Oh geez, if you think The Last of Us is just about a zombie apocalypse, yeah it didn't land for you. Zombie apocalypse is maybe the least interesting thing about it compared to the themes/message it wants to tell. And honestly, most good narratives that involve something like this do it the same way. These kind of settings are just a tool to help the narrative make whatever point it wants to make. Now some people didn't care for the execution or maybe even the themes/message itself...and those people are idiots because they disagree with my opinion. But that's OK. People are wrong sometimes. I can admit that. (OK I kid) Anyway, for people who don't follow the games, I guess we now know that Naughty Dog is 100% working on a new IP, and that's probably the main priority for the next few years. This team includes Neil Druckmann (creator of TLOU I guess, though obviously lots of folks helped). Now obviously he can do multiple things, but he's also running the studio (among other things), so if you want him and Naughty Dog to be involved in more TLOU content, I don't know if it could be expected anytime soon. I don't think we necessarily need more, but there was talk prior to this that they might make another game. Arguably you can say they confirmed another TLOU game, though I don't know how you can say that so early on in the process. Video game development is....tricky, and plans certainly change.
I will, I really will pick this series up again since yall say it's that good. We just rewatched movie with similar (fungus takes over makes zombie) plot...The Girl With All The Gifts...and it's pretty amazing in case yall haven't seen it
Oh yeah, I did watch that at some point as well, and yeah it is pretty good. Especially for something with a pretty small budget IIRC. I second the recommendation. As a TLOU fan, it is probably overhyped, so hopefully people don't go in with sky high expectations. But it is really good (both the games and the series), and hopefully people do enjoy it if they give it a shot.
Seems more like you have a fundamental issue with a show that has any complexity or layers. Not that that this show is even all that sophisticated. It's like mid-tier. That episode wasn't about "being woke" (though I will admit, I immediately dismiss anyone that complains about "wokeness" as being semi-braindead already). The point of episode 3 was to show the stakes of the world they are living in and the love that still remains in it. Joe had already lost Tess (another character that was in like 1 episode - that I don't hear you complaining about) and seemingly had little, if nothing, to live for. This girl didn't really matter all that much to him at all at this point. But encountering what happened to Bill and Frank had a clear effect on Joe as a character, an effect we would not have gotten if not for this episode, and consequently, the backstory to Bill and Frank's relationship. They lived for each other. Bill, in particular, lived to protect someone he loved, and proved that was worth living for. Joe needed to see that to progress in his path. Us the viewer, and Joe the character needed to see that life was worth living in this world. As someone that enjoys the zombie/infected genre - thats pretty ****ing crucial to the narrative and plot. If there are not stakes, and there is no reason to continue, then why are we watching? Thats what episode 3 provided. This show has its ups and downs. I think it can be quite good and can be quite meh. But pretending episode 3 was some kind of outlier or unnecessary, makes literally no sense to me. The only conclusion I can draw is that you have some other agenda with your hate.
You are reading way too much into this, at the time woke was super in and the companies making agenda based content still had not figured out that in general people don't want it. Episode 3 wasn't some deep episode about love being the answer to continue fighting and defeating the zombies.... It was about two cringy bearded dudes acting like little girls eating strawberries.... As I said before, if they want to check a box for the higher ups and have mandatory gay dudes then ok but to dedicate an entire episode that was boring as hell anyways sprinkled in with uncomfortable gay stuff is insane.... The Walking Dead went for like 11 seasons and never dedicated an entire episode to some gay dudes, why? Because you know... There are more important things happening like actually surviving..... This is like two gay dudes falling in love during the 1st half of Jurassic Park while they are stuck in the island with dinosaurs that want to kill them but their main goal is making out and giggling.. Iono, maybe season 2 is better and they get back to what matters. I stopped at episode 4 I think or 5... I don't remember... If season 2 is good I'll give it a try...
main issue I had with S1 was the plot armor was getting outta control towards the end when all the ops can’t shoot for sh*t even at damn near point blank range but the antagonist has aim assist on max and can basically kill 30 armed dudes by himself, I start watching like even in a world full of zombies where I know I should suspend disbelief, over the top plot armor just never does it for me
This is also an interesting take. I actually really like the story in TLOU and while the action is not pumping 24/7, the tension is palpably felt most of the time, broken by periodic moments of peace that are never comfortable as you know the next threat is around the corner. It's very intense story filled with great moments. The Joel/Ellie, adopted Father/Daughter interaction is central to the story. It's mainly a story about 2 people, living an apocalyptic world that's fallen apart, under constant threat, zombies being the least monstrous of them all. I will spoiler the rest of my response for those that may find themselves on this thread without having watched S1 yet. Spoiler The only episodes that break away from the main story pace are episodes 3 and 7. Episode 7 is about the true main character of the series, Ellie, and further develops her character, showing us how she lived and what led her to the events to go with the fireflies, as well as what motivates her. The episode has action, tender moments, and world building relevant to the main story, truly great stuff. Most important, it's very relevant to the main story and the main character. On the other hand, episode 3 completely veers away from the main story and the characters into a prepper's love story. The episode spends about 90% of the time with a character that we never met before, never will meet again, and is completely irrelevant to the events of the world of TLOU. This prepper sees the world fall apart and smartly activates his emergency plan. After years of being alone, he meets another man that is truly helpless and falls into one of his encampment traps, and since there are literally no other decent human beings around (unless you consider raiders) has sex with him and falls in love with him over abundant quality food, medical supplies, and working electricity. At the end, when his lover is terminally ill, he would rather die with him than be alone in his elderly years. That's it. It's about as romantic as a jail love story, of 2 people with extremely limited options in a fallen world. Bill and Frank are basically an extended McGuffin to give Joel and Ellie supplies and a weapon. All the other episodes are tension filled and truly great. Don't believe me? Well, let's summarize each episode then and see which one stands out like a sore thumb having nothing to do with the main story and being very boring to boot. Spoiler alert, it's episode 3. Episode 1: In a post-apocalyptic world devastated by a fungal pandemic, Joel, a smuggler, agrees to transport an immune teenager, Ellie, to rebel forces after a series of deadly encounters and betrayals. Episode 2: As a fungal pandemic rages, Joel and Tess escort immune teenager Ellie, navigating deadly infected and sacrifices, with Tess ultimately giving her life to ensure Ellie’s journey toward a potential cure continues. Episode 3: The tragic love story of Bill and Frank, whose love is irrelevant to the main story, unless you count that it provides Joel with supplies and Ellie with a pistol. Episode 4: While detouring through Kansas City, Joel and Ellie survive an ambush, drawing the attention of bandits led by Kathleen, who is hunting a man named Henry, only for Joel and Ellie to awaken at gunpoint by Henry and his brother Sam. Episode 5: Joel and Ellie team up with Henry and Sam to escape Kansas City, but their alliance ends in tragedy when a horde of infected disrupts a militia attack, and Henry ultimately kills his infected brother Sam before taking his own life. Episode 6: Joel and Ellie reach Tommy's community in Wyoming, where Joel, grappling with guilt and fear, initially plans to leave Ellie with Tommy but ultimately decides to continue their journey, only to be critically injured during an encounter with raiders. Episode 7: As Joel lies critically injured, Ellie reflects on growing up in a FEDRA military school and losing her best friend, a girl named Riley whom she had kissed, to a zombie bite infection, and determined not lose another person she cares about, stitches Joel's wound using a needle she finds in their shelter. Episode 8: While Joel recovers, Ellie fends off a vengeful group led by the cannibalistic preacher David, ultimately escaping and killing him after a harrowing ordeal, before being reunited with Joel, who comforts her in her trauma. Episode 9: Ellie is captured by the Fireflies, who plan to sacrifice her to create a cure, but Joel kills Marlene, the medical staff, and soldiers to save her, later lying to Ellie that the Fireflies had already failed in their efforts, a claim she hesitantly accepts. Now, you can tell me episode 3 is the best episode of the series, but while it's an Emmy winning love story episode, it literally has nothing to do with the main story or characters of the show, and also very boring unlike all other episodes. The rest of the show is truly great, filled with palpable tension, an adopted father/daugher story, travelling through apocalyptic infested lands and even worse, the worst of the surviving humanity. In conclusion, episode 3 is an outlier, for the previously established themes of the show. If you are going to say the themes of TLOU are not for those who like action, I very much disagree, and say if episode 3 is what you really liked about the show, then perhaps other shows are better for you, not a zombie apocalype type of show, that very much differs from Dawn of the Dead, but stands on its own with lots of entertaining tension and action.
Thanks for the thoughtful post, I'll try to reply later if I can. What I typed up earlier was actually written in anticipation of how certain viewers might react to particular characters in season two.
He likely would've had no problem with it they casted Sydney Sweeney for one of the roles. It would've been Oscar worthy. Tbf, I'd think so too.
It was a bit over the top, but the whole premise is that Joel is basically a stone cold killer and the Fireflies are a bunch of Meal Team Six amateurs. I agree they didn't have to show him mowing down like 30 of them to get the point across though. It's not like him wasting 8 or 9 dudes to get to Ellie is that implausible, especially if he was a little more discrete about it.
Wasn't Joel a construction worker? How did he become a stoke cold killer? This is where The Walking Dead is vastly superior, Rick was a cop.... He was basically made for a zombie apocalypse. The show has weaknesses is all some of us is tryin to tell you, episode 3 was a major one..... I still tried watching more til they got to some commie camp with a little black kid? Or wait the black kid died and the dad made it..... Something like that, anyways I stopped watching when they tried making commies look good.... Like, hell nah....
The 15-20 years post apocalypse he spent as a smuggler vigilante probably had something to do with it.
Is the Zombie fckin that kid? Finally they turn away from the woke gay stuff and give me something interesting to watch.
Gonna tag this as spoilers even though I try to only lightly discuss that sequence near the end of the show (S1). Spoiler Yeah, I didn't love the execution of that final sequence in the show. It worked in the game because...well duh. Of course there's nothing weird about being a bit like Rambo in a video game (and it is possible to die IIRC). I don't know if that works as well in a show/movie. Though I also don't know what they could have done instead to make it better. I do think that sequence is fairly important overall to the narrative, so any major changes might end up changing that aspect of it. And yeah, I've said this before, but I don't think Marlene or the Fireflies were necessarily some super well trained group of soldiers. Especially that specific group of folks. As for Joel, you can handwave yourself into believing he could do some of these things I think. IIRC the show added a backstory to Tommy where he actually served in either the Gulf War or Iraq/Afghanistan (or both...I can't remember). You might be able to argue that hanging out with Tommy helped Joel learn the right way to do these things. I do think this is a weak point worthy of criticism, but I also think most people could probably accept it given some of this other information.
^^ Tommy was in the Army in Iraq, yes. Doubt that had much of anything to do with Joel more than just being a dude who grew up in rural central Texas and then lived as an outlaw (smuggling guns in the first game) for 20 years. I think that actually has a lot more to do with Tommy vis-a-vis Part 2 than anything. Even though it's an obvious schism between the game and film adaptions (in the game you spend 30 hours just straight up murdering people before that moment whereas in the show you only have 8 hours and most of it isn't just a murderfest) it just feels like a weak criticism to me. It's the climax of the series, you're allowed to suspend disbelief some in service of the payoff.
