The Last of Us: The Show!

[makkuwata]

It airs everywhere 2am GMT.

[Rog]

Sorry to be a twat as I’m certain this has been asked in the thread 20 times but I don’t want to read through in case: I’ve not played the games but would like to…should I watch the show before playing?

[Mortis]

Depends if you want the story spoiled by the show or the game first. I’d say play the game after - it’s much more combat focused and the story has been changed slightly in places so far for the TV show  

[Danster]

Episode 5

 

Spoiler

Oh fuck, even though I knew that was coming, that was hard hitting. I even had this moment of hope... Several in fact. Maybe they'll divert from the game! Yeah! Keep them alive.

 

Then Ellie's blood, maybe it works that way, maybe that'll work. But fuck... No.

 

 

Plus the boomer and Kathleen getting done by a clicker and that whole fight scene was immense. Pouring out of the ground, totally overwhelming. 

 

 

Excellent episode

[Strafe]

Best episode so far for me.

 

If there was one part of the game that I didn’t think would make it into the show it was the

 

Spoiler

Sniping section from house. That’s just so videogamey - , a shooting gallery section - that you wouldn’t think would work on film but they pulled it off. Great/horrifying to see the Boomer fucking people up.
 

Half-sorry to see Karen of the Apocalypse (Kathleen) go so early, she was an interesting character. Just an ordinary person, a soccer mom type, who’s been transformed by the collapse.

 

[makkuwata]

Spoiler

Good riddance Kathleen you died as you lived, not making much sense as a character.

 

I remain unconvinced that the scenes expanding on that group beyond “bad guys” were more worthwhile than spending time with Henry and Sam.

 

Though after learning from @Popothat the beardy man is the actor who played Tommy in the game it was fun to see him get a healthy bit of screen time. RIP beardy man, you died as you lived, getting your head ripped off so we had a reason for the Bloater to exist on the show.

Past the half way mark of the season now. I don’t think it’s ever going to sit completely right with me, but the material ahead is so strong.

[Thor]

Aye, that was exceptionally done. 

Spoiler

It's a bloater, not a boomer. 

 

I thought the city overthrowing FEDRA and Henry's direct link to that added substance. Good to see the nod to Ish, who is only ever mentioned in the game by text, but it's a good nod either way. 

 

[Stevie]

Great episode. 
 

1 hour ago, Thor said:

Aye, that was exceptionally done. 

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It's a bloater, not a boomer. 

 

 

 

 

Spoiler

Dude that guy was totally born in 1955 and voted republican all his life

 

[Masterbeef]

I haven’t seen Episode 5 yet but thought 4 was a real let down after 3 brilliant episodes ( I’d rate the first three at least 9/10 whereas 4 I’d give maybe a 6/10 if I was feeling really generous). The lady playing the chief antagonist can’t act AT ALL. I seriously think I could have done a better job. When the show came back after the ads on Sky I thought something had gone wrong with the recording as it was straight into a scene with her.

 

What makes it so jarring is the fact that the rest of the cast is so good. A strange episode once they got to the city. Everything before that was good. 

[NecroMorrius]

Actually belly laughing at “Melanie Lynskey can’t act AT ALL”. The singsong Ms Rachel act is very very deliberate. She’s not even American incidentally!

[NecroMorrius]

3 hours ago, Thor said:

Aye, that was exceptionally done. 

  Reveal hidden contents

It's a bloater, not a boomer. 

 

I thought the city overthrowing FEDRA and Henry's direct link to that added substance. Good to see the nod to Ish, who is only ever mentioned in the game by text, but it's a good nod either way. 

 

Ish is a nod to a character in a book called “The Earth Abides”, possibly the first post-apocalyptic novel and an influence on TLOU. Worth a read. 

[Waggo]

1 hour ago, Moz said:

Actually belly laughing at “Melanie Lynskey can’t act AT ALL”. The singsong Ms Rachel act is very very deliberate. She’s not even American incidentally!

100% this.

[NecroMorrius]

Bella Ramsey was fucking brilliant in this episode. Maybe a controversial take but I (and the Mrs) thought this was the best episode so far, just pipping 3 to the post. 

[SpagMasterSwift]

The second half of the latest episode was really good, easily the best TLOU content so far for me. But the overall build up of Joel and Ellie’s relationship has been great throughout. Love the little moments between them

Spoiler

like when Ellie pulls her gun out of her pocket much to Joel’s quiet annoyance as it should have been in her backpack.

 

[Fry Crayola]

Really loved the episode and 

 

 

Spoiler

Sam's end really hit me even though I knew to expect it. Much more so than Sarah's in episode one.

 

It was the request to Ellie to stay awake. Frightened, too scared to even tell his brother, to let him down. Like Ellie, he didn't want to be alone. Right then, I went. 

 

On a light-hearted note, great to see the Bloater kill Katherine's lieutenant exactly as it killed my Joel so many times in that gym.

 

[SnoopZakaDaVe]

Really enjoying this series, is the only thing I look forward to TV wise at the moment. 

 

Also am quite glad I'm going in blind having never played more than half an hour of the games. Pretty sure I'd not enjoy it as much knowing what was going to happen 

[Rorschach]

2 hours ago, Moz said:

Ish is a nod to a character in a book called “The Earth Abides”, possibly the first post-apocalyptic novel and an influence on TLOU. Worth a read. 

 

Huh. I always thought it was Moby Dick, due to the boat and all that. Apparently it is a bit of both (both mostly The Earth Abides).

 

43 minutes ago, Fry Crayola said:

 

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Sam's end really hit me even though I knew to expect it. Much more so than Sarah's in episode one.

 

 

Spoiler

It's the only part of the game that pretty reliably makes me cry. Yeah it was just as much of a gut punch here. I had hoped we'd get a bit more time with Sam and Henry. Combining Pittsburgh and the tunnels was probably a smart narrative choice, but it did mean their relationship with Joel and Ellie felt less developed. Some cute moments between Ellie and Sam though.

 

Don't think Sam being deaf added anything, felt a little bit like a throwaway bit of characterisation to make him seem more vulnerable. A minor complaint perhaps.

 

Spoilers for later in the series:

 

Spoiler

Ellie trying to "cure" Sam was wishful, desperate thinking. She's probably spent the last few weeks thinking about whether she could have saved Riley... so it kind of makes sense that she'd think to try that so quickly.

 

[makkuwata]

7 hours ago, Rorschach said:

Spoilers for later in the series

 

Spoiler

I saw that more as her trying to comfort Sam rather than naively thinking it would work.

 

Then again the show has Chekhov’s gun to Riley’s face, which we didn’t see in the game. So maybe she was really that hopeful in a horrible ptsd sort of way.

 

[Rorschach]

Spoiler

I do think she really convinced herself it would work, because she simply wasn't prepared to accept the possibility of losing someone again.

 

[Majora]

Moderator comment: Spoilers in this one include future parts of the game and possibly therefore TV show.
 

That was a great episode. I started to get bored of episode 4 towards the end but this flew by to the point where I was shocked when I realised a whole hour had passed.

 

I feel like in the end Kathleen was mostly included 

 

Spoiler

to foreshadow Ellie's own revenge mission in Part 2. Two women ignoring all else in their single-minded pursuit of revenge even though they both know it's not what their deceased loved ones would have wanted.

 

The added context given to Sam and Henry (needing the drugs for leukemia) and Kathleen's speech about putting a kid destined to die above everyone else...well the parallels with the end of Part 1 are immediately obvious also.

 

I get the impression she was kind of just there to embed certain ideas into the narrative before they actually occur with the main characters later on rather than as a particularly interesting or noteworthy character in and of herself. In the end I felt her inclusion was just ok relative to much else we've seen in the show to this point but the set-piece it culminated in at the end was cracking stuff. 

 

Well, apart from that one random, weird slo-mo reaction shot when the bloater emerges. That looked so cheap and cheesy, would love to know why they went with that.

 

[NecroMorrius]

6 hours ago, Rorschach said:

 

Huh. I always thought it was Moby Dick, due to the boat and all that. Apparently it is a bit of both (both mostly The Earth Abides).

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

It's the only part of the game that pretty reliably makes me cry. Yeah it was just as much of a gut punch here. I had hoped we'd get a bit more time with Sam and Henry. Combining Pittsburgh and the tunnels was probably a smart narrative choice, but it did mean their relationship with Joel and Ellie felt less developed. Some cute moments between Ellie and Sam though.

 

Don't think Sam being deaf added anything, felt a little bit like a throwaway bit of characterisation to make him seem more vulnerable. A minor complaint perhaps.

 

Spoilers for later in the series:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Ellie trying to "cure" Sam was wishful, desperate thinking. She's probably spent the last few weeks thinking about whether she could have saved Riley... so it kind of makes sense that she'd think to try that so quickly.

 

I think Neil’s just being nice, TLOU is directly analogous to Earth Abides in terms of detail and themes. It’s a good book, definitely worth a read. 

[SpagMasterSwift]

@MajoraEverybody Joel and Ellie meet appear to be (GAME SPOILER)

Spoiler

a device to inform the viewer about their relationship, Kathleen’s speech felt the most heavy handed example of this so far as it blatantly put the end of the game in your mind, almost as if she is directly referencing it. I don’t think it was needed and goes against the wonderful work the two leads are doing each week to show that bond growing between them. 
 

In more positive news, the little girl clicker was amazing! Especially paired with the bloater - again we get Ellie and Joel reflected back at us, even in the monsters.

 

[McFly]

Awesome episode.

[BossSaru]

Yes, a great episode again. Not to 3's calibre, but very close.

Spoiler

The deaths of Henry and Sam always hit me the hardest in the games. It always felt like an empty, tragic loss even by the standards of the in-game world.

 

With regards to Sam being deaf in the show, apparently this was to accommodate the actor they wanted taking part, which is lovely. Much like Bill and Frank, these two felt really well realised for a couple of characters with such little screen time.

 

[rafaqat]

21 hours ago, Moz said:

Bella Ramsey was fucking brilliant in this episode. Maybe a controversial take but I (and the Mrs) thought this was the best episode so far, just pipping 3 to the post. 

she annoyed the living piss  out of me this episode. Walking along in the fucking dark and yeah sure let’s fucking talk really loudly.  Shut the fuuuuuuuuuck up. 

[cubik]

This show gets me every week. Fantastic TV.

It's been so long since I played the first game, I've forgotten a lot of the plot points but I'd not forgotten what was going to happen this week.

 

Spoiler

It was still heartbreaking to see Sam and Henry die, even though I expected it.

Like others had said, I was hoping the writers might have changed direction but really, I knew they wouldn't have done.

 

[NecroMorrius]

58 minutes ago, rafaqat said:

she annoyed the living piss  out of me this episode. Walking along in the fucking dark and yeah sure let’s fucking talk really loudly.  Shut the fuuuuuuuuuck up. 

I wish people would stop comparing show Ellie to adult Ellie in TLOU2. Go back and play the first game, she’s a brat. She’s written and portrayed as an awkward mix of adult and child thanks to her upbringing and circumstances, plus the voice actress is an adult playing a child.

[rafaqat]

28 minutes ago, Moz said:

I wish people would stop comparing show Ellie to adult Ellie in TLOU2. Go back and play the first game, she’s a brat. She’s written and portrayed as an awkward mix of adult and child thanks to her upbringing and circumstances, plus the voice actress is an adult playing a child.

 

I'm not comparing show Ellie t o anyone.  Merely saying people need to learn to shut the fuck up when walking along at night in "enemy" territory.  and yes, I know that would make for a super boring story. 

 

[Shimmyhill]

We have started this, just finished E3 and my word this is good, I didnt think I would like it but its good to see the game finally get a good story  

[NecroMorrius]

One of my favourite moments in this is when they ask how old Sam is and Henry refers to Sam for an answer then translates it, rather than answering for him. Those little moments are a big deal.

 

Also can we give a thumbs-up for nighttime sequences which are dark and contrasty while still being completely comprehensible. Looking at you, House of the dragon.