No it would mean they can take their time with dialogue between Ellie and David, learning more about David's group, Joel waking up and looking for Ellie, interrogating David's men, and sneaking into their camp. Then Ellie escaping and running from David. There's plenty going on in there to fit into a 60 minute timeframe.
They can take their time with the dialog? But you just complained about scenes being drawn out. lol You're talking about the same issues but just in another episode.
Why should be so much time dedicated to sneaking into their camp?
Remember, you have more than 30 minutes to fill. That's A LOT of time for such small portions of the story. The reason why the segments with Riley were long is that they needed to make the relationship between the two believable.
Your argument is trying to draw parallels to how long these sections are in the game, when we've already seen the show take liberties with the timeframe of certain sections, not to mention adding new story beats.
Some things get drawn out in the show, and some things get shortened. I'm just presenting the best way to have your Left Behind story, while pushing the main plot forward. Left behind didn't need to be 55 minutes long. It could've easily been 30 minutes. 40 minutes is me being generous. We didn't need long drawn out moments of Ellie and Riley taking photos, playing Mortal Kombat, and showing every step of the way to the mall. There was so much fat they could've trimmed in that episode, and still got to the point.
My argument is story based. And this is the main issue with people's arguments.
"We don't need drawn-out moments with taking photos, playing mortal kombat etc."
In stories, you need enough time to introduce a character and develop a relationship so that the audience will care about the character.
You already played the game, but millions of people haven't. So how many people are going to care about a character or even believe their friendship is real if these segments are either cut out or short?
You're someone who has played the game, not someone who is being introduced to these characters on screen.
I don't know if you've been paying attention, but a lot of people have been coming out of the woodwork complaining about the pacing of the show, so it's not just me. You can argue that the show did it better, but it all boils down to opinions, and so far it seems a good amount of people weren't entirely happy with Episode 7.
I have paid attention and I believe there are some pacing issues, but I also believe that some arguments are rather weak.
"We don't need Henry's back story"
"We don't need to know about FEDRA"
"Too much time was dedicated to Sarah."
Some arguments are weak and just because they're complaining, doesn't mean they're right. Some people just complain because it's not like the game.
I mean that's pretty much what we just got with Ellie and Riley. The difference would be that the section with David actually moves the main plot forward and focuses on the two main characters.
Every story in this game thus far has moved the plot forward.
Everything you just said can be held off until Episode 8.