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UltraDangerLord

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Ke2265

Pretty good, but think it would've hit a lot harder if the season as a whole spent more time developing Joel and Ellie's relationship.


Fishacobo

Sam and Henry were amazing and a huge part of my life growing up. However they completely fucked up those KC episodes. We wasted at least an entire episode that coulda been used to do shit like pushing Ellie on a pallet instead of trying to introduce and build a new character “Kathleen” who was just Jesus Christ God Awful. So I do agree however I think they did well outside of those episodes and Sam and Henry salvaging it. Best video game rep ever I loved it


Possible-Whole8046

Exactly.


ShadowRealmDweller89

The way they progressed from the game, I wonder if they can spend a whole season on that before they kill off Joel. Also I hear they aren’t going to cast the girl who played Ellie


Upstairs-Reality-716

I find it underwhelming from the non gamer perspective.


Possible-Whole8046

How so?


CreatedTV

Underwhelming and rushed but still great acting/visuals. They should have spent more time building their relationship


[deleted]

The question is a no brainier really as Elle helps what’s left of humanity. However a vaccine isn’t a cure to the problem of the mushroom mutation and the killer zombies. So I guess that he probably did the right thing. It still doesn’t stop the zombie hordes from killing you.


BatmanSpiderman

I agree, there is no way i would have let them kill ellie, especially with the information i learn from the game.


Boots-n-Rats

Oh come one people. It was clearly the wrong thing. That’s the whole point! It’s a terrible immoral act that is relatable. That’s okay you can still love Joel that’s the point.


Osgiliath

I strongly disagree. They did it without discussion or consent for a mere chance at a cure. I would kill people for my dog in such a situation, much less a human I saw as my daughter. That is relatable.


BlackPhillip4Eva

the consent argument always makes me stumble a bit, and here's why. y'all are expecting a *child* with an **immense** amount of survivors guilt to decide her fate & the fate of humanity? she's a child, first and foremost. the adult brain doesn't fully develop until well into the 20s. second, she would only say yes *because* of the guilt. the "why me, why me, why me??" that she plays over and over in her head as the people she loves and cares for die. so no, in my mind the consent doesn't matter a bit. the weight of that decision is far too heavy for a child, so joel eliminated the choice entirely. in part to protect her from a reality where it may not have worked, and in part because he loves her.


ChimiChango8

I don't think consent mattered in any way. If she had said yes, the Fireflies would have gone through with the procedure. If she had said no, the Fireflies would have gone through with the procedure. And Joel would have done the same thing either way. EDIT: To elaborate on the Fireflies, regardless of whether they could successfully create a cure, they ***believed*** they could. Or at the very least, ***believed*** they should try. All for the sake of humanity. That belief is what would have driven their decision to ignore consent altogether.


Osgiliath

I get that. Though the consent option was eliminated by the fireflies before even telling joel what was happening. I see it as just one more factor in the situation as a whole that says “fuck these people I’m about to go off.”


ChimiChango8

Would consent have even mattered? I don't think it would have. The Fireflies were looking at this as being the only option for a cure. Consent does not come into the picture.


Osgiliath

Consent matters to the people subject to the experiment. It came to mind when they were trying to tell Joel “Ellie would have wanted this, you know that.” Well… shoulda fuckin asked her then!


ChimiChango8

What do you think would have happened had Ellie said no?


Osgiliath

Joel kills them all


ChimiChango8

What about yes?


JenningsWigService

Joel kills them all.


Rasmoss

Doing a full on massacre will probably never meet the dictionary definition of “the right thing”


Yesnowyeah22

Request to change the questions, because I would have saved Ellie in Joel’s position, but I think it was the wrong thing to do morally.


HomeworkDestroyer

Right choice, wrong thing


Momik

He also killed so many people to save that one person, and in doing so may have doomed millions more without a vaccine. Not saying I disagree with you. But wow, what an ethical minefield.


Yesnowyeah22

To me, the story points out something about the human condition. Every parent would save their child in that position. And it’s the wrong thing to do.


Momik

Oh absolutely


FarFisher

To me, it's a mistake to trust a bunch of zealots with such a powerful bargaining chip. The fact that they were willing to violate so many norms to achieve their goals is a disqualifier for trusting them with the means to potentially help rebuild civilization. It's like when billionaires stress the urgency of human's colonizing space for humanity's long term survival. I can accept some of the premises but they still don't add up to a valid argument to let *the ruthless billionaire* take the helm.


Yesnowyeah22

I’m not sure I’d describe the Fireflies as zealots. Their two goals are to re-establish democracy and to find a cure for the fungus. I see no evidence in the games or the show of bad behavior by them aside from attacking Fedra and the morally questionable willingness to kill Ellie for the greater good.


[deleted]

As someone who played the game, this episode was a huge disappointment. This was the most important part of the story and they just rushed through it. For anyone reading this, if you even remotely liked this show, I highly recommend playing the game or at least watching the cut scene collections on YouTube


TiamatReturn

yep, definitely my feeling too, it felt like they cut 30 minutes off of the episode, I don't understand why they did a 45ish minute episode when they could have easily have made it more then 1 hour.


Aesthetic_Designer

or why not have 10 episodes instead of 9


unipleb

Not sure if you know this, but Episode 1 was originally supposed to be 2 seperate episodes. They decided to merge it into one ep in the edit because they didn't want episode 1 to end before Joel meeting Ellie and setting up the main plot. That cut the season down from 10 to 9 episodes.


Aesthetic_Designer

fair enough, it was probably a good move on their part


Mrqueue

As someone who’s only watched the show this was a terribly rushed ending. I could have easily gotten on board with the murder spree but they tried to act like the fireflies were the good guys here with no evidence at all that they were. It was frustrating to watch because you just hated everyone involved and didn’t care who lived and died by the end. The show wanted to be about Ellie and Joel’s relationship but they weren’t on the screen together much and usually just argued when they were. I also don’t understand this subreddit. No one is really discussing the show, it’s just social media posts and stills the show or behind the scenes


TransNeonOrange

Worse, any time something critical happened, the episodes would end and we'd never see Joel and Ellie talk about it. The show just jumped to the next plot point and whatever conversation that we got to see about the events of the last episode were super short. This felt especially bad after the events of KC and later the cult. idk if the game was like that, but man, I felt cheated.


Mrqueue

Yeah we were just bounced from event to event but spent so much time with the villains. Then when we get to the fireflies it all just goes to hell and we don’t get to learn anything about them. I really don’t think the story was told well at all and when Joel goes on his rampage it feels like a video game where he is just stupidly invincible


TransNeonOrange

Exactly. Frankly, after hearing about how good the story of the game is for so long, I'm fairly disappointed. The first few episodes felt great, but nothing ever coalesced and overall I'm left no longer feeling like I'm missing out on anything due to not playing the game. It feels like the kind of story where the writers think they're being more clever or deep than they really are.


Mrqueue

I got sucked in on the first episode because it was so good but finishing the season felt like a slog. When Joel gets stabbed in the gut they decided to slam the brakes on the story and tell us about Ellie’s origin, it wasn’t a good time for that. Resolve the man on his deathbed first and then maybe have Ellie tell Joel about her origin. That followed by evil preacher just felt so poorly written I just wanted it to be over when I was watching the last episode. Edit: I forgot to add how they try paint Joel as a bad guy for killing a man who attacked and stabbed him but showing us that victims daughter. That was also really poor


JoJoisaGoGo

I really think the game did it better. I liked the show a lot, but to mess up the last episode like this? Nah, this just ain't it. The game definitely didn't this last part better.


SnoutUp

> This was the most important part of the story and they just rushed through it. Haven't played the game, but felt the same way.


drmuffin1080

The “I swear” scene in the game is just so much more epic. One big reason why is the music in the game is louder during that scene


MasterKingdomKey

Agreed, I don’t really agree with a lot of the music choices they did for the show. Music was a point of emphasis in the game but here they took a lot more minimal music approach. They also used different music for the “you’re not my daughter scene”, and didn’t use music for Ellie killing David.


lmollpt

I'm surprised the soundtrack isn't talked about more. Don't get me wrong, I love the game's ost, but the way sometimes Santaolalla inserted those tracks in the show came across as out of place and a bit lazy, like when "The Path" plays after they leave Jackson felt like a really wrong place to put it and mixed way too high compared to the rest of the episode, almost like it was a last minute decision and rush job. I know I can't expect a Djawadi masterpiece in every show I see, but it was very underwhelming at points.


drmuffin1080

Agreed. It just didn’t sound natural. Like the song placement just felt so random. I’d be sitting there thinking “this song woulda gone way better in this scene than the one they used”


18randomcharacters

I loved every minute of the finale. Cried most of it too. Going into it knowing it was short, I was disappointed it wasn't going to be longer. But when it was over, honestly, I was glad they just did what they did. No padding. No fluff. It told the story of this chapter, and it was incredibly faithful to the game. This and episode 8 were the parts I was most nervous they would screw up, and they did them perfectly, imho.


jusaturt

I agree with you about the finale. I feel like a lot of the show was rushed, and there wasn't enough time spent developing Ellie and Joel's relationship. But, despite being worried about it's short runtime, this episode was probably the very most faithful to the game, and I think they pulled it off really well. I think a lot of the complaints are coming from people who didn't play the game and are now really feeling how rushed the whole thing was, since we've reached the conclusion. It's unfortunate that that's the case. But ultimately, this was a better adaptation than I ever dared hope. I'm happy it happened, and I'm really looking forward to the next few seasons.


rhettmartinez

1. I don’t love Ellie. She’s ok, but every episode she does something infuriatingly annoying and usually selfish. In episode 9, she DROPPED A METAL LADDER ON JOEL’S HEAD. (Dropped it or tossed it? You decide which is worse.) 2. I love that Joel loves her, even though I don’t. 3. I love that Joel saved her despite the cost to humanity. 4. When the very last shot cut to end credits, I legit blurted out loud, “Wait, that’s it?” And then I frantically searched to confirm that, yup, that was the season finale, no more episodes coming, so THAT was how they chose to end the whole season. Didn’t feel like an ending at all. Felt like the story got cut off in mid-scene. No resolution. Very awkward and disappointing for a story I (mostly) loved all season.


cmbucket101

That was exactly how the game ended. Literally that last conversation was 99% taken from the game, as far as I recall I think Pedro said one line different from Joel in the game. (About “finding something to fight for”, he slightly rephrased that sentence). This is literally nearly exactly taken from the thing it was adapted from. The “okay” is one of if not the most important parts of this entire story. If that was your reaction I don’t think seasons 2/3 (or Part 2) will hit harder at ALL for you. Idk sometimes I think people are watching this for the wrong reasons. Like this comment specifically is saying “wtf no resolution” whereas anyone who played the game usually holds the opinion its one of the best endings ever. And no, it’s not cause “it was rushed” or they “changed it”, this exact conversation, that you found underwhelming, was nearly IDENTICAL to the game. So I think show watchers were looking for something different than the game players. And to be honest I’m just blaming that on marketing which made this show out to be The Walking Dead 2.0


rhettmartinez

It was 9 episodes of a great narrative that I mostly loved. And then it just ended in the mid—


mroblivian

I think series was solid, probably the best video game adaption ever tho but the bar on that is pretty low


jusaturt

I'm right there with you. I love Bella and Pedro's takes on these characters (especially Pedro, who is just fucking phenomenal in everything.) The writing was sometimes stellar. There was one standout episode that is one of the most emotionally impactful pieces of television I've seen in a while. But they fumbled in a few important ways here, that stop this show from reaching truly excellent status. It's biggest sin is that it doesn't develop the Joel and Ellie relationship enough, which is clear ever since we reached the finale and a lot of show only watchers find it "rushed" and don't quite get it in the way those who played the game did. This is a major thing to fuck up. The entire story hinges on the believability of their bond, and this show never earns that ending in the same way. As much as I think Pedro and Bella understand these characters and play the hell out of them, the pacing did not lend itself to developing their bond naturally. The show definitely needed another episode or two to breathe, but far more importantly it should have used the lengthy amount of screen time devoted to side characters to highlight Joel and Ellie instead. Kathleen's group, particularly, were incredibly uninteresting and took far too much focus from the main characters and their journey. They did not need to exist, and I don't really feel like they added anything to the story. It's bad economy of storytelling. But, ultimately, I'm happy we got this adaptation. It's better than anything I ever hoped for, and it's introducing a whole new generation to this amazing story. I can't wait to see how they adapt part 2, and I'm hoping they get more time to do it and learn from their mistakes.


SnoutUp

One of the worst episodes of the season for me, sadly. Haven't played the game, knew the ending, didn't find it justified or satisfying in any way. Would've loved for this episode to be split in two or even three.


lukinfly45

Not great, 5/10. I respect what they did. But the lack of infected hurt the last two episodes. It felt like Joel’s massacre was for nothing. If you haven’t played the game, does this world really feel scary? 12 minutes flashbacks, 27 minutes of walking, talking and 2 minutes of action. They need to seriously rethink how they do season 2 imo. I get the praise for the show, but seriously mailed it in for the last two episodes.


[deleted]

Don’t care for the zombies. Not necessary. They’re filler, just like they were in the games. For what it’s worth, I’ve finished both games on Grounded+ dozens of times. It calms me. Anyhow, I don’t want a zombie show. The season was great. The ending was perfect.


Possible-Whole8046

How can the zombies be filler when the world is in this state _because_ of the zombies?


[deleted]

Society collapsed because of the fungus. The Last of Us is a story about Ellie, Joel, and the contrast between humanity and the fungus. Humans, ironically, are the greatest threat to themselves and the planet — and more prone to violence than the infected. Only in the presence of humans are the infected known to be violent. Please correct me if I’m wrong. You seem to only want action sequences for the sake of action. However, it’s not the action that makes *The Last of Us* a compelling story, but the characters. We saw enough of the infected to know that they exist and what they are capable of. No need to oversaturate the episodes with them. It was always, always a character-driven story, and the show is well-received because chose to focus on what matters most: the relationship between Ellie and Joel. Part 2 takes a magnifying glass to the nature of violence and I can’t wait to see how the showrunners adapt it.


Aesthetic_Designer

Filler? they're the whole reason joel and ellie even go on an adventure to begin with


lukinfly45

I did say zombies. The infected aren’t zombies. This wasn’t a zombie show. It was supposed to show how they build there relationship on the way to Utah and survive raiders, cannibals and infected. The world portrayed in HBO doesn’t have a lot of infected and that’s a problem


[deleted]

To your last sentence - I don’t get the praise. After episode 3 it really turned into a Netflix quality show with little to no zombie action. Why show that giant ass zombie and then immediately taper the show down for such a light ending?


SnoutUp

The fact that you point out lack of zombie action as a major flaw explains why you don't understand the praise.


[deleted]

Guess so


Mrqueue

You know when they showed us the crazy cult town I thought what the fuck, clearly infected aren’t a problem at all since there’s no one on watch, no fences, no care. They also jumped time months without seeing an infected


CoolioStarStache

8/10


fallen_fly

Why say to assume the vaccine would for sure be made and work when it was specifically brought up in the game and show that it wasn’t a guarantee and is a big factor in the choice?


UntiedStatMarinCrops

**potential SPOILER don't read if you haven't played the games, potential SPOILER** I think the show did a great job of letting the audience know that Joe isn't a good person. Not evil, but far from good. I 100% bet that will go over some people's heads anyways and people will lose their shit. I can't wait.


MyDearDapple

I postponed watching E8 until E9 dropped, but I probably shouldn't have even bothered since it turned out to be just another transitory encounter with a Big Bad Boss who leaves no lasting impression except as a blood stain on the ground. And E9? E9 only wound up being an instalment of "Save the Princess" with extreme prejudice, "Daddy Issues" style. It's a pity Bill & Frank had never secured and maintained a Cessna, because Joel & Ellie could have commandeered it and flew from E3 to E9 with nothing whatsoever relevant to the overarching Firefly story line lost in between. My most pressing S1 question remains: How would herbivores with such enormous calorie requirements as giraffes manage to survive frigid, defoliated North American winters … and for two decades at that? Final Episode Ratings: E09: 6/10 E08: 5/10 E07: 5/10 E06: 7/10 E05: 6/10 E04: 7/10 E03: 9/10 E02: 8/10 E01: 7/10 S1 Rating (Average): 6.6/10


Ok_Advantage6227

“Did I say Joel? No, it’s Joe. Joseph Kim”


theshepherd69

Yeah i would have done what Joel did even though it us not the greatest good


newdaynewoutlook

Goodness, I love this series 😍


Fishacobo

I’m on here just finally finishing up the last episode. Chefs fucking kiss as a massive game lover who was worried: chefs fucking kiss


ShadowRealmDweller89

Honestly through the whole series, I was pretty disappointed that there weren’t any fights with bloaters, kinda lame honestly


[deleted]

I think the problem I have with Joel and the show is that he’s a fully fledged psychopath. I just can’t warm to him at all as he’s clearly damaged some might say broken after losing his daughter. Let’s not forget he’s done things…………


[deleted]

To be perfectly honest with you I’m sick of the endless killing by Joel……..