The Last of Us (TV Show)

Watched last episode - so when compared to the videogame the TV show ends pretty much exactly the same way?

My memory of the game is super hazy but I thought the game made it more ambiguous whether killing Ellie would have resulted in a cure - the tv show portrayed it more as a dead cert?. In which case, people in this thread comment about whether the Fireflies should have got Ellie's "consent" but the fireflies would have never given her a choice - they would have always killed her. Asking permission giving a sense of false consent puts horrible pressure on her whatever her answer. She says no; she's killed anyway scared, she says yes; its still not very nice knowing you are going to die. Isn't it kinder she goes to sleep thinking she is going to do good and not going to die

Though some gamers talk about cognitive dissonance of a "good" character killing multiple people most gamers except to do otherwise wouldn't be very fun. That scene (in the hospital) was more uncomfortable in the TV show than the game!

Barnsy! wrote:My memory of the game is super hazy but I thought the game made it more ambiguous whether killing Ellie would have resulted in a cure - the tv show portrayed it more as a dead cert?.

In the game it’s their best and only shot, but it’s never really thrown in doubt. They never explicitly state the confidence that it will definitely work, but there’s nothing to suggest it wouldn’t, or that there’s a chance it wouldn’t. You’re just supposed to assume that it would. I remember a lot of people bending over backwards to try and justify Joel’s actions at the time by saying there’s a log that says they’ve tried it tons of times before and it’s never worked, but that particular log actually says they were trying with normally infected subjects. Ellie is the only one that was ever immune.

Joel’s actions aren’t supposed to be morally ambiguous. They are 100% wrong. But, you can understand it, even forgive him for it, because you know he didn’t have any other choice. He cannot help it. Of *course* he saves Ellie, because he can’t bear to go through that loss again.

speedboatchase wrote:The more standalone episodes (ep3, ep8) were incredible but came largely at the expense of the overall story.

I agree they came at the expense of the show only because there wasn't enough time left for everything else, if the run had been longer by just a few episodes they would have had the breathing space for them.

deathofcows wrote:Joel's killing spree felt very different to the game, I thought. More uncomfortable, more of a massacre? May be his impassive expression and the music tone. Almost felt like I was watching a psychopath school-shooter spree or something. Was effective! Felt like whatever the Old Joel was capable of (the Bad Things Tommy previously referred to) had come back. I'd have to compare to the gameplay but of the game to work out why it was less sympathetic? (likely intentionally so)

Barnsy! wrote:Joels actionsat the end of the game were entirely in keeping with the way he was portrayed throughout the game, but up until this point I couldn't see TV Joel (who has done some shitty things) killing a hospital full of people

deathofcows wrote:Show as a whole felt a bit small, and less of A Journey than the game. Partly because of literal time-spent-with-characters but also I think just in pacing.

Definitely. I almost felt they were trying too hard to oversell the progression in Joel/Ellie's relationship in the episodes where it step-changed because they didn't have the time for it to develop naturally. My favourite episode remains episode 6 and I think that's because it was the one that most captured the pair on a journey aspect.

jiggles wrote:The ending of the game sort of pivots on Ellie choosing to believe Joel, but given how unbelievable Joel’s story now is, the ending of the show now to leans more towards her knowing he is lying and simply accepting it.

deathofcows wrote:(Unsure why The Lie is more interesting and important to people than The Choice though! Both are Significant)

deathofcows wrote:Anyway I liked it, didn't love it, but got a lot out of watching it and thinking about it (and the differences).

That sums it up nicely for me too! I don't think I'd have enjoyed it as much as a standalone show, but as a game fan it was fun making comparisons and seeing how it all got translated. The shot-for-shot line-for-line parts were good and proof of the game's filmic qualities, but for the most part I thought the game did them better (not necessarily in isolation or direct comparison, but in pacing and build-up and getting the player invested). The divergence of the adapation was more interesting and sometimes succeeded (ep3 and the jakarta world building (I wish we'd seen more)) but more often came off worse to me (like Kansas city and the pregnancy). What I think is neat is how they have obviously benefited from knowing where things are going from the second game so there is more continuity set up with that. I'll definitely be watching the next season!

4K Blu Ray is now available to pre-order at HMV (exclusive box-art, £39.99) and Amazon (steelbook, £50).

The first review of the boxset on Amazon:

Dalton McTeague
1.0 out of 5 stars
No way I buy or watch this...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 March 2023
What I dislike is that the designer Neil Druckmann ruined the video game The Last of Us with the monstrosity The Last of Us 2. It was an unforgivable betrayal the fans of the game. Do a google search of Neil Druckmann ruined The Last of Us. One of best review is "The Last Of Us Part 2 Is Worse Than You Think" by MisAnthro Pony or Angry Joe's hilarious "The Last of Us Part II" (both on YouTube). The betrayal is unforgivable. Video games that are works of art are rare. The Last of Us was one of them. DRUCKMANN is like LASZLO TOTH the guy who damaged Michelangelo's Pieta with a hammer. The Last of Us was a masterpiece. Still, I'm sure Druckmann was laughing all the way to the bank. What do I know? I'm just a poor guy who loves video games.

The other kids at school thought Dalton McTeague was a wanker.

Bella Ramsey, who plays Ellie in HBO's The Last of Us, thinks season two won't be here until "end of 2024, early 2025".

In a conversation with Jonathon Ross on the host's ITV chat show last Friday, Ramsey stated the next series' arrival will "be a while". She did, however, reiterate Pedro Pascal's previous comments that shooting could start as soon as "end of this year, beginning of next".

https://www.eurogamer.net/the-last-of-u ... ey-reckons

jiggles wrote:Just one thing about that car bit that kind of affects the final scene:

In the show she was conscious before the surgery but in the game she wasn’t, because she just almost drowned.

When she comes to in the car she’s like confused as to what the hell is even going on, while Joel explains that they found the fireflies and they stopped looking for a cure.

Now, in the show she asks about Marlene, but in the game she doesn’t even know that Marlene is alive or even with them there. But given that she’s wearing a hospital gown, she should know right away that Joel is lying, *except* that the last thing she actually remembers is jumping into the water to try save Joel, so he could explain that away as part of them saving her life. Though he doesn’t explain why they left dressed like that and without her stuff, so it seems fishy.

In the show, he does explain why they left like that, closing that door, but the justification that they’re not looking for a cure anymore doesn’t work if Ellie spoke knew Marlene was alive and therefore knew she was going under! I think it would have been fine to have Ellie not have known Marlene was there (and not have been conscious before the surgery) and simply left her suspicious at Joel’s really flimsy “raiders” explanation.

The ending of the game sort of pivots on Ellie choosing to believe Joel, but given how unbelievable Joel’s story now is, the ending of the show now to leans more towards her knowing he is lying and simply accepting it.

Of course, I might just be reading too much into that line. I just keep thinking everything added was changed for a reason.

Ellie always knew Joel was lying or having a huge doubt about it. She wants to believe Joel and leave it at that but its always there in her mind.

The ending of the show is pretty much identical to the game.

Just finished, excellent stuff. I echo the sentiments here, great adaptation, perhaps a little rushed in places.

poshrule_uk wrote:

Why didn't Marlene just take Ellie to the hospital? She mentioned to Joel at the end that she needed an armed guard to make it to Boston and was surprised the two of them made it.

She didn't have her armed guards with her in episode 1, she was meeting up with a group of fireflies and then they were all going to the hospital together.

She wanted Joel to take her to the group she was meeting up with as she now didn't have the truck battery she was going to use to drive Ellie there, and didn't have the skills to get her there on foot (like Joel).

When Joel got to where the Fireflies were supposed to be they were all dead (that was where Tess died in ep 2).

Started watching this earlier this week, wow it's good. Really enjoying it.

It'd make one hell of a video game.

Finally got round to watching this. It was okay but the casting didn't work for me and it just felt like an inferior version of the game. Also, a lot of the more notable changes to the game either felt unnecessary/for the sake of it or were underexplored.

Interesring that the best episode was comfortably episode 3. Makes me think they should have moved further away from the game and done their own thing more. But on the other hand the pacing on the main story felt a bit more rushed. Definitely think they needed some more episodes (maybe 2 more).

I’ve just started watching this on disc. Couldn’t help but spot some of the similarities with the Resident Evil games in episode 1. The first reveal of ‘the zombie’ eating her Mum in the kitchen was like the first time you encounter a zombie in Resi 1; Joel getting split up from his brother due to the police car exploding into the back of another stationary vehicle and having to meet up later the same as Leon and Claire at the beginning of Resi 2.

Rather like the Halo series, I’m not that familiar with the games, which I think sometimes helps as I’m not sitting there thinking ‘they’ve buggered up this character’ or plot point.

Got the boxset on monday but haven't started it yet.

I won't be able to compare it to the game as i've never played the game.

Mind you, i'm currently bingeing on Big Bang Theory (netflix) so it may be a while before i get started on this.

Vermilion wrote:Got the boxset on monday but haven't started it yet.

I won't be able to compare it to the game as i've never played the game.

Mind you, i'm currently bingeing on Big Bang Theory (netflix) so it may be a while before i get started on this.

For the love of God, why?

Van Foster wrote:

Vermilion wrote:Got the boxset on monday but haven't started it yet.

I won't be able to compare it to the game as i've never played the game.

Mind you, i'm currently bingeing on Big Bang Theory (netflix) so it may be a while before i get started on this.

For the love of God, why?

It's a comedy show which actually makes me laugh.

Bazinga

twitter.com/Naughty_Dog/status/1744766416350560360

After casting someone who didn't look like Ellie at all in S1, it's an interesting choice to cast someone who does look like her as Abby in S2

That's a brave role to take on. May as well have got Anna Gunn doing it.

Mazin's apparently said the second season is going to be drastically different from the game, more so than the first.

But having never played the games, I don't know whether that's a good thing or a bad thing. I absolutely loved S1 though, so I guess he knows what he's doing.

Tomous wrote:

twitter.com/Naughty_Dog/status/1744766416350560360

After casting someone who didn't look like Ellie at all in S1, it's an interesting choice to cast someone who does look like her as Abby in S2

That's mental that be. She was also my number one choice to play Ellie having seen her in the wonderful Justified. I don't see her as Abby though. Saying that, I disagreed with both of the main casting choices (and Tommy) and they've won me over so I'm pretty easy with it.

I'm still hopeful that they change the story so as THAT INCIDENT doesn't happen and they take a different route.

Imrahil wrote:Mazin's apparently said the second season is going to be drastically different from the game, more so than the first.

But having never played the games, I don't know whether that's a good thing or a bad thing. I absolutely loved S1 though, so I guess he knows what he's doing.

At the very least, the structure of the story would need changing from the games to make it suitable for TV, in my opinion.