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HBO Original | The Last of Us | Part 1 OT | Endure & Survive

TheInfamousKira

Reseterror Resettler
Great episode for me.

Just the chef of the rebellion was really badly done.
And a nitpick : I don't like how they do non subtil and useless "foreshadowing" for the ending, like the letter end of episode 3 and now the "Children die it's destiny" or something like that. With a camera shot on Joel.

Other than that very enjoyable episode.

Yeah, that dude couldn't cook people for shit.
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
My only complaint so far from this show was Kathleen's casting. But episode 5 gave us a new perspective which helped me understand why they hired her.

She seems out of place in Episode 4 and didn't look like a leader of the resistance at all ... and it was revealed in Episode 5 that it was intentional. She was never meant to be the leader. Her brother was the leader, and she merely replaced him with revenge as her only driving force.

Episode 5 might actually be most favorite episode so far.
 

E-Cat

Member
Great episode for me.

Just the chef of the rebellion was really badly done.
And a nitpick : I don't like how they do non subtil and useless "foreshadowing" for the ending, like the letter end of episode 3 and now the "Children die it's destiny" or something like that. With a camera shot on Joel.

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Dorohedoro

Member
This episode was already great with the Sam and Henry stuff which was just as heartbreaking, as expected, but when the truck crashed and all hell broke loose... just brilliant. And the bloater was dope on its own, then they went ahead and added that death scene from the game as the cherry on top, perfection. The intensity of the whole setpiece was taken up a few notches and easily better than the game's version. I was one of the skeptics of Bella Ramsey as Ellie but she's growing on me. Her reaction to Henry killing himself was very well done. The child clicker was interesting, wonder why infected kid enemies have never been a thing until now. I'm guessing they didn't want any bullshit drama or whatever but I'm pretty sure Days Gone had them and no one cared. Neil Druckmann was like "Why didn't I think of that?" in the behind the scenes interviews regarding a lot of Craig Mazin's ideas for the show so maybe in TLoU3.
 
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Just finished the latest episode, best one of the season so far, easily. I knew it was coming but it still killed me, incredible performances all around.
 

ShadowNate

Member
It was another good episode. Very tense at parts, with a good story to tell.

Although I do now hope they move away from the formula of "here's a couple of interesting characters, oh they're dead now, hope you enjoyed the one episode with them".

I did not like the scene where the infected attack. And something bothered me about the CGI of the bloater. Also in that scene there was weird editing, too much confusion, some scenes did not make sense but seemingly were there for dramatic effect, and I was left wondering how did almost everyone else die but the protagonists (well except the one I guess).

The rest of the episode was fine. Kathleen's reasoning was fine. The specific performance still seemed to be lacking something. I feel like this kind of performance could work very well, her sounding like a kindergarden teacher while being cruel, avenging and cold blooded. But... it mostly didn't work like that at all -- maybe in a couple of occasions there was a glimpse of that.

Anyway that's that I guess. Reset and moving on.
 

Mibu no ookami

Demoted Member® Pro™
It was another good episode. Very tense at parts, with a good story to tell.

Although I do now hope they move away from the formula of "here's a couple of interesting characters, oh they're dead now, hope you enjoyed the one episode with them".

I did not like the scene where the infected attack. And something bothered me about the CGI of the bloater. Also in that scene there was weird editing, too much confusion, some scenes did not make sense but seemingly were there for dramatic effect, and I was left wondering how did almost everyone else die but the protagonists (well except the one I guess).

The rest of the episode was fine. Kathleen's reasoning was fine. The specific performance still seemed to be lacking something. I feel like this kind of performance could work very well, her sounding like a kindergarden teacher while being cruel, avenging and cold blooded. But... it mostly didn't work like that at all -- maybe in a couple of occasions there was a glimpse of that.

Anyway that's that I guess. Reset and moving on.

It's takes like this that I seriously don't understand.

First, there's no formula here... did you play the game? The only person that has died that didn't in the games was Bill.

As for the infected attack, that's pretty much received universal praise. It was really well done, but somehow you were confused (when no one else was) and so it was bad? That's odd.

I think Kathleen was fine, but it's whatever. Not necessarily going to defend the performance or the direction .

As for why everyone died but them... first you said it yourself that one of them did in fact die from that. Second everyone else was actively fighting the infected, and Joel was the furthest from the infected. The other person can't get infected. So really Henry was the only one that was at risk here who made it out unscathed to that point. Ellie had a close encounter with one but was actively being helped by Joel the whole time. To a degree so were Henry and Sam. No one else had a sniper protecting them... Such an odd criticism when it is entirely plausible.
 
I'm gonna get murdered for this but...I'm not feeling the show at all, acting is OK at best , nothing earth shattering (especially for an HBO production), the set-pieces are...again, "OK" and dare I say somewhat cheap looking and the changes to the script unneded.

All in all , it somehow feels like the walking dead production wise - uneven acting, cinematography and production values included, there's none of that HBO magic® that characterizes (most) of its shows like good cinematography, brilliant acting etc etc, the whole thing for me feels cheap for a lack of a better word for such an expensive show/production - especially after Chernobyl , Boardwalk empire, the wire, Succession, True detective, Carneyvale , sharp objects, band of brothers and so on so forth.

Bella Ramsey is A-OK and fits the role well, Pedro on the other hand I just don't know and the whole Bill love story/background, while well acted (amazing chemistry between the 2 characters), was completely unneeded as a change - same with chubby resistance leader Melanie Lanskey which...yeah, didn't add anything of value to the whole thing.
Maybe it really is the best video game adaptation so far but I find the whole thing to be way, way overhyped - especially since this is from HBO and the guy that wrote Chernobyl.
 

Freeza93

Banned
I'm gonna get murdered for this but...I'm not feeling the show at all, acting is OK at best , nothing earth shattering (especially for an HBO production), the set-pieces are...again, "OK" and dare I say somewhat cheap looking and the changes to the script unneded.

All in all , it somehow feels like the walking dead production wise - uneven acting, cinematography and production values included, there's none of that HBO magic® that characterizes (most) of its shows like good cinematography, brilliant acting etc etc, the whole thing for me feels cheap for a lack of a better word for such an expensive show/production - especially after Chernobyl , Boardwalk empire, the wire, Succession, True detective, Carneyvale , sharp objects, band of brothers and so on so forth.

Bella Ramsey is A-OK and fits the role well, Pedro on the other hand I just don't know and the whole Bill love story/background, while well acted (amazing chemistry between the 2 characters), was completely unneeded as a change - same with chubby resistance leader Melanie Lanskey which...yeah, didn't add anything of value to the whole thing.
Maybe it really is the best video game adaptation so far but I find the whole thing to be way, way overhyped - especially since this is from HBO and the guy that wrote Chernobyl.
because its garbage.

A show what is considered great today. Was mediocre at best 15 years ago.

Shit 1 episode of the wire or the sopranos has more story than this whole show, ever.
 

Moriah20

Member
not feeling the crazy praise for this episode.
Kathleen was as dumb as she seemed the last episode, just an overall unconvincing character. There was not a single moment of her leadership that seemed to be particularly smart or good, yet she apparently managed to have a stronghold over an entire militia in a post apocalyptic setting... yeah no. The actress was done dirty too, some of her dialogue was extremely corny.

I enjoyed the changes made to the show compared to the game mostly until this point but i felt that the huge action scene was a straight downgrade. Hot take, but so far im not impressed with the action scenes at all in the show in general. Ep 3 had Bill the prepper, gun enthusiast, hunter stand in the middle of the street sniping the raiders like an absolute moron, and this ep just felt like too many convenient things at play. I liked the idea of hell breaking loose but it just felt... clunky in ways that something like westworld did a lot of the times. Also, i dunno, but I really felt that they should've just cut to black after Henry shoots himself, felt like the burial scene actually took away some of the impact of that moment.
 

Mibu no ookami

Demoted Member® Pro™
not feeling the crazy praise for this episode.
Kathleen was as dumb as she seemed the last episode, just an overall unconvincing character. There was not a single moment of her leadership that seemed to be particularly smart or good, yet she apparently managed to have a stronghold over an entire militia in a post apocalyptic setting... yeah no. The actress was done dirty too, some of her dialogue was extremely corny.

I enjoyed the changes made to the show compared to the game mostly until this point but i felt that the huge action scene was a straight downgrade. Hot take, but so far im not impressed with the action scenes at all in the show in general. Ep 3 had Bill the prepper, gun enthusiast, hunter stand in the middle of the street sniping the raiders like an absolute moron, and this ep just felt like too many convenient things at play. I liked the idea of hell breaking loose but it just felt... clunky in ways that something like westworld did a lot of the times. Also, i dunno, but I really felt that they should've just cut to black after Henry shoots himself, felt like the burial scene actually took away some of the impact of that moment.

The problem is you conflate two different things.

Kathleen lead an already organized group and turned their methods more aggressive after her brother died. Does every leader need to be smart or good? They had a militia and her mistakes cost them to lose the city they took within a fortnight.

The entire point of her character is that she was ill-equipped to lead.

You look at comparisons like with Japan towards the end of WW2 and not surrendering earlier even though they knew they couldn't win. History is filled with similar types of leadership examples.

You're missing the larger themes here which is that we continue to focus on the wrong thing and even towards the end she was focused on killing Henry and co. rather than the clicker behind her.

I feel like there's a segment here who played the games (missed the themes of the game) and are missing the themes here.

I agree that the action scenes up to this point have been lackluster though. I think they're going for a broad audience, and they realize that a lot of people would tune out if they go too gory or show straight up suicide of a character. They're also trusting that people can fill in the blanks without direct imagery. You're the second person who suggested the burial scene took away from the impact of the moment, but that doesn't make any sense. They were their friends, obviously they would bury them given the chance. They didn't have that chance with Tess, Bill, or Frank, but they did here.

I think too many people expect them to show "gameplay" or don't understand where the show will do things that the games couldn't lest it be packed with even more cutscenes.
 

Vick

Gold Member
holy shit this episode broke me. I knew whats coming but goddamn. I wasy crying way before it happened :cry:
Sam's little board killed me for the entire episode. He was adorable in this show.

By the end I was teary eyed (still am thinking about it actually) and my fiancée bawling.

Edit:

I wasn't sarcastic Represent. Represent. , ffs. 🙁
I (poorly) meant that I found the little man using the board extra adorable. Everything about him was in fact, the superheroes stuff, his interactions with Henry etc. etc. and knowing what was going to happen for the entire episode killed me.
 
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DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
Great episode, I just think they set it up to lose a lot of dramaic effect by having the "children die" speech. Really wish that wasn't there.

Mrs bawled her eyes out....mission accomplished.
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
Real talk, can only fat people become bloaters. Or do you become fat as part of being a bloater?

I don't think that it's just that your fat, I always got the idea that it's like layers of armour, years and years of fungus growing creating this large shell with the host bloating out as its absorbing all whatever it needs to become sir tankalot.
 

geary

Member
I'm gonna get murdered for this but...I'm not feeling the show at all, acting is OK at best , nothing earth shattering (especially for an HBO production), the set-pieces are...again, "OK" and dare I say somewhat cheap looking and the changes to the script unneded.

All in all , it somehow feels like the walking dead production wise - uneven acting, cinematography and production values included, there's none of that HBO magic® that characterizes (most) of its shows like good cinematography, brilliant acting etc etc, the whole thing for me feels cheap for a lack of a better word for such an expensive show/production - especially after Chernobyl , Boardwalk empire, the wire, Succession, True detective, Carneyvale , sharp objects, band of brothers and so on so forth.

Bella Ramsey is A-OK and fits the role well, Pedro on the other hand I just don't know and the whole Bill love story/background, while well acted (amazing chemistry between the 2 characters), was completely unneeded as a change - same with chubby resistance leader Melanie Lanskey which...yeah, didn't add anything of value to the whole thing.
Maybe it really is the best video game adaptation so far but I find the whole thing to be way, way overhyped - especially since this is from HBO and the guy that wrote Chernobyl.
Kinda feel the same. I really don't see the masterpiece in this, compared with the tv shows you mentioned above. The story progression have been seen in nth movies before. Nothing special about it or about the acting.
 

Warablo

Member
Probably this seasons best episode so far.

I'm gonna get murdered for this but...I'm not feeling the show at all, acting is OK at best , nothing earth shattering (especially for an HBO production), the set-pieces are...again, "OK" and dare I say somewhat cheap looking and the changes to the script unneded.

All in all , it somehow feels like the walking dead production wise - uneven acting, cinematography and production values included, there's none of that HBO magic® that characterizes (most) of its shows like good cinematography, brilliant acting etc etc, the whole thing for me feels cheap for a lack of a better word for such an expensive show/production - especially after Chernobyl , Boardwalk empire, the wire, Succession, True detective, Carneyvale , sharp objects, band of brothers and so on so forth.

Bella Ramsey is A-OK and fits the role well, Pedro on the other hand I just don't know and the whole Bill love story/background, while well acted (amazing chemistry between the 2 characters), was completely unneeded as a change - same with chubby resistance leader Melanie Lanskey which...yeah, didn't add anything of value to the whole thing.
Maybe it really is the best video game adaptation so far but I find the whole thing to be way, way overhyped - especially since this is from HBO and the guy that wrote Chernobyl.
I agree, but still think its good fun for a video game adaptation. Overly heavy on the drama though.
 
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RaduN

Member
Ok-ish episode no5.

The housewife leader started out as a completely uninteresting character and remained completely uninteresting until the end.
The big monster was useless and embarassingly badly done.
With each new episode, everything feels cheaper and cheaper in terms of production.
Seriously questionable directing decisions, like exchanging looks from half a click away or cheap 80s style fake slow mo, really drags down the quality of the scenes.

The little boy arc was much better than in the game. It actually serves a purpose here, showing Ellie as a compassionate character, which the game failed to accomplish in a convincing manner.
 

Lasha

Member
Episode 5 is where the magic was lost for me. The plot works much better as a video game where the player is experiencing everything themselves. The novelty of the game is playing through what feels like a movie. It was the marriage of high production, realistic acting, and decent gameplay that made TLOU amazing. Remove any of the three and the game would not have been as impactful.

The show's production and storytelling are not enough to compensate for the lack of gameplay and uneven acting. The shot for shot remake of setpieces from the game isn't helping the show capture its own identity either. It's watchable but not as good as I would like it to be.
 
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