The TV Lounge

[outdoorcats]

Episode 2 of TLoU...hey! They used

Spoiler

Abby

's theme!



They actually used two versions of this one in this episode, the first time when Joel is taping up Tess's ankle on the rooftop, and the second at the very end of course. I sort of called that they would likely borrow from TLoUII's music once I knew they were using the game music. I'm trying to keep an eye out for new music by Santaolalla as well.

Anyone else love how fast they're moving forward with the story? They could have done what literally everyone else does with source material like this and padded it out to where this could have been 5-6 episodes (coughcoughTheWalkingDeadcough) to milk the IP for all its worth, but they seem committed to adapting the whole game into one season, paced like one long movie.

This was another great episode, basically one long setpiece but that worked really well; plenty of time for the atmosphere to seep in and the suspense and tension to build. And the scene in the flooded hotel confirms Ramsey is a perfect Ellie (I was one of the skeptics when I first heard they were cast).

"Is it everything you hoped for?"
"It has its moments. You can't deny the view though."

Oh my goodness they're doing

Spoiler

giraffes

. don't screw it up don't screw it up don't you dare screw it up

This was Torv's episode and she shined.

[mightysparks]

I’m still liking the show but not as impressed as everyone else seems to be looking at post ep discussions on Reddit. My boyfriend likes it a lot more than me too. Didn’t like the changes to Tess’ scene and I’m still not that convinced by Bella Ramsey. Everyone is raving about the hotel and sandwich scenes and I thought they were kinda bad (in terms of her acting and vibe). The clickers were nice but I don’t really feel as terrified by them as I do in game—but I’m a scaredy cat playing horror games and just shrug at films lol.

Loved the opening scene though.


Edit: we were going through game vs show comparisons on YouTube and man, it really shows how poor the show is compared to the game. The show is ok and I’m trying to enjoy it as its own thing but the game is just perfect.

[sebby]

The show is good. Bella Ramsey was a horrible miscast. Seasons 2 onward could be a real fiasco.

[kongs_speech]

Justin Rowland has been fired from Rick & Morty, which will continue without him. I don't know if I care enough to go back to watching the show again or not, but this is excellent news. A rich and extremely influential cishet white man actually managed to FAFO. Hopefully he'll be dropped from his Hulu shows as well. They don't hand out domestic violence felonies on a whim. That guy is some bad news, not to mention the groomer allegations.

[outdoorcats]

Of all the people to have abuse allegations levied against him, Roiland is probably...one of the least surprising.

Let's not forget the other co-creator, Dan Harmon, admitted to cruelly bullying a female coworker who turned down his advances. Sounds like a set full of "nice guys."


....

HBO Max has released the feature-length pilot of The Last of Us for free on their website, if anyone without HBO is curious to see what the hype is about: https://www.hbomax.com/collections/watc ... n=tlou-ep1

[kongs_speech]

Of all the people to have abuse allegations levied against him, Roiland is probably...one of the least surprising.

Let's not forget the other co-creator, Dan Harmon, admitted to cruelly bullying a female coworker who turned down his advances. Sounds like a set full of "nice guys."


....

HBO Max has released the feature-length pilot of The Last of Us for free on their website, if anyone without HBO is curious to see what the hype is about: https://www.hbomax.com/collections/watc ... n=tlou-ep1

Harmon is definitely worth side-eyeing too, but at least in his case, he apologized to Megan Ganz and was forgiven. Hopefully no one forgives Roiland. Dude belongs in prison. He better hope his cellmates think the two silly voices he can do are funny, otherwise he might get beaten up on the regular, wormy little shit that he is.

[sebby]

I think TLOU just Kate Bush'd Linda Ronstadt

[mightysparks]

I liked the latest episode as a stand-alone story not comparing it to the games—but I again felt Bill’s story was better in the game and was a bit disappointed (and was also waiting the whole time for certain things to occur). I thought this ep was gonna be a tense scary infected ep so it was unexpected to say the least. One thing that kinda annoys me with the show is how it removes the subtlety from the characters and their relationships—like changing Tess’s line to ‘there’s enough here’ to ‘I never forced you to feel like I did’.

Somehow, even though my boyfriend had played the game a million times before we met, when I was watching him play through it a couple of years ago I said ‘I like how unimportant Bill being gay was’ and he hadn’t ever picked up on Bill being gay

Also RIP to Annie Wersching aka game Tess.

[Good_Will_Harding]

Enjoying The Last of Us, despite never having played the video game, but to look back on the television of 2022 one last time, here I'll just rank everything I watched as I would films. The big deal for me here being that I'm usually very behind the times on what current, popular television is going on (and by most people's standards, I probably still am). But last year stood out moreso than usual, both in the quality of what I watched and the amount of effort I put forward to watch through all of these in their entirety. Don't know if I'll have as much of an impressive 2023 in that regard, but anything is possible.

10

Stranger Things: Season 4
The Midnight Club: Season 1

9

Abbott Elementary: Season 2
House of the Dragon: Season 1

8

Chucky: Season 2
The Sandman: Season 1
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Season 1
Never Have I Ever: Season 3
Andor: Season 1

7

Wednesday: Season 1
Miss Marvel: Season 1
Cobra Kai: Season 5

6

Willow: Season 1

5

Obi-Wan: Season 1

Notable blindspots: New hits like The Rehearsal and Severance, as well as the newest seasons of Atlanta, Barry, Better Call Saul, The Crown, Euphoria, Succession. The White Lotus, and plenty of others that I can't think of, off the top of my head.

[Torgo]

Notable blindspots: New hits like The Rehearsal and Severance, as well as the newest seasons of Atlanta, Barry, Better Call Saul, The Crown, Euphoria, Succession. The White Lotus, and plenty of others that I can't think of, off the top of my head.

So .. ALL the biggest shows

[Good_Will_Harding]

Yup, pretty much! As much as I feel as if I've watched more television than my usual, I'm still pretty behind on what's been getting the most attention and discussions lately.

[outdoorcats]

I think TLOU just Kate Bush'd Linda Ronstadt

You called it: https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/31/entertai ... index.html

Wasn't really ready for how much that episode broke me tbh.

I mean, you can't just break out the Max Richter in episode 3.

[outdoorcats]

Somehow, even though my boyfriend had played the game a million times before we met, when I was watching him play through it a couple of years ago I said ‘I like how unimportant Bill being gay was’ and he hadn’t ever picked up on Bill being gay

Wait, how did he miss the scene with the

Spoiler

gay porn magazine

?

RIP to Wersching. She has done a lot of live action stuff as well, including being in the main cast of 24, Bosch, Timeless, and Runaways. Fuck cancer.

[mightysparks]

Somehow, even though my boyfriend had played the game a million times before we met, when I was watching him play through it a couple of years ago I said ‘I like how unimportant Bill being gay was’ and he hadn’t ever picked up on Bill being gay

Wait, how did he miss the scene with the

Spoiler

gay porn magazine

?

He just thought it was a joke he dumb

[mightysparks]

Unrelated to Wersching’s death but I was thinking about the show 24 recently and started rewatching season 1 a week or so ago. I’m not sure how much I’m going to rewatch, maybe just the first season. I’ve got the first 7 seasons on DVD and each season has 4 eps per disc which is kinda painful. Anyway I’m surprised at how well it still stands up. It’s still pretty fun and doesn’t feel too early 2000s cheesy. It’s a nice chill out show.

I remember binge watching the show in January 2008, I was watching a season a day and going to bed at 7 every morning lol. Not doing that this time…

[Torgo]

Not watching the show (so far?), but fyi:



I am tracking the show & episodes rating a little bit since it might be the best-reviewed thing on the IMDb of the last couple of years, and I knew something must be off there .. (Look not at the grade, but the numbers)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3581920/episodes/

[mightysparks]

I saw a post on the Reddit sub for the show of the rating breakdown for that episode the other day and it’s 2023 guys wtf

[outdoorcats]

Yeah, that's to be expected.

it’s 2023 guys wtf

Exactly, it's 2023 lol. In 2005 homophobes just ignored stuff like Brokeback Mountain, but now everything with an LGBT character has to be review bombed while cryptically talking about "the agenda."

[blocho]

In 2005 homophobes just ignored stuff like Brokeback Mountain

I remember homophobes getting plenty riled up about Brokeback. What's changed is internet culture.

[mightysparks]

The more I see of The Last of Us the more disappointed I am with the casting of Bella Ramsey. She’s not a terrible actor but she’s not Ellie. I read something the other day where someone said she comes across as cold, charmless and asshole-ish as opposed to game Ellie who is snarky and cheeky but has warmth and charm. And I agree completely. This episode in particular made me notice it feels like she is just reading lines and it never feels genuine. I also think she lacks chemistry with Pedro Pascal and I’m not buying their relationship growth.

This was probably the weakest episode so far because of these things and it makes me worried about her pulling off season 2 Ellie.

[lynchs]

I've only saw the first ep of 'The Last of Us' and it was only OK, nothing new, I don't understand the hype (but never played the game). I've read about ep3 about the gay couple, I think I'll skip it LOL

[outdoorcats]

In 2005 homophobes just ignored stuff like Brokeback Mountain

I remember homophobes getting plenty riled up about Brokeback. What's changed is internet culture.

I just remember it being the butt of a thousand pop culture jokes.

@mighty - couldn't disagree more! I was sold on Ramsey by episode 2 and this episode made me love their version of Ellie even more (when they were first announced, I did not see it). Show Ellie is a little different from game Ellie, whose look and voice are definitely inspired by a young Elliot Page (who apparently was not so cool with their image being used without their permission). That's OK with me.

What's exciting me is how many people who've never played the game are falling in love with the story. That's what tells me they're getting it right.

[mightysparks]

It’s nice people are loving it, I just wish it was better than a solid 6/10. The games are nearly a perfect 10 so it’s just disappointing for me. My bf and I still look forward to it every week and we make a special deal about it but

[sebby]

Bella Ramsey will destroy S2, no doubt about it. Meanwhile Pascal is killing it as Joel -- maybe we get a spinoff that covers some of the 20 years between the outbreak and him meeting Ellie. More Pascal and Anna Torv, no Bella Ramsey. Huzzah!

[outdoorcats]

Great, great performances by the actors who played Henry and Sam. I do have some critiques of the directorial choices in this episode. Some awkward transitions in this episode, plus once again holding on Ellie's face while something important happens offscreen - OK, we get it. I think you can put the importance of Ellie's reaction to things in the forefront without it being so obvious/awkward.

Anyway, both episodes were directed by Jeremy Webb. You did...a pretty OK job, sir, all things considered, but next week's episode directed by Jasmila Žbanić, the director of Quo Vadis, Aida, intrigues me more. As does the last two episodes being helmed by Ali Abbasi!

My guess for how the rest of the season will play out is:

Spoiler

Episode 6: Tommy reunion, "you sure as hell aren't my daughter" scene, Joel gets impaled
Episode 7: Left Behind DLC
Episode 8: David
Episode 9: Salt Lake City/Fireflies

[toromash]

Great, great performances by the actors who played Henry and Sam. I do have some critiques of the directorial choices in this episode. Some awkward transitions in this episode, plus once again holding on Ellie's face while something important happens offscreen - OK, we get it. I think you can put the importance of Ellie's reaction to things in the forefront without it being so obvious/awkward.

Anyway, both episodes were directed by Jeremy Webb. You did...a pretty OK job, sir, all things considered, but next week's episode directed by Jasmila Žbanić, the director of Quo Vadis, Aida, intrigues me more. As does the last two episodes being helmed by Ali Abbasi!

My guess for how the rest of the season will play out is:

Spoiler

Episode 6: Tommy reunion, "you sure as hell aren't my daughter" scene, Joel gets impaled
Episode 7: Left Behind DLC
Episode 8: David
Episode 9: Salt Lake City/Fireflies

I was thinking left behind DLC would be just before the season finale

[mightysparks]

The latest ep was my favourite by far. I think it really captured and adapted the parts from the game well. I’ve had issues with all the changes so far except for this one. Another good thing was less Ellie, she works better in this show when she’s in the background. I didn’t like the ‘bad guys’ and one thing I liked about the games was the lack of a real villain for the most part so I didn’t really need one here. But they did assist in giving us more world building and their ‘ending’ was nice.

[outdoorcats]

The Last of Us: Episode 6 was the second best so far behind Episode 3 IMO and not far behind it. My prediction was right and Žbanić nailed it: the atmosphere, the dread, the emotional beats (some expected, some unexpected), the warmth and humor. Here's hoping she can return for a big part of Season 2.

There was a huge sense of relief for me as a fan of the game, realizing "they did it, they got this and this and this scene right." Mazin took a lot of risks making as many changes as he did, but not only are the changes generally good changes, but the show still arrives at the most important story beats no worse for wear.

Pascal and Ramsey both have their Emmy clips from this episode, I'm calling it.

"Everyone loved contractors." -> I laughed out loud.

The Last of Us Part II spoilers

This episode foreshadows Ellie's love of space (the trip to the science museum), and Joel sharing his dream of owning a sheep ranch adds some bittersweet context to Ellie and Dina's ranch towards the end of that game.

Anyone else think the girl staring at Ellie is supposed to be Dina? Hence why we only glimpse her for a split second; they're planning on recasting her and don't want it to be obvious.

[lynchs]

How old is the guy that wrote The Last of Us for the TV? ten? eleven? thirTEEN ?? thirTEEN ??

ps. just messing w you ya TLoU fanboys/girls

ps.2 I liked the bloater, that was fun but that's it..

[lynchs]

guys & girls I was just messing with you all, friendly post

btw where are the infected in the show ? no zombies?

maybe the infected are in the bushes

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FpYYBlhWYAA ... name=large

[Ebbywebby]

So great. Watch before it expires.

https://www.pbs.org/video/pavement-eceupd/

[lynchs]

So great. Watch before it expires.

https://www.pbs.org/video/pavement-eceupd/

hum no?

I survived 30 seconds

[GruesomeTwosome]

Spielberg at the Berlin Film Festival said that his goal to adapt Kubrick’s storied Napoleon script into a mini-series is coming ever closer to fruition, it’ll be a 7-part series on HBO: https://deadline.com/2023/02/steven-spi ... 235266372/

[lynchs]

HBO it's not the same HBO anymore, very disappointed

[kongs_speech]

HBO it's not the same HBO anymore, very disappointed

What does that mean?

[lynchs]

I'm just comparing the quality what they did years ago and what they've been doing. I know 95% gonna say Chernobyl/The last of us/etc are brilliant but not for me, far from it.

[toromash]

I'm just comparing the quality what they did years ago and what they've been doing. I know 95% gonna say Chernobyl/The last of us/etc are brilliant but not for me, far from it.

Don't know what you mean by years ago, but it's not true regardless.Not everything is about Chernobyl and Last of US. Was it better when GoT and True Blood were the popular series?

[blocho]

The true HBO connoisseur knows that HBO has been downhill since Real Sex went off the air.

[lynchs]

I'm just comparing the quality what they did years ago and what they've been doing. I know 95% gonna say Chernobyl/The last of us/etc are brilliant but not for me, far from it.

Don't know what you mean by years ago, but it's not true regardless.Not everything is about Chernobyl and Last of US. Was it better when GoT and True Blood were the popular series?

I give up most series in 1,2,3 episodes, per example I've only seen the 1st season of GOT, the new one I gave up on the fifth or sixth ep.. btw when I said years ago I was referring to The Sopranos, Band of Brothers, Six Feet Under, Carnivàle, Oz etc and comparing with their latest hyped productions falls a little short, for me.

[lynchs]

The true HBO connoisseur knows that HBO has been downhill since Real Sex went off the air.