I actually really enjoyed last nights episode. I thought it was one of the rare occasions where I felt Bella Ramsey could somewhat act. I didn't realize next week is already the finale though! 7 episode season?! what the hell
I thought Dever nailed the acting in episode two. We haven't seen her since, but we'll get a lot more in season three to judge her performance on.
It's clear that this is a retelling, not a facsimile, of the game. I'm fine with that - tv has a lot more viewers and they have to do things that to appeal to a broader audience. Last night was awesome and showed how much of a powerhouse Pedro Pascal is. This season needed to be longer and it needed more of him, even in flashbacks. Considering the change in medium, I think we also could've used more Abby after episode two. The perspective switch worked in the game because it forced players to immerse themselves in her story. To date in the show, Abby's absence has augmented how much it feels like Ellie and Dina are bumbling around in Seattle. Game players know from the preview how they're going to end the season next week. I'm not sure how well it'll work for television.
I've been holding out on impressions (and will still hold back some until the final episode) as I think it makes most sense to reflect on the season as a whole vs individual episodes. I did not care for episode 3 much at all, and I think some decisions made there ended up dragging down parts of episode 4 and 5 (though I think it did get better over time). To be fair, this was probably the weakest part of the game's narrative too (though I think episode 3 dropped the ball on some big things), and I think it was fine to make some changes in an attempt to do things better. Just not sure they succeeded in that. Ultimately, I think they've hit the main points well, including some stuff from episode 6. Hopefully they nail things in episode 7 as well, and if they do, I think I can easily overlook some of the complaints I've had about the season. I think I said this about the game as well, but the narrative in this story is much more ambitious (IMO) than the first, and I think just like the game, we're hitting some consistency issues that drag down things...but also some high points that are (IMO) better than the first season. Still don't have issues with casting. I think some of the writing/direction decisions have put the cast in difficult positions, which has resulted in some clunky scenes IMO. But I think Bella, Kaitlyn, Pedro, Isabela, and the rest of the crew all do very well with what they're given (and when given good stuff, they've delivered IMO). The story will require much more from the cast moving into this next episode and next season (or seasons?), but I feel good about what the cast can do with that material.
I really enjoyed this last episode and I agree that what it did, more than anything, was solidify in my mind that Pedro Pascal is the real workhorse of this show. I never played the games, but all the time we spent with Ellie/Dina without Joel just felt like a chore, and the skipping around in time, having the events in Seattle take place without us seeing the final conversations Ellie and Joel had kind of worked against them, in my opinion, because Bella Ramsey just really couldn't sell it on her own. I have no idea what's coming in the finale, nor in season 3, but I'm worried we are going to get a whole lot of the annoying Bella Ramsey from this season and not enough of the other good stuff to balance it out. We'll see.
Funnily enough, the final conversation with Ellie and Joel in the game takes place later (well the flashback occurs later). Won't get into specifics, but I think it was good for the show that they moved it up. Of course you have some gamers that are extremely upset they moved that scene, but I've *generally* been OK with (or even liked) some of the changes they've made with the show (outside of the ones I already mentioned). You kinda point out the thing I do have an issue with though. I don't think the middle of this season was handled well, and while that might be due to Bella, it feels more like writing/direction to me (e.g., more "annoying" Ellie scenes). I've seen flashes of her acting that will likely match up with where we'll be going (especially in what I assume will be episode 7), and I think she's done fine with that. Definitely will need to see how EP 7 goes though. Obviously that will be a big episode.
It's the voice and physical presence. Bella Ramsey did decent as a 14 year old, but as a 19 year old it doesn't come across well. They changed voice actresses in TLOU2 and updated the character model. They should have recasted Ellie for S2.
I also have never played the game and think your post is near perfect. Pedro Pascal carried this show and the drop from him to Bella Ramsey is massive. It was truly great seeing him in ep6 but what are we left with going forward? Not sure how much of it is the material, the writers or the loss of Pedro Pascal, but season 2 has been a huge letdown.
They did *not* change the voice actress in TLOU2 for Ellie (unless I'm just greatly misunderstanding you). Ashley Johnson has always been the voice (and motion capture I believe) in both games. They did update the model for multiple reasons (including making it look more like Ashley), but yeah part of it was to age up the model. Can't do that in this show, and so yeah you don't get the same (exaggerated?) sense of physical growth that we got in the games. I do think it is more important in the games for Ellie to be bigger and more physical due to the gameplay involved (i.e., she has to kill a lot of people/infected), which is not necessarily something the show has to follow. Somewhat similar to how I think Pedro isn't as big/physical as game Joel, but show Joel is a different representation that fits Pedro well (and thus someone who more accurately portrayed game Joel isn't necessary). Now maybe Bella is a just a terrible actress, and they needed to recast her for other reasons. I don't agree with that assessment, but I think it is more reasonable. I do think a recast would be challenging, especially given the chemistry between Pedro and Bella. I don't know if episode 6 hits as hard (or other scenes earlier in the season) if you just threw in a new actress (while still possibly using Bella for some flashbacks?). For me, I think Bella works fine (at least so far), and I have major doubts that another person could have done as good of a job given the circumstances. Of course, we'll never know for sure. Also no matter who portrays Ellie, she'll look and sound annoying given some of the choices with the writing and direction. :/
The bolded part I 100% agree with, the source material didn't give much to work with. Regarding the casting, I can think of other actresses that (I think) would have done a better job as Ellie, but ultimately that's a personal taste. What's done is done, and while most people think S2 is a step down, there will always be some who will like her. Too bad we won't see another actress take a stab at it. Perhaps I'm wrong and it's a vocal minority decrying Bella. Or perhaps most agree she's not a good casting. Would love a reddit poll after S2 is over.
Agreed, and to be fair, I do think there are some amazing folks out there who possibly could knock it out of the park in this role. I'm just of the opinion that I don't think it will ultimately matter much. One of my guilty pleasures is watching reaction videos, and of course I've seen tons of videos of people reacting to this show (primarily non-gamers watching episode 2 and episode 6). My takeaway from these is people tend to be reacting to the main scenes from the show similarly to how the scenes occurred in the game. The themes, messages, emotions, etc., all seem to be resonating with people as I'd expect, and I don't see many people complaining about Bella (or really anything) in these important scenes. If you replace Bella with 20 year old Ashley Johnson/Natalie Portman/Mikey Madison/Anya Taylor-Joy/etc., I don't know if the reactions to some of these scenes would be that different. Now that's probably because Pedro is acting his ass off, and these are also some of the (unfortunately too few) moments where the writing, cinematography, direction, music, etc., are all on point in this season. I'm not necessarily giving Bella the credit for this, but I also don't think she's dragging things down much. And as I alluded to, I don't know if a technically better actress would have the same chemistry with Pedro, which could impact some of the heavy lifting he's been doing. So ultimately I go in the "Bella is fine" camp. At least for now. As a point of comparison, I had issues with Luis Guzman as Gomez in Wednesday, as I think he did drag down some scenes (and I like Guzman!). Unfortunately the parts of the show without Joel/Pedro (and lots of Bella) also involved a lot of (IMO) poor writing/direction (sorry to keep repeating that). So I don't think anyone can say for sure whether Bella (and the rest of the cast) can make up for Pedro's absence. To be fair, I don't think the game necessarily nailed this either, and it is unfortunate that the show failed to improve upon that formula (and possibly made it worse). For those of you unaware of the game but upset by this fact, I do think the next episode and next season (or two) will be quite a bit different from the episodes I've complained about. There is potential for more "boring" scenes (depending on what they do I guess), but there will also be plenty of big moments going on and plenty of chances for Bella and others on the cast to carry the show. The game wasn't always perfect with this, but this part of the story is definitely where things picked up. Joel is an important part of the story, and it will be a struggle to keep audiences captivated without him, but I think the ultimate payoff will be worth it all...eventually. If done well. Or maybe not. *shrug* I am a little concerned about stretching out the 2nd game into 3 seasons though. 2 seasons seemed much more appropriate, especially given where things are now. Maybe a bigger-than-usual S3 that is split up into 2 chunks would be better, though I'm not sure where the stopping points would be.
I finally watched Sunday`s episode and man was it good, loved the back story. Pedro is a bad ass actor, and we need more of him.......I cannot believe next week is the season finale, like WTF.....................is it another year to the next season. 7 Friggin shows is BS.
This article supports your thoughts. https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikka...as-so-much-better-in-the-last-of-us-season-1/
Skinny strong. Good actress. Not sure I would hire her as Abby, perhaps a bit too good looking, but she certainly has acting chops.
Joel still seeking out that therapist Gail for counseling/advice early in the season after we finally find out what happened between him and her husband Eugene is nasty work loved that scene between him and Ellie on the porch tho…I just miss Joel in general the silent hardened dude who’s actually a very caring person deep down archetype always gets me Idgaf that Bella Ramsey looks like a female version of Kevin James on Ozempic and doesn’t resemble the character from the games…my problem with her is that throughout the show she’s just been annoying and bratty…with Joel there, he could at least balance that out
I THINK her being bratty was too show she was hurt/pissed about something and follow her growth as a person - which you seem to get a glimpse of at the end of the most recent episode (trying to forgive Joel) and the end of the previous episode (killer instinct emerging). But who knows. She IS written annoying, but she's supposed to be what, 17 or something? Yall expecting Einstein?
not expecting Einstein, but she’s just been unlikeable…her and Joel had a yin and yang thing going on which made it tolerable I get that she’s a rebellious teenager, but being obnoxious, bratty, and annoying almost 24/7 is too much at times…she’s the main character now, but I prefer Dina, Tommy, hell even Jesse who we barely get to hang around with over her atm
