Yeah I agree there's enough there to be sufficient even without Tommy (and Tommy's experience in war primarily affects Tommy, not Joel). But I'm just throwing that out as another example of something people can use to handwave things if they were surprised that Joel seemed much more capable than the standard Firefly. We already see Joel teaching Ellie, and it probably isn't a stretch that he might have learned some similar things from Tommy (either pre or post outbreak...though I know their paths did diverge at some point post outbreak). Obviously things could always be done better, but if you're surprised by Joel's skills, I'm not sure you're really willing to put certain pieces of information together (unless the show literally does it for you).
Criticizing the Last of Us for wasting time but using the Walking Dead as an example of efficient zombie storytelling is really something. In the game and the show the Bill character plays a huge role as a plot device to get Joel and Ellie from one point to another. The game hinted at Bill’s story after things went bad and the show wanted to go in another direction to not be so bleak. That’s it. Not that big of a deal but if that’s something that bothered you that much I highly recommend you NOT watch season 2. Even though I’m sure you can’t wait so you can go on rants online to push your agenda. You know what’s 100% more annoying than woke things on tv? People who wrap their entire identity around doing nothing but whining about woke.
Promising first episode. I really like the actress who plays Dina. The addition of Catherine O'Hara is also interesting and I think it'll flush out Joel's character a lot more than the game. That's one of the benefits of television vs video games. Game spoiler and thoughts on the episode below: Spoiler I'm not sure how I feel about the introduction of Abby and her motive so early in the season. I think the final scene would've been much stronger if the audience had no idea who was stalking Jackson. Then again, I don't think they could've portrayed Abby as a one-dimensional murderer and then expected the audience to sympathize with her POV in season three. Time will well how well this change holds up
I think they know 75% of people are going to know what’s coming anyways so they couldn’t just adapt the game storyline beat for beat. So I faith they know what they are doing by doing what you mentioned in the spoiler. I will say though the one scene we get with Abbey should put to rest any question that violence to come won’t be believable. Physicality aside her acting seems really really good and I believed in that short scene she could maul your eyes out. When it comes to acting chops vs physical fitness always go for acting first. This girl and Bella Ramsey can act. I’m in on the casting so far.
Kaitlyn Dever was not a good version of Abby. HBO is underestimating the massive backlash that's going to come soon. She's better liked in the game. They should've dedicated an entire episode to her bond with her dad.
I think that exposition will come later. Part of me thinks that they introduced her this early, and her motivation, in order to prevent some of the harassment that befell the game's voice actress.
There are limits to plausibility. The tiny girl besting the man in the barn was absurd (even if he held back the punch).
Plausibility… it’s a zombie show. Also the show is different than the action based game. Even then in the show Ellie so far has taken down 2 zombies/clickers and 1 of those bit her. So it’s not like they went all Walking Dead and had a scene with her single handily chopping the heads off of 45 zombies or using a gun to kill 30 zombies all with head shots with a 9mm.
I thought it was a solid set up for the season. Only played the first game so I'm not familiar with the storyline for the second, looking forward to going into it blind after having a hefty amount of knowledge in season one....
Well, plausibility within the story. In the "Jurassic World" movies, especially the last one (JW4 with Scarlett), the human characters are basically in a video game. Chris Pratt falls through the ice and then a few moments later, outside of the water, standing in his wet clothes with no effect from the cold or his exertions. Bryce Dallas-Howard parachuting from a crashing plane and going underwater to avoid a dinosaur and then later running around, dry clothes, dry hair. Hell, lab-engineered dinosaurs makes more sense than all that anyway. So, with the existence of creatures that shouldn't exist, these shows and movies can make the human element cartoonish as well.
Did it get any better? Are there any weird episodes like season 1 so far? I'm done with The White Lotus so looking for something good to watch....
She looks like the younger version of a lunch lady from my high school days…just need a bit of scruff.
