Television The Last of Us - TV Series HBO | NO GAME REFERENCES OR SPOILERS | Receives 24 Emmy nominations

Pogue Mahone said:
Been wallowing in reviews of that episode (as you do) and discovered a bit of a mad fact. Same-sex marriage wasn't legal in Massachusetts until 2004, which means the wedding they gave themselves would never have been recognised by the state they lived in :(
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It wouldn't have been legal anyway as they married themseves and the state didn't really exist any more I would assume.
 
Wibble said:
It gave a huge amount of context to the whole show. Gave a sense of the time that had passed since it started, showed that zombies were far from the only threat, showed why they were travelling rather than holing up somewhere, showed how the loss of Tess (on top of his daughter's death) affected Joel in a way that fits his charatter (didn't break down in teary exposition) and it also advanced the relationship between Joel and Ellie. Plus the actual love story was very well done. Probably a brave choice to spend so long on a side story even though it helped massively with avoiding each episode being a run from or fight with zombies ior baddies. I'd say they nailed it. Very good TV indeed.
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Are you telling me that putting all those grey hairs on Pedro Pascal didn't do a good enough job!? ;)
 
Prior to watching I saw thread titles on Reddit saying stuff like "best tv episode of the year/best episode of TV in recent memory." etc and rolled my eyes thinking it was probably just people being over the top.

But nah, that was outstanding. Someone above said it was lovely and beautiful and that nailed it. Disagree about the pointless bit though. Lots of zombie shows are all about the "Survive!" bit but this was just two guys living and being in love. A nice change of pace for post-apocalyptic zombie stuff.

Early days but this could be like The Boys in that it surpasses the source material. Although The Boys source material is wank, TLOU is great so it would be far more impressive.
 
Honestly, don't understand the point of people here saying the episode was pointless and it didn't move the plot forward. Does every episode has to move the plot forward? Why are you in such a rush to get to the ending? Basically, if every episode just dedicated itself to moving the plot forward, 70% of the show time would be Joel and Ellie going to a place, hide from infected or from other enemies, kill some of them and escape, rinse and repeat. Is that what you find enjoyable?
 
My son, who loved the source material, thinks this is superb and particualrly enjoyed ep 3.
 
Amarsdd said:
Honestly, don't understand the point of people here saying the episode was pointless and it didn't move the plot forward. Does every episode has to move the plot forward? Why are you in such a rush to get to the ending? Basically, if every episode just dedicated itself to moving the plot forward, 70% of the show time would be Joel and Ellie going to a place, hide from infected or from other enemies, kill some of them and escape, rinse and repeat. Is that what you find enjoyable?
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I mean I think I'm the only person that called it pointless, but I'm literally saying it's a good thing! For reasons you've laid out amongst other things.
 
Really wasn't sure what this episode was about until at least halfway through. On reflection it's just a great story in itself. I rewatch every episode the day before the new one comes out and will probably appreciate this one more 2nd time around.
 
Annihilate Now! said:
I mean I think I'm the only person that called it pointless, but I'm literally saying it's a good thing! For reasons you've laid out amongst other things.
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Wasn't directing that to anyone in particular. Only directed at those who think "pointless and not moving plot forward" episodes is a waste of time in shows ..
 
Did the episode launch straight into the title sequence? Or was there a scene before hand? My skybox decided to start recording at the very end of the title sequence.
 
RedSky said:
Did the episode launch straight into the title sequence? Or was there a scene before hand? My skybox decided to start recording at the very end of the title sequence.
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It did for me. Title then the forest.
 
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Pogue Mahone said:
Oh yeah, I’ve been avoiding that. Even he might not be enough for me to change my mind. He sure is having a moment though.
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It’s got a good first episode, then goes immediately down hill. A classic example of “This doesn’t actually need to be an 8 episode show”
 
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Mockney said:
It’s got a good first episode, then goes immediately down hill. A classic example of “This doesn’t actually need to be an 8 episode show”
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I have really enjoyed every episode. The 3rd was possibly the best imo despite the relative lack of zombies. Perhaps because?
 
Me want zombies and explosions and Joel and Ellie to do exactly what I did them to do in the game, if not, then show sucks.

(what a great episode).
 
Fully Fledged said:
Okay I was actually enjoying the episode today. I liked the characters of Bill and Frank. I thought that they would make good additions to the crew even if it was only popping by every now and again for supplies and the like.

I was enjoying it right up until the murder suicide pact, then I though what was the point of making an hour long episode that had little to no impact on the show. If they had woven their story into the show over 4/5 episodes the deaths would have had a far greater impact rather than introducing and killing 2 characters that we didn't have time to form a meaningful emotional bond with. I will admit to having a tear in my eye at the end of it but that was more over Joel's reaction when the letter mentioned Tess.
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For what it's worth I loved the episode, though I feel that this is a fair criticism.

They potentially could have had more flashbacks of Bill (and Frank) assisting Joel to help drive home their importance, or at least their value to Joel over the years. This could have made their deaths even more meaningful.
 
What a fantastic episode that was. Favourite of the show so far.
 
cesc's_mullet said:
For what it's worth I loved the episode, though I feel that this is a fair criticism.

They potentially could have had more flashbacks of Bill (and Frank) assisting Joel to help drive home their importance, or at least their value to Joel over the years. This could have made their deaths even more meaningful.
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I thought they dealt with it far better and more subtly than using multiple flashbacks. It was sad enough already. You wouldn't like to see a grown man blub would you?
 
mu4c_20le said:
To people new to TLOU I can see it being a bit excessive to dedicate an entire episode to expanding the back story of these two. So I can only imagine they did it for the fans, which is a shame that it didn't land for some.
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Never played any of the games. Zero interest in them as they are not my genre of games. Absolutely love the series, and this episode is a clear favorite so far.
 
Wibble said:
I thought they dealt with it far better and more subtly than using multiple flashbacks. It was sad enough already. You wouldn't like to see a grown man blub would you?
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Yeah they did handle it really well, I was thinking they could have played out Bill and Frank's story over a couple of episodes. But I'm really just over thinking it.
 
I thought it was a great story, well acted. Some of the tension went away once they moved 4 years into the future and you knew the guest wasn't there to screw over or kill Bill. But I guess the tension from there was Bill keeping him alive.

I do hate that all I could think of during their intimate scenes was the blowback it would get from all the idiots out there. I'm sure by now Shapiro is talking about woke culture cancelling video games or whatever.
 
Stack said:
Its not really a zombie show though, its a personal drama. I predict you will hate episode 3
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Of course its a zombie show. Every show has personal drama, but everything in this show is underpinned by the fact that there are zombies knocking about and that.

I thought episode 3 was a masterpiece.
 
I also thought it was a masterpiece. Just beautiful storytelling. Can’t believe some people on here cannot see how it’s moved the story along either.
 
It’s absolutely a masterpiece for me too. Can’t think of another episode of tv that’s left such an impression on me for a long time. I sure as hell wasn’t expecting it when I heard about a tv adaptation of one of my favourite games.
 
It was an outstanding and beautiful episode.

And for anyone saying it's a zombie show, it's not. It's a show about relationships and moving on, there just happens to be zombies too.
 
atkar83 said:
I thought it was a great story, well acted. Some of the tension went away once they moved 4 years into the future and you knew the guest wasn't there to screw over or kill Bill. But I guess the tension from there was Bill keeping him alive.

I do hate that all I could think of during their intimate scenes was the blowback it would get from all the idiots out there. I'm sure by now Shapiro is talking about woke culture cancelling video games or whatever.
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I think that the first section was why it was so good. They've set out a hostile world so you're on edge that entire time by the stranger, then it shifts on you and makes you think about the external threat. Finally it's about them having won and going out on their own terms.

They've shown kind people are getting on with their lives outside the harsh control of the state. That other humans are as big a danger if not more out in the wild.

I disagree with those saying it added nothing. It adds a lot of context and framing of the world going forward but also built out a more positive backstory, contrasting heavily to Joel's slum story.
 
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