakes) and 2. Joel was on the atkins diet so avoiding carbs.

In the game, it was hinted (in a newspaper you can pick up and read when playing as Sarah in the intro) that it started from contaminated food products, so it's really cool how they're expanding on that but still in small, subtle ways that don't make a big deal about it and keep the main focus on the emotional character stories.

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Offline cramx3

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Re: The Last of Us (HBO)
« Reply #57 on: January 25, 2023, 01:26:17 PM »
That's a good catch

Offline gmillerdrake

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Re: The Last of Us (HBO)
« Reply #58 on: January 25, 2023, 03:15:49 PM »
I wonder if some scenes appearing to look a bit fakey is maybe a nod to the game itself. E

I don't know the game at all but it is my understanding that the city scapes and backgrounds are all pretty faithful to the game. I just think the 'look' of the show is really great

So I ran down a bit of a Youtube Rabbit Hole on some of the game cut scenes and you guys might be on to something as far as the intentionality of the way those city scape scenes looked. They were pretty faithful to the 'look' of the cut scenes I saw....and makes sense being that HBO has clearly demonstrated they have the CGI/Rendering ability to produce scenes where you can't tell the difference between CGI and practical effects.
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Re: The Last of Us (HBO)
« Reply #59 on: January 29, 2023, 09:52:14 PM »
Tonight's episode left me absolutely speechless. Just outstanding.

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Re: The Last of Us (HBO)
« Reply #60 on: January 30, 2023, 01:58:40 AM »
Tonight's episode left me absolutely speechless. Just outstanding.

Outstandingly boring. Most of the episode was pointless. Is Bill even in the game?

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Re: The Last of Us (HBO)
« Reply #61 on: January 30, 2023, 02:28:44 AM »
Yes he is. Snippets of his relationship with Frank are also in the game through notes and stuff you can read but it's pretty subtle (no direct flashbacks or anything) so they expanded on it in the show.

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Re: The Last of Us (HBO)
« Reply #62 on: January 30, 2023, 04:40:59 AM »
Tonight's episode left me absolutely speechless. Just outstanding.

Nick Offerman and the other guy absolutely killed it.
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Re: The Last of Us (HBO)
« Reply #63 on: January 30, 2023, 04:51:00 AM »
That episode was beautiful. While it was a shame we never got to see Joel and Ellie interact with Bill in the way they did in the game, I can see why they went with a different approach here and it worked wonderfully (and still ultimately ends up with the same outcome).

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Re: The Last of Us (HBO)
« Reply #64 on: January 30, 2023, 06:14:23 AM »
Tonight's episode left me absolutely speechless. Just outstanding.

Nick Offerman and the other guy absolutely killed it.

Agreed, both incredible performances

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Re: The Last of Us (HBO)
« Reply #65 on: January 30, 2023, 06:56:41 AM »
Great slow burn episode, I like seeing more of the world and enjoyed the intersection between Joe and Bill. I loved the structure of this 3rd episode so much going through Bill's character. The character development has been excellent so far, it gives so much more depth.


Was interesting to hear about the spread of the fungus, liked how it was a lot more straight forward. I would love more flashback scenes with different characters and different countries etc..
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Re: The Last of Us (HBO)
« Reply #66 on: January 30, 2023, 07:12:41 AM »
Great slow burn episode, I like seeing more of the world and enjoyed the intersection between Joe and Bill. I loved the structure of this 3rd episode so much going through Bill's character. The character development has been excellent so far, it gives so much more depth.


Was interesting to hear about the spread of the fungus, liked how it was a lot more straight forward. I would love more flashback scenes with different characters and different countries etc..

Based on what they did in this episode, I'm pretty sure they'll be doing a great deal more flashbacks.

Offline cramx3

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Re: The Last of Us (HBO)
« Reply #67 on: January 30, 2023, 08:06:10 AM »
Tonight's episode left me absolutely speechless. Just outstanding.

Outstandingly boring. Most of the episode was pointless. Is Bill even in the game?

I wouldn't go that far, but I wonder what the point of so much time spent on this story just for both of them to be dead. (maybe game players understand this more than I do?)   It was certainly an emotional story and they portrayed it fairly well, I just don't understand the why.  I ended up feeling a bit bored with the episode myself mostly because I thought the side story dragged a bit and when you realized they both took the meds it just made me wonder, why should I be emotionally invested in this now like I was 5 minutes earlier?

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Re: The Last of Us (HBO)
« Reply #68 on: January 30, 2023, 08:23:28 AM »
Tonight's episode left me absolutely speechless. Just outstanding.

Outstandingly boring. Most of the episode was pointless. Is Bill even in the game?

I wouldn't go that far, but I wonder what the point of so much time spent on this story just for both of them to be dead. (maybe game players understand this more than I do?)   It was certainly an emotional story and they portrayed it fairly well, I just don't understand the why.  I ended up feeling a bit bored with the episode myself mostly because I thought the side story dragged a bit and when you realized they both took the meds it just made me wonder, why should I be emotionally invested in this now like I was 5 minutes earlier?

Exactly. They started building Bill as a badass, and then it turns into a neverending love story, and then they die. I would have liked to see more of Bill, and surviving the infected. The episode dragged so much and for characters we will probably never see again. It's like that episode of Lost where they devote an entire episode to side characters we hardly saw, just to kill them off.

And old Frank looked like Jordan Peterson. I thought that was funny.

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Re: The Last of Us (HBO)
« Reply #69 on: January 30, 2023, 08:43:14 AM »
Tonight's episode left me absolutely speechless. Just outstanding.

Outstandingly boring. Most of the episode was pointless. Is Bill even in the game?

I wouldn't go that far, but I wonder what the point of so much time spent on this story just for both of them to be dead. (maybe game players understand this more than I do?)   It was certainly an emotional story and they portrayed it fairly well, I just don't understand the why.  I ended up feeling a bit bored with the episode myself mostly because I thought the side story dragged a bit and when you realized they both took the meds it just made me wonder, why should I be emotionally invested in this now like I was 5 minutes earlier?

For me, it just stressed the value of saving one life. In the beginning we have the mass killing of people for apparently no real reason, just a mass wasting of life out of fear. Then we have the saving of one life pretty much on a whim, which turns out to be an absolute godsend to a man who was constantly isolated and angry, which he stresses in his note to Joel, who is in process of saving one life, Ellie's. I think it's going to pave the way from Ellie being a burden to her being so much more to Joel, to being a daughter figure.