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Post by Captain Stud Muffin (BLM) on Feb 13, 2023 0:22:31 GMT -5
The last 20 minutes were simultaneously the most terrifying and heartbreaking scenes of a show I've watched in a long ass time. Holy hell yeah I watched it on Friday and when I was trying to type afterwards, I realized my hands were shaking, those twenty minutes had me so tense. This was the most action heavy episode but also one of the most soul crushing ones as well I always like when they draw parallels between situations and how things can go. It is an old staple but it works. Naruto was good at it until they went to the well one too many times with it. Him and the former golden child Pain going diff directions was a nice touch of what could happen and it is always a nice reminder to audience that circumstances can change with a character in an instant {Spoiler}{SPOILER: CLICK TO SHOW}
The way Joel looked at Henry and Sam grave was like holy shit this could be us and he is now realizing how much Ellie means to him |
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Perd
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Post by Perd on Feb 13, 2023 0:32:52 GMT -5
Just finished my weekly emotional racking. Seriously, with th exception of last week, this show always leaves me a puddle of despair and sorrow. But I love it. If it stays anywhere close to this quality, this first season will be a masterpiece in my book.
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Post by Captain Stud Muffin (BLM) on Feb 13, 2023 0:55:42 GMT -5
{Spoiler}{SPOILER: CLICK TO SHOW}
I also like the "parent/child" dynamic even tho none of them are that
Kathleen could not care about kids because she doesn't have any of her own. However, Henry has Sam and Joel has Ellie which is they have gone to the lengths they have gone
Also was a smart idea to age down Sam and making him Deaf. |
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lionheart21
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Post by lionheart21 on Feb 13, 2023 1:35:25 GMT -5
{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{SPOILER: CLICK TO SHOW}
I also like the "parent/child" dynamic even tho none of them are that
Kathleen could not care about kids because she doesn't have any of her own. However, Henry has Sam and Joel has Ellie which is they have gone to the lengths they have gone
Also was a smart idea to age down Sam and making him Deaf. {Spoiler}{SPOILER: CLICK TO SHOW}Also, the idea to make Sam deaf means that Henry has to be even more protective of him, since Sam would be completely unaware if an Infected was near him, or if he was about to be ambushed. Especially in a world where they're on the run from a woman that, like you said, doesn't care about Sam being a kid or the fact that Henry only did what he did because Sam was sick |
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ayumidah
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Post by ayumidah on Feb 19, 2023 22:20:05 GMT -5
that cliffhanger  I think we're now at the bit of gameplay for TLOU 1 that I've actually seen |
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lionheart21
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Post by lionheart21 on Feb 19, 2023 22:35:25 GMT -5
{Spoiler}{SPOILER: CLICK TO SHOW}Seeing Joel vulnerable like that with Tommy, feeling that he failed Sarah and that he'll fail Ellie as well because he's getting too old to protect her. And the scene where Ellie tells Joel that she knows about Sarah. Pascal and Ramsey absolutely nailed it. This show, man.  |
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Post by Captain Stud Muffin (BLM) on Feb 19, 2023 23:50:19 GMT -5
Every week this show continues to really kill it They have taken away parts of the game without really losing anything {Spoiler}{SPOILER: CLICK TO SHOW}
Joel having a full emotional breakdown to Tommy about how he feels like he is the bad luck in everything was a really interesting look into his psyche
It is nice to see Joel/Ellie really have a bond but still there is some boundaries that are there but the fact they care for each other and Joel outright admitting it was a good choice
Next week is going to be heartbreaking |
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Post by Captain Stud Muffin (BLM) on Feb 19, 2023 23:54:30 GMT -5
{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{SPOILER: CLICK TO SHOW}Seeing Joel vulnerable like that with Tommy, feeling that he failed Sarah and that he'll fail Ellie as well because he's getting too old to protect her. And the scene where Ellie tells Joel that she knows about Sarah. Pascal and Ramsey absolutely nailed it. This show, man. {Spoiler}{SPOILER: CLICK TO SHOW}
I do like that Joel still has his guard up and for as rebellious as Ellie is, she knew not to go too far over the Sarah line. But as Tommy said, Joel life stopped but that doesn't mean people stopped theirs and with Ellie she has lost everyone
Also, the underlying story of Joel will do anything when he feels it is what he has to do has really been hammered home and a nice job by them. It is not that Joel isn't a nice guy, it is that he is f***ed up
Pedro and Ramsey have been able to carry this show on their books. Giving similar but diff portrayals of Joel/Ellie from the game |
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Post by Captain Stud Muffin (BLM) on Feb 20, 2023 0:10:20 GMT -5
Also {Spoiler}{SPOILER: CLICK TO SHOW}
Was the girl staring at Ellie, Dina? |
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lionheart21
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Post by lionheart21 on Feb 20, 2023 0:26:00 GMT -5
Also {Spoiler}{Spoiler}{SPOILER: CLICK TO SHOW}
Was the girl staring at Ellie, Dina? {Spoiler}{SPOILER: CLICK TO SHOW}Given one of Neil Druckmann's Twitter posts on it, it seems that way |
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Post by Captain Stud Muffin (BLM) on Feb 20, 2023 0:43:36 GMT -5
Also {Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{SPOILER: CLICK TO SHOW}
Was the girl staring at Ellie, Dina? {Spoiler}{Spoiler}{SPOILER: CLICK TO SHOW}Given one of Neil Druckmann's Twitter posts on it, it seems that way {Spoiler}{SPOILER: CLICK TO SHOW}
Yeah, like it looked like her but I wasn't too sure but assumed we would get some type of nods to the upcoming season
Going be interesting if we see Abby |
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Perd
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Post by Perd on Feb 20, 2023 0:45:54 GMT -5
There was some phenomenal acting in that episode. Bella Ramsey just kills me, every time. Makes you laugh one second, tearing up the next. The show just continues to be a masterpiece, every week.
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Renslayer
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Post by Renslayer on Feb 20, 2023 2:18:17 GMT -5
They don't miss
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Post by Bruce Mother Wayne on Feb 20, 2023 2:43:48 GMT -5
Does anyone else think Joel's a bit too much of a softie in this show? He's much more of a dad-dad than the game's murder-dad.
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Clutchhausen
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Post by Clutchhausen on Feb 20, 2023 4:25:24 GMT -5
Does anyone else think Joel's a bit too much of a softie in this show? He's much more of a dad-dad than the game's murder-dad. I have a feeling he'll be video game Joel very soon. |
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Post by Captain Stud Muffin (BLM) on Feb 20, 2023 11:23:41 GMT -5
Does anyone else think Joel's a bit too much of a softie in this show? He's much more of a dad-dad than the game's murder-dad. Not really They constantly remind you that the man is a cold blooded killer when he has to be. This was the first time he’s shown true emotion all series. Him having panic attacks due to his ability thinking he can’t protect Ellie and the one where he saw someone who looked like his daughter was really good Besides that, Joel said he is emotional in the game it just comes out in dif ways |
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Perd
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Post by Perd on Feb 20, 2023 14:56:03 GMT -5
I didn’t play the game, so I can’t compare the Joels. But TV Joel has been pretty cold, emotionally invulnerable, to me, so far. He barely batted an eye when Tess died. Most of his vulnerability sems to stem from the fact that he’s almost 60 and is experiencing the effects of getting older. He wouldn’t have hesitated to kill Sam, he just couldn’t hear him. He can’t keep all night watch, because he can’t stay awake. That’s what happens when you get old. And most of his coldness is a facade, anyway. A facade he’s set up to make sure he doesn’t get hurt by letting people get to close to him. But that’s happened. In every sense but the biological, he has become Ellie’s father. And he unloads all his fears on the only person he could, his brother. There was never a chance he’d ever leave Ellie. He cares about her in all the ways a father does a daughter. He cares so much, that he opens himself to his greatest fear, the fear that he might fail her.
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Post by Legion on Feb 20, 2023 17:29:17 GMT -5
I think I would have liked to have seen their journey - an extra episode between last week and this week - that shows them bonding.
They told us, and the actors sold it really well, but I feel like I needed to spend more time with just the two of them developing their relationship so that the emotion in parts of this episode would have hit harder.
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Post by Captain Stud Muffin (BLM) on Feb 20, 2023 18:11:30 GMT -5
I think I would have liked to have seen their journey - an extra episode between last week and this week - that shows them bonding. They told us, and the actors sold it really well, but I feel like I needed to spend more time with just the two of them developing their relationship so that the emotion in parts of this episode would have hit harder. I think it is fine way they did it since it happened in the game as well Just not much you can do that wouldn't be filler. The emotions hit hard because this is the first time we have seen Joel emotional. He is meeting with is brother for first time in years and he has never properly grieved anyone not even Tess. He feels his limitations is starting to hit considering his age and he didn't want to be reason she died cause he is slipping up |
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Post by Bruce Mother Wayne on Feb 20, 2023 20:33:25 GMT -5
I think I would have liked to have seen their journey - an extra episode between last week and this week - that shows them bonding. They told us, and the actors sold it really well, but I feel like I needed to spend more time with just the two of them developing their relationship so that the emotion in parts of this episode would have hit harder. I think it is fine way they did it since it happened in the game as well Just not much you can do that wouldn't be filler. The emotions hit hard because this is the first time we have seen Joel emotional. He is meeting with is brother for first time in years and he has never properly grieved anyone not even Tess. He feels his limitations is starting to hit considering his age and he didn't want to be reason she died cause he is slipping up I'm not the biggest fan of the word 'filler' because it has no coherent, agreed-upon definition. Some people think talking and characterization is filler when they want something that gives them action. Other people think action is filler when they want something that gives them talking and characterization. And even then, it's not so black-and-white, either/or. What I would argue is that what may be filler in the context of a TV show like The Last of Us is what we might call gameplay and interactivity in the context of a video game like The Last of Us. The gameplay stuff is obvious: pushing buttons and moving sticks to get the avatars to do things. In the video game, Joel often shoots, stabs, clubs, and chokes his way out of many problems. The player may not have to do all of these things all of the time, but these actions do make up the core gameplay loop of The Last of Us. But experiencing the time of the gameplay also allows for a different kind of interactivity that TV shows and movies can't do. Some things in the game go faster or slower depending on if the player chooses the silent or loud approach. Or the kill or no-kill approach. Or the collectable-finding or speed-running approach. Whichever approach the player chooses feeds into the many action sequences that make up as much of the time the player spends with Joel and as Joel with Ellie. And vice versa, the action sequences also inform which approach a player may take at any one point in the game. All this is just a long way to say a video game is a video game, and a TV show is a TV show, and one can't be the other. But because of this fact, in the showrunners' efforts to adapt the video game, little things, that were gameplay that leads to cutscenes or cutscenes that lead to gameplay, fall by the wayside, and we, as an audience of the TV show, lose some of that context. Last week's episode cut an action sequence from that part of the video game that I felt was important to how the player relates to the characters. And this week's episode cut 2 (actually 3) action sequences of the game that punctuate the emotion of the story at that point in the game. {Spoiler}{SPOILER: CLICK TO SHOW}From last week's episode, we lose the part from the game where, in the sewer tunnels just outside Pittsburgh, the game swaps Ellie for Sam, which was preceded by the tense moment when Henry and Sam leaving Joel and Ellie to run from the armoured gun truck. While the NPC switch doesn't change anything about the gameplay, I think the player feels on edge because Sam is an unknown quantity as an NPC when we've played with Ellie for a few hours now. In kind, we should be thinking about getting back to Ellie ASAP because she's the NPC we know the most and the NPC we care about the most. We, as the player, should be feeling protective of the NPC as much as we, the player acting through Joel's avatar, is feeling protective of Ellie. This part of the game should also get us to connect more emotionally than Henry and Sam over the course of their appearance in the game. More time + more dangers = possible deeper connection, presumably.
From this week's episode, first we lose the fight at the dam. I don't think the gameplay here is remarkable, but it does show that even this great place has to fight to survive, and in the cutscene just before the fight, Tommy's line to Joel about how Joel probably still knows how to kill, and Joel's world-weary acknowledgement that he does still know how to kill, should illustrate, or at least suggest, just how much shit Joel has done for Tommy to want to get away from his big brother.
We also lose the fight at the ranch (and a fight in the forest on the way to the ranch) that comes after Joel and Ellie have their first real heart-to-heart conversation. I think Troy Baker's performance of this scene was better than Pascal's, and the cut line, "Ellie, you are treading on some mighty thin ice here," shows how much Ellie means to Joel at this point in the game, which is why he's trying to push her away in the first place! So the fight at the ranch also allows for some catharsis after this big emotional moment between Joel and Ellie. It also literalizes one of the themes of the game: do what you can to protect the people you love and care about, and we see Joel kill a bunch of people to prove exactly that. All this stuff I think ties into my earlier murder-dad vs. dad-dad point, and especially if the first season ends at the end of the story of the first game. If that happens, I can predict most people's responses will be in agreement with the characters. But I like that the game ending can be taken much more ambiguously depending on how one plays as Joel, and whether they agree with or identity with his actions (and quite literally, the gameplay that makes Joel's actions happen). Having more time to watch the characters be together and to spend time with one another would go a long way in helping the ending land the way it does, whether one agrees or disagrees with the characters and their choices. And just for the here-and-now stuff to see Joel and Ellie become a surrogate father-daughter pair. The show works well enough, it sticks the landing of what it needs to do, but when adapting these smaller emotional beats that the game and the gameplay capture so well, this just means that the show could be better yet. |
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