The Last of Us - HBOMax

[zulqarmessi]

20 hours ago, The Alchemist said:

Now for what might be the most predictable thing to happen in all of 2023... 

 

 

, great news ? 

Can't wait to see one of my favourite video game characters of all time

Abby "Badass" Anderson 

[LastMinuteSavior]

Great episode. Amazing work with Bill and Frank's story. Old-school HBO quality.

 

Also loved the subtle way Joel's expression changes from sadness to determination here:

 

[Azure Kite]

Great episode, absolutely loved all the background they gave between Bill and Frank. 

 

But this is the first deviation from the games story that didn't sit right with me. 

Frank not hating Bill, leaving and then hanging himself. 

And Bill being... Well, alive and a bitter, untrusting man. 

And as a result of Bill being dead we missed out on alot of scenes like Joel getting caught in the trap, their treck to find the battery, the interactions between Bill and Ellie and that mad dash through the streets to jump-start the car.

It just caused a number of bond building moments between Joel and ellie to be absent. 

 

The episode was still amazing. 

But I dunno, just a bit bummed is all. 

[JungleCat20]

^ I agree. I think I was expecting too much of the cantankerous old Bill from the game. This episode was a bit heavy at the end but still a great series so far.  

[zulqarmessi]

Man, huge round of applause for Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett's stellar performance ?

[mega-tallica]

I never liked when shows throw these filler episodes in to give you a backstory on some auxiliary character that you only mildly care about but is not really all that important to the overall plot. 

 

Especially right in the middle of when Joel and Ellie's relationship is just starting to bud and become interesting, they completely deviate from it. And their interactions with Bill was an important part of their relationship building and the show just completely removed that from the equation and all those classic lines and scenes we got in the game are just gone now. Ellie never meets Bill. I realize they want to change things to keep things fresh for those that played the games and have these expectations but this was a bad alteration to the plot. 

 

First 2 episodes were amazing, this was a dud all around to be honest. 

 

 

[slicknick3822]

Episode 3 is probably one of the best written episodes of TV.

 

It's the first major deviation from the game but I don't think it changes TOO much of the actual story.

 

Also am I wrong or was there not promo photos of Bill with Joel and Ellie? Maybe that was just to throw us off.

[the1andonly654]

The episode was good but personally I'd prefer if they'd stick to the original, at least in this case. It kinda feels like they (re)created almost a whole new character with Bill, just so they can show his backstory. At the same time, we're missing out on interactions between Bill, Joel and Ellie, which was the main thing I was waiting for in this episode. If they had shown the origins of Bill and Frank's relationship but at some point transitioned back to the events of the game, as in Bill meeting Joel and Ellie, we would've gotten the best of both worlds. 

[mega-tallica]

44 minutes ago, slicknick3822 said:

Also am I wrong or was there not promo photos of Bill with Joel and Ellie? Maybe that was just to throw us off.

 

The Episode 3 preview had 2 out of focus people in the background during one of the shots with Joel and Bill in the foreground. I think many people just assumed one of the blurry characters in the background had to be Ellie (myself included) when it ended up being Tess with Frank. 

 

Looking back now, the fact the preview didn't have any clear shots of Bill, Joel and Ellie together should've been the clue they were going to deviate from the games plot and not have Ellie meet Bill as if they didn't deviate, those shots would've been paramount to include in a preview I'd imagine. 

[PeachyJacobs]

1 hour ago, mega-tallica said:

this was a dud all around to be honest.

 

Interesting take on arguably one of the greatest hours of television ever produced.

 

Phenomenal episode. The way they told Bill and Frank's story was superb.

 

What works for one form of media doesn't necessarily work for another. What we got in episode 3 was far superior for television compared to seeing Joel hang upside down and jump start a car.

 

Getting to see more of Anna Torv as Tess was nice as well, I'm hoping she features again in another episode. She has been fantastic.

 

 

[mega-tallica]

21 minutes ago, PeachyJacobs said:

 

Interesting take on arguably one of the greatest hours of television ever produced.

 

 

Well, that's just like... your opinion. 

 

One I don't happen to agree with like, at all. 

[LastMinuteSavior]

16 minutes ago, PeachyJacobs said:

What works for one form of media doesn't necessarily work for another. What we got in episode 3 was far superior for television compared to seeing Joel hang upside down and jump start a car.

 

100% agree.

 

It's a rare treat to watch a satifying character arc over an hour-long episode.

 

We still got Bill as the grumpy bitter old gun nut with his feelings locked away, but we got to see him go way beyond that.

Bill's letter reinforces the final words of Tess, and foreshadow Joel's own redemption arc.

 

I love action. But this is a drama series. And this was a damn well written, directed and performed episode.

 

[sephiroth4424]

2/3 of the episode were great. I liked the backstory of Bill and Frank.

But the ending sucked IMO. They could have keeped Bill alive and continue as in the game.

 

Keep in mind that for people who haven't played the game and just watching the series, episode 3 was mostly about 2 random characters that were introduced and died

[PeachyJacobs]

39 minutes ago, mega-tallica said:

 

Well, that's just like... your opinion. 

 

One I don't happen to agree with like, at all. 

 

Of course different opinions are fine, we don't have to agree on everything. I just find your comment mind blowing to be honest. The acting, writing, and direction of the show was outstanding. The episode was damn near perfect and you're writing it off as a dud simply because it deviated from the source material.

[trojbrown40]

I was looking forward to the banter between Bill and Ellie with her stealing his comics and Playgirl. Bill showing Joel how to make a nail bomb. Seeing the Bloater for the first time. Having to jump start the car with Ellie driving. We basically got zero infected except for 1 trapped under rubble. The episode was fine and filled in the blanks but should have kept Bill alive but it was not better than the game. This episode was the first stain on the show so far but I recognize what they went for. It’s cheaper to do an episode without clickers and infected. 

Edited January 30, 2023 by trojbrown40
Spelling

[mega-tallica]

2 minutes ago, PeachyJacobs said:

 

Of course different opinions are fine, we don't have to agree on everything. I just find your comment mind blowing to be honest. The acting, writing, and direction of the show was outstanding. The episode was damn near perfect and you're writing it off as a dud simply because it deviated from the source material.

 

I'm fine with deviations when they're just as good, if not, better than the original way. Like how they dipped more into Sarah's backstory in the first episode, the extended development of Tess's character, the hive mind of the infected too, adds so much potential dynamic there that wasn't present in the games. Those are good deviations as it expands upon and enhances the plot and story from the original despite deviating from it. 

 

This Bill and Frank deviation was not that well done and I feel it was better in the original way with Ellie being able to meet Bill which was a big turning point in moving Ellie and Joel's relationship along and now that simply doesn't exist in this deviation anymore. Some of the best lines and portion of the game just removed entirely or be written in later without Bill in it which will very well likely not be as good. To be replaced by a typical love story that has almost no impact on the overall plot that's also been played out on screen a million times before is pretty disappointing. It wasn't really all that captivating or exceptional writing or anything at all in my opinion. 

 

It feels like they just put this Bill and Frank episode as a fan service but if you never played the games, why should you care about these two random auxiliary characters backstory? "Here's these two new characters that don't have much to do with the core plot, here's their backstory, oh, and now they're dead." That was basically the episode if you've never played the game. I've played the games and even I was kind of disinterested as the episode dragged on. 

 

If it were my way, I would've summed up the Bill and Frank backstory in like 15-20 minutes tops, not an hour and 90% of an episode and keep Bill alive so that backstory actually means something for a character that remains on screen for longer than one episode. And Bill meets Ellie and becomes the bitter, but lovable nut that he was in the games and maybe even keep him around longer and have him be more of a steady character since Nick Offerman was so great as Bill, that's a bit of a wasted opportunity to have a great character being played by a great actor to only appear in one episode before immediately killing him off. Keep him around, further build his character as he battles the sadness of his past and his relationship with Ellie and Joel and then have him off himself. That would have been so much more impactful and so much better than how they actually did it.

 

But that's just me. 

[LastMinuteSavior]

7 hours ago, sephiroth4424 said:

2 random characters that were introduced and died

 

Well, Tess probably had less screen time than Bill and we knew nothing about her past, nor did she have any significant arc.

 

They are supporting characters. They did their job motivating the protagonist and getting him from where he was to where he needed to be next.

 

Sure, I would have liked to see some of the action set pieces from the game make it to live-action, but those would cost an insane and prohibitive amount of money to shoot.

I prefer the great backstory episode we got over an hypothetical one with cheaply made action.

 

Btw, we're lucky this was already getting made when David Zaslav became WB's CEO. I bet he would never green-light such an expensive production based on a videogame.

Imagine if Sony had to go to Netflix with this. We would have ended up with a Bill vs The Hunters dance-off.

 

 

Lets hope enough people are actually paying to watch this so that Season 2 gets a proper budget.

 

Edited January 31, 2023 by LastMinuteSavior

[poker_1987]

Ep3 was disgusting.

[Sunny]

It's been far better than I expected, the amount of hate I see this episode getting are from people who never played the game and felt their frail masculinity threatened by Bill and Frank, typical behavior tho so no surprises there, I liked the back story but didn't like how it ended or how they changed some characters interactions, Ellie agravatting Bill and vice versa was so funny to me in the original game so it would have been nice to see it more.

[Juzota]

Episode 3 was best so far and previous episodes already were amazing.

[Jeanolt]

I'm sad he didn't survive and I agree the backstory was too long. The moments between Ellie and Bill are some of the best lines in the whole game.

 

I guess it doesn't affect that much because, going back to the story, this is the best videogame adaptation ever.

 

I wonder how good does the series look if you haven't played the game. Is it good? Is it slow? Is Joel boring? I'll never get to know..

[Solid-Fisch]

My thoughts:

 

First of all, great episode. I knew they would take things a little different here and they made another very good one. Bill's background story was interesting - when the rest of the world (who loved life) went down, things changed for Bill in a kinda opposite way. He was a prepper, long before shit went down. He was prepared for a time like this. He hoped something like that would happen someday and then it did. So, for some time, he kinda had like the time of his live. But something in his life was missing. A partner, someone to share life feelings with. That changed when Frank came into his life. So here is another thing I'd like to point at right now: We know Bill is gay, so is Frank. So is Ellie. So what. What I always liked in The Last Of Us games is that they present us themes like homosexuality. Because they do it in a way that is very normal. They do not celebrate it, no one runs around with a rainbow flag and tells you how great it is to love the same gender or to be bisexual or transsexual or whatever. Instead they just show peoples lifes and their relationsships. And you just deal with it. Like you deal with everything else. That's how to handle a theme like sexuality. And they did great with Bill and Franks story. It was nice to see how Frank could lighten up Bills Life and it was hardbreaking to see when Frank went sick. Bill cared for him as much as a lover could do. And should too, imo. He even gave him his last good day. And, I really liked how Bill also poisoned the bottle both where drinking from. And that Frank was okay with that decision. I'd done the same if I was in Bill shoes. For love, for the good life, not for 10 more years or what in loneliness. No, thx.

 

Having elaborated on that let me say that now when I look back on the Lincoln chapter in the game, I do kinda miss a few things. The highschool bloater or the angry Bill, for example. Well angry Bill was never born because happy Biill died peacefully, which is something I can deal with really well. But one could argue why we saw so much story of Bill in episode 3 because it doesn't relate much to the father-daughter-relationship between Joel and Ellie. I mean yeah sure we gamers know about this and put our senses to this, but as someone who didn't play the games, can they feel that already too, or what do they feel? So the Bill-story could feel like out of place for someone, I can understand that. What I could not understand would be any homophobic commentary because c'mon you must be a heartless piece of shit if you couldn't understand the things going on inside of Bill. It was as human as things could be. 

 

So, still, even if this episode was far away from the game it kinda makes me feel like I can deal with the chances pretty well so the feeling of loss isn't big.

 

So the series still is very good. It delivers. The series gives me like 92% of the feelings the game gave me. So far. That's all I could ever ask for because it's way more than I expected. But I'm watching from the perspective of someone who played the games and really liked them. I'd kinda like to know how it feels for someone without this background. 

Edited January 30, 2023 by Solid-Fisch

[Charizarzar]

Loved the performances and the depth of Frank compared to the game, but I also felt the episode dragged just a little bit (mainly because it was so focused on them, I don't think it would've hurt to show more of Joel and Tess interacting with them during the time skips). Can understand that adapting Bill's town straight up wouldn't have made for great TV either, but I felt I got a better sense of Bill's character in the game. It's a sour ending, but it worked in terms of him being similar to Joel and choosing to bottle up his feelings, in the same way Henry and Sam's relationship acts as a lesson for Joel with Ellie.

 

But it was still nice, I didn't hate it either. Also thought Ellie killing the infected without telling Joel was a cool new bit.

[The Alchemist]

That was one of the greatest hours of television I've ever seen. Simply outstanding from beginning to end.

[the1andonly654]

2 hours ago, Sunnyburrito said:

It's been far better than I expected, the amount of hate I see this episode getting are from people who never played the game and felt their frail masculinity threatened by Bill and Frank, typical behavior tho so no surprises there, I liked the back story but didn't like how it ended or how they changed some characters interactions, Ellie agravatting Bill and vice versa was so funny to me in the original game so it would have been nice to see it more.

Look at it from non-gamer's perspective - you're watching TLOU, maybe you've heard how good it is, how Joel does this and Ellie does that, then you watch an episode where you're introduced to two new characters, born and buried within an hour of screen time. Touching side story, great acting, but if you cut most or even all of Bill/Frank scenes, you wouldn't really lose that much in regards to the main Joel/Ellie story. The only thing you'd lose is their reaction to the letter but I'd say Ellie's reaction to being handcuffed to a pipe in the game says more about her explosive character than what they did in the episode. 

 

Bill gets shot in the show and asks Frank to call Joel, there are lines in the game about Bill owing Joel for something. This really was a perfect moment to connect the show with the game. One of those "3 years later" should've been Joel and Ellie arriving at Bill's just how they did in the game, with what happened between Bill and Frank in the last 3 years left mostly to the imagination.