TLOU Season 2 Finale Viewership Drops 55% From Season 1 Finale

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As someone that really liked the story of the second game, I'm not a fan of the changes they made and if Ellie felt miscast in S1, she now is impossible to take seriously. Maybe If I hasn't played the game. I'm not sure I'm finishing the season.
 
One thing that baffled me about TLOU2: the whole post apocalyptic society is dropped in favour of the teenage drama.

The zombies are barely a backdrop.
 
I'm glad it's becoming more and more accepted that Bella Ramsay was a total miscast. I never felt good about it when she was first announced, and even though she did fine in Season 1, there was still something about her I couldn't stand. She just came off as such an annoying brat, and it's been hilarious to see in Season 2, she's still playing that 14 year old annyoing brat, except she's supposed to be 19.

The biggest insult to injury is watching Kaitlyn Dever, who was poised to play Ellie years ago, absolutely acting circles around Bella.
 
Basically this.

I actually liked TLOU2, but it only works when we are taken through the entire dark arc of Ellie (and, mirrored by Abby). She is a complicated, complex, and dark character throughout the game. Revenge is killing her and everyone around her. Its decaying her from the inside pushing everyone away. She is not a heroine. The show is very tentative in going down that path. And, Bella Ramsey has no where near the acting chops to pull that off (even with the weaker script).

It feels more like teenager "edgy" rather than a deeper look at the cycle of violence and revenge. The game, love or hate it, did have a more serious tone and did try and tackle these things.
TLOU2 writer tried to do Apocalypse now. But I doubt even Brando could have saved this amateur attempt.

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So the movie adaptation of a game that was always criticize for being really bad at its story telling is bad?


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I didnt even bother to watch the show, but my brother was a fan of TLOU and showed me scenes, they somehow manage it to make it even cringier and worse. Thats truly am achievement.
 
They really tried to do the same exact thing again and expected different results.

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Most Part II fans fucking WISH they did the same again lol. Not this sanitized, dumbed down, butchered version of Part II with worse acting.

This isn't Part II, not even close.
 
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One thing that baffled me about TLOU2: the whole post apocalyptic society is dropped in favour of the teenage drama.

The zombies are barely a backdrop.



Because zombies aren't an interesting foe. The problem with TLOU is that they don't have great human antagonists either. This is not TWD, not even a million miles close.

Besides, Neil Druckmann didn't know where to go with the zombie thing, "the cure" was just a poor mcGuffin to have the characters travel from point A to point B but nothing more. Therefore, that whole plot line is forgotten in Part 2, and for the better.
 
The show hasn't even hit the part gamers hated the most - where the story suddenly does a 180 and turns the villain into the protagonist and tries to make you feel sympathy for a totally unsympathetic character. This show is in trouble.

It's quite satisfying to see regular audiences get turned off too, and to see all those gamers who enjoyed the violent gameplay and tried to convince themselves this shit was Shakespeare or something look silly.
 
Because zombies aren't an interesting foe. The problem with TLOU is that they don't have great human antagonists either. This is not TWD, not even a million miles close.
A single or a few aren't but in hordes they're a force of nature few can withstand. It might've been interesting to see what the survivors have learned of them over the decades and how they've adapted to get around unscathed as much as possible.
 
Give it a week and it'll have 37 million views which is more than season 1 so....

There is a reason Game of Thrones skipped memorial day weekend. It eats initial viewership on the day
 
TLOU2 writer tried to do Apocalypse now. But I doubt even Brando could have saved this amateur attempt.

Martin Sheen GIF by Coolidge Corner Theatre

Kurtz: Did they say why, Willard, why they want to terminate my command?
Willard: I was sent on a classified mission, sir.
Kurtz: It's no longer classified, is it? Did they tell you?
Willard: They told me that you had gone totally insane, and that your methods were unsound.
Kurtz: Are my methods unsound?
Willard: I don't see any method at all, sir.
Kurtz: I expected someone like you. What did you expect? Are you an assassin?
Willard: I'm a soldier.
Kurtz: You're neither. You're an errand boy, sent by grocery clerks, to collect a bill.
 
The show hasn't even hit the part gamers hated the most - where the story suddenly does a 180 and turns the villain into the protagonist and tries to make you feel sympathy for a totally unsympathetic character. This show is in trouble.

It's quite satisfying to see regular audiences get turned off too, and to see all those gamers who enjoyed the violent gameplay and tried to convince themselves this shit was Shakespeare or something look silly.
At least the show won't force you to try kill Ellie. That's when I checked out on the game.
 
No Iron Fist Abby
No Care

These shows really can't shine without those moments in between when you're stealthing around, head shotting people and smashing bottles in their faces.

I'm guessing there isn't one scene in the show where Abby punches a clicker right in the face?
 
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It's averaging 37 million views an episode so more than season 1.....
Wrong - season 1 was 32 million an episode in the US alone - although those numbers are supposedly not reliable. Season 2 is 37 million worldwide - so it is down a lot which makes sense because look at the thread you're in.
 
The show hasn't even hit the part gamers hated the most - where the story suddenly does a 180 and turns the villain into the protagonist and tries to make you feel sympathy for a totally unsympathetic character. This show is in trouble.

It's quite satisfying to see regular audiences get turned off too, and to see all those gamers who enjoyed the violent gameplay and tried to convince themselves this shit was Shakespeare or something look silly.
I'm confident that viewers are going to enjoy it much more in the show honestly. Bella Ramsay is a horrible, fucking horrible Ellie.

Put they're going to water the action down again with tranny Lev, his tranny backstory and then try to pull the Joel and Ellie bonding but with Abby and Lev
 
Most Part II fans fucking WISH they did the same again lol. Not this sanitized, dumbed down, butchered version of Part II with worse acting.

This isn't Part II, not even close.


Criticism that I understand:
  • Worse acting. Disagree, but I understand.
  • Ellie being "ugly" ruining the show. Disagree, but I understand.
  • Cringe moments inconsistent with the current mood. Agree
  • Too woke. Agree, but don't care.
  • Awful whiplash-inducing pacing. Agree
  • So many missed opportunities for memorable moments. Agree
  • Too short and rushed, often preventing characters and scenes to breathe. Agree
  • Still lacking enough scenes with infected and real violence. Agree
  • Structure being incompatible with multi-year wait times. Agree.

But "More morally clear, logical, articulate and reasonable than the game"? "More likeable protagonists than the game"? The hell are these people smoking?

She lets Nora turn even after torturing her (she is probably crawling around the basement forever half paralyzed) and then questions herself, abandons her "uncle" who came to rescue her despite having his own wife and kid back home, she almost drowns in a storm, almost gets hanged to death, ignores these overwhelmingly negative signs and risks drowning again just to end up shooting 2 people she hadn't planned to kill, is almost convinced into performing a C-section on Mel without (probably) even knowing what a C-section is, gives up and has to live with layers of additional trauma. Clarity and logic were left way behind in Jackson. It's as messy and imperfect as the game, just in a different way.

I think some fans of the game get offended when things aren't 1:1 and come up with reasons to explain their displeasure. And that's fine. Good to see people passionate about something. But moral clarity and logic is simply not there in the show, despite the changes. Same with the "clarification" about a potential cure. "They were likely not going to be able to make a cure anyway" was a cop-out reason that easily justifies Joel's action, making it less ambiguous. Removing that consideration actually amplifies the moral ambiguity as it doubles down on the trolley problem.

Is the show the best execution possible? Hell no. The pacing feels amateur at times and the tonal inconsistencies are frustrating, but that tweet is actually a very poorly thought out articulation of the show's problems. It's ok to not like the show, but at least have better reasons if you decide to talk about it. Nothing is buttoned up whatsoever!
 
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I feel bad for Bella Ramsey, but I'm glad Mando is off to new movies. He's too good for this…

Though I think they should have just done a different thing for TV. Everyone would have been happy, Last of Us 2 deniers, normies. Even diehards probably would have perversely enjoyed it.
 
Further proves she can't carry the show (i.e. she was a shit casting choice).
In fairness, Ellie in the game couldn't carry it either if not for the gameplay element of it. Joel was the best thing about the story. Or rather he and Ellie's father daughter dynamic. Learning from one another, growing as people. Remove that and it suffered big time. The source material was the biggest road block for adapting the second game. And unfortunately, they haven't maximized it with odd writing choices. They took a character that isn't nearly as compelling as Joel and made her even worse, so they're starting off trying to dig themselves out of a hole already and just made it deeper.
 
I'm confident that viewers are going to enjoy it much more in the show honestly. Bella Ramsay is a horrible, fucking horrible Ellie.
I don't know - I don't think most viewers realize that not only is the season 2 cliffhanger not going to be resolved at the start of season 3, but the story is going to flashback and focus on Abby until it catches up again. That's going to be a tough sell. Apparently many people were confused by the ending of S2 flashing back to Seattle day one.
 
Saying this while the father is still alive is some wild shit. Makes her come off like a psycho.

You say this as anyone who is alive for more than a week in a post-apocalyptic zombie infested world isn't a psycho. How many people has she killed? If not the show, then the game. And yes, dead zombies count as people as far as sanity is concerned. You don't go killing hundreds or thousands of people and not turn crazy.
 
So, about half the people didn't tune in. That tracks, given the reception to the game.

We're also getting global numbers instead of US-only numbers. And if Microsoft has taught me anything, it's that when people start monkeying with the numbers, it's usually because they're not painting the picture you wanted it to.
 
Everyone I've talked to IRL has no idea why we are getting a season of Abby. They almost dipped when Joel died but this is probably the tipping point. Like in the games, Druckmann simply outsmarted himself by giving people a story and characters they don't give a shit about.
 
Imagine being upset by losing 55% viewership on one episode, ask yourself how magical it even is we have a video game to tv show, you can't just expect it to be as perfect as the game.
 
What's more surprising is the breaking of the ranks on the Purple place and some people being so bold into saying there never was aneed for TLOU Part 2. And both the tv series and the game isn't good.

Either they have a fakeboy troll issue or... wow, that pendulum is farther along than I thought.
 
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