The Last of Us (HBO Spoilers)

[Jace, Extat]

Lol. I forgot that I'm saving this week's episode until next week. 'Cause I'm impressionable like that 

Don't let me near the Ark. At least not the one with the Covenant around.  

ne e t X  i t s

[Mexal]

I really enjoyed last night's episode. I appreciated the sense of wonder that Ellie felt in the mall (Mortal Kombat 2!), the lengths that Riley went to bring her a perfect night and the overarching reactions to how they handled the ending (Ellie's anger vs Riley's resignation). I thought the background did a good job giving weight to Ellie's decisions in present time (should she leave Joel to save the heartbreak or fight for him and still potentially die). A little slow overall (given the focus on Ellie/Riley and mostly just their relationship) but I didn't mind. I thought Bella was tremendous.

[Ran]

I also thought it was a pretty good episode, but I can't say it was a great episode. There was something too abrupt and "Okay, and here's Ellie's background trauma" just being shoved out there. That said, the carousel cover of The Cure's "Just Like Heaven" was just cute as hell. Taking a page from Westworld, I guess, where Ramin Djawadi would end up covering famous songs in unique in-setting style (like Wu Tang Clan's C.R.E.A.M in a Japanese style).

I thought Bella Ramsey did very well. Particularly liked how she conveyed Ellie's awkwardness about her romantic feelings -- checking how she looked in the Victoria's Secret window, slowing down and not dancing anymore before taking the werewolf mask off (and then that incredibly sweet smile after they kiss.)

I did like getting some more insight into FEDRA, that the school system is geared to producing more FEDRA soldiers and officers rather than just letting them into the civilian population. So there's an indoctrination process going on. At the same time, I still feel like the show hasn't really shown what the alternative really is. There's a passing reference to other QZs having been taken over by the Fireflies, and treating it as if everything is just fine there, but... I suspect the show's interested in saying, well, not really, no one has a real solution (except maybe the folks at Jackson Hole?)

[Mexal]

19 minutes ago, Ran said:

I did like getting some more insight into FEDRA, that the school system is geared to producing more FEDRA soldiers and officers rather than just letting them into the civilian population. So there's an indoctrination process going on. At the same time, I still feel like the show hasn't really shown what the alternative really is. There's a passing reference to other QZs having been taken over by the Fireflies, and treating it as if everything is just fine there, but... I suspect the show's interested in saying, well, not really, no one has a real solution (except maybe the folks at Jackson Hole?)

At a macro level, i think this is right. I think there are multiple solutions but only at a micro level. There is no government that will be able to hold it together and the only way to truly hold it together is fascism given the risk of infection by someone acting in their own interests. Wyoming works as pure communism but only because it's isolated, off the grid and everyone who is there is working to keeping it that way. If that community grew, if the people who came to that community didn't buy into those ideals or tried to steal what they built to control it, I suspect it would fall apart like everywhere else. Kansas City and likely all the Firefly overthrows likely turned into FEDRA but without being called FEDRA.

At the end of the day, every option has benefits and drawbacks and that the people in charge of each reality will buy into their benefits and downplay their drawbacks. To me, that seems likely to be the outcome of such a situation. There will be pockets of success but the bigger the community gets, the worse it'll be and that changing hands from FEDRA to FEDRA over-throwers will likely result in nothing positive for the people who aren't directly in the seat of power.

[SpaceChampion]

5 hours ago, Mexal said:

suspect it would fall apart like everywhere else. Kansas City and likely all the Firefly overthrows likely turned into FEDRA but without being called FEDRA.

At the end of the day, every option has benefits and drawbacks and that the people in charge of each reality will buy into their benefits and downplay their drawbacks. To me, that seems likely to be the outcome of such a situation. There will be pockets of success but the bigger the community gets, the worse it'll be and that changing hands from FEDRA to FEDRA over-throwers will likely result in nothing positive for the people who aren't directly in the seat of power.

Yes.  I think Nemik's character in Andor exists to say you have to dismantle the empire ideologically too, not just physically.  For this show, that's much more difficult to choose less fascism but still necessary.

[Ramsay B.]

So only 2 episodes left. I really wish’d they stretch this to 12 episodes. 

This season could’ve really used some extra time with Joel and Ellie bonding, and some more suspense. Them traveling through the subways and hotels(or whatever)together with the wise-ass banter from Ellie would’ve improved everything.

The David storyline should really be longer than 1 episode too. 

[dbunting]

It was a good episode but didn't have the feels of Ep 3. Ep 3 was done much better IMO, acting, and of course showing them over years and not just one night. Would have been nice to wrap it up though, I mean go ahead and show us Ellie's infection not spreading while hers does and then how the Fireflys come to find her. Actually that's probably still to come, but it seems like it belonged in this episode.

[Mexal]

1 hour ago, dbunting said:

It was a good episode but didn't have the feels of Ep 3. Ep 3 was done much better IMO, acting, and of course showing them over years and not just one night. Would have been nice to wrap it up though, I mean go ahead and show us Ellie's infection not spreading while hers does and then how the Fireflys come to find her. Actually that's probably still to come, but it seems like it belonged in this episode.

I don’t think it belonged in this episode given the way they bookended it with Joel. The background was used as a way to inform her decision with Joel. Adding that information would have felt out of place.

[Corvinus85]

I'm a bit confused about their decision, though. Wasn't it established in episode 1 that hand/arm bites take a few hours for the fungus to take over? And in the same episode there was a shot of a couple of amputees which I assumed had suffered limb bites. So I wonder why they didn't rush to the nearest Firefly base to get their hands chopped off. A hard decision, no doubt, but probably preferable to death. 

Or maybe that's something to be shown in another flashback, the one that completes the picture of how Ellie ends up in Firefly custody and they discover her immunity. 

[DireWolfSpirit]

I have been enjoying each episode more than the last, which is to say, im liking all of them.

[Darryk]

Thought the last episode was by far the weakest so far. I've decided I don't like Bella Ramsey as Ellie, she lacks charisma and plays the character pretty one-note.

Also the girls running around making a racket in a abandoned facility was seemed plain stupid. Completely predictable when the infected showed up.

[Kalbear]

It is definitely remarkable to me to see the people who view Ramsey as Ellie as somehow bad and how that correlates to other views. It's a good litmus test. 

I'm personally super happy with her and the small and big things she does. Her interactions with Sam, her interactions and quick looks with Riley, her desperation and anger about Joel getting hurt, her body language while wearing the wolf costume - it's all charming and real and bittersweet. 

I wasn't a super big fan of this ep but it was at least a bit better than I expected being a flashback, and did a good job tying to the 'current' events. I hope we get to see what actually happened with Ellie and Riley post-bite. I also like how they keep showing the wonder of things we take for granted in our modern world; this is something that is really not done very much in most apocalyptic stories. The escalator scene made me smile. 

[dbunting]

14 minutes ago, Kalnestk Oblast said:

It is definitely remarkable to me to see the people who view Ramsey as Ellie as somehow bad and how that correlates to other views. It's a good litmus test. 

I'm personally super happy with her and the small and big things she does. Her interactions with Sam, her interactions and quick looks with Riley, her desperation and anger about Joel getting hurt, her body language while wearing the wolf costume - it's all charming and real and bittersweet. 

I wasn't a super big fan of this ep but it was at least a bit better than I expected being a flashback, and did a good job tying to the 'current' events. I hope we get to see what actually happened with Ellie and Riley post-bite. I also like how they keep showing the wonder of things we take for granted in our modern world; this is something that is really not done very much in most apocalyptic stories. The escalator scene made me smile. 

I like Ramsey as Ellie. She, IMO, has shown a wide range of emotions already. She puts up a brave front and cracks show in it exposing her fear and insecurities. In this episode I truly believed she had a crush on the other girl and not that she was just pretending to.  Yeah sometimes the teen angst smart ass thing is annoying but guess what, so are teenagers!!

[Mexal]

12 minutes ago, dbunting said:

I like Ramsey as Ellie. She, IMO, has shown a wide range of emotions already. She puts up a brave front and cracks show in it exposing her fear and insecurities. In this episode I truly believed she had a crush on the other girl and not that she was just pretending to.  Yeah sometimes the teen angst smart ass thing is annoying but guess what, so are teenagers!!

[Heartofice]

It is definitely remarkable to me to see the people who view Ramsey as Ellie as somehow good and how that correlates to other views. It's a good litmus test. 

[briantw]

My girlfriend got caught up on Last of Us prior to last Sunday's episode, so she was left with the Joel getting stabbed cliffhanger for only a couple of days.  After she finished episode six, I got a text.  "If Joel dies, I'm literally never talking to you again."  

Maybe I shouldn't have pressured her to watch this show.  

Don't click the spoiler unless you've played the second game!

Spoiler

But hey, my relationship is safe until at least an episode into season two!

 

[dbunting]

7 hours ago, briantw said:

My girlfriend got caught up on Last of Us prior to last Sunday's episode, so she was left with the Joel getting stabbed cliffhanger for only a couple of days.  After she finished episode six, I got a text.  "If Joel dies, I'm literally never talking to you again."  

Maybe I shouldn't have pressured her to watch this show.  

Don't click the spoiler unless you've played the second game!

  Reveal hidden contents

But hey, my relationship is safe until at least an episode into season two!

 

I'm no detective but based on this, and a spoiler I assume you just spoiled that a certain person dies? If so thanks?

If not then it's a good fake out.

[grozeng]

20 hours ago, Kalnestk Oblast said:

I wasn't a super big fan of this ep but it was at least a bit better than I expected being a flashback, and did a good job tying to the 'current' events. I hope we get to see what actually happened with Ellie and Riley post-bite. I also like how they keep showing the wonder of things we take for granted in our modern world; this is something that is really not done very much in most apocalyptic stories. The escalator scene made me smile. 

I totally agree.  The escalator scene was great, but I would be more interested in seeing the scenes after the bite than before it.  How did she survive and Riley didn't?  I would assume if the fireflies knew both were bit they would both have been killed.  So did they wait until Riley died and Ellie didn't?  And if so, how did Ellie get to the fireflies.

I wish they spent more time on that and less on dancing in masks.

[briantw]

2 hours ago, dbunting said:

I'm no detective but based on this, and a spoiler I assume you just spoiled that a certain person dies? If so thanks?

If not then it's a good fake out.

It’s a spoiler regardless of whether he lives or dies so I put it in a spoiler.  The spoiler could say “Looks like I’m safe” or “I’m fucked.” 

[Mexal]

3 hours ago, grozeng said:

I totally agree.  The escalator scene was great, but I would be more interested in seeing the scenes after the bite than before it.  How did she survive and Riley didn't?  I would assume if the fireflies knew both were bit they would both have been killed.  So did they wait until Riley died and Ellie didn't?  And if so, how did Ellie get to the fireflies.

I wish they spent more time on that and less on dancing in masks.

We will see but my guess is they both spent time they had left hanging around the mall, Riley turned and Ellie had to kill her. She then was really really sad for awhile, didn’t go anywhere, didn’t turn and then decided to go find Marlene because she realized she wasn’t turning. By the time she got to Marlene, it was well beyond the time period to turn, they chained her up and monitored and then realized what she said was truth. Seems fairly obvious to me but I could be wrong.

ETA: fun fact, one of my wife’s wedding vows to me was that “in the event of a zombie outbreak, if I am bit, I will kill myself to save you from the burden, if you are not, I will kill you to avoid running around like a zombie”. Something like that anyway. She’s a good woman.